Building a Fence

I still haven't managed to sit down and stitch since I came back from Italy. Instead I've been working on building a fence with Brother B. We started on July 2nd and dug up the cement piers that held the old posts. We worked in the mornings and the evenings, avoiding the hottest part of the day. By the end of the 3rd, we had all the old stuff dug up, and the new posts put in place.

We took a bit of a break on the 4th for Independence day, but were back to work on the 5th. We got all the rails hung. Funny thing... the space between the posts has been slightly less than 8 feet for all the other spans that we've done. (Here and in other parts where the fence has blown over in past years.) Except for that section next to where the gate will be. It's closer to a 9 foot span. Argh! We took our 2x4x8's back and brought home two 2x4x10's.

This morning I started to sort through the wood pile. When the fence initially came down all those years ago, Dad pulled the pieces apart and stacked them up next to the house. The idea was to use the pieces again when we put the fence back up. Over the years more stuff has been added to the wood pile so the old fence slats were closer to the bottom of the pile. You can see some of the other piles I was making to keep things kind of organized.

Here are the slats that we've uncovered that are still useable. (They are the tidy stack to the left.) There are about 30 of them. The rest of the slats have become split or broken in one way or another. More slats have been used to repair other bits of the fence as needed. Brother B did some math and figured that we need about 97 slats for the fence and the gate. I guess we'll use as many of the old ones as we can and then have to buy more slats... I wonder if we could just buy a roll of chain link and staple it to the rails... I don't think Dad would like that very much.

So today or tomorrow we'll be back at Lowes or Home Depot, looking at slats and trying to decide what to do/buy to finish up the fence. I think we are going to have to call in Brother A and borrow his truck to do some hauling. I don't think we can fit 90 some odd slats in my Honda Accord.

As to why we are putting the fence back up along this side; my sisters dog is coming to live with us for a while. She is finishing up some rotations in Medical School and will be away from her house for two months on a couple of those rotations. Since boarding her dog for that long felt a little cruel, he's coming to live with us instead. (Oh boy! Doggie pictures to add to the blog!!)

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

Don't forget the Traveling Pattern is ready to travel again! Go HERE and comment if you'd like a chance to stitch it.