Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Gazebo Jumps Over the Fence

Sounds like the title to a nursery rhyme, right? Nope, it's what happened to us today! Oh my gosh, it was bad. We just bought one of those build-it-yourself metal framed gazebos from Home Depot last week to add more shade to our backyard. We've bought cheaper ones in the past that did not last, so this one was a little bit nicer. We even anchored it down with cinder blocks because our cheaper ones from the past actually did blow over the fence.

Anyway, today we had some crazy winds here. I looked out the back door so see the gazebo leaning into the fence with the canopy whipping around in the wind. It didn't look good, but I secured the cinder blocks again and figured the fence would hold it. NOPE. A few minutes later, I looked outside JUST IN TIME to see the huge 10 foot by 10 foot gazebo blow right OVER the fence! It was sort of a surreal sight! I ran over to the neighbor's house and she answered with a look on her face like she immediately knew why I was there. She said the loud noise freaked her out!

This long story concludes with my (really nice) neighbor and I spending like 30 minutes - in the WILD winds - taking the gazebo apart so we could get it back over our fence. It broke a bunch of her rose bushes and trees, but how LUCKY we are that it didn't break her window!!!

Anyone want to come build one that is bolted to our cement and our house so it actually CAN'T blow over the fence?

1 comment:

Chris Grover said...

Oh my gosh! I seriously can't believe that! That wind must have been tornado-like! Glad everyone is ok, including your neighbors house! WOW! By the way, I got a good laugh out of the title of your post!