“Remoted” – Day 139 (Sunday)

Fenced front yard.

The front yard fence is done and the Fortress of Solitude is secure. I was home and didn’t even hear Neighbor Guy out there working on it this afternoon. I happened to look outside and saw him toiling away on the final panel before the second gate. Now I can simply open the front door to let the dogs out and they can't wander off. No more making sure I have shoes to walk down the back stairs (or fall, as it happens) to get to the backyard gate. I have imagined this for four years. Before being a homeowner with dogs, being fenced in was the last thing I would have ever wanted.

The new vinyl fence is much nicer than the crap wood fence it replaced. The original fence was more of a rough idea of a fence which ran on two of the three sides of the yard. It was basically two cross posts between the upright posts and enough clearance underneath for the dogs to walk under it without even ducking. 

Remnants of the old,
before the new fence.

Someone leaving the Nuisance House across the street one winter night in 2019 drove into and knocked over the center post at the rosebush. It looked crappy and embarrassing for a year and a half, but now it's better and the front yard no longer looks like abandoned property. There are gates at each side of the yard, making the front door accessible from both paved parking spots.

Now that it’s all installed, it’s time to get busy with planting. Or more exactly, replanting. The only undisturbed plant from the original yard plants is the rosebush. The giant hosta and orange lilies that were removed to accommodate the corner fence post holes are still laying in the back yard. The plan was to temporarily replant them like I did with the irises, but by the time they were wrestled from the ground, I was tired and just plopped them all in a pile in the back yard, with the plan to replant them “tomorrow.” At this point, they’ve been heaped near the A/C unit for a month of tomorrows. Might all be dead. I guess we’ll see next spring, assuming I get them into the ground. 

The bleeding heart at the front door has grown wildly out of control. It started as one small plant dug from my friend’s yard, and now it is many plats in a huge cluster. At least I already have plants at hand to work with. I just need to get back outside to play in the dirt.