driveshed | Home on 129 Acres

The driveshed (aka our small barn) got a spruce up last week. A new garage door.

The existing garage door had always been a bit of a beast. Heavy. Didn’t slide very well. It pretty much always took my full body weight to close it, and even then I couldn’t always get it latched. (I feel like the driveshed looks particularly sad in this picture.)

Broken garage door on the small barn

Perhaps because I used so much force as I pulled it down, the bottom of the door started to fall apart this year. As in the whole lower panel started to come off. Then the roller went crooked and I could barely move the door.

Being me, I thought, “I can fix this.”

I bashed at the roller until I finally broke it off the door.

Garage door with a broken roller

As I looked at the splitting, rotted, old wood, I said, “I’m going to spend days Mickey Mousing around with this and still have an old door.”

Ellie said, “Mickey Mouse? Where mouse?”

It took me a couple of weeks more to accept that I needed to order a new door, but I got there eventually.

Pushing the lawn mower and wheelbarrow around all of the detritus in the driveshed, through all of Ellie’s toys, past the garbage and recycling bins and bumping out the person-size door was not fun.

But no more. The new door was installed last week.

Installing a new garage door on the small barn

It slides up and down and latches, exactly as a garage door is supposed to. Even on an old barn that’s saggy and terribly out of square. (But a bit less sad looking now, I think.)

New garage door on the small barn

Matt and I are ready to expand our family. But not in the way you might think.

We’re expecting a furry, four-legged bundle of joy in the next month or so. Last year we were distracted by our four furry, four-legged feline bundles of joy. This year we’re hoping for something of the canine variety.

We haven’t met our new addition yet. We’re planning to adopt, so we’re keeping watch on the local shelter and foster web sites.

In the meantime, we’ve been readying his or her room. There was already a dog run behind the driveshed, but it was a little run down.

Homey, no?

Matt and my Dad spent an afternoon clearing out the barn doors, pallets, rocks and weeds. They patched the siding, built a sun shade/elevated perch and made the gate swing the right way.

My job was the house, which is an insulated box inside the driveshed. (Ignore the clutter around and on the house. Cleaning up the driveshed is on the summer to-do list, right below playing with our new dog.)

I converted the house from a duplex to a one bedroom and blocked off the second entrance. I also had the pleasure of cleaning out the interior. I don’t know who the most recent residents were, but no self-respecting dog would create such a mess in its den. In addition to the… mess, there was a piece of carpet, a few bones, a couple of toys and some hunks of ropes. Cleaning it out was a lovely job.

However, the job is done and now our doggy will have a lovely home.

Doggy won’t be expected to spend all of his or her time outside. We want someone relatively energetic who will go for runs, hikes and long walks with us, but also someone who is relaxed enough to be inside the house when we’re cooking dinner or watching TV.

Anyone have any suggestions on breeds with a good balance of energy and calmness? I’d like a big dog (the bigger the better in my opinion), but Matt’s a fan of the smaller varieties (not tea cup or handbag size, but a funny looking Boston terrier is his ideal).

What about advice on adopting a dog? I like the idea of helping a dog who needs a home, but I’ll admit that I’m concerned that we might end up with a dog that has behavioural issues. I’d appreciate any tips anyone has.