A Job Well Done

We are grateful to whomever installed this fence many, many, many years ago for it not only made our property even more charming but it kept our girls safe as they grew. A few years ago, when an ice storm brought down a major branch and ended the life of the girls' swing set the fence sustained so much damage too. Many discussions were had regarding the fence. Do we take it down and replace? Or take it down and transform the look of the property? I'll let you decide which one of us held each opinion (and chances are you may be surprised). After finally getting an estimate from a fence guy almost one year ago we realized that it was time to send this fence into full retirement as it would cost us $24,000 to replace it. And so, with gorgeous weather forecast for this weekend a dumpster was secured and the job was begun (and completed)! The tree trunk near the mailbox will come down tomorrow and the mailbox needs to be replaced (with something much prettier). We are all in awe of how much we love the new look of our property! We four were worried it was going to look strange, or that we'd really dislike it,, but we are all over the moon at how gorgeous it has turned out to be! Yet another blessing of this pandemic is that we were able to get this major project done all in the span of a day! So grateful for this gift of time that we have been given and the chance to do so many tasks and projects around the house to make our sweet, old farmhouse (and her grounds) even more lovely! xo 

The Branch

Around 9:00pm on December 23, Dave got a text from one of our neighbors telling us a massive branch just took out the girls swing-set. The ice from the storm had proven too much for the branch and down it came and with it the end of the girls' swing-set. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see this in the dark of night, and even more heartbreaking to get a closer look at the damage when we got back from church on Christmas Eve morning. Though they had outgrown many of the pieces of the swing-set, they still used the swings (and the four person glider) quite often. We most likely would have made the decision to take it down this coming summer (or at least by mid-autumn) but to have the decision made for us in such a violent way was just so heartbreaking. 

In addition to the decimated swing-set, the fence sustained a fair amount of damage too. It was already in need of some fixing and painting and now even more so. 

A few weeks later we realized that the other major question that we needed to figure out an answer to was who to offer this wood to. Free for the taking as long as they'd be up for coming to get it. Then it dawned on me: my friend Laura's family has a wood-stove! I quickly sent her a text and some pictures of the branch to see if her husband may want the wood. They replied back yes and Dave and Josh chose a date to deal with the branch. 

And so, today, Josh and his sons came over to tackle this massive branch. With the help of his trusty chainsaw the guys had all the wood chopped up and in Josh's truck in just a smidge over an hour. With the branch turned into logs we could now see just how much damage was done to the fence. And while, I do not have a picture of it (yet), I will say it is quite significant and rather sad.

Thank you Josh and Laura for adopting our branch! We are so glad that the wood could go to such a good home and that it will keep you and your sweet family cozy and warm! xo