Wednesday, June 25, 2008

elegance, redefined

now that we've settled in our sweet little house, the one that we bought because it didn't have many problems that we would have to fix ourselves, we've experienced the minor inconveniences listed in the homeowner's handbook under the category of "fixing broken things". It's inevitable, right? Like the water heater that broke 12 hours before we got home from Ukraine and all we wanted was a nice hot shower and a warm bed that did not smell of potatoes after flying for 20+ hours. Or the oven that somehow secretes hot air up through some vent and has turned the knob above it forever brown. Such things we usually employ the knowing mind of one Mr. Lynn Lowrie.

However, on one Sunday in the not too distant past, when the week of severe winds hit our neighborhood, we stumbled upon our very first do it yourself, really all by yourself project. I had been anticipating this event for about a month as I watched our backyard fence slowly peel itself away from the posts and flap freely in the breezes. In my mind's eye, I always saw it rip off and proceed to blow right onto our back patio, rusty nails sticking out everywhere and breaking the glass on our back door. I'd already mentally picked out the replacement doors, which were SO much better than the ones we have now. No one can say I am not a planner. Though I'm pretty sure no one ever says that I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal either. Back to our fence... I wake up from a nice little Sunday nap and walk to the back patio just in time to see the final nail in the flapping portion of our fence give way. I watch it fall in almost slow motion and hit the grass with a soft 'plop' in a very safe and non dramatic fashion.

Excited to assess the situation, I go outside and notice that Jack is just staring at the opening in the fence like he just doesn't know what to do with himself. He must have realized it was Sunday because he didn't waste another moment exerting the effort to actually go through the gaping hole, he just went back to sleep in his spot on the patio. A quick glimpse at the house behind ours, sans fence, and I am relieved that I live on my side of the fence. VERY relieved.

Cue Zach Lowrie, homeowner and groggy from a nice long nap. We decide to hurry up and 'fix' the fence before Dutch wakes up. I won't go into detail about all of the solutions we tried to get our fence back to its quasi-normal status but I will tell you it involved all of the following: scrounging for nails longer than 1/2 inch, a trip to the parent's house to find said nails, random peices of wood, frustration, wind gusts, bent nails, rusty nails, wood too old and hardend by nature to actually accept a nail, clotheline, a trip behind the fence over dead limbs and brush (put there to deter trespassers), and no less than 3 misquito bites, 2 splinters and 1 scratched shin.

After all was said and done, we had one newly constructed portion of a backyard fence and a resolve to see how much it would cost to hire someone else to put up a new one. You can see our proud handiwork below.






side note: i had decided to move forth in my efforts to be more 'green' and had purchased clothesline just one day prior to hang my clothes outside to dry in true green fashion (or is that white trash... I can't decide). It was put to much better use keeping our fence together.
side side note: destiny's comment has inspired me to change the title of this blog. Thanks Des!

2 comments:

Des said...

I think that it's elegant :)

Missie Rose said...

concerning the title: "elegance, redefined"

is that pertaining to the clothesline or the fence?!?

because i think the fence is STRAPPY, like, "what a strappy young man", and the clothesline is all of the above.