Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Fences
Sunday afternoon, we put up a fence. This was not the first fence we've put up, nor will it be the last, I'm sure. This particular fence was a seven foot section that stretches from the edge of the deck to the main yard boundary fence. It stands about 4.5 feet tall and has a gate in it.
Why did we put up this particular fence? To keep the dogs out of the area behind the deck. In fact, of the three fences we've put up at this location, all of them have been dog related. The first one was to set aside a section of the yard as a dog run. It stretches from the edge of the house to the yard boundary fence, and it is about 4 feet tall. We built it New Year's Eve 2001, the first month we were in the house. We put the dogs back there (it's a fairly large area - 9 feet wide by about 25 feet long) and while they complained, we thought we had a good solution to having the dogs outside while we had company over. That thought lasted about 4 hours until Rolf decided he could jump the fence, and did. Now we use it as a "cat run" instead.
Our second fence was the fence that set off Anna's garden area from the rest of the back yard. It's a much longer stretch, about 80 feet of fence, and the width of the garden varies along the fence line. That fence, too, was set up to keep the dogs out of Anna's garden. But since we wanted to still be able to see the garden from the yard, we build that fence about 4.5 feet tall and spaced the pickets apart on picket width between pickets. It keeps the dogs out and doesn't look too ugly in the process.
When I decided to create a blog post on fences, I thought about all kinds of barriers, not just wooden slat fences tied to steel fence posts planted in concrete. All this thinking about barriers reminds me of my favorite barrier - the railing. What memories...
But the best part about putting up the fence Sunday afternoon was that the weather permitted it. Not only was the warm sunny day perfect for building a fence, but it was also ideal for a backyard cookout on the deck. Which we did, inviting several of our neighbors to join us. That's one of the things I love about living in Texas. It's the middle of February, and while a large portion of the rest of the country can barely look outside without seeing frozen water all around, I'm in a t-shirt and shorts grilling steak, chicken, Italian sausage, pork chops, hamburgers, and hot dogs. Yum yum yum!
Entire contents of this site © 2003-2008 Eriq Oliver Neale/Simultaneous Pancakes Media unless otherwise noted. I hate that I have to point that out...Why did we put up this particular fence? To keep the dogs out of the area behind the deck. In fact, of the three fences we've put up at this location, all of them have been dog related. The first one was to set aside a section of the yard as a dog run. It stretches from the edge of the house to the yard boundary fence, and it is about 4 feet tall. We built it New Year's Eve 2001, the first month we were in the house. We put the dogs back there (it's a fairly large area - 9 feet wide by about 25 feet long) and while they complained, we thought we had a good solution to having the dogs outside while we had company over. That thought lasted about 4 hours until Rolf decided he could jump the fence, and did. Now we use it as a "cat run" instead.
Our second fence was the fence that set off Anna's garden area from the rest of the back yard. It's a much longer stretch, about 80 feet of fence, and the width of the garden varies along the fence line. That fence, too, was set up to keep the dogs out of Anna's garden. But since we wanted to still be able to see the garden from the yard, we build that fence about 4.5 feet tall and spaced the pickets apart on picket width between pickets. It keeps the dogs out and doesn't look too ugly in the process.
When I decided to create a blog post on fences, I thought about all kinds of barriers, not just wooden slat fences tied to steel fence posts planted in concrete. All this thinking about barriers reminds me of my favorite barrier - the railing. What memories...
But the best part about putting up the fence Sunday afternoon was that the weather permitted it. Not only was the warm sunny day perfect for building a fence, but it was also ideal for a backyard cookout on the deck. Which we did, inviting several of our neighbors to join us. That's one of the things I love about living in Texas. It's the middle of February, and while a large portion of the rest of the country can barely look outside without seeing frozen water all around, I'm in a t-shirt and shorts grilling steak, chicken, Italian sausage, pork chops, hamburgers, and hot dogs. Yum yum yum!
