Butterfly Fence

 The weather finally cooperated the last two days.  Not hot.  Not cold (just beautifully cool).  Not raining, yet not too crunchy dry as to make having a fire dangerous (I don't want to be that person whose random flying ember causes a forest fire).

I tackled the butterfly garden fence.  I can't remember if I've written about it - but in 2010 we put in a butterfly garden in the front yard.  It never really took off properly - too much shade - but there is now a lovely gardenia tree and an American beauty bush and I do get some native milkweed, along with some random wild flowers.

In order to keep the peacocks from destroying everything, we put up a fence around it, using picket fence panels.  From time to time, one would rot out, and have to be replaced.  But along came Hurricane Michael (5 years ago now) and damaged the fence.  That was the least of our worries - we had downed trees to deal with, and all the former tree canopy that was now knee deep on all the property.  By the time we got that cleaned up, Bob got diagnosed - and the fence just wasn't a high priority.

Three years ago I got Rob to take me to Home Depot and picked up a few panels to replace some rotted ones.  But since then most of the others started to fail, which gave me two options.  Talk him into coming and helping me buy and get home another 14 panels (to the tune of some $800) so that I could tear down and rebuild the fence . . . or just tear it down.  There are no peacocks to worry about any more, alas.

The old butterfly garden was depressing me.  It was, in a word, ugly and decrepit.  An eyesore.  Right there, first thing to see walking out of the door or coming home.

By last night, those old picket panels looked like this.

Today, I tackled it some more.  There were two swings out there, which didn't go together (the second one was an impulse buy).  I decided to move it to the front deck, which sounds good if you say it fast.  It was too heavy for me to drag.  So I pulled off the sunshade top, and then tried to remove the swing portion.  This would have been simple with two people - one to lift, and one to maneuver it off the hook.  On my own - I finally just pushed the whole thing over onto its side, unhooked it, dragged the two parts over, hooked it back together, and then somehow managed to tip it upright again.

Of course, each job begets yet another job.  I was thinking that I could just wash off the overhead sun shade.  But it has developed its own ecosystem of lichens.

So I need to get some sun resistant outdoor cloth and recover that.

Then for the other swing, which is looking pretty rough but I will never give it up - it can sit there until it collapses on its own.  Every time I look at it, I smile, remembering the night that we got it.

We got that swing at least 20 years ago.  We had been out shopping, and our last trip, around 8:30 p.m., was at a store called Wakama.  And there, on sale, was the yard swing that I had been looking for.  So we tell the sales person that we'll take it, to which we receive the reply of "Oh, we don't have any left."  So we ask if we can buy the floor model - which we could, with a good discount.  "We'll tag it for you, and you can come get it tomorrow."  Bob said that we lived a good hour's drive away, so we wanted to take it then.  They were reluctant; we were the only customers by then, and the staff really wanted to be able to lock the doors at 9:00 and go home.  "I'm sorry, but we don't have anyone here that can take it apart."
Bob said that wasn't a problem - he could do it.
They tried again.  "I'm sorry sir, but we don't have any tools."
Again - Bob said no problem, he had a tool bag in the car and went out to get it.
Damned customers are always right.  They knew they would be working late because of us.

He came in with the tool bag, grabbed a wrench, tossed me another one, and working together, one on each end of each piece, started taking it apart.  Fast.  Really fast.

The frowns on the faces turned to grins, then laughter, and finally applause, as we had the swing apart and the pieces stacked in less than 15 minutes.  The staff helped Bob carry them out to the car as I paid for it.  One of the sales clerks grabbed a 10% off coupon for me.  Another dug in her register and said she had a $5 off one.

They were able to lock the doors and go home by 9:00, having enjoyed the floor show.

I pulled the swing off - it's a padded cloth sling, and beyond saving (there were ferns growing from it).   And that's when I was surprised when I inspected the frame, and found that the wood is still in good shape, except for the roof.  It originally had a cloth roof that eventually disintegrated and Bob replaced it with wooden strips.  A few have rotted, but they're just 1x2 lumber and easily replaced.  I even rebuild the swing part once before when the original one finally fell apart - so I saved the old one to pull the pattern from it and I'll rebuild it.

I dragged out the garden hose and the pressure washer from the barn, and now it looks surprisingly good.

This is where the butterfly garden stands now.  The uprights for the panels are seriously dug in - I'm not sure I'd be able to get them out, and I rather like them - sort of like finding the remains of an old shack in the woods, or a witch's circle.  I'm going to plant morning glories or maybe scarlet runners beans and see if I can get them covered with vines.   I haven't decided about the gate yet (it was one of the things that I replaced three years ago).  I sort of like the whimsy of having a gate with no fence.  

And yes, it winter (at least what passes for winter here) so there's nothing much growing, but it's no longer depressingly overwhelming.  Feels good.