The cats are out of the house! Finally!!

See these 3 boys? They are making me crazy. The black one is noisy, the white one sneezes all over, and they all shed fur like mad. We've lived in this house for 2 years... it's time for them to go outside. We decided that if we put a fence around the yard, we wouldn't have to worry about dogs getting into the yard and eating the cats. So, during my spring break (the first week of April) we started the process of putting up a fence.

 First we had to get the yard ready and this huge stump was a big road-block.

We broke a come-along ratchet thingy in 2 different places trying to pull this dumb thing out. Finally we just hooked a chain around it and attached it to my car and tugged the stupid stump out.

Then I removed all the white bricks and the 6 inches of cement that was underneath them that ran along the front of the yard. I didn't realize the cement was there. I thought I was going to just pick up some bricks. Nope. Took 2 hours and lots of digging and prying with a crow bar.

Next we had to dig 24 inch deep holes for the end posts and 18 inch deep holes for the line posts. Total 9 end posts and 10 line posts= 396 inches of digging 6-8 inch in diameter holes. SUCKED!!!

Once the holes were dug, we cut the posts to correct length and then mixed up the concrete.

After pouring cement in holes around the posts we made sure they were level and straight. (You can see my cat, Jasper, in the forground of this pic. He thinks he is helping because he is excited to be able to go outside without supervision.)

The pink string running along the tops of the posts was to help us line things up properly.

Here is Jasper, not helping.

This is the small portion of fencing in the back yard. Look closely on the right and you can see Jasper again, not helping.

We laid some brick along most of the fence line to prevent grass and weeds from growing too closely to the fence, making it difficult to mow.

Here is the completed fence in the backyard.

And the finished project in the front yard.

We installed a cat-sized door in the garage so the boys can access the outside whenever and as often as they want.

Their first time outside in many years and Squeaker and Wookie are so excited.

Look at this. They are so happy to be outside they are kissing.

Jasper is perfectly content to lay in the weeds. He loves being outside.

Wookie is off to explore. We hope these boys play safely and come home often.

The fence was started on April 4th and finished today, May 6th. It would have been done sooner, but school, work, weather, illnesses, and holidays caused us to take this project slowly. I am sooooo glad it is finally done.

Remember this tree?

Ya'll remember this tree? Last year Ben and I tried to remove it ourselves, but then we got smart and decided to hire a professional. Unfortunately he wasn't able to come until this spring... just before Sandy city's 'spring clean-up day', which was April 1st. Perfect!

 The pro was able to cut the whole thing down in under an hour.  Luckily Ben was on stand-by to pile all the wood up on the side of the road for Sandy city to come pick up the next day.

I was so amazed by how quickly the clean-up crew worked, I didn't think to take a picture of the process. I did manage to get a pic of the truck that hauled it all away.

This is how are yard looks after the clean-up crew took away the tree parts. The stump makes a great chair!

 So much better without the tree. Next on our list of things to do in our yard is to put up a fence.

Stupid Tree

Sandy City has city beautification twice a year. They come around to each house picking up yard waste and other huge piles of garbage. If you follow the blog, you've seen our previous huge piles of waste. This time around they were scheduled to come on Halloween and Ben and I decided that it was time to get rid of this huge, dumb tree that is slowly dying and falling apart.

The plan was to climb up in the tree, tie a rope on a branch as high up as possible, rent a chainsaw, cut half way through the branch, then pull on the rope. Dangerous, crazy, stupid... maybe. We wanted to try anyway. (Ben didn't believe that I could climb the tree... jerk. Of course I had to prove him wrong.) This is me in the tree.
Here I am again. You can see how high up I am and how tall the tree is. I was proud of myself for getting up this high and so was Ben. It was hard because the tree is so weak and dying. The branches practically broke under my weight.
Ben is holding the rope to show which direction the tree is supposed to fall.
So, we rented a chainsaw. Home Depot provided the protective hat, face mask, and super-cute chaps. Ben looks so cute.
Ben's friend, Wes, came over the help. Of course he wanted a chance to play with the chainsaw. We started on a large juniper stump that we had been unable to pull out with my car.

Apparently the stump was difficult for the chainsaw, too, because it died after that.
So, the stupid tree still stands... kind of. I'm sure it will break and fall apart some more this winter when it is weighed down with snow. Whatever is left will be removed (by a professional) in the spring. Stupid tree.