Overhauling Our New Yard..

We found out that the city doesn't allow any fencing over 4 feet on most of our lot since we are on a corner. So we thought a picket fence would maybe work to keep Sherlock in or at least deter him...it didn't. But if he gets a good run in the fields early in the day he stays put. 

 So the first two weeks were spent building and staining the fences. Dad and Matt took down the old side fence and put in new cemented in posts before we moved in...

 And after we moved in Dad and I started putting up the new more sturdy fence...

This is what the yard looked like before we built the fence and planters...

 So here is the overview of the yard and the red out line is were we put the picket fence...

 Now here's the picket fencing we put together in April 2016...

 Dad did a wonderful job creating an arbor 8' long by 4' deep with a double gate. It works beautifully!

Then dad stained the fences....  

 Then we had to build a wall and flower boarder around the picket fence...

 Dad did a wonderful job with the wall/boarder. We were able to fit most of my roses, Sweet Williams, Dusty Miller, Echinacea 'Sunset', Sage, Dahlias, and Yarrow.

  Then Dad built a raised raspberry bed 3'x10'. 

  All was done by mid May. Then came the concrete. 

We had gravel all in the back of the house and didn't really like walking on it so a two tier patio was in order...

 While Dad is resting I thought I'd share some of our animal adventures...

This is Buddy. He is our first doggy visitor to the house. He lives down the street and loves to come by and visit off and on...

 Then Sherlock decided to meet the local coyotes. We always go across the street to a large field/wooded area to let the dogs run. But one day the dogs found a coyote but we left without any issue. Four days later I thought we'd stay far away from the wooded area and stay in the open field. Sherlock had other ideas and took off into the woods with Watson in tow. 

 

 

 As I'm hearing a coyote barking and I call for the dogs while running in after them they come bounding back all excited and happy to be chasing coyotes. All seems fine until I see Sherlock's rear end. Blood everywhere and blood is pumping out of a puncture on his hip. So with the very angry coyote barking in the bushes we head back to the house. After a closer inspection at home my Mom and I find more wounds. Besides the puncture wound on the hip he also had a chunk out of the underside of his tail to the bone, and a bit mark on his back end. Watson of course had no injury. Knowing him he was hiding in the bushes watching the whole thing.

 

I decided not to take him to the vet since there wasn't much they could do that I couldn't do myself. With lots of iodine and clean bandages he healed up in less then three weeks with no infections!

 Our poor dogs had a bit of a mix up with their new beds....

 

 Then we had another doggy visitor...

Una!

One of our well meaning neighbors thought she was ours while we were gone to church one Sunday and put her in our yard. Thankfully our dogs were locked up in the house. She was really sweet but we were able to return Una to her owner later that day much to the disappointment of our love sick pups. 

Dad got the walk way and back area all framed for pouring the slabs..

Matt and Rebekah came over to give a hand with baby Heidi being just a bit of a cute distraction.

We had to wait a couple of weeks until we could pour the second section and lay down the grass.

While Everyone is working we've got homemade ice cream churning. Yummy Mocha chip ice cream! 

Some friends got my folks this sign for the yard.

Then Dad started putting together his little rock garden. We moved that huge boulder from down by the street which was such an eye sore.

A couple of weeks later we found the shed in Seattle that we could use. It was an interesting adventure with only Dad and I taking it apart. The roof alone was a killer!

Finally got it power washed, re-stained, and put where it's going to stay! 

So there you go! Two years late, but now you can see how crazy the Bryan family can be when we want to get something done and all between April and September of one year! The next project was to build a dog run next to the shed and along the side of the house then paint the master bedroom/bath and then my room. Now we are planning on getting the exterior of the house done. 

Thanks for stopping by I hope to post more soon since I now have a working computer!