Have You Seen Our Fence ??

Matthew Crowell built it. Mostly Matthew. But he had lots of help and made friends with neighbors in the process.

This project was a nightmare that entertained our marriage the entire month of May. Mostly because the "deal" made, in order to build our fence, was getting it done before Memorial Day. This was due to our annual party and hoping to have a fence up. Not unreasonable. Especially if the builder was going to include it in the selling price of the house! That's neither here nor there. I guess--we they got it done in the knick of time (2 hours before the party!?!).
I just never grasped what Matthew building the fence truly meant. We had a few 2-3 am mornings of working in the shop, daily routine of work until 6:30 pm and fencing it until 9:00 or so.

The beginning seemed simple. But I had never poured concrete! Matthew was getting a workout! I bet he lost 15 lbs. It seemed like he was digging and pouring forever. Dig/pour day after day.

 The Crowell Crew put our handprints in one of the post holes before it was covered up. Well, the girls and I did. I think Matthew's handprints are all over the almost finished product.

Here are the pictures of the progression. I must admit, I am happy with the job that Matthew did. And not just Matthew but Bert, David, Koby, and James. We are in debt to a lot of people and future happy hours.

The little helpers!

 Digging more post holes. Working Man!

 The Denton's came over to help one Sunday.

Landry and Char Char were great helpers too!

Eventually....

The fence and framing. Matthew welded a metal frame and it might be totally overengineered but you can start to see it behind the trees.

My view from the kitchen window. Lots of supppers were eaten late night or not at all.

You can see how the last touches are being done. Matthew does love this kind of thing and I'm glad he has a hobby; even if I am not anywhere near being a welder.

Then we had a mini project to take a break from the fence. We put down some flagstone where we had gravel. It was terrible tracking it through the house and our drainage issues. Problem. Solved. I think Matthew needed to shift gears too.

Back to the fence......

The first two boards that went up. Matthew got them in and had a few issues with the screws. However, he held out the hope that James would be coming in to save the day. And he did for Memorial Day!

Here are the finale pictures on Memorial Day. The project wrapped up, not quite completely, but right before our annual party.

Today this is what it looks like. It isn't 100% complete. We still have to put up the single boards, finish the gate, the side fence, etc. Proud of the dedication Matthew has shown and his almost finished product!

It's a pretty cool fence and who even notices those?! Well, I do now. And our next family photo session will be taken in front of it!