Hello Hive Friends,
Some crazy weather has blown through recently during the holiday week this past December, and I wanted to show the aftermath.
The first day after the snow melted, a ton of rain fell which made the soil become extremely soft and water saturated. A huge tree feel across one of the busy streets. Some parts of town were losing power due to trees falling on power lines. Even part of the interstate highway was closed for a while.
At my house our old cedar fence suffered a catastrophic failure. One of the support beams splintered and knocked over a whole section of fence.
Much of our decking and fencing was constructed with the cheapest craftsmanship and materials. This post would not have rotted out so quickly if it had been fixed to a proper support to keep the base of the wood post above the muddy soil. The strong wind knocked it over easily after the deluge.
Many other sections of the fence have also been tipping and leaning over the last two years. Our previous neighbors had installed some scrap wood supports to help buttress the fence up.
This is going to be an expensive fix for our family, but I really want to get at least the fallen portion repaired so we can feel safe and secure again.
I have to keep contacting more companies, because the main fencing company is too busy to even respond to my request for a quote. They weren't even open during the holiday break. I wonder how many weeks or months they will remain busy until they can take new jobs. Is that normal for contractors to ignore a slew of emails for quotes after returning from a holiday?
My easy-going nature often puts me at a disadvantage. In these situations I tend to become discouraged when I cannot find any help available. Eventually I learn to live with with a bothersome problem I no longer want to solve myself.
Anyway, I know some of my friends and followers have been worried about me. Other than the fence issue I am doing fine.
I have finished various ceramic projects I intended to share here on hive. The only reason I had not posted them was because the weather changed to winter, and I wanted to wait until I had some new plants I could grow to show off my creative ceramic creations, in the way they were meant to be used around the garden.
It is almost time to start planning next year's garden and sewing indoor seeds to plant in the summer garden. My heating mat broke though; it says "Err" on the thermostat control box, and I am not so enthusiastic about that dilemma either.
My little bonsai collection of trees is still in tact, and I am waiting for Spring to decide which survivors I should show off.
