It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

It was a really nice day today...high temperature was about 61°. Cloudy in the morning, but sunny in the afternoon. A perfect day to get the Christmas lights up.

I even got the wreath hung in our large window

Lights strung along the fence

Hope all your after Thanksgiving shoppings went well. We had a relaxed day yesterday - no 5am standing in lines. But we did manage to buy enough socks for a football team or two at Fred Meyer...yikes!

At Target we found a few things - and when I got the receipt, it came with another 'receipt-like' thing. At first I thought it was a survey type deal - "Have a chance at winning $5,000 - call and answer our survey about your visit". It wasn't - it was a coupon for a free bag of Hershey's candy - price limit of $3.62. So - because Target wasn't that busy (it was about 3pm) - I decided to go get it right away. It took a little searching to find the exact type listed on the coupon - and when I did it cost $3.69. When I brought it back to the checkout - I didn't have any problems - I thought I would have to pay 7¢. Funny how that worked out...but anyway, we got free candy for some reason.

Yahoo!

Final Fence Foto

Fence posts replaced - from 1 to 11

New gate with missing stairs....the next project

The Elves are at it again

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and the Elves are back at OfficeMax. This time it is integrated with JibJab. Fun stuff, eh?

These are two different Elf dances, though they look the same. Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yard Work 2008 #16

After quite a bit of rain and wind recently - the grass needed cutting and the leaves were piling up. This past weekend was full of other things to do that managed to use up all the daylight hours. The weather has been nice for a few days, so things have started to dry out a little. Today I got cut #16 for the year in the bag, and then in the yard debris container. I should have done the oil changing maintenance on the mower, but by 4:45pm - it was getting dark. Maybe next time.

The grass has really slowed down in growth - but I don't think this was the last mowing of the season. Everything is still green - but it has really gone dormant. A few trees still have those die-hard leaves attached - and a trim up in December just might happen this year to get the last leaves and prevent the grass from matting up this winter.

Guess I'll have to turn my 'extra' energy to inside the house projects now. Or maybe just catch up on reading my This Old House magazine. Then I'll have a list of more projects to add to my to-do list.

Fence is done...at least the posts

Last Sunday I moved the last post into place. The six foot section that I had been leapfrogging along was trimmed to a new size, about three feet, and attached to post number 11 and the corner post. I don't have a photo, because I finished so late in the day - and this past week was busy enough that I haven't thought about it.

Now...I just need to figure out how to make a latch for my new gate that will work well from both sides of the fence. The latch also needs to be able to be reached by someone who is not 5 feet tall - so a latch at the top of the gate won't work. I'll either have to cut a hole in the gate so you can reach through from the street side, or maybe attach a string or coat hanger type extension through the gate.

Guess you'll have to stick around for that new adventure...and then how I move the existing steps and build a new landing, since the new gate is coming from our deck which is a more than a foot above grade.

Stay tuned!

The stormy weather can't stop me - posts nine and ten are looking good!

We've been having rain here in the the Pacific Northwest. I'm not sure about this - but I think it has rained everyday since at least before Halloween. This makes the fence fixing a little more challenging. The return to PST from PDST didn't help either...

This week it took me two nights after work to dig the hole for fence post replacement number nine. Something about the location of the hole caused me problems. See...it was about two feet from a maple tree. The maple tree has a foot and a half diameter trunk. The roots encountered in this post hole were some of the worst I've dealt with. The post ended up being located directly between two roots that paralleled each other between one and two feet below ground. That post hole digger just couldn't cut them, and they were too deep to be able to get a good swing with an axe. Maybe if I had a sawzall - that could have got them out. Anyway - I dug the hole Wednesday and Thursday nights after work, and put the post in the concrete this morning. The rain started to let up when I finished.

After a nice lunch of leftover pizza, the sun came out and the day looked great. With all the rain we've been having, the temperatures have been in the 60s. So - with no excuse - I looked at the fence and knew that if I didn't continue, I'd be wishing that I had when I was out there in the pouring rain tomorrow. So I got out and dug hole number ten - this was the easiest hole yet. No rocks, roots, or rebar. By dinnertime - the post was set.

One more post to go! See if you can figure out how many sections my fence has...I am not replacing the corner posts, and I will have replace 11 posts when I get that last post done. It is a little tricky - since I did add the gate, but you can count the gate as a section. Leave a comment and I can reveal the answer sometime soon. Or stop by for dinner some time and count them yourself, and marvel at my surveying skills, brute force hole digging labor, or just enjoy the two-toned fence color.

Eight down, three to go. Or - fix the path please!

I got post number eight placed in the ground this weekend. This is the first post after the new gate that I created last weekend. I can't believe how long it took to measure, re-measure, estimate, think about all the issues, think again, re-measure, finally cut the pieces and start to assemble everything...and then rethink it again. Apparently when you don't consider that your screws are 3" long - they won't help you connect two 2x4s when laid flat.

So Connor and I went to the helpful and confusing Home Depot, since the True Value which is closer, is closed on Sunday. We managed to find some parts that would help (actually there are more that 140 parts at least that are similar to what I was looking for in the aisle).

Closeup of the connector and new hinge

Completed gate

At siome future point plan to finish off the top of the gate - maybe with a nice curve. But, for now, I need to keep getting the remaining posts planted. For post number eight - I had a few issues to deal with. Six inches down - I hit a piece of rebar, sticking 4 inches into where I needed the hole. Not sure why that is there - it goes under our deck, but I don't see any concrete at this location, and I didn't want to make this hole huge trying to pull the rebar. So - after dealing with that trouble - I found I was digging right near a sprinkler head. Yikes! When I got to two feet down - I found a very nice root from one of two close trees. Fun stuff...this post-hole digging. Right?

The rebar is at the top right corner...it wouldn't move

As I was getting ready to position the post - a friend stopped by to say high. And he had a few more words which I didn't quite understand. Apparently, my fence work has caused commuting problems for this squirrel. We see him running along the fence from yard to yard - and he wasn't happy about the construction delays. I guess I forgot to post notices and hire a flagging crew.

C'mon! Let me through - I'm late!

This just isn't working...

So now that the rains have started, and November is turning out to be an above average rainfall month - I have three more posts to go.

After the posts - I still need to deal with the gate latch (make it work from both sides), build a step or two up to the deck, and then move our old steps from the other gate to this one - and postition, level them, re-position them, start over with a better foundation.... You get the picture. Sounds like another blog post coming you way soon.