DAY 7 of the FENCE

Well we made more progress today although it was slow progress. When I look back at where we started this weekend we made a lot of progress.

Starting Friday all we had was 4 holes dug and 4 poles concreted in.

Pic starting on Friday

Left side of the yard

Right side of the yard

Sunday Afternoon we dug 34 holes, installed 34 poles, lifted and mixed 34 bags of 80lb concrete, back filled 34 holes and tamped them down and started to install the bracing boards. And yes my grass went from mostly green to brown in just one week....that's what happens when you don't water the grass in 90+ degree temps.

Pic end of day Sunday

Left side of the yard

Right side of the yard

So whats next? finish putting up the bracing and then start on the pickets. There is no rush in getting this completed so my guess is this project will be done sometime in June. We are taking a mini break next weekend...I think we are working Saturday morning (but I'm not sure) and then going to a party Saturday night, then taking Sunday off.

The big push for the fence was because of Colt (the rescue dog) but since that has fallen through I can handle the temporary fence just a little longer:)

Overworked and Extermely Sore

Lesson number one.....hire a professional company to put up your fence. DO NOT do it yourself
Lesson number two....if you didn't learn lesson number one then make sure you rent one of these

Lesson number three.....DO NOT install your fence in record heat!

This fence is taking much longer than I was expecting. So let me run down the my wonderful experience of putting up a fence.

Pre installation: 33 days of fighting for the fence permit!

Day1: Excited, all materials were delivered and Mitch, dad and myself (really the gofer girl) started to dig. Realizing the ground was as hard as a rock. After 8 hours of digging we got 2 holes dug and called it a day.

Day2: Frustrated we went back to digging and after 12 hours were able to get two more holes dug and four poles up.

Day3: contacted friends and fencing companies to find out what to use then called rental companies to get a Bob Cat and proper auger.

Day4: Mitch picks up the Bob Cat and after 5 hours finished drilling 34 holes. Amazing progress!

Day5: Starting at 7am because the heat is supposed to be in the 90's. Mitch, Dad and myself started to move all the material to the back yard. Then Dad and Mitch work on securing the poles for concrete. 9:15 mom and Bob made it and started to mix the concrete and pour into holes. By 10:30ish Jeff showed up to help with concrete. Day ended at 5:30 when food arrived (thanks to Eva). After dinner Mitch and I cleaned up with some help.

Day 6: More progress was made! 7:15 Mitch showed up...much earlier than I expected. 8:00 Dad showed up and between the three of us we go the other 12 poles secured and concreted in.12:00 heat was blazing and Mom called and asked if we wanted subway. 1:00pm Mom and Bob showed up with Subway in hand and we had lunch. 1:30 Jeff showed up and we did mostly clean up work and moving more materials into location. 3:00 I called it a day for everyone. The heat was to much for everyone and I shut it down. Mitch and I cleaned up all the tools and called it a day.

Now I'm here laying on my couch with almost all muscles in my body aching and trying to get laundry done which I've neglected for two weeks. I'm wishing I learned lesson one BEFORE I started this process. Tomorrow will be Day7 and Mitch is planning on starting at 7am but this time we will stop at noon....its going to be another hot one!!!

OVER IT!!!!!!

So I sent an email to the foster parents asking if I'm still in the running. I did receive an email saying that I am in the running and if I would be interested in driving up to Michigan (a 5 hour drive) this weekend. 

After talking to Mitch there was no way for us to drive up this weekend because we are putting up the fence. So we looked at our calendars and figured we could drive the distance June 9/10. So I sent an email to the foster parents letting them know when we could make it up there and this is the response I received.

"If Colt is still available by then and we are not up north that may work.  I'll get back to you on that after this holiday weekend."

All this tells me is that this is a game. So what if I drive all the way up there, pay for a hotel room and fall in love with colt only to find out they didn't like me for what ever the reason.

I'm OVER IT!!!!!

I'm done, stick a fork in my and get me off the burner because I'm really done. 

This has been to long of a process and it's ridiculous!!! 

So, plan B....find a breeder.

GOD I'M SO OVER THIS!!!!!!!

By the way, I withdrew my application tonight from the rescue. I sent a message to the state coordinator letting her know that I am withdrawing my application and why I am withdrawing it. I was nice but straight forward...I'm really over it.

Dog Adoption - is it ever going to happen?

I know I'm inpatient but come on people it shouldn't take this long to adopt a dog. I've been working on this brittany since mid April and still nothing.

My experience so far is something like:
Fill out application
Talk to State coordinator about home visit
Hear nothing
Call state coordinator about home visit
Visit is schedule
Guy come out and gives thumbs up
Hear nothing.
Email Colts foster parents Find out Colt has 20+ applications
Hear nothing
Contact Colts foster parents who let me know they are waiting for the home visit
Spend entire day contacting everyone asking for the paper work
Hear nothing
State Coordinator calls me to finish filling out paper work...submits
Hear nothing
Email Foster parents to find out if I'm even still in the running
Now I wait!!

I was originally in the top ten which gave me hope that maybe, just maybe I will get this dog, but then the waiting makes me wonder if I was not the top pick.

All I have to say is if this one falls through I'm done with the rescues. It has been too much time spent on hoping for a dog. Granted I'm looking for a very specific personality in a dog which makes this even more difficult but it shouldn't be this long...this is very irritating. So if this doesn't work out I'm going to a breeder and picking up a puppy...at least once I'm ready to take on a puppy.

UGH!!!! IRRITATING!!!!

Exhausted

So my excitement about the fence quickly faded as soon as we began to dig. We had it all set up. Mitch brought down his tractor with the auger attachment. We brought out all the stuff to string up where the property line is supposed to be. Our goal was to get the corner post up and set and then come back on Sunday and finish all 34 other posts.

The only thing we didn't consider is the density of the soil. The soil was as hard as a rock....literally!!! So after 4 trips to the store, two days of hard work and 2 cases of water we were able to dig out 4 holes and put up 4 posts in two days. We worked on 4 holes from 10am-7pm and then again on Sunday.
 

This is what the end of day two looked like...definitely not what I wanted it to look like.

  

At this rate it would take 8.5 weekends (sat and sun) to dig out the other 34 holes we need to dig. I quickly realized that was not going to happen. So Mitch and I sat back and brainstormed and came up with a plan.

The final plan: Simply rent a skid steer loader with an auger and according to a fencing professional I spoke with today said we should have the holes dug in 2 hours...I added a few more hours because we are amateurs and don't work with this type of equipment on a daily basis. So I'm estimating 4-6 hours we will have all the holes dug.

Here's the revised plan.
Mitch is going to pick up the equipment on Friday at noon and do a test run with it. If it works he is going to finish drilling the holes. Here's the good news about renting this weekend. The place is closed on Sat, Sun AND Mon (holiday!) So we will have this thing all weekend long for the cost of one day...still expensive but its going to be well worth the money, as least I hope.

So Friday the holes will be dug
Saturday the post will be installed and left to cure over night
Sunday and Monday we work on the rest of the fence

Then we figure out the gates.

EXCITMENT!!!!

Its almost here! After 6 months of planning and 4 weeks of the endless permit war the time has arrived!!!

My fence will be going up!

Yesterday, I drove to Menards and Lowe's and ordered all my materials.

Today Lowe's delivered the pickets, concrete, nails and a few other items. Isn't this the most awesome thing to see! I drove up to my driveway and just sat there for a moment absorbing the idea that the fence is almost here! I can't wait!!

Menards is going to deliver the rest of the stuff tomorrow. Then Saturday we will begin!

Mitch is going to bring down the tractor to drill all the holes for the posts and I'll try to get some pics of that action:) The soil around here is clay so to try to hand dig 30 some holes would be insane!! or at least that is what all my neighbors are saying.

I figure we will get the fence completed by next weekend, just in time for the patio to go in!!! Which is a whole other story!!!

 I am so so so excited!!! I will finally have a yard for my dog to run free in and she is going to be so happy. I can finally take down the temporary fence which has been an eye sore for me.

It's ugly and I can't weed eat between the temporary fence because its made of plastic and plus there is chicken wire on the inside because of Ladybug figured out she could chew through the plastic fence. Can't blame the girl for wanting out.

I will need a lot of sleep because it's going to be hard labor.....but its going up:)

Sneaky Sneaky!!!

First rule of thumb....always.... ALWAYS.... ALWAYS read your contracts before you sign!

As you know I am in the process of getting a privacy fence and concrete patio installed. Of course these items cost more money than I have in the bank so a small loan was necessary. I called my bank about a month ago to get pre-approved for a loan and I got the amount I was needing.

I decided to wait on getting the loan because, first - I didn't want to start paying on a loan to early and since my patio and fence were not going up until mid May I could wait on the loan. Second - there could always be a delay in getting started because of the weather...which there was.

Anyway, the bank called me yesterday because the pre-approval is only good for 45 days and I was getting close to the 45 days. I decided to go ahead and get the money that way it was ready to go. Plus, I didn't want to do the loan application again and ding my credit score. 

Remember the whole process is over the phone.

The lady provides me a link to go in and electronically sign. So I go to the link and start to read the document and on the second page of the eight page document is a section called APPLICATION DISCLOSURE FOR DEBT PROTECTION PLAN. Its broken down into Death protection, Disability protection and Involuntary Unemployment protection.

As I am looking at this I notice all three of those were checked which added about $3 per $1000 I borrowed!

RED FLAG!!!

What the???? why is this checked...maybe its a new mandatory fee. With the way banks were loaning money I wouldn't have been surprised. But wait...what does this say at the top of the document...

"THIS PRODUCT IS OPTIONAL"

Hummm, so I call the lady back and asked her why these were checked and if we could remove them. She said, Oh let me see what your file requires. So I start to read her the paragraph....

"This product is optional. Your purchase of the Debt protection Plan is optional. Whether or not you purchase this protection will not affect your application for credit or the terms of any existing credit agreement......"

I didn't even get to finish the paragraph before she said "oh, no problem we can remove that".

Oh, but of course you can. So she removed it, resent it and off I went to finish reading the entire document even closer, then signed.

I'm so glad my dad taught me over the years to read any document I was going to sign. It may take a little time but it also has proven to save me money, just like in this case

Now I just wonder how many people don't read the document and just go ahead and sign on the line. I'm guessing enough that it allows her to keep trying to sneak it in. I'm glad I caught it.