Updated Fence Pics

We all worked on the backyard this weekend. The fence is officially finished. But, we had some clean up from construction and rain. Also, Scott painfully relocated one of our palm trees to make better use of space (look closely and you can see him behind the palm). Scout went ahead and got into the pool even though the water is getting cool. She's got a suit with floats built in, and she swims all over the pool without fear.

These pics aren't the best because they are from my phone, but they give you an idea.

Prayer Warriors Wanted

I've added a link on my sidebar to one of my sweetest college teammates Brandi who has been diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer; unbelievable since she is only in her 30's. Her blog's goal is to promote prayer for her and her family as well as keep people updated on her health and fight. Please add her to your prayer list!

Don't Fence Me In

I think it's time. We are getting a new fence. I mean, we've had the city give us about 4 or 5 "warnings" or whatever they are regarding fencery over the past few years. We've had a few sections of fence fall down after a big storm - I think that was like 2 years ago. I've called our insurance company twice to try to get them to pony up the money for a fence. They are always giving me some crap story about a deductible and they'd only replace what actually fell down...blah, blah.

Scott finally had enough of the patched and wobbly fence and had about 37 companies come out and give us estimates. I tried to stop him after 12, but I think #22 actually was the best figure. So, who's the dum-dum?

Anyway, here is a pic of our fence from a couple of years ago. You may not be able to see it, but it is leaning in toward us. And, I don't have pictures, but Scott had to replace several of these pickets (so there we many "brightly" colored wood pieces intermittently) because Waylon was wreaking havoc on them to get to the neighbor's dog and to get out of the back yard period. Yes, Waylon has yet to be neutered. Tell me about it. Construction / Demolition begins: In the picture below you can see our neighbor to the west still has the fence that we'd be sharing for the last like 7 years. You can see through it and over it. We no likey it. You can see where the new fence will run right along side of it since the 8' posts are set at the time of this pic which was last week.

Another picture below of the posts set in cement. Also, you can see the pile of destruction. This pile actually is still in our back yard as of right now.

Below: Scott and Scout checking out the newly grounded stump. Also, notice that from our backyard we see our neighbor's detached garage-side. Yes, this was a portion of our "fence." I guess whenever the old fence was built (our neighbor tells us that it was like in the 60's or 70's!) that they just connected it to the garage. So, our house has always just looked at that. I'm excited to not have that anymore.

In the picture above, you see a guy with a big stump grinder trying to hide behind that palm tree. We've had some nasty crape myrtle tree stumps that would not go away. They were roughly 18" in diameter. And, they kept sprouting wildly like a bush. Scott chainsawed them down like 3 years ago and finally got a guy out (since the fence was down) to grind them up once and for all. Craigslist is the bomb. Once the new fence is up, you won't see that white shed, or the alley, or any stumps, or anything but red ceder planks and a couple of palm trees. I'll post the after picks when it's done. It is about 3/4 done right now but it has been raining so much over the past 2 days that progresses has ceased. Rain delay. I'm not concerned. We've waited a long time for this fence. We can wait a few more days.

I Just Can't Stop

Admittingly, I've always thought the VW van/bus was intriging. I remember back in the early 80's I rode in one of my friend's parent's 70's-era VW, and none of us knew if it would make it to it's destination. Of course, G$ has her 198? Vanagon Westfalia model that is pretty stellar. But, I've been a fan of the way-back 50's or 60's models. When navigating the VW buses, it gets confusing because there were official German names like T1 and T2, but even those had several variants. Many people use common nicknames like Microbus-Splitty-or-Kombi . The main thing is that I like the passenger van with the three rows. I'm not wanting the camper because I already have a pop-up camper. I just want to roll around Big D in a pimped out ride.

I found this one website: http://www.catchthebus26.com/ that is ironically in Alamogordo, NM and appears to custom build/restore these awesome vintage VW buses.

Pretty much, I think I need one. What do you think? I can make it happen.