I think it would have been easier building the fence from scratch. But it is what it is. Working alone makes everything 10x harder. To avoid the boards twisting up I removed the fence in sections until I am ready to remove and then screw them into their final location.
I took the ride to Beaufort in the morning to hit Lowe's as the closest Home Depot is on the way into Hilton Head which would have had me backtracking to get to The Fly Barn. Of course I forgot a nozzle for the hose and found that there is a lumberyard and hardware store about a mile from me in Ridgeland. So off I went.
I stood in the outdoors section of the store staring at the nozzles they had available. I eliminated those plastic ones because I play rough and one drop and it would be toast. I was drawn to the firefighter's nozzle type, I guess because I was a firemen, and it was better constructed. When I checked out the people and the desk and I shared how expensive everything has become. From housing, to food, to fuel, and to nozzles. Those cheap nozzles, ran somewhere around nine dollars. The one above, with the taxes, $27. Twenty-seven dollars for an outdoor nozzle for a hose?
We're starting to realize that while it is cheaper down here in the Lowcountry, it's not like free cheap. Expenses are expenses. HOA, utilities, and the taxes. I tell people that our taxes went from $18,000 to $1,800, give or a take, so that is a savings for sure. But there's other taxes, like each year you pay a tax, or a millage rate, on each car you own. It's basically the county tax rate x the vehicles assessed value. Some states have it, New Jersey did not. In New Jersey there's a 6% sales tax on just about everything, here, in Jasper County the sales tax is 9%. Other counties across the state are 6%. Hilton Head is 6% surprisingly. So I contemplated the idea of finding a yard sale to find a nozzle but in the end I just swiped my card, and headed back to work.
After moving the sections it was time to tackle the 10 foot gate section. Not only is it long but it's heavy as well. By the time that I got to it I was under the cover of the big oak tree with the Spanish moss that hangs from it. If I got trapped under it at least I wouldn't burn to death waiting for someone to come and rescue me.
What you don't see above is me underneath it trying to lower it to the ground. It was all good until I had most of the weight on my shoulder and skull and luckily was able to transfer it to my arms before lowering it to the ground. Since I was dropping the height of the fence to four feet I sawzalled the eight foot posts so I could reuse them. What I spent on the nozzle I saved on the lumber.
This could have been a fun, and quicker, project if I had my son, brother, or Dad around to help. That's one thing I don't have down here, family, or friends. By the time I meet new ones this project will be done, so hopefully they'll help on the next one.
Believe it or not this property has a lot of eyes on it and gathers a lot of attention. With Town Hall just down the street there is constant traffic of Ridgeland town employees passing back and forth. When I went in to the Water Department to get service going the lady referred to The Fly Barn as "The Fence". Working on the weekend eliminated those eyes and any attention to what I was doing, both correctly and incorrectly. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Today will be day three. If you see I have on the same clothes for each day as those are the "uniform" that I throw on when I get up there. I shower off, with my new nozzle, and change my clothes before heading back to the Sun City bubble. They don't need to see that get up, especially with the back shoes and socks. I'd love to wear white socks, but they would get destroyed with the dirt and sweat. Like underwear, I'm safer with the dark colors.
On this early morning I checked some emails and read one from the SC Board of Nursing. My application is under review and I was able to make an appointment for the finger printing and background check. While on the web I did some job searches and my ticket to earning down here
surely sits with my nursing licenses, over fly fishing and guiding, which one day I hope will happen. My question is do I want to return to teaching or getting a job seeing patients and prescribing and documenting and....? Time will tell, but I'm blessed to have that earn anywhere-you-land card with a nursing license.
Maybe if I pull in enough income I can start paying people to do these projects, or at least hire a helper for the day. Today Luke will be in tow, and he's not much of a help.