I feel like I have been away for so long.  I guess I have; almost a month.  I can’t believe how life gets in the way and next thing we know a month goes by like a gush of wind.  Where to start?  Lets see……

Well,  I have missed three Harvest Mondays. I have been harvesting but unable to keep it all documented on the blog.  I miss checking in with everyone and seeing how my other gardening friends and bloggers have been doing.  I need a day to catch up and read, read, read.

covering the pipes: the final step in resolving the drainage issues.

I am most happy to report that we finally have all of our drainage issues under control and the fence has been put in. Another step of the journey has been completed.  Daniel spent 5 days adding drains and installing the fence.

We had a local fence company come out a couple times over the last year to give us a quote to install the fence. Because of the cost we had to hold off the first couple times they came out. A quote is only good for a few months and the cost of wood changes between seasons so that is why we had them come out a few times. Hard to budget if you don’t know the cost. Of course they were probably getting sick of us having them come out so often. :) Our neighbor down the street mentioned that he had purchased the materials from the same company we were getting a quote from, and he installed his fence himself. He said we would save a lot of money if we did the same thing.  So after we received yet another quote this summer, we asked the company to work up a quote for just the materials (fence, posts, gates and hardware).  We were shocked that about half the cost of the fence installation was going to be for labor.  Daniel is no stranger to labor so he got ready to do it himself.  Our neighbor was correct.

Two large pieces of concrete that Daniel had to dig up.

The materials were delivered a week later and Daniel got to work. I wasn’t convinced that installing the fence ourselves was the best option.  The fence company could do it in one day whereas Daniel would need to take a few days. The fence company would also have multiple people working on the project, where Daniel didn’t have any help.  Most of his friends were busy working, so he was on his own. After three days into the project, Daniel was starting to feel like he bit off more then he could chew.  Not because it was too difficult but he was on his own and digging the holes for the posts took two and a half days alone.

A tin base to a barrel that was buried.

As Daniel dug the holes for the posts, he would come across all kinds of crazy stuff. First off the trees we removed from the back of the property had roots that were still left in the ground. Digging those babies up was no easy task. The trees had been there for a very long time and as you can imagine, the roots were huge. Not only did he have to deal with roots, he came across a lot of waste left over from the builders when the house was built.  I hate how builders do that. People pay a lot of money for their houses and the builders make a pretty penny off us. The least they can do is have the trash hauled off.  After digging the posts and pouring the concrete, the rest of the job was easy.  He had the fence panels installed in a day (if that).

The posts going in where the trees once stood.

I felt so terrible for Daniel. Every night he would come in the house after a long day of digging and he would look so discouraged and deflated. But by the end of the project I could see the pride on his face and I now think he was glad that he did the work.  The more we do to our home ourselves, the more we take pride in it.  About a year ago we had considered selling our house. The only thing stopping us was the economy and we were told that our back garden would pose a problem. Most people want a large yard and between the garden and the trees, people with children wouldn’t want our house.  That is absolutely crazy to me but it stopped us from selling. Thank goodness we didn’t sell.  We have invested a lot of work into the house and gardens this past year and I wouldn’t sell for anything now.  I now have my dream home and I am proud of the work we have done. Of course if a realtor came out to our house now, they would really say we had a problem. Front gardens and back gardens and we are still expanding.  They wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole :) . Oh well we love it and it is home sweet home to us.

The back privacy (that doesn’t really give much privacy) fence. :)

the side fence looking all pretty along with the apple trees.

The fence has only been one part that had kept us busy this last month .  I will continue on tomorrow and let you know all the other great stuff happening around here.  So much, Oh so much.

To be continued……..

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