We have ourselves some very interesting neighbours. My luck is they’d find this blog and discover what I write about them so I’ll use just nice, friendly words. Pretty much they like to keep up with the Jones (and oddly enough, our last name is NOT the Jone’s but you would think it was)… we built our cute little shed last year ’cause we needed one. And she came over and said, “ohh, you’ve got a little 8×10 shed! Well, when R gets back from Afghanistan, we’re going to build a 12×12x12.” Sure enough as there is a hell (and I’m pretty sure there’s a hell), within a week of him being home, up goes this gigantic crappy looking shed which overshadows ours. This is the same woman who just months before couldn’t afford a new fridge and stove and practically got free, almost-new ones from one of Martin’s co-workers when they got transferred out of the area. Then that same week there was a newish boat in the yard. And then a newish camper trailer. And then a newish (or new!) trampoline. What the hell? And, just a few months before that she was like, “Your fence around your pool is really gross, couldn’t the old owners put up something else?” Well, last summer we lost our pool during a huge storm so it was replaced and had a nice new fence on it. “Well, that is MUCH better!” Yea, I told her, that fence? Cost $1000 to put up. “Really?” she said, “How much for the entire pool?” About $9000. “Ohhhhhh…”
You could tell she was adding up the figures in her head, wondering how big of a pool she could afford. Listen chickie, our pool is 25 foot diameter, you can’t GET bigger pools than that, unless you put an inground one. So, just STOP calculating how you can OUTDO us. Puh-lease!
So, the last 20 feet of the fence separating “us” from “them” was left undone the past few years. I had enough of this ugly eye-sore (and enough of HER yelling at her kids to get away from the fence because our dog was looking at her kids, as if my dog had freakin’ rabies or something). So, thank the Lord I’ve been in school the last year and had a nice little return come back to us. Not a lot but enough to cover the cost of lumber.
It’s time to bring out the hammers!
Thankfully today was a bloody gorgeous day here. We had a good 20-25c weather, wonderful sun and not nearly enough sunblock pre-applied because I’ve turned into a lobster girl. Totally.
(Above) Ahhh, yes - the unfinished fence! How ugly. And see that ugly-ass shed on the other side? Compared to our cute little one? My other neighbour (Maggie) commented today that our shed looks way better than theirs. “Yea,” I told her, “We don’t start something that we can’t finish.” C’mon, get two cans of paint and two hours of your day and just finish painting your ugly mammoth shed. (Oh, did I forget to mention they have like, a 30×50 double-car garage and shed/woodworking building? On top of this ugly thing?)
Martin checking out things. Will the wood we got be the same height????……
Mmmm… just THAT much off. Good thing we got some extra planks, we took those old ones there off and put up new ones. We ended up with just ONE extra fence board in the end. Oh yea, I am *THAT* good at estimating boards WITH contingency. Oh yea. I am THAT good.
First of the 3.5 sections done. AND - it is straight AND level. The rest of the fence (the old stuff previously done) is seriously crooked. But - ours? looks FAB. We got that first section done in less than 20 minutes. We worked as a team, measured, helped each other out despite a shakey start at the beginning where *someone* wanted to keep up the old chainlink behind the new fenceboards. I said no, they go. Guess who won? (Er, not that I’m keeping tabs). Seriously though, despite little things like that, we work really good together. We both have quiet personalities with a stubborn streak… however, we always work through it, use it as something to make our relationship even stronger. And, when you work together? You really DO get things done faster!
Finished! Yes, I realise we still need to get the 2×4x8s up on top, and the lattice but - we ran into some unexpected problems. (Yea, I’m GOOD but not THAT good)… the old base of the fence that we thought were there, WERE there but - was almost six inches down beneath the soil and started to rot. That’s okay though, we got the planks up and that’s an excellent start. We’re going to get some more wood tomorrow (if we can find somewhere open) and then maybe get the lattice and other toppers off… then cut off the tops of the post when that is done, and then do some painting ’cause there’s a few years difference in colour for the wood. I don’t know if I would do blue (as the fence in the back is, that’s our other neighbour and still our yard back there, all the way to the tree line!) or - do some brown paint or something. It’s too bad the wood wasn’t all the same colour, or else we’d put a really nice stain on it… too bad.
The woman came up and said, “My, aren’t you guys ambitious today!” I’m thinking, why doesn’t your lazy-ass husband come and offer to help us out? ”Yea, we got our refund back and thought we’d finish this off….” She replied, “Oh, must be nice to get a refund back.” I retorted back, “Well, I spent the last 12 months being in school full-time, that’s why we got something back.” It’s always about the money, isn’t it?
And, while talking to maggie, she joked and said her husband said this: “Funny thing – Angela and Martin bought and paid for and are building THEIR fence?”
Seriously. That unfinished fence is HER fence. $200 smackaroos later, my only regret is that we couldn’t build it 10 feet higher. Best $200 bucks EVER spent. Hu-rah! But - we’re happy our dog can go in the back and not have some overbearing mom yell at her kids because our dog glances at them.
It was cute, the little girl came up to the fence and said, “What are you doing?” Building a fence! “Does this mean when our ball goes over, we’ll never see it again?” No worries little girl, you’ll get your ball back 
Posted on May 10th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: House Projects, Pictures | 2 Comments »
So get your mind out of the gutter!
