88 and counting

well, the fence went up yesterday. i was impressed at the way my landscapers tackled the project, it seemed like FOREVER before they got to good part - filling in the fence panels - but they seemed to measure and use the level a lot. i guess that is good, because visually it looks pretty straight.


i admit that i am not normally one to want to fence out the world. in 22 years of living here in sioux falls, i've never really had privacy from the neighbors. but almost IMMEDIATELY after the fence was up, my mind decided that i wanted to completely close in the back yard so that NO ONE CAN SEE ME. i suppose that is sort of weird. but it felt kind of cocoon-like, and sort of good.

i'll have to save some dough first. i got the first 88 feet of fence done yesterday, with probably 40-50 to go in order to completely box myself in. for a girl who grew up in the country with lots of wide-open vistas, it is a shift for sure.

i had to go back a bit to remember the house when i first saw it last july:

to be honest, this is what i loved about fern from the beginning. the lush, green landscape. unfortunately, it really consisted mostly of weeds and invasive vines. it soon became clear that everything had to go in order to 'do it right' and recreate the lush setting with good things, not weeds and overgrowth.

over the course of the winter, it became obvious that my back yard neighbors were not nearly as neat and tidy as my FRONT yard neighbors, all of whom make a wonderful little landscaped mayberry-type street. nope. an empty home directly behind me with very little visual appeal, and a big ole ugly college dilapidated mess in the corner, and directly in my line of sight every time i stared out back. by the time spring rolled around, i just was having a really tough time dealing with all of that 'ugly.'

so, ta-da, for just a few thousand $$, they are now vanished. really, seriously, it seems like they are gone. do i love the 'look' of a huge wooden barrier?

not so much. in my head, the top pictures can now start to be built back up, with all kinds of interesting trees, bushes, shade plants and ground covers in trailing, lush little niches to give my eyes pleasure, and to provide habitat for all my little creatures, who seemed to have headed out yesterday for greener pastures elsewhere.


sigh. and now, i must try to get motivated to NOT worry about the large job ahead of me....mulching and beginning the 'filling in' process. just know that in my head, it's all already finished ;)


happy day!