Picket Fence: Episode 2

Like many others who were cut down in their prime (R.I.P. Arrested Development and Freaks and Geeks), our fence saga has had its final episode.  Well, OK, I guess I'm making it seem more tragic than it is... the reason it's over is because we finally had our fence installed on Monday!  I had barely finished posting about our decision to take the plunge on the fence when John received a call from Carter Fence (the company we decided to go with) asking if we wanted to take a freshly available time slot the next day.  Our response?  Heck yeah!

We were a little nervous finally making our choice considering we really had nothing to base our fence installer decision on besides price.  John called up about five or six local companies in addition to the big wig, Long Fence, and Carter Fence was able to give us the best price as well as giving John the best impression of professionalism and likeability.  Like Stephen Colbert, sometimes we like to ignore the "facts" and "truth" and go with what feels right.  You know... truthiness.  It's a word.  It's on Wikipedia, so it must be real, right?  With a combination of budget and truthiness, we handed over the red rose credit card to Mr. Carter Monday morning and put our trust in him and his three workers to give us and our sons the best fence our measly budget could afford.

New fence!  New fence!

Throughout the day, John and I stalked the three fence installers with our Nikon snapping photos of their progress.  I'm sure they thought that was perfectly normal...  First they had to remove our weird fence chunk (may it rest in pieces in our backyard) which was way too easy and a little disappointing to see how poorly it was originally installed.  We now have a bunch of free-ish (only 29.5 more years to pay it off!  woot!) lumber, though, that we plan on attempting to reuse in some fashion.  Maybe some raised beds.  Maybe a doghouse.  Maybe part of a paintball obstacle course...

Our poor old fence.

Then they went around the yard digging the holes for the posts, both by hand and with some awesome giant corkscrew looking thing.  I would enjoy owning one myself for future digging or possible largest-bottle-of-wine-ever opening. 

Man...

versus Machine! (the thing by the tree)

After that, they installed the horizontal boards to secure the pickets to, which soon followed.  At this point, it was really starting to look fencey and exciting. 

Once it was all picketed, they went through with a chainsaw and scalloped them to give the "Mount Vernon dip" style.  Seriously.  Just with a chainsaw.  If it were me, I'd have to individually measure them, mark it off, and cut them one by one with a Dremel.  They were like those ice sculptors who make amazingly detailed sculptures with the chainsaws.  Hmm... I wonder if I could commission one of them to make an Ice Dexter for his party...

Just past the birdbath, you can see the dude with the chainsaw.

To cap it all off (te he), they added plastic black caps to all the posts and hung the gates. 

By about 6:30, they were done, and just in time to avoid the rain that finally rolled in.  Boo to the rain for preventing us from skipping through the yard, squealing like little girls.  Maybe that was for the best... We still trekked out in the rain, though, to adore our new fence.  It feels so sturdy, the gates swing cleanly and lock snuggly, it gives our yard that cottagey look I was hoping for, and as an added bonus, our backyard now has a freshly cut lumber scent, which makes me feel nostaglic thinking back to all the lumber projects my Dad worked on in my youth.  Sadly, I can't attribute the fence to my own DIY prowess, but really, I think if we were to have tried tackling it ourselves, we might finish it by the time we're ready to move.

Right side gate.

View from the left, with Ghosts Chewie and Dexter, of course.

Left side, complete with already-bloomed, gross looking azaleas.

Looking back from the left gate.  See how the azaleas once separated by a fence are now reunited!  It's almost as awesome as when the Berlin Wall fell.  Almost.

Pretty much most of the fenced-in backyard.

The right side... and our crazy moss tree.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.  Seriously, this is where the poison ivy lives.

The fence from the neighbor's driveway.

Final verdict?  We're loving it! (please don't sue us, McDonalds).  Dexter and Chewie can run free without us having to watch them every second or panic when one tiny pup gets lost in the Weed Forest (although, I was liking the idea of making them wear little orange vests outside...).  It has only been a couple days, but they're quickly adapting to being out alone, which allows me to pack my lunch in the morning whilst they get their morning squirrel chasing in.  I mean, I love watching dogs poo at the break of dawn every morning, but you know, it's nice to have a few extra minutes to prepare my bologna and ketchup sandwiches.

So, next step is more landscaping!  We have visions of adorable plantings all along the fence with mini-trees or shrubs at the corners.  Maybe even a lawn gnome or two, if my Dad makes good on his threats.  Who knew getting a fence could be so fun?!  We're lame. :)