Weekend warrior

We were weekend warriors, at least in the local war on needed home repairs. We're slow, very stupid, and clueless about how to do lots of things, but we persist. To today at about 6:00 we finished hanging a gate that we built ourselves (except for installing the latch and handle -- it was really starting to rain). All together we replaced about 20 feet of rotten fencing, sunk three new posts (most of them were in good shape), and built the gate to replace the ugly chain link one that was there.

This is a job that would take more knowledgeable people about half a day. It took us two full days and cost us countless muscle aches and pains. But we still rock.

We had one angled corner on the fence that positively gave me fits. We came close enough to make it look good, but if I knew what I was doing we could have done better. Oh well.

I love the gate we built. It's held shut now with a bungee cord, and who knows how long that will stay on there. We're notoriously slow at finishing the details.

My shoulder is really angry with me, and I'm probably going to regret it. It was feeling pretty good but carrying what felt like hundreds of pounds of lumber yesterday did it in. R is sore too and he's in way better shape for lifting and carrying than I am so I guess it's fair. He also had to dig up the rotten posts and the concrete that held them in.

Confession of a stinky neighbor: the reason we tackled this project this weekend is because our next door neighbors are out of town. It is our section of fence that we fixed, but they kept saying they wanted to go in on the repairs. Knucklehead that I am, I really didn't want their financial or labor assistance because I didn't want to have to share decisions about something that is tied to our property. I was afraid if they helped out with it, it would be "OUR" property, not just "ours." And it would complicate things down the road too.

But I will say that trying to take measurements and install the panels was made more difficult with all of the junk they have on their side of the fence. Our side is open and grassy, theirs had piles of boards, a couple of compost piles in varying degrees of decay, broken pieces of marble, concrete blocks, a ton of leaves, and mud. You can see why keeping this fence intact is of particular interest to us....

These neighbors are great and they are also friends, but I believe the fence helps keep it that way.

I've got to put heat on my shoulder and finish my wine. I am wiped.