  Oh my BADness I must give you an update before I go much further.
This is what the dog run looked like on Monday morning
This is what it looks like today!
As you can see there is one post left! That’s a heavy sucker and Mr. Stodgy 
 said he would help me with it on Saturday. See that washtub there . . . the steel one. That was buried under my parents’ house when we sold it. It was made to hold ice so they could ice down beverages. It has a drain at one end that can be opened and the water would come out. Okay now the drain plug is rusted so it drips all the time now.  The ground was so hard on Monday that I would fill the tub with water and drag it to where I needed the water to drip to soften the soil. It worked great and I was able to get the first two posts out with no problem at all. Then yesterday stormed and we had some much needed rain. Thank goodness, but the last posts were sitting in mucky mud. I removed the one closest to the shed this morning. Too hot and humid though and I needed to come in to cool off and rest. I was able to get tons of work done on Monday and then yesterday it rained! The rain was a blessing . . . . I want more!
So yesterday morning I was sitting in my recliner having my morning coffee and smoke, and the phone rings. It was none other than . He called to tell me to run up to Meijers and take some pictures and get prices on things I liked.  So Mallory and I went up after the rain, found a few things and showed when he came in from work.
This is what we bought last night . . . Golden Euonymus.
They will be planted along this fence on the side.
The shrubs you see behind the newly purchased items are some of our favorites. It is included in the Master Plan to buy more of those to plant along the back fence line.
Now the search is on for some type of flowering bush to plant by the deck. The magnolias I wanted last night didn’t seem to make it home with us. I’m also on the search for a rain barrel. I have this need for an old time rain barrel. I remember the ones at the aunts farms when I was small and . . . well, i just NEED one to put by the broken drain at the shed.
That’s all I have so far! I’m sure there will be more stories to tell and pictures to share . . . . we might be in for a saga of sorts!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! Remember life is short . . . do as you damn well please and enjoy the adventure!
Oh also notice that I’ve added a new category . . . The Master Plan . . . so you can keep up with the saga!
Heehee!! Sounds like you’re doing the same kinda work we’ve been up to. Well, when I say we, I mean my men. I do a lot of pointing and commanding. When we moved into this house, the yard was a total mess. This week we’ve removed so much debris and a gazillion weeds. My neighbor has raspberries and blackberries planted against our common fence, so we’ve been hacking those back, too.
I love the Cone Flowers! My oldest son just planted jalepenos, strawberries, tomato and pumpkin here. Not expecting any fruit this year (although we do have a little jalepeno already on the plant).
I’ll be interested to see if you find the rain barrel! That would be a cool thing to have :).
love watching the progress! 🙂
Wow ……Sherry that is going to look awesome!! I love the cone flowers too!! Very nice 🙂 You must post a pic when you are finished. My husband just set us up with a rain barrel and he used it to add a spout to the birdbath so that we can have it drip its so nice and the birds just love it!!!
I’m not sure what style rain barrel you are looking for, but Gardener’s Supply Company has several. http://www.gardeners.com
Plow & Hearth also has them. plowandhearth.com
Hope this helps & you find what you are looking for
Sorry that should have been http://www.plowandhearth.com
Good Luck on your Project..humidity and heat are so bad here, couldn’t go out if I wanted too. 110..and no real sunshine..and there are also HERDS of Mesquitos…so much rain past few weeks. Enjoy.
Things will look great and when it’s all done you can sigh that sigh of relief. Totally understand the NEED for the rain barrel. Nice to have a physical thing as a tie in to days (and people) from our history. I have that need too. I’m really hoping I can find an old water pump one of these days. My grandparents had one.
That’s a BIG Project! It will look great though.
Big job but it will be awesome when it’s done! It’s so satisfying doing a big project like that but isn’t it funny how there is always this moment when you are well into it that you turn around and say to yourself ‘What was I thinking???!?’ Hehehe!!!
Thanks for taking all the photos and sharing the progress with us! :o)
In all my running in and out yesterday, I nearly died from the humidity! How on earth did you manage all you did? Talk about a woman on a mission! Things are going to look great, but oh my at the work! Go get em girl!
After the Master Plan is completed, then it will be on to the Master Plan Part 2, which would be my yard!! hehe….I guess I should take some pictures of all the plantings we have done over the last two weekends as it would seem that is the only “creating” that has gotten done around here as of late!!
Wow you have been busy, just a tip for you, don’t plant your bushes too close to the fence, when we moved in here the small bushes looked nice but now they are too close to the fence, wished whoever planted them would have went a little farther from the fence.
maybe try a butterfly bush for near the deck – good for butterflies and hummingbirds – and we had found an “old fashioned” climbing rose that was very stinky and we LOVED it…flowered almost the entire growing season (can’t remember the stupid name, though). the old fashioned roses are yummy and pretty. that would be nice in a canapy-situation over the deck…i know that wisteria would not be a really good option up there, but if you can, they are pretty in the spring and shady in the summer…if you value your property i would not recommend planting a trumpet vine, though they are pretty and very attractive to humminging birds they are also VERY invasive…both vegetativly and by seeds…sigh.
good luck and lots of pain reliever!
peace, katie
A work in progress, looking forward to the saga, I’m not a gardner so i have no tips but I can live vicariously thru you. Looks like a lot of fun, you certainly have been busy. TFS!!! 😀
I have a very pretty honeysuckle bush in my garden, my dad has one too and the sweet fragrance from his larger honeysuckle flowers is beautiful.
This would look lovely near the deck. They can get quite big though you can prune it hard and it bounces back with brand new vigour.
I’m not sure of the variety of the one I have, the flowers are tiny and don’t have a strong scent, but the berries on this are gorgeous, like bright red glass beads or glazed jelly beans and these feed the birds every autumn & into the beginning of winter.
It’s beautiful to look at but if you have wee ones coming around it’s maybe not such a great idea, they maybe would be too tempting to pick off for curious kids.
Fuchsia’s are another flowering bush I love, or what about lavender, it smells gorgeous and is pretty too.
I’m from Scotland, so I’m not so sure what grows where you are, but I’m guessing our weather isn’t too much different from yours? The variegated Euonymus you have (at least that’s what it looks like to me from the photo) grows happily here in Scotland as I planted a few different varieties a couple of years ago, and now they’re huge compared to when they went in. Sorry to go on so much, but I love my flowers.
btw, your cone flowers are pretty too.
Best wishes in getting your garden the way you want.
hugs
Alexandra