Don't (but do) Fence Me In!

It’s Monday again and this last weekend flew by! I know they say that time flies when you’re having fun but I suppose time also flies when you’re busy doing all the things. It was a busy weekend!

 

Thankfully, I was able to get off from work on Friday at 3:00 and headed for Ryan and I’s house – the plan for the weekend was to put up a fence and my parents were staying at the house on Friday night – so I wanted to get home and get the guest room ready. Shortly after I got home, my Mom arrived, and we discussed meal plans for the weekend and also prayed the rain would hold off. That’s right – we had big plans to install a fence and the forecast for the weekend was 98% rain. *face palm*

 

 

We got supplies unloaded and then my Mom and I went to grab groceries and pick up pizza for dinner. After eating, Ryan, my Dad and myself went out back and the adventure began! We managed to get the first three posts and two panels set before calling it a night around 9:30. I should make note that most of the work was done by Ryan and my Dad – I just assisted here and there when I could. It sprinkled rain almost the entire time we were outside doing work and when it finally became too dark for our outdoor light to help – we called it quits.

We watched a little TV before calling it a night and prayed that the rain chances on Saturday would decrease overnight. I was up before 7 AM on Saturday and ended up making scrambled eggs, sausage, and French Toast for everyone to have for breakfast before the work began again. And guess what? That rain had not held off – but at least it was a light drizzle.

While the guys worked in the backyard in the drizzle, my Mom and I worked in the front yard – weeding out the front bed (with a short trip to the Hardware Store for a rake, bucket, gloves & mulch) and replanting four hostas and two forsythias! It drizzled and then full on rained while we were doing this and so by the time lunch came around, we were both soaked. My Dad and Ryan were also soaked… but by lunchtime they only had two panels left to go! It was incredible!

They were planning to make a final push after lunch and be done – but shortly after getting the second to last panel up, it really started pouring and didn’t let up for almost an hour. Everyone sat inside and watched an episode of Alone until the rain finally stopped and they were able to go back at it. Shortly before 5:00 they were on the final post but of course – since it was the last step, they ended up encountering a gigantic tree root and underneath that… a massive rock. They finally got the fence completed shortly before 6 PM (they started at 8:30 AM) and got everything cleaned up!

A funny insert here – we have a little four-year-old for a neighbor (and his family, obviously) and he is always incredibly interested in what we are doing at our house. He was fascinated by the fence building but couldn’t come outside (due to the rain) until it was almost completed. Once he was allowed outside, he set his lawn chair where the fence gate was open and watched every minute of the building - you can see him above on the left. He also dug out his little stepstool but alas – he’s still too short to peer over the fence.

Ryan and I took my parents to have dinner at Spring House Tavern and both the guys pigged out on ribs! They worked hard and deserved to pig out and enjoy their tasty food, ha-ha! I will tell you that even though I didn’t put up a fence – I did spend three hours redoing a flower bed and so as soon as I was home, I didn’t last very long before I was out cold! 

Sunday morning brought quite the adventure… Our fence meets our neighbor’s fence and until we turn the corner, there is a small gap. I didn’t think much of the small gap because it truly isn’t very large. Watson thought a lot of that gap and on Sunday morning, the moment Ryan’s back was turned – he escaped from his newly fenced in backyard through the small gap. Ryan ended up chasing him through the neighboring apartment parking lot and finally catching him and bringing him back home, squealing all the way at the indignity of being caught.

We very quickly maneuvered the piece of fence panel we had left over the gap since we have one small dog who is not thankful for his newly fenced space to run free. *sigh*

 

After church, we picked up Ryan’s car from the shop where it had been getting a tune-up and headed back to the house for another day packed with getting things done! We did laundry, cleaned up and organized the back yard, re-planted our tomatoes & our Groot plant (not sure what he is), swept and mopped the floors, vacuumed, re-organized the laundry and hall closets, hung calendars and ended up washing cars. We worked from about 1:30 to 6 and man – we accomplished quite a lot!

We had dinner and then pulled our outdoor table into the shade to sit and chat for a while in our backyard. We did have to again fend off the wily four-year-old next door who attempted to shoot his water gun over the fence at us. Thankfully, his grandmother called him off by saying “don’t shoot your water gun over the fence – that’s probably why they built the fence!” Crack me up – but it is kind of true! As I’ve said – good fences make good neighbors.

We closed out the night watching some TV – we are currently loving Alone on Discovery+ and Super Store on Hulu! I’ve still got to watch the final two episodes of Stranger Things – but y’all, I just haven’t had the time! It was a good weekend, even if it was a busy weekend! And now we are at Monday again!