During a weeknight dinner at home...
TMF, "Do you have what you need to build the fence?"
BF, "I have almost everything."
TMF, "Do you have an auger?"
Long pause. BF, "Wow, I'm impressed."
BF, "What do YOU know about augers?"
TMF, "Don't be too impressed, I don't know anything about augers. I think I heard about them on TV."
BF, "Do you know how they work?"
TMF, "Uh... how they work?"
I started guessing with a long description. There was talk of a device with a double shovel attached to a motor that digs into the ground. As I continued describing what I saw in mind, I realized how ridiculous I sounded. I eventually realized I was describing a pair of food tongs.
BF stopped me and suggested I imagine a huge screw or drill bit attached to a driver that digs into the ground.
BF, "What I think you're picturing is a post hole digger."
TMF, "A what? Oh yeah, I guess I am. So not an auger?"
BF, "No."
He proceeded to demonstrate by using a borrowed auger in the backyard.
TMF, "Oh! So that's what an auger looks like."
BF, "It's a pretty simple machine."
TMF, "Wow, I feel pretty silly after describing what I thought an auger looks like."
Hooray! One section of the new horizontal fence is being installed.
TMF, "That first section looks great!"
BF, "It does, doesn't it?"
TMF, "You know what you're going to think every day you come home and see this fence?"
BF, "No, tell me."
TMF, "You're going to remember how brutally hot it was today and remind yourself never to do this again."
BF laughs and nods his head in agreement. July in Florida is brutal.
When BF and I bought the house, there was a huge empty lot across the street. We later learned it was three individual lots. The builder/developer tried sell the lots, but the economic recession changed their plans.
Two of the lots are still uncleared and offer a nice view from our front yard.
The third lot currently has a house being built on it. From the looks of it, the house should turn out very nicely. There's a FOR SALE sign posted in front of the construction site.
I'm somewhat baffled as to why a developer would build a home before finding a buyer during these economic times. On a positive note, having such a nice new home should increase our property value. I can't complain too much.
Would you like to purchase a brand new home deep in the heart of the Mandarin? You could be our neighbors. We're very friendly and my husband is very handy :)
I'm not sure when the hole in the fence first started to appear. The wood panels were old and rotted. We knew the fence needed to be replaced, but it wasn't a high priority. At one point, BF tried propping up a fallen panel with a shovel. The panel would fall over during a strong storm. It looked really tacky.
Then one day the panel broke away and it was pointless trying to salvage it. We were left with a gaping hole in the fence. While we were determining our next projects, I begged BF to fix this one area of fencing before anything else.
As I was away one evening, BF tore down the remainder panels of the old fence. Now there's nothing.
I feel a little exposed. Although there was nothing stopping neighbors from looking inside the backyard with the gaping hole, now there's nothing.
The house is located on fairly busy road. I know it's probably a crazy notion in my mind, but I feel every car driving by looks at the house and judges.
"Oh, that's THE house."
"When are they ever going to fix the fence?"
"What is going on in there?"
"Who lives in THAT house?"
