OK where was I?
We've had our house on the market for many weeks now, and we've been living in that mode where you can leave the house at a moment's notice and it looks like no one ever lived there. It's not a fun existence, but it's necessary. We're taking a trip in mid-July, and I think we're going to actually physically move into the UF when we get back!
We have a toilet, bathtub, and shower in the master bath now. The shower glass guys are coming on Thursday to install the frameless glass shower panels, so the bathroom will be functional.
I ordered some new lighting for the exterior and got it installed. It replaced some fixtures that the former owner('s dad) told me he made himself. They were quite interesting. I should have taken some photos, but I didn't of course.
When the oldest child moved home from college for the summer, she decided that she wanted to strip and stain the built in bookcase that's in the living room. It turned out to be 10x harder than you think it should be (as does every single project I've done), but it's finished. Some mistakes were made (see photo below), but luckily there was no permanent damage.
Then we decided to build a fence. And we died. True story.
On Friday, we started to clear out the backyard area that will be inside the fence. This stuff has been left to grow unchecked for a couple of years now. Plus there was about 10 miles worth of sprinkler hoses and landscape lighting to remove. I must have chopped down an entire forest of bamboo. And then came the agave plants.
My husband decided to take a chainsaw to the agave plants, and let's just say he learned his lesson. Apparently the juice inside is poison to the skin. He is currently afflicted with a rash that I can only equate to varicella/chicken pox/shingles. Luckily I only used a shovel to dig them up, so I managed to avoid the plague.
Then came the digging of the fence posts. If you've never dug more than about 4 inches in Texas soil, it's all limestone rock after that. We rented an auger on Saturday afternoon after we cleared the jungle, and we tried about 3 different spots with it. It was no match for the stuff.
On Sunday, we upgraded to a 70 lb jackhammer. It was doing the trick, but handling the jackhammer itself was killing us. Then I got my ankle wedged between the jackhammer and a rock while it was running (because I could not physically hold it up), and we decided that it might be smarter to get a smaller one. Back to Home Depot (3rd trip) (and I know those guys were laughing at us), and we swapped it for a 20 lb jackhammer. Much easier to handle. Still though, by the time we got to the last 3 holes we could not physically do it any longer. Luckily our 2 daughters showed up (1 of them with a boyfriend!) and we got them to do the last few while we started setting the posts in concrete.
By Sunday evening, we had finished setting all the posts except for 2.
On Monday, we went to Home Depot (lost count of the number of trips) to get lumber and wire fence materials. My husband decided that their wire fence selection wasn't up to par, so we took off to Tractor Supply Company. While we were standing outside in 100 degree weather trying to pick hog wire fence panels, I got a house showing request. This is life now.
We quickly get the panels purchased and get help to load them in the truck. The panels are 16 ft long and had to be sort of bent in half to fit them in the bed of our truck. We bought 10 panels, and the clerks assured us that they had never "horseshoed" more than about 3-4 panels into a truck.
^^ 10 panels "horseshoed" into a truck, ladies and gentlemen ^^. And we got home with about an hour to get the house in show condition.
We spent most of today (4th of July holiday) assembling and installing the fence panels. Not done yet, but it's well underway. Many times we have cursed our dogs for needing a fence. I've also considered finding a new home for them. But it looks like we will get the fence built for them. They are still shithead dogs. But we love them. (Enough to build them a fence.)
We have a toilet, bathtub, and shower in the master bath now. The shower glass guys are coming on Thursday to install the frameless glass shower panels, so the bathroom will be functional.
I ordered some new lighting for the exterior and got it installed. It replaced some fixtures that the former owner('s dad) told me he made himself. They were quite interesting. I should have taken some photos, but I didn't of course.
When the oldest child moved home from college for the summer, she decided that she wanted to strip and stain the built in bookcase that's in the living room. It turned out to be 10x harder than you think it should be (as does every single project I've done), but it's finished. Some mistakes were made (see photo below), but luckily there was no permanent damage.
Then we decided to build a fence. And we died. True story.
On Friday, we started to clear out the backyard area that will be inside the fence. This stuff has been left to grow unchecked for a couple of years now. Plus there was about 10 miles worth of sprinkler hoses and landscape lighting to remove. I must have chopped down an entire forest of bamboo. And then came the agave plants.
My husband decided to take a chainsaw to the agave plants, and let's just say he learned his lesson. Apparently the juice inside is poison to the skin. He is currently afflicted with a rash that I can only equate to varicella/chicken pox/shingles. Luckily I only used a shovel to dig them up, so I managed to avoid the plague.
Then came the digging of the fence posts. If you've never dug more than about 4 inches in Texas soil, it's all limestone rock after that. We rented an auger on Saturday afternoon after we cleared the jungle, and we tried about 3 different spots with it. It was no match for the stuff.
On Sunday, we upgraded to a 70 lb jackhammer. It was doing the trick, but handling the jackhammer itself was killing us. Then I got my ankle wedged between the jackhammer and a rock while it was running (because I could not physically hold it up), and we decided that it might be smarter to get a smaller one. Back to Home Depot (3rd trip) (and I know those guys were laughing at us), and we swapped it for a 20 lb jackhammer. Much easier to handle. Still though, by the time we got to the last 3 holes we could not physically do it any longer. Luckily our 2 daughters showed up (1 of them with a boyfriend!) and we got them to do the last few while we started setting the posts in concrete.
By Sunday evening, we had finished setting all the posts except for 2.
On Monday, we went to Home Depot (lost count of the number of trips) to get lumber and wire fence materials. My husband decided that their wire fence selection wasn't up to par, so we took off to Tractor Supply Company. While we were standing outside in 100 degree weather trying to pick hog wire fence panels, I got a house showing request. This is life now.
We quickly get the panels purchased and get help to load them in the truck. The panels are 16 ft long and had to be sort of bent in half to fit them in the bed of our truck. We bought 10 panels, and the clerks assured us that they had never "horseshoed" more than about 3-4 panels into a truck.
^^ 10 panels "horseshoed" into a truck, ladies and gentlemen ^^. And we got home with about an hour to get the house in show condition.
We spent most of today (4th of July holiday) assembling and installing the fence panels. Not done yet, but it's well underway. Many times we have cursed our dogs for needing a fence. I've also considered finding a new home for them. But it looks like we will get the fence built for them. They are still shithead dogs. But we love them. (Enough to build them a fence.)
The MONTH between updates was cruel, plain & simple. I've never built a fence. That's dedication, right there! I was just looking at our sad, old chainlink fence a few weeks ago. When we bought this house (2002), we thought that we might eventually have to replace it. Fifteen years later, I had the most delightful blinding flash of the obvious that we never have to do that! If a hurricane comes along and causes trees to take it out, we just wouldn't replace it because we (1.) no longer have children to corral and (2.) the only conceivable pet that I will ever have again is a cat. The days of needing a fence are behind us! Oh, and that agave incident.....WTF??? That was hardcore damage that Cass received. After seeing the first pics on FB, I really thought he might have to be hospitalized! I hope it's resolved now.
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