Fencing

En garde! No, not that kind of fencing. We finally got around to rebuilding the fence around our house. This is the fence that actually fell down this winter. I told Rick that propping it up with poles was ok for a little while, but after a few months, it was a little too "hillbilly" for our neighborhood. We hired Reny to help with the construction. We just picked up the broken sections of fence and moved them back a foot or so. We can't be without a fence, even while we're building it.

We started on Thursday. Rick managed to get off at noon. Rene digs some post holes.

Titus starts the first of the demolition.

Rick, Rene, and Titus mix cement for the post holes.

Shoveling cement is such fun.

Finally the first set of poles are in, and we sit down to have some beer and homemade rolls with avocado and homegrown lettuce. Of course, we cleverly took all our chairs to the farm, so we're sitting on makeshift furniture.

My lettuce patch is packed, and starting to bolt. 

On Friday, we get stringers up. Again, Rick was able to take a half day off.

The guys start to nail boards up. I schlepped pickets for a while.

This section looks pretty nice! Notice that the old fence is still there on the inside.

On Saturday, we start serious demolition of the old fence. I had taken some apart on Friday, carefully removing nails and loading the boards onto Rene's trailer. Here Rick helps with the demo. I'd told him: "Hey Rick, I can get us some free wood for the farm...." See! There is always a farm angle. The old fence wood will be useful for various farm projects, including fixing that fence.

Titus has been battling allergies, so after helping on Thursday, he took a day off on Friday, but rejoined us on Saturday. We'd gotten up early, started some post holes, then went to brunch at Sierra Nevada. I mean, you gotta treat your workers right! We managed to get all the post holes in.

Even the tricky ones under the fatsia.

This is a view you don't often see--straight from the back door to the street.

Saturday night we took the boards to the farm, and stacked them alongside the garage. Then, we ate cherries and peas.