Fence Post

   Living in one of the most unaffordable cities in North America has encouraged Josh and I to discover new abilities and learn new skills out of necessity. There is so much to be done on our little rancher to make it a safe and cosy place to live and some things come with an hourglass tipped over so we need to do them in a timely manner. Because we can't afford to hire someone, we just do it. So when our watermain broke last winter, Josh got digging and between him and my brother-in-law they dug a giant trench the length of our house and only called the professionals to hook it up to the city pipe.

Westin helping Daddy

    Our fence became another one of those things we couldn't ignore. At first we though some bored kids were knocking out fence boards, but soon came to realize that parts of it were so rotted that even small gusts of wind were making them fall out.  After Rowan escaped one day through a hole we knew we couldn't put it off any longer. So we ordered the panels and posts and Josh began the arduous process. I won't bore you with the details, but in a nutshell it was lots of digging and axing through giant left-over tree roots, much measuring, much cement mixing and  gravel and cement pouring and the endless search for stones to throw in the post holes to steady it for the cement. Each post seemed to take ages and as the auger seemed more and more dangerous Josh replaced it with hand digging, no easy feat for such deep holes.


Vision + Perserverance = Success
 

The long, long fence line

Just watching the action

Loving the sun and the dirt piles

Ditto

Now what to do with that space...

Proud Papa

Our future kitchen cabinet doors once they're planed

   With some help from Josh's parents, many long hours and just enough dry days to complete the cement pouring, the fence was finally finished and boy is it beautiful! As the days passed and I became more and more impressed with Josh's persistence, I could see that his recipe for success was more than hard work; it was his strong vision. From the moment he picked up his shovel he could see our new fence standing strong and straight, and he worked hard until his reality matched his vision. It's something a lot of us know in our hearts, but it was great to see it played out so beautifully. It's nice when others remind us of these truths just by example.