Whoops, bluestarmom...I didn't read your message good enough! "unused" kennel ... so, WOW, you could do about ANYTHING! I'm for planting vines...or Morning Glories (altho they do re-seed all over!)...but a Mandarin Honeysuckle is a great plant for vining over things...I have one on an arbor by our little pond. I'm always lovin' birdhouses outside...so that could be a cool vignette on one long outside (10')fencelink...a nice bench beside the vine-covered side would be good...look in the Inspiration Album at some of these benches made from "beds"...I'll post link below. Potted flowers are always nice (if you don't mind watering)...definitely needs a roof of some kind...canvas or mesh/small pvc pipe or alumn posts from tenting or something. Anyway, have fun, have fun! Jeanne S. Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Creations Inspiration Album

That is indeed a very handsome GH, but a caveat about the shape: it severly restricts wall mounted shelving. My GH has an arched roof like that one, and while it's very attractive and sheds snow easily, in retrospect, had I given more thought to usable wall space, I'd have bought one with straight eaves and a very steep roof pitch.

I have an overhead sprinkler system in mine. I dodn;t install it myself, I had a landscape company here locally do it for me. We were originally going to do almost everything at ground level, but, I kinda started without them and by the time they got here to install it, I had already put a bunch of huge plants in the ground (in my defense, it WAS October, LOL and I needed to get things started before first frost in November/December) But it wasnlt a problem, they just did the same design but ran the PVC piping around the perimeter at the 12 ft sidewall level and put the sprinklers at that level. Actually its a lot better, because now most of my hanging stuff and orchids get watered. I only use it when I am really strapped for time and can;t get out to water, or we go out of town. I like to water by hand actually, so that I can look at all my stuff and catch any small problems before they turn into large problems. Mine is on a timer, it can be as fully automated as I want it. I can use it almost like a mister, or, water once a day, trice a day, every other day, once a week, etc.

Our dog has a tie-out that we use just for going to the bathroom. He gets plenty of excercise both on and off-leash during the day but would love to hunt/chase given the opportunity. And sorry, but the leave-it command does not work, nor does even some tasty roast beef distraction, if a fresh chipmunk is available! Anyway, it's always different at night when you just want them to eliminate quickly and come back in the house. At night, we turn on the outdoor light, then hook the tie-out clip to his collar, open the door, and he has a 30 foot radius from the door to take care of his business. This works great, and even if there is a critter there he can't reach it and the critter has time to get away. A bonus is that by placing the tie-out where we did, it reaches inside the house so we don't even need to go outside with him. They come in different lengths, and consist of a metal screw-in hook that goes into the ground. The cable is plastic-coated and attaches to the ground hook on one end and has a clip for the ring on the dog's collar (like a leash clip) at the other end. I highly recommend it for your situation. Good luck!