DIY Weekend

My wife was back home in the Chicago area over the past 4 days visiting family--which left me at the house with 3 dogs--Reagan, Lexi and Bryn; an aquatic lizard called an Axolotl named Venus, and 2 guinea pigs--Mocha and Latte. So in addition to taking care of the Gunner Family Zoo at the house all weekend--I also took advantage of the warm weather we had with very little wind to do some back yard work and replace some missing fence pickets.

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Wooden privacy fences have NEVER been my favorite thing, because I've always thought them to be rather unsightly and a pain to take care of. Especially if you're going as far as to regularly stain them and keep them clean so that they DON'T appear unsightly. Over time, that fresh new pretty wood will become dark and dingy due to weather and outdoor conditions if you don't stain it. And eventually, it will either warp and start to bow, coming undone from the cross beans it's nailed to; or parts of each picket will develop knots or even crack or break.

That was the case with the house we bought. And probably 99% of the homes in our subdivision have the exact same fence. The whole neighborhood was built by a local builder and there are similar floor plans and houses all scattered throughout our little section of town. That was my weekend--replacing fence pickets. First, having to count how many I needed and then measuring to get the correct width and length to fit. Off to the DIY Home Repair store I went, and about 40 minutes later, I was back home with the 7 replacement pickets I needed for my project.

Then it was time to clear the broken pieces and all the nails that went with them off the anchor beams so that I could nail on the new pieces. I'm happy to have the holes and jagged broken pieces replaced with new pickets-but now I have a multi-colored fence with dark boards and fresh new ones. Wonder how long it'll take before they all match again? With my luck, by that time, I'll have to replace a few more boards in the process--seems never ending. I think the moral of this story is--go with PVC fencing if you can. It's pretty, sturdy, and the color never fades... and you don't have to replace individual boards on your honey-do list while the wife is out of town. :-)