a simple picket fence

Yesterday, despite the pouring rain, Tom and I (and Dolly, of course) built ourselves a 30-foot picket fence. From scratch! The only thing pre-fabricated was the gate. Tom did most of the work. He had fun pounding in four 4x4 fence posts with his new sledgehammer. His pinkie finger is a yucky shade of purple, but no injuries other than that. After that he attached two rows of 2x4 boards for the frame and put up the gate. I spaced and nailed on the 40 pickets, and... voila! Picket fence! It's not quite finished yet, though. This week we have to sand and paint it. I'm thinking purple or sky blue. I may be living in a cookie-cutter tract house, but I refuse to be limited to earth tones. Blegh. Dolly needs a bright, colorful childhood.

Before:

Dolly helps out in her new Ergo...
Finished product:

We built the fence in order to keep Benny out of our soon-to-be garden. His access has been limited now to the patio and the rocky area on one side of the house. It's a tough life for poor Benito Sanchez, but he just can't be trusted not to pee on the parsley...

Next step in the creation of our backyard oasis? On Saturday we will be purchasing 7 cubic yards of bulk compost to fill up the 4 raised garden beds that Tom built a few weekends ago...