{Dogs} Snickers

Lily has wanted a puppy for the longest time. She's asked and asked and my response was always "when we are down an animal" as we had our two dogs and two cats for the longest time. When Zoey died in the fall, followed by Taz (our cat), Lily continued to ask. She wanted a puppy for Christmas. Who doesn't? But we knew with our schedule, that a puppy in the middle of the school year was not right. 

Enter Lily's birthday. She turned 9 in May and we went to go pick out a dog together. I had stalked every dog rescue and/or local pet store that does adoption events. I went in and fell in love with many bigger dogs, but she wanted something small. We found a semi-local place (as in it was over two hours away) and went to visit it the day before her birthday. 

She fell in love with this puppy. She was one of four that were there that day. Snickers is a King Cavalier mixed with Brussels Griffon and is the cutest thing. She's also a crazy thing who loves to chew on people, velcro, and shoes that are left out. She's not house trained but we are working on it! 

Krypto, our American Bulldog and Lab mix, is handling her. I think he was a little lonely after Zoey died. He has turned into a grumpy old man some days and will growl at her as she bites him. It's the only time I've ever heard him growl. 

{Back Yard} Play Place Garden #1

Hello! If you follow thebrickbungalow on Instagram (which you totally should!), you have seen the following photos already. But, I'm trying to update the blog (I know, I know, I've said it before!).

The backyard play place (otherwise known as the back corner of our yard) has seen a lot of things over the years but it hasn't ever been finished. I keep making plans to do it but things come up - my car broke down and cost us a lot last year, we have vacations and bills and kids... so yeah, I thought I'd try to do it piece by piece instead of all at once. 

The plan is below. I may change it as it's definitely not drawn to scale. It is roughly a square in shape and already has a giant play structure that we built years ago.  

The following photos show the steps that I took. It already was pretty bare due to it being in the shade 95% of the day (just a tiny bit of morning light). The chickens like the area as there are a lot of bugs but it's ugly. And full of mosquitoes for some reason. 

All of the plants are transplants from my yard. The plants include purple coneflower, hostas, and one tiny baby hydrangea (that my old hydrangea made!). 

The entire thing only cost me two bags of mulch. The plants, landscape fabric, and rocks were all left over from old projects and/or given to me. Gotta love free! 

So far the chickens have definitely checked for more bugs but the rocks help keep it safe. I may add a few more rocks as I get them (I have some in my yard that I've moved around). I need to add some sort of ground cover like a sedum in the front part of the bed but I'm not to worried right now. I may add some small pots of annuals but it's not high on my list. 

I definitely like looking out my back windows and seeing this instead of a dead corner. The plants will fill in and be fine. If not, I'll get more - I have a ton of purple coneflower and hostas throughout my yard. 

What do you think? Do you like to do small projects or wait until you can do it all at once?