Fence Building and Leaky Walls

Fence Building and Leaky Walls

My fiance, Paul and I have spent 3 years dreaming in a tiny little apartment, of having a farm someday. And that time has finally come. I wanted to start a blog to share the stories of trial and errors I am sure to come.

The walls of our small apartment home have shrunk exceedingly fast in the past year, since the addition of our moose size dog, Parker. He is the range of 80 pounds and about a year old. Every time I leave the house for an extended amount of time, he grows, I swear. But dogs are about the only thing that grow at this dysfunctional, north-facing, plant hating, abode. I want a garden so badly. My potted attempt in the only sunny spot near my house was a failure. I think I got 3 peppers. The neighbor kids stole the rest. Dang heathens. And don’t even get me started on neighbors.

I am not particularly a people person. While I find the antics of our neighbors amusing sometimes, it doesn’t make up for the waterbeds flooding our downstairs apartment, or the knocks on the door at any hour of the night. Paul is an uber people person (is that a thing? It is now). He can’t walk out the door without being accosted by some person, wanting some thing. I won’t miss that when I leave.

This place has been good. It was our first home together. I am almost, almost, almost sad to leave. But I am excited for the new adventures to come.

 The new place is a 3 bedroom mobile home on a concrete foundation (it makes me feel good to point out the foundation. It makes it more home and less mobile). There are 5 fenced acres, a barn, and a small tool shed. Did I mention the porch? It has a HUGE porch with a lovely tin roof. I can’t wait for the first rain storm, provided we get the multitude of leaks fixed.

Speaking of leaks… The disaster inside our bedroom wall was discovered simply because I decided I wanted to go ahead and remove the hideous purple carpet. All of the carpets were purple, and nasty. So my finance and wonderful father begrudgingly agreed and ripped it up. That is when we discovered the very soft spot in the floor. And then the very soft spot in the wall. 1 hour later all of the drywall was off the wall and several boards inside had been rotted through. There is a leak somewhere on that wall and I don’t care if we have to use 20 cans of caulk, we will seal the whole dang inside of the wall if need be.  

 While the boys rebuilt and patched the wall and floor, my mom and I built a fence. We told my brother that on the phone and assumed we meant we watched while Paul and Dad did the work. No. My mom and I did all of the work. We extended the current dog kennel that was outside. My mom drove T-Posts (I was so impressed). I dug a misaligned ditch for the fence panel to sit down into. (Lesson #1, if you are going to take the time to dig a ditch for your fence to sit in, set the fence panel up, and then paint or mark the line somehow. Don’t just guess.)

Then we wired the cattle panel to the new posts and, voila. My dog kennel is now twice as big. My moose and puppy dog are going to be so happy. And do you know how much this fence cost me? Nothing. The cattle panel and t-posts were found in the barn. Which is good, because repairs on the house ran much higher than we were hoping. Hence the name, Penniless Acres…