A Fence for Riley—Part One

I have come to realize that dog training is not as easy as Cesar Milan makes it look. 

“Say what?!”

Hmm… that revelation was bound to happen sooner or later.  In my dreams in which I am portrayed as the dog trainer, our new puppy Riley is well behaved and never leaves the yard.  Then I wake up.  And find Riley across the street in the neighbors’ yard.  :)  Okay, granted it’s really not that hard to take the dog out and make her stay in our yard, but it’s waaaaaay easier to just let her out into a fenced yard and not worry about her wandering off.  So, project number one on our to-do list lately has been A Fence for Riley. 

“I shall go OFF LEASH?! Wheeeee!”

We decided to fence in the entire backyard which runs into a wooded area at the back property line.  After investigating many different kinds of fences, we settled on a picket fence.  Here is my inspiration photo:

But this is not your average picket fence, this one has its special features designed by me (with a bit of help from the internet.) :)  My picket fence design has 4’ tall pickets and 4’6” tall posts with copper post points.  The posts are 6’ apart.  That is the design; in reality, the slope of our yard created a few areas with taller sections just to unify the appearance of the fence as a whole.  You’ll see what that means later in part two.

Lucky for me, I have a handy Papa to help me build my fence.  He and my brother John came a couple weeks ago to start the process.  Here is a quick tour of the backyard—future site of Riley’s fence.

The view coming down the driveway (special appearance by John and random piece of carpet). :)

The side leading to Riley’s favorite neighbor’s yard.  (Note the many possible routes for puppy escape!)

The other side leading to prime cat chasing area.  (More open routes of escape).

The side yard leading around the deck is a quick means of escape around the house for the doggy who refuses to come back inside.

See my problem? ;)  Well, we have a plan to control all of these areas!  First things first, the fence builders started out digging holes and setting the posts in the ground.  Basically you start with a post that is two feet longer than the part that will stick out of the ground; in our case that means 6’ post (4’ tall plus 2’ underground).  Then you dig a hole with your post hole diggers that is two feet deep, trying to avoid cables and obvious tree roots.  Then you stick your post in the hole and making sure the post is level and not leaning all wonky, you slowly fill in the dirt, tamping it with a “tamp stick” as you go so it is nice and tight against the post and the edges of the hole.  That way when you get the hole filled up to the top, your post will not fall over.  This is what I learned about setting posts.  We do not subscribe to the practice of concrete-filled holes for setting posts.  We are old school. :)  Yes, I am a master of fence building.  That is why I got my father and brother to do it for me.

Here is John demonstrating how to dig a hole with post hole diggers. 

He got lots of practice digging holes.  Even with a bum knee. :(

The string is tied between the first post and the last post so you make sure that all your posts in between keep the same slope.  Or some such thing. :)

Next they added the rails in between the posts.  This is highly technical, I know. :)  These were fastened with screws into little rail-shaped cut outs on the back of each post (called dados—pronounced ‘day-dough’.  We are learning so many new things today!).  That was all in my special fence design so that when the pickets were added on top of the rails, they would be slightly recessed from the level of the post on the front.  The posts are very important in my design, I want them to be the star of the show, not merely fading into the background and letting the pickets steal the limelight.  You will learn about this in part two—pickets! 

The section below leads into cat-chasing territory and also the front yard.  It is left open on the right for a removable section to be added later.  The 8’ wide removable section allows for easy access for vehicles, mowers, wheelbarrows and the like, that won’t easily fit through the small gate that goes on the left.

 

This section of fence goes into the woods for a bit and then stops.  It will join up to a perimeter of woven wire field fencing that will complete the loop back to the other side of the yard.  This allows us to have a large section fenced in affordably.  Plus, once the trees leaf out, you won’t be able to see the fence in the woods anyway.

The fence along the other side of the yard joins up to the corner of the house with a second gate.

Riley examines the construction for weak spots in the defensive network. 

     

Ta da!  Part one of A Fence for Riley.  :)  I’ll be back to show you the pickets and later on, how to run wire fencing in parts two and three of the fence saga.  Come back soon!

The Story of a Little Light Fixture

This is the story of a little light fixture that no one appreciated.  No one wanted to take it down to replace it because it lived in the ceiling of a vaulted foyer.  It was in a safe place.  Safe from Sarahs and spray paint and electrician people.  Mostly safe because Sarahs are afraid to unwire and rewire things and also because Sarahs don’t own twelve foot ladders.  The little light fixture was safe in the ceiling.  It was happy being brassy and having lots of shiny things to reflect light.  But Sarah was not happy.  Brass equals bad, and blah!  Something had to be done about the little light.

Enter Papa.  Owner of twelve foot ladders and possessing much electrical unwiring and rewiring knowledge.  This Papa came and took the little light fixture down from the ceiling and gave it to Sarah!  Oh Happy Day!  Sarah was joyful that she could scrub, wash and spray paint the little light fixture so it could have a new lease on life, and also so it would match all the other fixtures in the living room.

She took it apart into many little pieces.  The light fixture was sad, and afraid that Sarah would not be able to remember how to put all the pieces back together again.  Sarah was also afraid. :)

Undeterred, Sarah spray painted all the pieces anyway.  The little light was unsure about this fancy oil rubbed bronze spray paint, but what could it do, it was all laid out in the garage in a bunch of pieces!  What would become of it?

Luckily Sarah took lots of pictures of how the light went together and after careful internet research to fill in the blanks, she was able to put the all the little pieces back in the right places.  The little light fixture was kind of excited… it was clean and shiny and all its glass panes were polished and clear.  It was pristine!  Even the oil rubbed whatever wasn’t so bad, it was nice!  The little light fixture was happy again.  The Papa returned and reinstalled the light in the ceiling of the foyer.  The light shone brightly and looked around with new eyes… it was just perfect and matched all the other fixtures in the room!  It matched the lamps and the curtain rods, and the hardware on the furniture.  The little light rejoiced!  Sarah also rejoiced.

People came and saw the little light and said how nice it looked.  It was appreciated, not only for its light, but for its beauty.  The little light and Sarah lived happily ever after.  The end.

   

…Eat a Cupcake

See how this post was supposed to be about a new shelf I put in the kitchen… but it’s turning into a story about a cupcake?  Why does that always happen to me? ;)

I was Goodwill hopping the other day when I spied this cutey little shelf for $3.50!! Woot!  I’ve been looking for a nice shelf to hang over the kitchen table that I could decorate with plates and teapots and cute kitchen things.  This one, while a bit smaller than the one in my imagination, was a great price and in perfect condition!  When I got it home, I hung it on the wall behind the kitchen table… a sad and neglected little corner which is usually just a landing spot for purse, lunchbox, mail, cat toys, etc. :)  While it still functions as such, at least it has a bit more pizzazz after my little addition:

  

I moved the flower picture to the opposite wall to accommodate the new shelf.  And of course after I hung the shelf, I ran around looking for cute things to put on it.  The teapot was number one, since I’d been imagining it up there for a while, then I found a blue polka dot plate.  After that I had to get creative…  so I framed up a little quote.  It’s a take off those “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters you see everywhere.  But why “carry on” when you could just eat a cupcake?  Then the little kitty cat salt and pepper shakers joined the fun to round out the display.  This is mind-blowing stuff, I know. ;)

 

Just a little bit more cute for my kitchen. :)

Hope you enjoyed the update!  I’ll be back with more fun from the Horvath House, namely— A Fence For Riley, and Spring garden pics!

Welcome Spring!

Spring has sprung… finally!  Hope the warm weather and sunshine are reaching out and touching your neck of the woods, too!

Just wanted to share the first blooms of the season from our yard:

  

Happy Spring!

I’ll be back, hopefully soon, with a couple of cute updates in the kitchen! :) I’ll give you a hint… it involves cupcakes! ;) 

See you then…

Step by Step

I recently acquired this cute little stepstool.  (i.e. My father filched it for me from a friend who was cleaning out their garage.)  With hand carved hearts on each end.  Just my style… ;)  I decided it would be the perfect stepstool for my closet.  For when I’m trying to get something off the top shelf and I don’t feel like dragging my desk chair all the way down the hall.  :)

Here’s what it looked like before I got my hands on it.  Well actually I put my hands on it to put it on the table there.  And I put my hands on it when I sanded the “Home Sweet Home” off the top.  So, this is what it looked like after I got my hands on it, but before I got my paintbrush on it:

Here’s what it looked like after I got some primer on it.  Just the bottom part.

And here’s what it looked like after I got two coats of semi-gloss paint on the bottom, and one coat of stain and two coats of poly on the top:

Cute! 

Doesn’t everything look fancy with some old books piled on top? 

Y’all know that’s what I’m using this stepstool for, right?  Display place for my very old books.

Okay, for all you reality lovers out there, here’s where it actually lives.  At the back of my closet, ready to springboard me to the top shelf in my search for winter boots, fancy shoes, or handbags.  :)  Yay!

If you need me, I’ll be in the closet, needlessly reorganizing my top shelf just so I can try out my cute new stepstool!

Spring Spruce-up (Outdoors!)

Lately we’ve been having some beautiful weather with warmer Spring temps.  That’s perfect weather for yard work!  The last two weekends found me spreading pine needles in the front yard.  After living here for 2 1/2 years, we’ve finally gotten around to putting fresh pine needles on the huge flower bed in the front yard.  Shame.

First I had to rake all the old “mulch” off the soil.  “Mulch” being dried leaves, old pine needles, a bazillion acorns, gum balls, sticks and debris that had been left to pile up over the past 3 years.  Whew!  After I finally got it mostly cleared, we brought in fresh pine bales.  Here’s a look at the transformation:

 

Very nice and clean looking. Now I just have to get to work trimming all the liriope and we’ll be set.  Here’s what it looks like today with some of the daffodils up!

I had a few pine bales leftover so I spruced around the mailbox bed while I was at it.  This poor flower bed has been neglected.  It has never been mulched, until now!  We have plans in the future to expand and reshape it, but for now a little spruce was a welcome change:

I’ve added a few more Spring touches to the front of the house, too—a new welcome mat to replace our worn out one, a matching wreath (that I whipped up using everything yellow I could find!) and some blue pansies!  I can’t wait for Spring!

   

How are you sprucing for Spring?