In the dog house / patio/fence debacle

We installed a gate to our patio/backyard to contain the dog. Right? Right.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

She's contained, see?

Well, she WAS contained.

One day, she squeezed through the neighbor's wabbly fence. We took care of that and patted ourselves on the back. All done!

Not quite.

About a week later, she was out. I couldn't figure out how. Until I saw ... THIS ....



STINKIN' DOG broke through the lattice and wiggled out.

THIS IS WAR, I declared.


I went and selected this from the home improvement store. Our buddy had to help get rid of the loops/attachments on the side, but once he did, it fit into the space PERFECTLY.

I, in my typical (Polish) fashion came up with all sorts of complex ways to affix the fence piece to the post. We were walking down the aisle and Erik said 'what about a zip tie?' .... and holy cow, they make zip ties in 2-foot lengths! Genius. I love it when Erik has fabulous yet simple solutions to the issue I'm trying to solve.


Notice how the 'tails/ends' of the zip ties are pointing into the backyard area? This will be important later.

So I put the fence length in and put on just 2 of the ties to see how I liked it. I'd show Erik when he awoke from his nap.

I put the dog outside, and patted myself on the back. I HAD WON.

Then, there was the most awful noise from outside. I'm not sure what exactly was going on, but I go out and someone must have taken the tails/ends and started pulling on them. That or pulling on the fence. AND BROKE THEM. :( :( :(

Let's not talk about how livid I was.


I readjusted and did the zip ties again ... but left the extra on the OUTSIDE of the fence, so the do had nothing to pull on. And I secured it with a tie on the top/bottom of each side. This thing was FAR more stable.


Plus, it covers the hole.

Since the zip-tie mishap, things have been better. Sure, she cries/whines some, but it's actually decreased significantly. I suspect one of the neighbor dogs made fun of her for crying like a baby in the backyard. She will still occasionally whine, but sometimes, she will just sit by the back door and stare at me until I let her out, and then not want to come back in. So I shut the gate and let her roam around.

Everyone *seems* happy with this arrangement.

#123 — Install a gate on patio to contain the dog

When we were installing our patio, there wasn't a dog in our future. Sure, Erik wanted to get a dog 'someday,' but we didn't think too much about it. Until we brought Bailey home. And she wouldn't stay in the backyard because that's where my mind WANTED her to stay.

We came up with this elementary solution:


Of course, she eventually figured out how to stick her nose between the side and garage and open the divider. Drat.

During the summer, I like to work in the backyard, but sometimes she'll see a rabbit or someone walking down the street and take off after it/them. And I wont' know until there are shrieks from the front yard. Oops.

We needed a containment solution.

I searched high and low for options that didn't involved digging anything up. Oh, did I mention our opening was about 5 feet wide? Right.

After serious searching and measuring and several trips to return the incorrect posts to the store, we were ready to go.


Thankfully, my dad was willing to come and help.

(Erik is thinking "Am I REALLY missing the Chiefs game? They are beating the Packers right now, and I'm doing a home project.")


We (read: Karen) decided the best solution for our opening was to hang the gate on the existing post. We'd have to put in another post to the right for a latch.


Since we have concrete, and I didn't want to tear anything up, we had to rent a 'hammer drill' and Erik showed it who was boss.


FINISHED!!!!! :) :) :)

Well, not TOTALLY finished. I have yet to attach the latch. But this solution works fairly well for now. When puppy got nutty during Christmas Eve, we were able to put her out back and know she'd stay there. :) When spring rolls around, I can know she'll still be in the backyard with me if I'm gardening -- looking forward to that! :)

Do you see what I see?

Do you see it?


See it now?

The neighborhood rabbits have taken a liking to our patio. I don't blame them, but they are audacious little boogers.

Erik even directly hit one with a seed pod the other day, and it just sat there. They basically don't have much fear of us. Little vixens boogers.

Patio Process X

The fallout of the project ....

My fingers ended up with GOBS of blisters. ;(


AND YES, ROBIN......I DID WEAR GLOVES!!!!!!!! ;)


My favorite pair of jeans, however, didn't fare so well. :(




Anyone know how to get creosote out of jeans? I ended up with it after moving railroad ties to line the garden ... and have used the heck out of oxi clean, but to no avail!


I luckily had knee pads for my knees ... but Erik didn't ...


Ugh. But his jeans are better and mine are not. :(

Patio Process IX

The first bit.

It was not exactly easy to put the stones in. I wanted it to be sort of random looking. I didn't want them to be orderly looking. Ya know?


And they're all in!

Patio Process VIII

AND THE PAVERS GO IN!!!!!!!!!!!

I decided we'd opt to ring the patio with these red pavers to nicely frame the limestone. It'd also help to take up the space, since I wasn't convinced we'd have enough limestone for the large area I wanted to cover (150 square feet, yo!).


THRILLING!!!!!! :)


I probably should have built up more sand under them, but .... yeah. With the extra AB3 rock, we decided to get less sand. Good in theory, but ... well ... we needed MORE sand. So, Coop's truck comes to the resue!


We ended up with three more times. Easy going in, but coming out .... well, it was a bit more exhausting.

Patio Process VII

After the last post, we had the sand delivered. :)

BEFORE:


DURING:


AFTER:


What do we do with all the sand, you ask? :)


We then compacted it like good llamas. :)

Patio Process VI

After we got the rock put in for under the patio project (in THIS post), there was a bit of rock left .....


Well, we then were able to give it to our neighbor! It even fit into the back of the truck. :)

# 99 — Build a patio with the limestone; eat a dinner al fresco.

...... CHEEEEEEEEEECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is probably the item on my 101 in 1001 list I've been looking forward to the most .... well, aside from marrying Erik of course!

BEFORE:


AFTER:



Now, in case you are wondering why the heck I put some lattice up, it's to hide the stuff circled in red:


I plan to continue improvements, and eventually hang some gutter gardens there as well. I'll keep ya posted!

One of Erik's constant comments about the space was "the air conditioner is loud" .... which I do not deny .... but if it's spring or fall and we have the windows open ... it won't matter. I just wanted to high that unsightly group of stuuuuuuff.


And yes, the night we finishesd it, we ate dinner outside. :)

We have since added a new table and have been waiting for cooler weather to enjoy more dinners outside!

I'll also be moving the rain barrels onto the space ... and we'll just see how this evolves.

Patio Process V

Remember when I talked about installing a new window well?

Basically, since we were tearing apart the entire area and knew at some point we'd want access to under the addition of our house, we decided to exchange the old one for something more appropriate in size.




Yeah, this new one is huge ... but now we can open the access window. :)


Tool items acquired during this project:
- a pry bar
- a drill bit that goes through cement (cool stuff!!!!)

I have to hand it to Erik, he did all of the heavy lifting on this one .. he was the muscle behind the replacement ... thanks honey! :)

AAAAAAAAAAND, yes the patio is finally DONE! But ... I have a ton of cleaning to do and so those of you who will be at the open house/house blessing Sunday will see it then. The rest of you will just have to hold on to your shorts and wait till I have some time to blog on it. Oh I'm soooooo meeeeeeaaaaaaaan.

Patio Process IV (rockin' out)

Here we go!!!!!! It was a BIUUUUUSY weekend. But we had some awesome help to get our patio finished!!!!!

Before:


After: 6 tons of AB3 on our driveway. Oh JOY!!!!!! ;)


I owned you, AB3.


Or not ....


It was all hands on deck ... but not all paws. Esse thinks because she doesn't have opposable thumbs that she was off the hook. Booger.





It compacted down nicely, though!