First Home Improvement

We spent about a year looking for the perfect house. One of the problems we faced, was everything in our price range, was a fixer upper. We did not want a fixer upper. So when we found our town house, we were just as shocked as everyone that it was the one we fell in love with. But it was the right size, a great location, and in great condition. 

Sure, it has it problems like any other new home purchase. But compared to some we looked at, it was heavenly.

When we made our offer, we knew it would need new sod planted in the back yard. We weren't able to do it last summer, but hope to this year. The thing we failed to notice, was the back gate. We are now pretty sure it was broken before we moved in and the previous own and rigged it. 

Within the first few days of moving in, we learned that the wind whips it horribly. It had broken the latch, knocked a few of the panels loose and it wouldn't stay closed. So we drove a stake into the back of it to help keep it in place. Then, we had to set the dog house in front of the broken panel to keep Sage from getting out. She thought this was her personal peep spot and she loved to look out of it and watch what little she could. 

It was another project we were thinking of leaving for the coming summer. But now, the school district plans to build a new elementary school. I'm still not positive of the exact location, but I know it is either right across the street from us or right next to us (to the south). But when the school bond election passed, I was worried they would start construction, and it would be right across the street where Sage could watch, and bark at them, all day long. She doesn't bark much; only when she notices activity across the street. But I'm pretty sure construction would result in her barking a lot more. 

So I decided we better get our fence fixed now. 

It was hard to find someone. I left several messages with several companies and they never called me back. I'm sure its because they felt my project was too small and not worth their time. But I finally found a guy in Vernal who said he could do it.  He came over the same day I called him to look at it. He even offered to try and fix the one to make it last until the new one was in. 

The longest part was waiting for the parts. He told me to order just my stuff would kill me on shipping, so I agreed to wait until he had a large order to place and he could add my stuff to it.

Last week, he came and replaced our gate. We didn't replace the fence at all, but we did have him add some steal posts to the inside of the corner posts to give it more stability. Then we also had him move the hinges to the other side so that hopefully the wind won't affect it too much. 

Sage won't use her dog house. We thought maybe by moving it closer to the back door she would, but she still won't. Now she sleeps in the dirt spot where her house used to be. She still tries to peak out of the small crack, but I don't think she can see much now. 

I was so excited for our first home improvement that I almost didn't care about the bill. 

I think next on the list is to plant some sod back there. Then the only other big thing we want to do is paint. But since we both despise painting, we'll probably put it off for a few years until we can save up and pay someone else to do it for us.