Summer Fun and a Fence Project!

 

Holy Moly has it been a busy week! Just as I think this week will be slower since my calender had less writing on in….well, it somehow never seems to work that way! Emma had her last day of Preschool and they had an adorable little show and dinner last night. She will be back in the fall because she won’t be five by September. The little ones did such an excellent job! I had a grin from ear to ear. She has grown and learned so much this past year in Pre-k. I am very fortunate to have such a good preschool that is affordable and close to home.  Since there was a potluck after her ceremony, and I have been so preoccupied lately, I completely spaced out bringing something until the night before. Luckily I had just done some shopping, so I threw these two platters together:

Not bad for throwing them together! 🙂 So, one of the things I have been VERY preoccupied with is a little home project we have been contemplating for a couple years….We live on a corner lot, and we would like to extend our fence out on the side yard, to create a larger back yard. My husband is busy with work, and I happen to not be working much this month, so I decided it is time. Time to build. First I went to the city hall and obtain a permit, and get a copy of all the regulations. Then I began with doing some measuring, a lot actually. My friend Jessica came over and we did lots of math! (Not my strong point!) We figured the only way we could afford to do this right now, is if we re-use as much wood as possible. We called around to get the best prices on supplies, and found out that Parr Lumber had a great deal, along with free delivery for purchases over $300.
 
Our side yard, My husband double checking my measurements and Noah helping 😉
So, our supply list is:
28 2x4x8 @ $2.21 each
65 cedar fence boards @ 1.89 each
13 pressure treated 4x4s @ 7.99 each
5lb box of 1 5/8″ screws @ 27.59
13 60lb bags of cement @ 3.39 each
56 brackets @ .69 each
for a grand total of $398.90. We might not need that much cement and brackets, but they will take back anything we don’t use and refund our money. So, I was contemplating how to pay for this…. and I had a light bulb go off in my head…. my husbands old Ford Bronco that had been sitting for a couple years not running…. could I make him part with it finally and sell it? So I called around for offers on it. And guess what… Pick n Pull offered to come and tow it for us, and they would give us a check for….wait for it….. $400.00! How perfect is that!! So essentially we are getting a free fence! (And my drive way back again!!)
So, the timing on everything has been keeping me busy. I have Parr delivering sometime today, They are picking up the bronco tomorrow afternoon, and then I also had to call and have someone come out and mark where utilities were so we didn’t dig in the wrong spot. That was the only draw back. Of course, the utility cables are located right where we wanted to do the fence! Oh well, tonight we are going to figure out which side we will shift it. Anyways, if all goes as planned, Sunday we will be building our fence! This will be a new experience for me, but my husband and friends have built many before…so looks like I’ll be learning!
We were hoping to extend it to this side of the plum tree, 7 ft in from the sidewalk…but there is electric and cable lines there…so we are debating whether to bring it in to about 9 ft from the side walk, or go on the outside from the plum tree, since Dayton has no regulations on that…. I guess stay tuned and find out! 😉

Aside from the fence, I have been creating a Summer Bucket list, which I will share soon…. but one of those things was to plant some things. We already had some barrels, but there was tons of weeds in them. Once had a bunch of onions in it still though, so I dug everything up, and replanted them. We also planted some Roma Tomatoes plants, and then some Pepper seeds. Hoping to get some carrots and a couple other things planted too! Mr. Noah was my big helper!

…while eating fiery Cheetos of course!
 I also stopped by the fruit stand…and bought a flat of strawberries! We LOVE strawberries (in fact we have some growing here) and we buy a bunch up and freeze them so we have them throughout the year….

 

 

Summer is almost here! Cheers!
Melissa

Related posts

I’m Still Here in 2022

How I’m Finding a Backtrack to Happiness

Honesty & Acceptance