18 May 2014 - Spray Paint, Color and Fences

I have a love affair with spray paint. You can go back to the entry for 4 Aug 2012 and see older spray painted projects.  My newest spray paint project is a doozy!

It all started with the need for a better deer fence around the vegetable garden. We started with a deer fence made of netting. It worked great the first year. The second year the deer discovered they could tear through it. We repaired, repaired and repaired. Very  early this Spring, a panicked young buck took a headlong run at the fence and completely destroyed one side.  It was time for a change. 

I had been noodling about the fence for most of the winter. I told my brother I was planning on getting a fence company to set posts. Digging holes in this rocky soil is almost impossible. Thought I'd leave it to the professionals, or at least stronger backs. David listened and made noises in all the right places.  Then the following weekend he showed up with his tool bag and a truck bed full of lumber.

Okaaay.  He decided we could build the fence ourselves using some existing poles, new lumber and bolt the whole thing together. I am not one to argue with my brother. It took two days last weekend to get the bones of the fence put together.

I stained all the cross pieces green to blend into the yard. One of the best things about this fence is that it adds about 10 feet in length and another 4 feet in width over the original area we had fenced in. More room to work and grow things in!

I have had this idea in mind for quite some time. It is so much fun to get it started. Next, for the uprights. 


Step one: Primer for  my collection of old tools. 

 Step two:  Spray paint!

 

Step three: Stain the handles the same color as the fence.

Step four. Install on fence. 

 Seriously, doesn't this look like a happy row of marigolds?

 David also created finials for the posts. He drilled holes in a set of  croquet balls, gave them a coat of polyurethane sealer and installed them on the posts. Quite the finishing touch!
 
In addition to all this, David created a deer repeller. He found a cheap shovel at Home Depot, which he  promptly turned into a protective spirit for the garden. It will have a place of honor beside the gate. The face reminds me of the blue people from the movie Avatar. Oversized slanted eyes, the long nose and the big mouth. Seriously, all Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) did was scream, wail or ululate. Ay yi yi. 


I need more tools! Over the last year I gleaned quite a few of Hazel's old tools from David's yard, plus many from my hoard and Pop's stash as well. Amy told me I should be checking out estate sales. With that in mind I took a look at the classifieds this morning and noticed an estate sale about a mile away. Nothing for it but to hop in the car and go. The only yard tool available was a ratty leaf rake. They gave it to me.  Cool! 

David gave the garage another once over while he was here today (listening to me grouse about needing more tools) and came up with a pruning saw on a stick. I could use it, but I hate to. It is so old that the part that holds the saw and also attaches it to the stick is cast iron. You just don't see those anymore. Who knows, it may show up on the fence at some point. 

As Justin Wilson used to say, "Don't that purty?"