Please fence me in.

When I bought the house, I knew I needed to finish the chain link fence so that Thursday could run to her tiny heart's content while I was at work.  I "helped" build a fence in Mexico on a mission trip and I didn't remember that being traumatizing, so I figured my maintenance crew  dad, brother, and I could get it done. My dad and I went and priced fencing materials one Saturday.  After I got over the initial sticker shock (around $800 for materials for only 1 1/2 sides of a fence!) I thought i might as well try craigslist and Bart's Barn, a local Habitat resale store.  No such luck on either one.  I found a couple of people trying to sell fencing on craigslist, but it was mostly "come dig it out of my yard and then you can have it." Nothankyouverymuch.

I had resigned to pay the ridiculous amount at Home Depot when I was working late on an incredibly slow afternoon and decided to check craigslist one more time. A church about 20 minutes away was selling EXACTLY the amount of fence I needed including all the hardware, brand new, still on the pallet delivered from Home Depot for $450! So after 2 trips to the church, (there was a small hiccup involving 20 ft top rails that I didn't about) I was on my way to a brand new fence. 

Remember that fence in Mexico I supposedly helped build? I must not have actually done any of the work, because I'm sure I would have remembered this.  This is hard work! My dad started digging the post holes while I was at work and then I helped a little on the last few.  Along the way we came to some no-so-happy surprises.

See that huge patch of gray? It's concrete.  A significantly different digging experience than if it were just plain old normal dirt.  Yikes.  My hands were so sore at the end of the day, and I hardly helped with 1/4 of the work and managed to only get one blister. And I whined about it.

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have a dad and brother that will do all my handyman jobs for me? Because I am.  My brother came down the next week to dig the post holes on the other side of the house.  Once those were done the work was much easier and the fence was up in no time. I mostly stood nearby handing tools to the real workers.  Super helpful.

 I never knew a fence could look so good.

But these guys did.

Thursday took her time inspecting every inch of the perimeter.  I have a weird dog.  This is the same thing she does when I take her to the dog park - just sulks around the edge, ignoring the other dogs for a good 20 minutes, mouth frothing.  She's really good at looking like a creepy rabies dog.