Fence Destruction 101

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the photo essay of Paco's fence tear down/rebuild wake. We began Friday afternoon. Linda, her husband Bill, and Donyale came over to tear down the fence and put in the posts.

The fence before:

This is the view looking out from the house. The other side is the really disturbing one, as you can clearly see Paco's pre-death struggle, but I will refrain from posting pictures of it. I've had over a week to get used to it, you haven't.

The tear down took about 5 minutes. Here I am getting aggro:

And this is what our yard looks like without a fence:

We had to break up the cement so we could dig the post holes down far enough. Linda, who was initially scared of the sledge, learned to really like it:

We mixed cement in a wheelbarrow and set the posts:

Admiring the work:

Paco managed to leave his mark:

The job ended up going way faster than we expected, but we had to halt work and let the cement dry overnight before we could go any farther. So we took "Soche the Roach" out to the bar.

The next day we got an early start. Volunteer labor began showing up. Even my parents made a guest appearance:

We measured twice and cut once...

... put the planks in place...

... and trimmed off the excess...

... bam!

Everyone had a job. This was the puppy brigade (see if you can spot a sleeping Xolo):

The fence was topped off with a 2"x6" and a 1" trim. Everyone grabbed a paintbrush, battled the insane fumes, and the fence was sealed and complete in no time. The results:

You can see the puddles of sealant:

By the light of day:

Already the change is profound. Just to not have to look at that fence makes a huge difference. And it was quite touching to see everyone who came out to help celebrate Paco's life.

His ashes arrived Thursday, so he was able to attend as well. His kitchen table shrine kept getting bigger and bigger as people added to the cards and gifts that have been arriving all week. More than a few tears were shed, but overall the mood was positive, which is how Paco would have wanted it. In fact, I think he would have rated it a "two-bowl" party.

And it's a good thing so many folks showed up to help as our in-house Mexican labor was not up for the task.