The joys of home ownership, or why I hate being single!!

So you own your home, something a lot of people strive for.  Nice!!  However, home ownership comes with a lot of maintenance items.  Its more difficult if you are female and single.  Simply put, handymen never return phone calls.  So over the years, I've learned to become HANDY ... well, kind of!!!  When I returned from vacation, 5 pickets from the fence were on the ground.  Upon closer inspection, LOTS of nails were coming out.  Can someone explain to me how this happens???

I can't tell you how many times I have gotten out my aggression by hammering these nails in.  And low and behold, they come out again!!!  So I got out my handy dandy drill and charged the battery while I went off to the store for screws.  Two boxes and 30 minutes later, the battery died.  I got maybe 40 feet done and only have 400 feet to go.  While at the store, I purchased 5 new pickets to replace the broken ones.   Did you know new fence boards need to be "sealed"--what color do you want?  Color??  Umm do you have old fence??  And by the way, the pickets don't come in the size I need. No problem ... I can do this.  I'm sure most women would like jewelry for Christmas, but I asked for a chop saw!  Best gift I ever got!!!

Unfortunately, I didn't know WHAT kind of wood my fence was or what color.  So I got the cedar pickets and the easiest to apply sealer and went to town.  They are gorgeous ... but no way do they match the existing fence!  Maybe after 4 or 5 years (which is when they will need to be replaced!).

While waiting for the pickets to dry and the battery to charge, I continued on with the next project.  When the builder painted the garage trim, he did not use primer and it peeled badly.  Two hours of scraping and $80 dollars of paint later, I'm ready to repaint the trim but it's noon and too hot .... so since the weeds need to be sprayed and hot sun helps, I dig out my backpack sprayer.

Yes, it is huge and is very heavy when full of water ... but who else will do it????  So I mix up the roundup in the back yard and see that the sprayer leaks.  No, I'm not fixing it, but am afraid to let the dogs out with roundup on the patio.  Grabbing a water hose, I wash off the patio, only to realize that I just washed that roundup on to the grass!!!  $#%$!!#@  So while I'm contemplating how to reseed the lawn, the sun tanning Miss Jessie brought a smile to my face ...

Battery is charged and pickets dry on one side ... so it's back to work for me!!!!!  I think I need another vacation.