Fencing

We need to put our fence "back" up. The work done with the wood that was up when we bought this house was shoddy. Most of the wood was good, but the job of putting it together (as well as some key pieces, read: crossbeams) were just NOT! So, helped along by the neighbor children throwing balls at it (the fence was falling down so much that throwing balls at it helped it along nicely... grrrr) we took the fence down. HA!!! Actually, our the AWESOME Boyscouts in my Ward took it down for us (with Jessie)! We still have most of the wood. Not all of it, though, as I have used some of it to build the chicken tractor, of which I constructed about 80%.  ^_^

Still, with the wood we do have, we could fence a good portion of our yard with some new crossbeams (I'm not sure if that's actually what they are called, but I'm referring to the pieces that are horizontal with the ground and hold all the perpendicular pieces of wood together).

Thanks to Craigslist, I was blessed to find a fencing place that sells used fence panels for $5 each. Yesterday I had a plan for Jess and me to have a long date (with Jimmy along) to go pick out and purchase any good ones we could find there. The place is in Orlando, so it'd be a good trip there and back plus loading of panels....  That fell through. But last night, when I was wracking my brain to come up with a plan to get our fence back up, Grammy Jo called. She suggested that she could come over to watch the girls and I could go with Butch to get the panels - basically my plan was still in tact, but I'd be traveling with my "adoptive" Dad instead of Jessie.

I've felt a good deal of pressure to get our fence up for a while.

#1 Reason To Get The Fence Back Up:  Father has impressed Jessie that we need to develop multiple streams of income so that we are not reliant upon only one.  I have felt impressed that using our land and fulfilling some of the self-suficiency goals He has inspired in my heart is meant also to become productive to fulfilling the inspiration Jessie has received.  We need to contain the chickens.  And I don't prefer to work with an audience.  Pressure to get that fence up.

#2 Reason: Currently, I have to plan my day around our neighbor's schedule.  WHY!??  Well, I, personally, do not prefer to work with an audience watching and questioning me.  To avoid an audience, I must work outside when the neighbor children are NOT home.  I do not like having to plan my day around their school day.  I would like to feel that I can go into my yard and do what I want, when I want (within reason, of course!).  I cannot currently do this and it is amazingly frustrating.  Also, because the fence is NOT up, the children randomly run through the yard.  This is a problem because I'm hyper aware of our property... especially as a result of March's events in a neighbor's back yard.  So, when I see someone or something moving in my yard, it is very interruptive!  I don't want random people - even just children - running through my yard.  I want them to ask permission to come and play - like at the front door.  Not just run over cause my kids are out.  Okay, so I'm very protective.  If you heard  how these kids' Grama yells, you might want to supervise your children's play with her grandkids!  My kids don't cuss.  I don't want them to LEARN how to cuss (any more than they already have from their Daddy's slips!!).  And I definitely don't want them to think it's cool cause their peer does it.  Yes, they are sheltered.  This is one of the bonus benefits of homeschooling.  I get to bless my children with purity in their childhood!!!  I guard their purity and will continue to do so as long as possible.  Doesn't Father God WANT us to do this?  I think so!  Pressure to get that fence up.

#3 Reason: Our neighbor (second house down) was robbed twice in six days last month.  His back fence was knocked down by the power company a while back and he hasn't got it back up, so his back yard was open and accessible to observation and foot traffic.  The result: some crooks stole everything they could move quickly to sell - plus the trailer they loaded it on!  I've been feeling quite concerned about our home since then.  I'm not so worried about our garage.  But I AM worried that said crooks may see a door to our home open (since we do leave a door open for the cool night air - to cool off the house from the heat of the day) and think it's an open invitation to take what they want.  (Read: my biggest concern is that they would take one or all of my girls or harm any of our persons - especially since the door that is open is right into our bedroom.)  BIG pressure to get that fence up.

#4 Reason:  We have lots of unsightly fence posts sticking out of the ground with no fence actually ON them.  It looks WAY white trash.  :(   A good friend of mine once said something about "white trashy-ness" to me and, obviously, it's stuck with me cause now that I have any way of doing anything about whether something "mine"  is deemed such by me, I totally do NOT want to look out and see something that makes me think "white trash"!!!  *sigh*  I know my worth has nothing to do with my yard, but I DO want to be a good steward and I want to feel good about the blessings Father has given.  Pressure to put the fence up.

Talk about some pressure, right?!!

Thankfully we have a little bit left from our tax return.  After paying for Jimmy's birth and covering some escroe expense, it's a lot less than I was hoping for... I'm not sure how we're buying the next round of school stuff.  I DO think we'll have enoug hin out regular budget to purchase some relatively soon... I was just hoping to use our income to get our alternate streams up and working.  *sigh*  I'm sure Father will work out whatever I cannot figure out right now!  I think, though, that what we have left just MIGHT be enough to get the whole yard encompassed about by privacy fencing (with gates! as a result of the trip today).  This may be possible, BUT only because I was able to buy 19 panels (not all of them 8 feet long... but the amount of wood I bought I could've NEVER got for what I paid!!).  I also bought 30 posts, 10 of which I'll leave in the trailer I borrowed from my neighbor.  He'll need to buy at least 5 times that many to put his fence up, but since they were $3 each, I think we both got a good deal from my borrowing his trailer.  :)  I DO hope he feels that way!!!  So, I paid out just under $200 for 19 panels (brand new at Lowes they cost around $36!!!) and 30 posts (at Lowes they cost around $7!!!).  So, we saved a BUNCH of money!  We're going to use Lowes for the panels (as many as we need or can afford, whichever ends/comes first. ^_^) and galvenized screws cause their pricing beat out Home Depot.  But I'm glad to save as much as I have cause it's more likely we'll be able to get the whole fence up now than it seemed before!

So, hopefully we'll have the whole fence up within the next month or so.  Given that Jess only has one whole day off each week, that's a pretty high hope... but God can make it happen!

Do you have any huge projects pending?  What is your pressure/incentive to get it done?
Hope to hear from you!
tori