Apologies in advance for the abrupt nature of this post. We just got the blog set up and haven't even fully built profiles, introduced ourselves, or told the story of how we got here, but I didn't want to miss an opportunity to get an update out there on current events and share the progress of my current construction project to perhaps give folks some ideas on how to set up their own outdoor rehab enclosures when other family pets are involved.
So...skipping the story that leads up to today:
I've been racing the sunset each day after work for the past few days to get a newer, more professional looking fence around to expand the area around our old enclosures and add the larger pre-release enclosure to be used. State law requires a fence to separate our dogs from any outdoor enclosures. It's also going to help with our sanity because our two basset hounds LOVE talking to the opossums outside at odd hours.
My goal was to have something that was actually installed in a straight line and didn't look like it was cobbled together with found items like the makeshift chicken wire fence that I initially set up to get my wife started on this adventure. You can see the existing monstrosity in the background of the photos below. It's not pretty and I have hated it since day one. I hated it even more once I put a bunch of time and money into the large pre-release enclosure that ended up finding a home outside the fenced-in corner that I lovingly (jokingly?) refer to as "Opossum Paradise."
The end results are a little wonkier than I would have liked when it comes to the goal of "straight lines" but the tree roots are the ones in charge of this project right now. That being said, I still REALLY highly recommend the Zippity Outdoor Products vinyl fence kit from Home Depot. They have been incredibly easy to assemble and install and provide an easy no-dig option to get something up relatively quickly.
Here's the list of items that I ended up getting, if you'd like to build a similar shopping list:
All American Picket Fence Panel Kit with No-Dig Anchor and Cap
All American Vinyl Picket Fence Gate with Stainless Steel Hardware
No-Dig Vinyl All American Finishing Fence Post with Anchor and Cap
I would like to note, however, that the placement on the pre-drilled screw holes on the gate and the accompanying hardware is rather poorly thought-out and caused me to strip out one of the screws for the hinges because it hit another one that I drilled in from the adjacent side and also severely limits the placement of the hinges so they can sit flush. A minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.
No comments:
Post a Comment