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Tag Archives: fencing

Dogs Just Wanna Have Fun!

Sarge is content to sleep on toys rather than play with them.

Along with planning a sturdy and Wink-proof fence design, I also am researching ways to make the yard more fun and interactive. One of the best tips I think I have ever received was that outside time should be a lot of fun and the dogs should look forward to it. That doesn’t seem too hard, right? Throw some toys out, and living in the country, there are plenty of things to hold their attention.

Well, that isn’t necessarily true. They will lose interest in toys, and the things out in the country that catch their eye as something fun to do will usually be on the other side of the fence. The idea with the dogs that like to roam is to make their yard so interesting and enjoyable that they would rather be there.

Google has been my friend and I have found many ideas to keep the pups interested and enjoying the yard and their time outside! I am going to share some of those ideas here. I will not be posting pictures of what I find as it so hard to tell what is and is not copyrighted online. I would also hate to steal someone’s picture without realizing I did, and that person’s hard work and design idea go unrecognized. There will almost certainly be a blog in the future of how their doggie play land turns out though.

Fencing Update

I have decided that instead of burying part of the fence, I will use landscaping rocks along the bottom of the fence. This will make the perimeter much more attractive, and I could even put some rose bushes in there since I want rose bushes everywhere I can put them anyway. Climbing bushes maybe, oooh, ahhh. I could go so far as to put rocks on the outside as well, and put more plants there as well. The rocks will still discourage digging and will add a lot of beauty to the landscaping. Putting the plants closer to the fence line will also discourage the dogs from digging those up. Rocks are just no fun for digging at all, and especially not if they have a better place to dig (keep reading for that idea).

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Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

The large yard before fencing.

Every homeowner knows that work on a house is never really done. There’s always something that has to change: things break, improvements need to be made, times and styles change, and so on. We rehabbers know it, too.

In the case of the Villa Park main house and casita, changing market forces meant our original rehab exit strategy had to be altered to making the houses into rentals. With that change, we were faced with a dilemma—we’d have two separate tenants and only one backyard. It was fine when Carol and Russell lived in the front house and Sue Ann and I lived in the casita; we’re all friends and enjoyed the spacious yard together, even with the occasional lacrosse ball flying over the back fence from the youth sports field on the other side. It doesn’t really work when two or more strangers have to share a yard.

 

The strings make sure the fences are straight.

One of the first things that come to mind when you’re going to have two sets of strangers sharing a space is privacy. Everybody wants to feel as though they have space they can call their own and to determine when and with whom they share that space. Some people need more privacy than others do. Some people are introverted. Some people are extroverted, but don’t necessarily want a wide-open view into what their neighbors are doing all the time. As landlords/rehabbers, we get it. As Hermits, we really get it.

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New Fence at St. John

I’ve been getting St. John back in good shape to sell, now that we’ve fixed its issues.

Of all the changes we’ve made to this house, I think adding the privacy fence has had the most immediate and obvious effect.  Gone is the 3-foot chain link fence (which let in junk and trash, and did nothing for security).  There is now a 6-foot wood privacy fence all around the back yard.  Even with the intermittent rain, it only took the crew two days to finish.  Until now, I never realized how big that back yard really is.

I also put a rug on the front porch and painted my window security devices. The dishwasher will be delivered and installed this week. We’re probably going to put an enclosure around the HVAC unit, too.

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