Fence crashers

This is our back fence. Or should I say, was our fence. I have never liked the chain link look, and I've liked it even less since I pulled out the vines this spring, enabling us to see the bend in the fence and the big piles of brush that have accumulated behind the fence.

Yesterday morning, I went over to my mom's house and grabbed my dad's post hole digger to rectify my hatred for the fence. I grabbed my spool of twine and strung a line so my new fence would be straight.

A multitude of old roots and, surprisingly, a large rock slowed my pace, but I got my holes dug.

By early this afternoon, the chain link fence was gone. I say that like it was no big deal, but it actually was. The old vine stumps dangling from the fence and years of sediment build up along the bottom inch of the fencing (essentially burying the fence) made its removal difficult.

The fence posts were actually cemented into the ground, so I took a pipe cutter to them to get them out. I had a feeling those weren't going to come out easy, which is one of the reasons I moved the fence up about a foot. I also didn't want to deal with all the stumps along the fence line.

When the fence was out, it was time for a well-deserved water break.

Fast forward to about 6 p.m., and there you have it. Gretchen called in the reinforcements this afternoon (her dad), because she didn't want to lift those 6-by-8 foot panels. A special thanks to my parents for buying them for us for our anniversary.

As you can see, it looks much better now. I have a small gate to build on the left hand side of the fence, but that's small time compared to getting the rest of it up.

Augie has found his new favorite hiding spot. The fence is closer to the tree, leaving just the right amount of room for hiding. Augie tried to help with the fencing yesterday and today, but was really just getting dirty, so I'm glad mom was home this afternoon to keep him out of the way.

Here lies what remains of the old fence. It shall be scraped to raise funds for the removal of the white fencing, which looks like crap. I'm hoping to tear that out next year some time ... unless funds become available before then :-)

In two other bits of yard crashers news, the mystery lilies from Gretchen's aunt have been doing well the past couple of weeks. When I say mystery, I mean we didn't know what color they were going to be.

The mystery mums from Gretchen's dad have exploded all over this flower bed. There are three bushes there. They are huge. (The annual begonias in front of them are looking pretty good, too.)

The first of the three has shown its color. It is yet to be seen what the other two will be.