FEBRUARY
It is at time like these, when there are tragedy and destruction,
that the entire Floriduh community comes together to show
how incompetent, inefficient, ineffective and uncaring it truly is.
In fact, these months have been a lesser version of Carl Hiaasen's book,
which I recommended previously. Not as funny, tho.
It is now four months - 1/3 of a year - since H. Milton,
and it took us almost all this time to arrange for a new fence.
I suspect that altho folks want the jobs, they don't want to work this hard;
yes, it is a big project, but you will be getting paid cash for it!
All I can hope for at this point that this project will not be
as big a clusterf*ck as was the roof replacement in 2019.
After several weeks of waiting, and a few phone calls, but no estimate,
I decided to contact the company that installed our Bismarckia palms
and also re-landscapes our across-the-street neighbor's yard
every few months. I never received a response from them.
Neal located a fencing company called A Fence Company Near Me
(anyone using GoogleMaps will understand WHY that name is such a good one).
They responded quickly; on 31 December, Kevin came to take a look.
The next day, we received estimates for both a wood fence and a white vinyl fence,
with the caveat that we had to trim ALL FLORA 12" away
from either side of where the fence is to go.
I texted a person who had trimmed our palm trees several years ago,
and who seemed reliable at that time. He arranged to come by on 6 January.
He did so, gave us an estimate; we gave him a down payment,
and he & his crew began immediately; they worked for two days,
driving down from Weeki Wachee.
Let's take a tour and see what H. Milton did to our poor fence,
why we planted so many bushes to hide the old fence,
as well as the - in my humble opinion - butchering
done to accommodate the new fence,
which also destroyed my bird sanctuary . . .
This is what would be considered the back of the house;
as we are situated on the corner and a curving street,
and there is an easement required by Pinellas County between yards.
As you can see, the underground lines are already marked
(which is a whole other story of Floriduh incompetence,
or the right hand not knowing what the left foot is doing) . . .
The crew did a lovely job of trimming the juniper bushes.
I've no idea what these lines & flags mean;
there aren't gas lines in TW, so maybe electric and/or water lines?
Just so long as the fence company knows.
The orange dots are petals fallen from the Cape Honeysuckle,
an invasive weed (supposedly) that I've allowed to grow
because it flowers almost all year and, in the right season,
attracts hummingbirds.
You do have to keep it in line, tho, or it will take over the bushes;
as of this writing, 14 February 2025, the azaleas on the other side
of this part of the fence are blooming;
the Cape Honeysuckle was cleaned out during the fall.
Coming in via the single gate . . .
. . . you first see the collapse; those are hurricane fence supports,
which worked fine until they rotted completely thru.
Again, all the bushes were directly against the fence,
and had to be cut down/off for the fence.
On the left are the hot pink azaleas
that began blooming after these pictures were taken.
Those sprigs of green coming thru the fence are Cape Honeysuckle,
trying to sneak in and gain a roothold again. Ain't gonna happen.
Continuing on, poor Philomena the Philodendron,
which was flattened by pieces of fence, then trampled on.
However, she is already recovering with new growth,
I hope we can keep the fence guys from trampling over her again.
We haven't bothered straightening the feeder;
it and the birdbath will be moved away during the fence building anyway;
the angle doesn't keep the birds (and squirrels) from emptying it daily.
(Our neighbor pushed the fence over.
Such a nice guy! He is pissed off 'cause he now
has to walk his dog on a leash in his yard. So sad. Not.)
Imagine what the squirrels, possums, raccoons and who-knows-what-else,
who've been using this fence as their highway for over 20 years,
thought when they came to this part . . . like having a bridge out, I suppose.
Now that all has been chopped out
under the Magnolia trees & the Ficus bush,
we can put in some plantings, or, because of the roots,
put down some containers and plants.
So many branches that were perches for birds & squirrels were removed.
This entire yard is no longer the bird sanctuary
we'd had for the past seven years.
. . . so much more was trimmed than I had expected.
I call it The Bushes Massacre of 2025. But it had to happen,
AND there is already new growth on all the bushes.
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