Don't fence me in!

The fence story continues. I had a load off my mind and was free to go on to other projects once I gave in to the force.

I love the fence but we are still having escapee problems. The black chow/lab has been just rolling under it. The neighbors on the east have been corralling her for me and the neighbors on the south-west corner called to tell me where she gets out, except I knew that already. I don't want my dogs scaring little kids or getting hurt. I do want them to have the whole of the yard to play in. The old white boxer is really loving it but I have to keep that girl dog in it! I had called two weeks running and received no call from Fence Man. This was getting annoying.

On Wednesday, when the boys were all supposed to show up, I called First Girl to see what was going on with them. BigE and she went to the house, I gave them some gas money, just to see if the dogs were staying inside the fence. She mowed the yard and stayed until I got home. The boys seem to have evaporated. The Bison was back that night a little later.

Last time he worked on the basement Bison had discovered the secret entrance to the Bat Cave for me. Under the carpet on the porch was a nice, big door and a set of steps just right for taking furnaces and water heaters in and out. That was going to make life much easier.

Yesterday the fence guy, who still had not called me, sent two kids that the nephew says were ignorant of the goals of fencing. He worked with them to get things pegged in right and tried to double check them. I hope it worked. They left him some parts so we can fill in what they might have missed. I think that is the last I will see of them so here it is.

Belding Fence Company, Belding Michigan. Very personable owner. Very fair pricing. Willing to reuse fence or sell you discounted used fencing. Johnny on the spot for estimate. They were late or a no call/no show for every time scheduled after that. I was not happy about that.

Poor supervision of employees lead to re-posting one boundry and half of another. Rhubarb was damaged, roses were damaged and it was avoidable. The north and south sides could not be pegged down as the fence was too high on the poles. In places the fencing is over the top rail and in others it is under or barely touching it. Upright poles did not have clips on the bottoms, just the top and middle, letting the dog lean on the fence and push it out to roll under. No top caps on several posts. They had cut a hole to leave a bird house alone instead of hooking to the back of the post. When they had to move that piece back eight inches to the property line they just flipped it upside down....hole is now in the bottom where anything could get in or out. They were supposed to weave in a piece.

Biggest gripe is dog getting out, second peeve is lack of contact, lateness when they were supposed to meet me. And the third gripe is that my fence looks like it was built on rolling waves, top line is not even at all. We will attack it some night when the boys are rowdy. I will shoot a line and we will trough and raise to level it. He said he would paint the old fence and it was not done.

Pick someone else UNLESS you can be there every time they come over. Then the price might tempt you to try them. Good Luck! The grands and Bison have been pegging down the fence all week with more to go tomorrow.

Last night the Bison took off to see his new friend and I was alone. I didn't feel like doing yard work, I only have one bag of mulch left. I thought I would go out to eat maybe. Then I made a call to see how my new friend was doing. I got the step dad and we talked a long time. He is just getting over a double knee surgury with complications and they have to sell their house, partly from medical bills that are forcing them into bankruptcy. Not a happy story. I listened and talked and we found some things I may be able to Ebay for them to raise some funds.

This story is all too common. Some of my dearest friends, like grandparents to me, had their daughter hit by a car. Everyone knew who did it, the woman put their girl in the car and took her to the hospital. The nurse ID'ed her, the girl ID'ed her and the vehicle plate was given. But in Thinks it's a Big Town she was someone with connections daughter and never even got cited for leaving the scene of a accident, much less moving an injured (two broken legs) person when she didn't know what she was doing. And she was drunk.

My friends had their own health problems and, with the bills from the daughter's injuries, they were also forced to go bankrupt when they should have been headed for retirement. I hate these situations! So I gues I will be going back to the Big City to take some photos and do some ebay for this family to see if we can scare them up a little extra cash.

Go ahead, say it's none of my business, not my problem. I dare ya! Well, you might even be right. The way I see it is this; If I am aware of a need and I can help but don't - I am not doing what I should be for my heart to be at peace.

I lose some free time, a little gas money and a few computer hours doing the auctions....I have them to spare right now. All I do when I am free is try to find a way to stay busy anyway or I drop into the pit of despair. So maybe it's to help me that I seem to be finding people that need a hand. Third base!

I keep hoping for some music time with my friends and some drinking time up north and to meet someone warm and friendly to spend some time with. Until the time is right for these things I may as well do some good on the planet.

When I got off the phone I started getting blue again so I headed out to visit with my bro in law and his girl while he is home from his remote job location. It's a bit of a drive but it was good for distraction. I needed to check with him on one of the mystery guns anyway. We had a good visit and I headed home thinking I would get a bite on the way. NOT.

I swear, I am going to open a chain of restruants with smoking areas called "An Owl's Roost" that are open from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. so those of us that can't keep normal hours can still go out to dinner when we want to! I'll have one house special a day, a basic menu with one or two twists, breakfast anytime and more fruits offered for desserts than junk. Real food and real cooks would be our draw, no instant anything. It could be family run and oriented, too. Backers?

The Bison came home last night and caught me by cell to tell me not to shoot him when I came in. He's not so dumb. We stayed up talking awhile and I got to bed just a little earlier than usual. That was good, I am starting to lag a lttle at work again, I need some sleep.

I bought the new water heater last week and will be trying to pick it up soon. I have to get the cement guy scheduled and then the furnace man in and then we hook up the new water heater. At that point we start on gutters and, if there is any money left, one more window. Then we start the cosmetic face lift inside. Paint and paper and carpet out and in or out forever if the floors are pretty enough. With a little luck I will be done by the first snow, LOL! I get tired just thinking about it.

Have a good weekend, all! See you Monday!