Handy is not my middle name. But, our west side fence was falling down, so we consulted with the neighbors and decided to take it down. I had visions of this being a sledgehammer Tom Sawyer event where all the neighbor kids came over and whacked my fence down.

Not quite.

Luckily, I have John in my life who showed me fence dismantling actually involved crowbars not sledgehammers. And somehow none of the neighbor kids jumped at my home improvement project. I suspect (and know in the case of my friend Laura) that plenty of others were engaged in their own painting, hammering, moving heavy objects events. My sister came with her kids, my kids helped, and John was a major shaker and mover even though I had taken responsibility for this project.

We managed to get the entire fence down, loaded into the minivan and taken to the dump. It was so gratifying to completely finish the project. I mean, we have a few fence posts still standing, but we don't care. And, added bonus, the vegetable garden now access to some extra light.