A Different Perspective on Life...and /or The End of the Fence Saga

I know many of you enjoyed reading about our "Fixer Upper" Fence project...(Click HERE if you missed it), and now I feel like I have to give you the final episode and we can be done with this story...We could probably name our new fence "The Eyes Have It"...

This Owlie face is smiling at me every time I open the gate...

And these little Sand Hill Crane faces remind me of our many such birds that live in our neighborhood:

(Doesn't everyone see faces in their fences? Surely it's not just ME!)  (maybe I have been living in the woods too long...)

So, moving right along...
All of that demolition of our old fence resulted in many piles of discarded old fence slats, broken, brittle lattice, vines and general debris scattered and piled in several places throughout our back yard.

My original thought was that we would eventually have a big bonfire, (or several big bonfires) to get rid of all that stuff...but with the current drought in our area there will be NO burning for a long time.  So we couldn't leave it here forever...I mean, it was a mess...rusty old nails, staples, scraps of wood, just a too much to ignore or overlook...

So finally we determined to get it all loaded up and take it to the county landfill, which is about 40 miles away.  Thankfully, a friend of ours loaned us a flatbed trailer to haul it all:

The guys loaded it all up and wrapped it securely in tarps, secured with bungee cords, etc., and off we went.  The trip to the dump was thankfully uneventful...had to stop once to resecure the tarp and bungee cords, but that was all.  Hubby and I followed our son just in case he ran into a problem.

Anyway, once we got to the landfill, they had to weigh in to determine the fee for depositing all of this lovely stuff, and then they had to drive the truck and trailer up onto the high mountain of trash to unload all of the stuff.

photo courtesy of http://www.marioncountyfl.org/departments-agencies/departments-o-z/solid-waste/marion-county-baseline-landfill

 I sat in our car down below and waiting for them to return, just listening to the radio and basically not paying much attention to anything around me, except to watch for them to return.

Then all of a sudden I heard the familiar call of an eagle, and looked up and saw two eagles soaring above me, coming from the top of the landfill with some kind of materials in their talons, apparently for nest building or something...didn't look like food...but I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch a picture then.  But you can bet I whipped out my camera right away and watched and waited for them to return, and here is what I finally was able to capture:


Yes, there was a magnificent eagle, sitting high up on the "mountain" of trash...sharing the view with quite a few buzzards and other types of  birds, each waiting for their share of the "goods"

 See the eagle flying?

 There were so many birds flying overhead I couldn't keep track of them all...many vultures, eagles, hawks, sea gulls...

But this eagle kept going back to his 'kingdom' of trash...

Isn't he magnificent?

Oh, look!  Here's two of them together...for a moment...

And then he's all alone again...for now...

 Wow!!!  Those few minutes watching those magnificent birds just "flew" by (no pun intended...), and before I knew it, the guys were coming back down the "mountain" and were there waiting for me to catch up with them and head back home.

They had stories of driving through and walking upon mountains of putrid trash to unload the trailer and couldn't wait to get home and get rid of the stench...and I had stories of seeing that "mountain" of trash from a totally different perspective...enjoying the view of some of God's most powerful birds ever created, going about their daily routine of gathering food and materials for their home and family and soaring above the stench and ugliness of that mountain of trash...

Sometimes they say that life is what you make of it.  Some look at their lives and see only bleakness and misery and sorrow (and mountains of trash).  Others look at the same situation and see God's handiwork and beauty in the midst of the storms and difficulties of life.  I am trying to  learn to keep my eyes focused on the Lord, and no matter what garbage piles up around me...if I just look up I will see the handiwork of God on the mountaintop...

Deuteronomy 32

10.  "He found him in a desert land 

and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;

He (God) encircled him, 

He instructed him,

He kept him as the apple of His eye.

11.  As an EAGLE stirs up its nest,

hovers over its young,

spreading out its wings,

taking them up,

Carrying them on its wings,

12.  So the Lord alone led him,

and there was no foreign god with him...."

Wow!  All of that from going to the county landfill...and finally finishing the fence project once and for all!!! Amazing how God has little lessons on life out there for us...if we just look UP where the eagles are!!!   Have a blessed day my friends!!!

Our Fixer Upper-Fence Project Continued

If you have followed the recent saga of the Steiner house  "Sequel to Demo Day at Our Fixer Upper fence project, you know that we replaced just the front section and gate of our dilapidated privacy fence that surrounds the back courtyard of our home in the forest.  We had a lot of fun as a family with the original Demo Day, and the subsequent installation.  Our original plan was to wait and complete the rest of the fence a little at a time, as we could afford it.  Well, thanks to Uncle Sam and our unexpected income tax refund, we decided to go ahead and finish this project before the rest of the fence totally collapsed.  So, without further ado, let me show you what the Steiner family has been up to this past weekend:

 It started on Thursday afternoon, when the Lowes' delivery truck brought our remaining 13 sections of fence and deposited them in our yard!  When the delivery man called to tell us he was on his way, and that he was driving a semi-tractor trailer, and he asked if our road was a through street or a dead end, I had to stop and think. We are the first house on the road, and then there isn't another house on this particular road for about 2 miles, after traveling through a very winding, narrow, dirt, tree-lined forest road, which then ends up on what is known as a "key" into the lake...there are other homes there at the lake point, but no, there is no place to turn around such a big truck.  So he said he would figure it out...and a while later I could hear him coming down the road...backwards all the way to our house from the highway, which is about a third of a mile.  He had to be a pretty good driver to do that...

 Then, when I saw his truck, I understood why he brought such a big truck! Duh!!! He needed a forklift to get our fence panels off the truck and into our yard...I was afraid we were going to have to help him carry them from the truck...shows you how much I know about this...

So here they are, including one extra lattice piece to add to the Secret Garden area...(later)

So, here is the fence that needed to be removed and replaced...many slats were falling off, and those that remained were so thin, cracking and fragile, barely hanging on...some have been damaged by wandering bears who tried their best to get inside the courtyard to check out the bird feeders or just to look around...that's why we HAVE this fence in the first place...to give us a little buffer zone in the back yard  that is relatively "bear-free".

Also, all of these vines...wisteria, confederate jasmine, and honeysuckle, beautiful as the flowers may be, were getting extremely overgrown and especially intertwined and embedded in the fence slats, causing the slats to break.

Yes...VERY overgrown...

This is our back entrance to our house and courtyard...with the Secret Garden to the right under the huge magnolia tree.  Again...time, weather, and critters have pretty well worn this old fence out...

Not a very inviting or attractive entrance for our back yard neighbors...

 To begin our demolition of this part of the fence, we had to decide what to do with all the vines...

 So, our son Scott got the electric hedge trimmers and went to work...

Yes...he really went to work...bye bye vines...but they will grow back.  We didn't pull them up from the roots...(except in a few places where they were growing into the fence and we had no other choice)

And then the fence sections could come down.  We left up the inside lattice sections for now to hold the remaining vines up, but they will have to come down eventually because they are all quite fragile and falling apart as well.

This is the view of the Memorial Garden area without the privacy fence behind it. I kind of like it, but I still prefer the privacy and shade that the fence provides in that area. And I don't want the bears to come in there...just the one on the tree.... Ha Ha

More of the demolition of the old fence...only the lattice remaining holding up the vines for now

And here's the Secret Garden, without the benefit of the privacy fence behind it....not too secret anymore...and much too sunny for the ferns under the tree.  I fear they would all die without the fence to shade them from the hot southern exposure.

So now begins the replacing of the old with the new. Our wonderful two sons worked VERY hard two days in a row to complete this job.  We are SO thankful for them.

And we stay out of the way when one of them is holding a hatchet....

Hubby had the right idea...

Just so you know, I was helping them quite a bit. So was hubby. But we all had to take breaks now and then...

 Look at that mound of discarded vines!  Boo hoo...but they will grow back...

 Aren't these guys great?

 Finally calling it quits for the night.  Most of the work is done, except for the clean up of all the old fence and the vine/debris.  But that's for another day...

We still have a little work to do to finish the back entrance.  I want to put a sign above the gate...something to welcome our neighbors.  Trying to decide what to say.  Our son the sign maker will create something special.

This lamp post has never worked since we've been here. It's supposed to be electric, but we can't find any light switch that goes to it, and we've never been able to get it to light up.  So hubby suggested we put one of those little solar lights in it...and what do you know?  We have light!!  Now, why didn't I think of that???

So that is all for tonight!  Y'all come!  We'll leave a light on for you!!

On a further note...speaking of back yard neighbors...one of our very sweet neighbors brought over a delicious dessert for us this evening. We were totally surprised!  And it was VERY GOOD:

 She said I could share the recipe with you...also...she added some raspberries with the blueberries, making it extra delicious!  She brought it ready to put in the oven so we could enjoy it  hot after supper with some ice cream!!

That's exactly what we did...a great treat after all the hard work of the last couple of days...not to mention all the other normal activities of the weekend...church here at our house this morning, Palm Sunday...including communion...a beautiful time with the Lord today...seeing some answers to prayer in our little church family...so much to praise God for!

Now I am really ready to say good night!....Oh wait, if you are on my facebook, you may have already seen this, but I have to show you what we created for the Secret Garden today...(yes, in between putting up fences, etc.)

Now, before you say, "What's THAT?"...let me tell you....

 This lovely 1970's gold glass base was a lamp...which I found in the shed here when we moved to this house 5 years ago.  The electrical part no longer worked due to critters chewing through the cord, etc., and besides, who has lamps like this in their homes anymore? No offense if you do...so I've been trying to think about what to do with it for some time...and decided it would make a lovely bird bath for the Secret Garden...

So after painting all of the metal parts with a copper colored rustoleum, and reconfiguring the lamp base with a little plant stand to hold it, adding a terra cotta planter base and another turquoise flower pot for color...it became the latest addition to the Secret Garden.  I hope the birds will decide they love it!  If not, it can always be reconverted back to a lamp...

Pardon my clothes...I'm wearing my work shirt with paint on it...but that's from another story for another day...Good Night!!!

Sequel To "It's Demo Day at Our Fixer Upper"

So, if you read about our "Demo Day at Our Fixer Upper" a week or so ago, you saw that we had fun tearing down a portion of our dilapidated fence and gate in our back yard courtyard...and that's where we left off.  Over the past week we have worked at this project a little at a time...so without further adieu, here's the scoop:

Here are the guys putting up the new sections of the fence

Hubby making sure things are "on the level"...

Looks pretty good!  Quite an improvement already!

Next came my project...building the gate!  I thought my son the carpenter was going to do this, but he's been pretty busy with other jobs and really didn't have time to devote to this...and we couldn't let it go without a gate for long...

So here I am marking the slats so we know where to fasten them to the back cross pieces.  We are totally winging this...no pattern...just figuring it out as we go...

Thank goodness hubby knew how to work the drill....

So we got our part done...and now it's back to the sons' turn to install the gate....had to wait a few more days.

Finally tonight they were able to tackle this part of the project.  They had to make a few adjustments to make the gate actually fit in the space allotted....

It took a lot of teamwork, measuring, trimming, measuring, trimming...

And finally, after a lot of adjustments....here is the finished product:

 Not too bad for our first attempt at creating a gate from scratch with no pattern!!!  And it actually opens and closes!!!

And of course, just like on "fixer upper", there are some candid shots...

And some blurred shots...but that's okay...you can't see how dusty and dirty I am if it's a little fuzzy!

All in all, it was a fun family project.  We hope to do more sections of the fence as we can afford to do so.  Thankfully, there is only ONE gate!  The rest is easy peasy!!! (well, almost)

What's the old saying, "A family that prays together, stays together" ?  Well, I totally agree with that, but I'd like to add this: "A Family that works on projects together builds lots of good memories and gets things done!"  Of course, that doesn't rhyme, but I never claimed to be a poet!

So until next time....

"That's All Folks!"