Gate One

After we returned from a busy four-day weekend at Stephanie's house (where Rick did too many projects!), we decided to keep going by working on our fence.

We tackled the south side gate because that opening exposed more of the back yard than the north side.  This was one of those projects were the measurements and the actual build just would not coordinate.  We built the gate twice, finally taking parts of it and cutting them down since the math said to do so.  In the end, we should have left well enough alone, and the gate would have fit tighter.

The gate swings into the back yard, so that we can hook it to the fence
when we need to hold it open.  The sloping land made the installation tricky.

Once built, the gate was very heavy.  It gave us a struggle to get it in, and we still have work to do on it.  Because the landscape really slopes from the house to the neighbor's yard, we had to dig out the ground behind the gate just so it would be ground level in the front and have swing room in the rear.  We still need to slope the landscape down so that we can sod it before winter.

From the inside of the fence, this picture shows
the landscape work that awaits us so that the gate
will have a proper swing range while the yard 
remains walkable and mowable.

The digging and yard work will have to wait for a cooler day.  Rick went to physical therapy today, and the therapist told him that he overdid the work last week, and that he must totally rest this week.  That's OK with me.  If I feel ambitious, I may go out and remove some dirt.  If not, then the dirt has been in that position for many years, so I am sure that a little more time resting were it is will make no difference.  Eventually, it will be finished.  

We both need a rest.