>I took Friday off of work so that I could focus my time on my thesis. I am under the gun to get it done and I struggle with my super-procrastinator powers. So did I work on my thesis? Of course not.

View from half-way up Mt. Pisgah

Rather, I decided to keep a promise to my wife that I would get the back fence finished. So, on Friday I made the first of several trips to Home Depot for supplies. Then I tore out the old fence, dug post holes, put in new posts (pressure treated), filled the holes with concrete and let them sit over night. Saturday I got up early, met a friend at a local hill (Mt. Pisgah) and climbed to the top and back. Then another trip to Home Depot, and more work on the fence.

I decided that the fence needed something more than a few boards nailed up to block the view and keep us safer. So I extended the fence higher with a labor intensive hand-made lattice screen made of vertical only boards. I also wanted the screen to look and feel separate from the rest of the fence. I guess I wanted something that was a little more “architectural,” maybe my own little corner of Alvar Aalto or Pietro Belluschi. So the lattice work extends below the top of the foundational 6ft fence by about 5 inches, and then to over 2ft above the fence. It also sticks out about an inch from the fence to give it a more three dimensional look. Overall I like the choice I made, but it took much longer to construct than anticipated.

As the sun was setting on Sunday evening I had about a hour of work left and I was exhausted. My feet were killing me from standing for three days in the wrong shoes. I was sun burnt and covered in grime. But just as it was getting almost too dark to continue I finished, cleaned up my mess, downed a beer, and then went to bed.

And that was my weekend, for the most part. At least the fence got completed!

And the dog saw the whole thing.