Hey ho, lets go! (fence gone!)

Lucy, donning the Ramones t-shirt and our motto, Hey Ho, Lets Go! (She was playing peek a boo, so hard to capture)

Last week I finally decided I could handle taking the fence down. The delay for leaving the old, rusty 6 ft tall chain link up was that it had some use by way of keeping the dog in. And a boundary for little toddler, although she's three now.  And my son, he liked kicking the soccer ball against the fence. And me, I just wasn't sure what to replace it with. The 6ft tall fence was like a prison and cut off a portion of the yard so there was no doubt it would come down, but without a plan, I delayed. Until last week. The only dilemma, still no plan for keeping dog in. A natural and short post and rail fence would homey, but I have a rock retaining wall ledge a few feet beyond fence, so its kind of weird. But put on a temporary lay off,  taking the fence down seemed like a good thing to do.

After I rolled the fence back 15 feet, I realized how heavy this was going to get and that it was way beyond a one person task. Having no use for the fence, I listed it on craigslist, for Free.  (Thanks to this other, somewhat popular blog, Young House Love. Maybe you have heard of them? wink, wink. I say in jest! Their enthusiasm is infectious). A few years ago, when I first discovered their blog, I remember reading about their plant removal system, listing free plants on craigslist. Bring your own shovel. Marvelous!

My ad went more like "Bring your own metal cutters" - I use craigslist once in a while, with some success. I was floored with the response for the fence though. I figured I had a few days to cut the grass away from fence and make it easier for someone to take.

Dug out, rolled up and stuffed in the trunk of his sedan ... that may have been the trickiest part. Gone with in three hours of the listing going up. 3 hours and my week long task was done. The free fence giveaway was definitely worth the labour. And he was a very pleasant guy on disability in need of a back boundary fence. I helped of course, in between fielding all the other calls and reorganizing pick up for my kids.

Since it came out, I've been pulling out the bad grass and long roots, mixing in some organic soil and compost and readying this 10 foot section for our natural fence line / beans. (Did you know 10 feet is the typical distance between chain link poles - I didn't and had advertised 33 feet with my 3ft step measuring.  He actually got 50 feet of fence.)

The poles, I kept for the time being. They are cemented in and easy enough to dig out later on, after I live with this new open space I now have.  The first pole, closest to the house will go, opening up the entrance. But I need a metal saw to cut the horizontal bar.  Ill plant the morning glories beside the two outer poles, to hide them. And each 10ft section has a purpose too... beans will fill in one section, a soccer net will go in the next, the flower garden will fill in between section #3 and the tire swing and hopefully a gate arbor in the last section.  Another motive for getting rid of the fence was to open up the back of the yard in order to have easy access for the lawn mower. The past three+ years I have had to haul the lawn mower up three stone steps. A pain. Tried out my new entrance today and so much easier.

Other exciting things around the garden; this little Hyacinth stuck in the middle of a Hosta. And Pear Tree blooms! I planted the tree two years ago, and this year we are gifted with blooms!

The tire swing up (although I have to switch out the rope with some nylon rope, that I ended up using for the beans). And the day lilies are coming up.

Little pots, little seeds, soon to be our bean fence.

Breakfast anyone? On the weekend, we enjoyed breakfast, al fresco, in  our evolving back yard. I see many more of these in the future.

Happy Friday

My week long fence dismantling task I assigned myself turned into a 3 hour gig w/ one little craigslist posting. More on that next week.

Happy weekend!

And the fence, came rolling down

One day you get a letter of company downsizing and the next day you find yourself taking down a fence.

It all started with my newly found time (guilt free free-time that is) and a list of no cost things that need to be done around the house.

1) clean windows- windex in truck (truck contains items from office clean out last Dec. Left in truck due to lack of other storage options. re-Discovered it the other day.) Windows never get washed in my house and I never buy window cleaner so this could be fun.
2) paint rest of trim (upstairs, vestibule, dining room)  - paint already in house
3) paint kitchen -that would be the one, very small overhang thing that I painted around.
4) cut grass
5) post ebay listing.

Nothing on the list about taking down fence.

When I went to the truck to get windex, I had the wrong keys. SO I started to pull vines off the garage instead. While pulling the vines away I envisioned how I could possibly turn this area into something from Home and Garden. Perhaps extend the pea gravel path, pile rocks along side garage to protect it. Build a rack to store kayak and canoe. Buy kayak and canoe. Gulp ... back to no-cost dreaming.

And then I drifted over to the fence and decided it was time

Pliers and wrench in pocket, I nervously plied off the ties, and unscrewed the hinges. The excitement grew. The anticipation kept my momentum. 

When I questioned my sanity, I took some pictures of the long grass that grows up the side which causes me great grass mowing disdain. And the rusty fence. The old, rusty 6 foot tall chain link fence. Things cannot be any less friendly then that.  If for no other reason, this thing HAS to come down.

I thought it would go easier then it did, but the easier things, I thought may have been harder. If that makes sense. 

After I untied all the metal ties (with the bright sun burning through my eyes) and unscrewed the end pieces and rolled back the first section, I was dreaming of BBQ'ing and drinking a beer at my new (free) table. Except it was only 1:30pm and  I still have to pick my kids up at school....

The cost of this project should be nothing more then a long dog leash to keep old deaf Luc from wondering too far.  And some red paint for the table.

I have ideas of leaving the horizontal poles and hanging a swing from one, laundry from another and a chin up bar on another.  These three ideas were the final push I needed to take down the chain link.  Plants and wooden garden fence will fill in the space in between the poles, for the time being.

The fence dismantling will keep me busy until I hear of a recall. And it was much more exhilarating then polishing windows. As it rolled back and opened up the back yard I could feel freedom; the 6 foot tall fence that had always made the backyard feel more like a prison.

Snapshots around the house

Just a collection of updates around the house. Most have been posted before, but its nice to see them all in one spot.

Painted desk

An old desk from long ago, made by someone, originally painted brown with an oak top. When I acquired it, I painted it this bumpy green Ralph Lauren colour.   And then the cat used it as a scratching post. 

And then the knobs fell off and instead of putting them back on, I just stuffed them in the drawer with all the other homeless items around my home.

This desk is where I do all my computer work  play at home. Time for an update and with a sampling of different white paint test cans on hand, I grabbed China White.

And ta da!

I know, a very minor update. But it does look (and IS) cleaner. The drawer is organized and the knobs are back on and the token dusting that goes along with painting; that got done too.

Painting music: Po' Girl

Epilogue: I'll either dip dye the legs a bright yellow or blue. OR paint the desk blue and leave white dip dyed legs....