A Very Rude Awakening!!

After much discussion and consternation about my 181' long back fence, progress is finally coming into motion.  At first, this was the goal.  A nice 7' tall dog eared $7,800 picket fence.  Yup, THAT was a rude awakening!  I really wanted to just rebuilt what I had so it would all look the same, but initially the contractor (a young kid just getting started) balked at the idea.  

At this point in time however, there is no wood to be had.  I don't know why, since the country has closed down all the sawmills on the west coast to save the owls.  Maybe it was all mailed to Texas or could it have been that ship that got stuck in the Panama Canal?  

 I went to Lowes and checked on plywood just for the heck of it.  Not that I needed any, I just wanted to verify the craziness I was hearing about it being $95 a sheet.  Sure enough, the crappiest piece of 1/4" plywood was $56.00.  That makes fencing (and fence construction) right around $52.00 a foot here in lovely California, if you can even GET the lumber.

 My fence is about 15 years old.  It would be in great shape if the blankety-blank neighbor had not run his sprinklers 24 hrs a day four days a week on these trees that shed branches and needles all over MY side.  That rotted out the fence posts, which is why the fence fell down.

At long last, after much discussion with my BIG contractor friend who builds dairy barns, huge commercial buildings AND houses, it was decided to use the pickets, just replace everything else.  YAY!!

I was asked to remove all the crud next to the fence line down to dirt.  Good grief!!  Where's my KSA when I need him!!  I grabbed a rake and went to work early to beat the heat.  This stuff is close to 18" deep.  What a struggle to get it away from the fence.  Now I know why the skunks didn't come in from this direction!!  

Gee, I only have this much to go!!!  I was pretty beat by the time the contractor showed up to remove pickets.  

I was afraid they would knock all the nails out on the ground, so I volunteered to remove them and stack the boards.  I could feel it coming on ... that feeling you get at mile 24 of a 26 mile run and you just don't think you can go any more.  It appears the fence is in okay shape on the far end, so only 75 feet of it will be rebuilt.  

After recovering from the morning ordeal, I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to remove this gate.  Those are some fancy hinges!!  The chunk of white vinyl fence will have to be removed in order to get a tractor in the back to disc the weeds.  I won't be replacing that piece, but just find a gate to stick up.

This is about half the section that will be rebuilt.  My contractor had to get permission to work on the neighbor's side ... you know, the one who said he's not paying for anything.  The contractor thinks that isn't right, and told the guy he really needed to pay up.  It's not going to happen, but nice of my guy to stand up for me.

As you can see, the unfortunate result is that the skunks now have free rein to my back yard.  The last two came though the loose pickets on this fence.  I put the critter cam up just to see who comes visiting.

Early this morning, there was a rude awakening the likes of which I haven't experienced in many a year.  OH MY ACHING BACK ... actually it wasn't my BACK so much as my BUTT!!!  Bending over dragging that rake through the trash has every muscle in my stomach and backside feeling like I ran 89 miles!  I tried to pick up Cooper's ball and almost fell over!!  

I'm thinking a little doggy yoga will be required this morning.  You remember, downward dog as I get my face on the floor to look under the armoir for the ball.  That and a handful of Advil should make the day a little brighter, because it's ELKS night where I get to wear my new khaki uniform.  OH BOY!!