I looked around and didn't find any topics that focused on this so I thought I'd start one.
What are you guys working on? What do you plan to work on? Whether it's building something for your home, fixing up or updating the landscape around your home, building cool things to put in your home, or the normal maintenance of all the breakable things in your home. I find that talking out my plans with others helps fuel ideas and methods that I may have not otherwise thought of and in some instances save me a lot of work, money, or headaches!
My current project has to do with some landscaping I'm tackling in the backyard. I don't have any pictures as of today but I will upload them to really show what I'm talking about. For now however, I'll do my best to explain. I share a chain-link fence with my neighbors who have some dogs. These dogs and my dog do not get along, so when they are let out at the same time there is lots of barking, gnashing of teeth, and sprinting like a banshee up and down the length of the fence. This results in the grass being torn up and lots of mud. The mud is created by a combination of dogs going insane and the layout of my neighborhood. My backyard is at the bottom of a slope so when it rains, everything runs down past this fence and pools into my yard. Once this happens, Ruby's paws need to be washed off in the tub. This process gets REALLY old REALLY quickly. So this year I will be edging off the muddy section along the fence line. It extends about 4' from the fence and will be covered with about 3 inches of mulch. Inside the mulch we will plant a few bushes and place a few big rocks. Making it ascetically pleasing while creating a barrier that will keep Ruby from running along the fence. I'm not too worried about her just sprinting along the newly edged barrier (hence creating a new muddy spot) because the further back she is from the dogs the less worked up she gets. If I'm wrong here, then that sucks and I'll be forced to seed each year which is fine because we won't be in the house much longer anyways!
On the subject of the dogs, I would like to point out the my dog isn't the issue. There are two dobermans that bark when the wind blows and one coonhound puppy that gets caught up in the excitement. Ruby and the coonhound get along just fine when they're outside, just the two of them together. They lick one another through the fence and play with sticks, it's adorable. The owners don't scold the dogs for incessant barking and don't seem to care that their dogs are trying to dig under the fence to my side of the yard. I've talked to them several times trying to explain to them the issues we have and been very polite in suggesting an informal procedure of at least looking before they let the dogs out. Ruby isn't out for more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time if we see that they are home in order to be respectful of the insanity of the dogs. This only works about one quarter of the time and they just yell "SORRY!" from the deck when they let the dogs out and the insanity happens.
Here is a short video of the culprits. I REALLY dislike these dogs and their owners hence the language.
https://youtu.be/yePBm4PqWIo