Slowly Shaping Up

I hope you can tolerate another of my garden goody posts because this little project has been a long time coming.  I'm going to include it in Funky Junk Donna's "Gitter Done" Series because... well, because I can't believe we finally gotter done!

 Let me start by telling you how pleased I am to be able to post a picture of the front of our humble abode!  We've given her a complete face lift over the past couple of years... new shingles, siding and windows.  My "before" pictures went to cyber heaven when I lost my hard drive.  (Still kicking self)  Believe me, this is a huge improvement.

It took us forever to figure out what to do after we uprooted an overgrown evergreen bush that swallowed the front steps.  I planted flowers and a little weeping pussy willow tree there last spring.  Alas, all died, save the tree.  Sigh.  And then the little tree developed an attitude about standing up straight.  He likes to hunch. Lectures didn't work, so we finally had to get tough with him...

he's now wearing a brace in the form of a 1960's skateboard. And wouldn't you know it?  The kids have to be reminded to put their toys away, but they keep taking the skateboard off the tree and putting it in the garage.  Go figure.

A feature you might find interesting is the plant cage.  It's made from an old lamp and two hanging wire baskets.

Not so pretty without a plant, huh?

There!  Much better.

This next item has definitely seen its better days, but I still find it interesting.  I'd love to know the history behind this old wheel.

Okay, so we have some good plants and some good junk going on here, but we were at a loss as to how to shape it up.  It spent all of last year looking like the cats had done the landscaping.  Well, actually, they did help... they scattered  much all over the place, but do you think they'd lift a paw to help weed the mess?  Noooooo.

We finally came up with a plan and built the world's shortest fence!  (Not verified with Guinness)  My dad tore down a fence at his place and was (brace yourself) going to take the wood to the landfill!  I didn't know at the time what I would use it for, but that doesn't matter, does it?

I created the design - inspired by Donna's Wooden Gate Screens - definitely not even close to her awesome project, but it gave me the idea of how to build a sturdy enclosure.  Glen did all the power work... cutting six inch squares and mitering the corners to give it a little charm.  He screwed the boards to 2 x 4s and framed it up nice and neat. 

We were so very proud of all our good ideas and hard work and were really amazed that we were able to complete the fence in the span of a few hours.

I was totally amazed at how this junk stuff is growing on Glen.  He actually said, "I used sheet rock screws in the wood so they will rust and then it will look really cool!"   Oh the joy!

All was well until this old geezer piped up and said, "Looks good, but now your house kinda resembles a blank easel.  Don't you think you should put something pretty by that door?"

Good grief.  Give a tree an earring and he thinks he's all artsy-fartsy.