It Was Very Hot Today

I do not do well in heat. This is one of many reasons why I moved to and have settled down in coastal California. Today it was over 80F, which may not sound like much to you in inhumane parts of the country but is too much for this frail flower of femininity.

To avoid the worst of the heat, we timed our supply run for midday. We went back to Home Depot for fence panels to make the first segment of the fence (mostly to try it out: does this design make sense). This was irritating because it was Home Depot, so of course it was going to be irritating. Also, the panel I had carefully chosen and calculated for from the web site was not actually at the store, so we had to do a lot of quick math. But soon we were home with our pieces.

The nice part about this fence design is that the panels can be constructed on the driveway, where it is clean and smooth and work goes quickly.

The first panel had to be about 57" wide, so we laid out panels that miraculously turned out to be 57" wide with no trimming. I suspect none of the subsequent panels will be nearly as obliging.

Our cross pieces are panels ripped down the middle. We glued them to the panels with construction adhesive (this is the influence of architecture school: the overuse of glue), then screwed them together from both sides. With cross pieces on both sides, plus the glue and screws from both directions, the panel became very solid.

And there you have it. Just a little more work to be done.

We carried it to the back, Noel trimmed off the ends, and then we attached it to the posts with four L brackets.

When we had finished that, we were flush with our success and went on to put in the next fence post for the chicken yard. As you can see, it was getting later in the day and the weather was cooling down substantially. Much easier to work in.

Sometimes when we do a concrete project, we have the girls give us a grudging paw print. I guess one of them decided to just get it over with.

We had one quick break for water and some food, then the last two posts went in very quickly. We spent some extra time cleaning up the tools and putting concrete things away for the moment, until we do the chicken house.

And finally, some neighbors were clearing out a bunch of clutter and gave us these little chairs for our garden. A good place to sit at the end of a long, hot day. The pink thing is a Zoom Groom, which is Rosie's favourite way to have her winter fluff brushed off. The garden is awash in fluffy balls of black fur these days.

Our next big project is more fence panels. And tomorrow I will staple up some chicken wire (yes, I know it is not optimal for chicken fencing, but in this case I think it is what works best), and maybe go get some aviary netting for the top so we will have a real chicken yard.

Technorati Tags: digging, fence, summer

posted by ayse on 04/13/08