Beautiful plantings Dena! You sure must garden for stress-relief!

This sounds like a perfect time to add garden infrastructure, but that sure is a long stretch of fence to cover. You might consider a series of arches place close together. They might not seem so visually awkward as a "straight-up" lattice emerging from the top.

Also, I'm not sure what sort of neighborhood you live in, but mine says no "fences" over 6 ft. I'm not sure how the powers that be would interpret anything added directly to the top of the fence.

Have you thought about or tried the "Invisible Fence" which works with a collar and provides a shock if he crosses the buried line? Of course, if he's a big dog, he might just plough on through!

Here is a link that might be useful: A Discussion of Invisible Fence

bobbi,
At the moment in our lives, we are attempting to also help our daughter with daycare..which unbelievably is $950.00 a month...is that crazy?...Im not sure I could afford the hidden fence...and our HOA isn't so strict, thank God!
We recently had a pretty bad scare with my son Tony, with his Wegeners....he is back on small doeses of his meds again (which he hates)....but it's only has a preventitave measure so the disease does not get full blown again, and he was assured that it shouldn't be that long this time.
Isn't life full of surprises?..lol!
Thanks bobbi for all your input..If I could get my lovely DH to build anything that would be a miracle....but I would adore arches, that would be so pretty!
Dena

A smaller dog, is the easier answer.

Economical quality childcare is hard to find. I read a headline this week that the increased cost of gas has made many women quit their jobs, because they aren't making any money now with the cost of childcare and the increase in gas.

I can't remember the details of your son's last bout with Wegeners. (It's been greater than 2 years ago right?) I remember you all being scared. Is this his first "recurrence?" Hopefully, you all caught it early on this time and will beat it down quickly.

Aren't you just envious of BossJim's wife?!!! (For the garden structures I mean!) Ohh, to have that man's skills at your disposal for a couple of months!

I don't know if you read down through the entire post that I gave the link to, but someone suggested the "lower budget" alternative of going to the local TSC or like store and get a fence charger, metal stakes with insulators and stringing your own above ground electric fence. Of course that probably wouldn't be so great with the grandbabies around, but the fence charger could be turned on and off for when your Boxer baby is in the yard.

As a disclaimer, I'm sure I've offended multiple people on this post:

1. I would never try to steal BossJim from his wife: I'm just in awe of his skills!

2. Being raised on a farm and having been shocked by the electric fences many times in my life, I personally have no problem with a 95 pound dog being contained by an electric fence. Yes, a smaller dog might be affected (although our barn cats all survived). Yes, it can kill birds. But, if I'm tring to protect my beloved dog, those are disadvantages you have to consider. I'm sure I weighed less than 95 pounds by the time my brother started tricking me into putting the ground wire into the ground after he placed the tester on the live wire! Man, I must have been dumb! How many times did I fall for that trick before I learned not to help Gary test the fence!? (FYI my brother is 12 years my senior.)

Anyway Dena, may God help you find solutions to all your challenges! You'll always have open ears here at Gardenweb!

Well Rick, he THINKS he's a chachaua (sp?)....He really is a good boy...he can just fly...he'd never hurt anyone but it does scare the you know what outa them cuz he is so big...
bobbi, yes it's almost been 2 years since Tony has been off of all meds, we did catch it early, because he was actually paying attention to his body and the warning signs were there...Thank God he told me...he has always been the one to ignore this disease and never wants to talk about it...so I was shocked when HE called me and asked that I schedule him an appt...whew...
I use to have the electric fence because my female boxer, believe it or not would squeeze her big ole' body out them tiny rails...Boy did you bring back memories..LOL....I do remember taking metal buckets out to pick berries and being so careful about getting our body under the hot wire..only to touch it with the metal bucket...lol!!!
It really won't work in his case because he absolutely clears the fence .. never even gets close to it....Amazes me that he is so big and can jump so high....I don't have a dog I have a horse...LOL
I was thinking even if we do resort to the lattice, I can actually still plant some vines to grow up them...hmmmmm...And yes...if jim wanted a vacation, I know where he could come, I would have the lumber waiting!!..Oh and his wife is welcome too!!!...LOL
I don't think you offended anyway, I know I wasn't and have used the electric wire on several occasions, and to keep the dogs outa my flower beds too, they do learn, and it really does not hurt them!
Thank you so much for asking about Tony, he was diagnosed in 2003, and it was hard to watch your son living only because of a machine...it was a long hard road, but with ALOT of prayer he lived and is really a very normal young man...I know that you have been thru alot also in your life and totally understand where I am coming from.
In my daughters case, is there any other agencies out there that help a single mother (besides welfare) she doesnt want to quit working, and her first child, Colby, his father actually killed himself about a year ago...he never worked enough for Colby to qualify for any social security, so sad..so we have always provided for Colby. She has applied for daycare assistance, yet there is a waiting list....she also has wick to help to purchase the baby's formula...I just wish there was some type of aide to help a single mother, when the other parent is deceased.....
One more question...Im so sorry this is soo off topic, but I know the people here know so much!
IF the father of Maddi (the baby) were to go to jail or prison, does the state cover his child support? or does she not get any help with her either? So far they have been seperated for 3 months, and he has given her a total of $400. and daycare for her alone is $550. a month..Soo many questions...lol..Im sorry, but any other advice would be so appreciated!
Dena

I agree with the hot fence. It stopped my dog from hoping the fence. She never did that before she got senile! "WWWEEEE I'm a puppy again!!!Training? What training!"

Your daughter has my sympathy but no real advice or fixes.
When we left CA for TX we went from having a decent job living in a cr*ppy area to living in an OK area and having a cr*ppy job(s)! We transfered within(without papers saying so)the same company. The guy that promised us a job in TX lied. I have NO CLUE why to this day. We were in a real bind. It cost me more to work than to stay home!

They have a name for working a 40hr week for no money. It's called the "Working Poor". I read a LOT about it between tears of frustration scouring the internet on how to change our situation.

Every single article or study I read over a 6 month period said the same thing over and over.
Education was the ONLY way out of being the "working poor".
A 2yr degree was a start,a 4yr was solid and anything beyond that(6yr etc...) baring illness or addiction puts a person in middle class.

I told my DH what I had found out and said,"So which one of us is going to college first?" Jim got discoverd at school and got a real job after his first year.He was hired with the promise of a significant raise upon his graduation. We recently graduated after a very rough 2yrs. We managed to stay out of debt by having seriously cheap holidays,almost never going out and living on rice,vegies and very little meat.

We were also lucky. My dad gave me a house(inheritence) so he could "see me enjoy it BEFORE he died." It needed many repairs so we sank our CA house money into it. My dad needs his house back so we asked that he only give us enough to put a down on our own house.

So we have a "real" job with a living wage, we're buying a our own house in a decent middle class area, and flirting with the idea of some day going on a family vacation.

Guess who's going to school in the evenings next? Homeschooling is pretty much insuring that my kids won't end up on the same dead end path we did so I'm sticking with it. Also,IMHO, the public school system has no clue how to help or encourage my son with autism. PJ

pj, man you all had such a hard time, especially with a promise, and then nothing..I would have been in tears a long time...wow!...and yet you all stayed, and so I am inspired. So now your dad got his house back after all of ya'lls repairs, and you are now buying your own home? Wow...The sad part about any type of 'after highschool' education?..Well my daughter went for a year full time to cosmetology school, did her test got her liscense..which let me tell ya, the school she went to was not cheap (Aveda).....Now she makes a "mere" $7.00 an hr plus her tips..which I think is horrible...I try to convince her to go to a salon where its booth rental, I KNOW SHE would make so much more $$...she is scared to do this, because she says at least she 'knows' she's getting something at the end of each week...she is so much better than $7.00 an hour...anyone with a liscense to do hair is better than $7.00 an hour...grrrrrr
As usual we will some how tread thru this too...I use to think that when I was this close to my 50's, and my children were 'grown'?...(25 and soon to be 23) that my life would somehow get more simple...NOT...lol!
Dena

Your fence is so pretty! I agree the electric fence would be cheaper, but since the dog is taking flying leaps probably not effective. What about a trot line? (Is that the right term? I'm not a dog person.) A line running around the yard that you could attach a short leash to...so the dog could be out in the yard but wouldn't be able to run off. This could also be easily removed later.

Affordable child care...what a concept. I pay close to $700 a month for my daughter's daycare...and she is at a cheap one. When she moved to the toddler room I asked what the new lower rate would be. At first they told me it would be $5 a week cheaper. (whoo hoo) But then they amended that...b/c their fiscal year started two days before her birthday and their rates went up that day and they couldn't officially offer me the 'discounted' rate until she actually turned one year old ARGH. So we're still paying the same amount. In January we will have a new baby to start daycare, so the cost will DOUBLE. That's right...$1400 a month. And although this is a very important job...she's just playing at this age. It's not like they are teaching her anything like Chinese or sign language.

Definitely check into the child support and any income programs she may qualify for. One of my child's teachers has three children all at the same daycare. She is on CCMS and she told me the other day she only pays like $400 a month for ALL THREE. So there is help out there. I certainly hope you can find it. I don't qualify. We asked my mom to move in with us just to help with the new baby and she told us no. (So much for getting my turn after my brother's kid turned one.) In the meantime, my company is having multiple forced shutdowns (=no pay) and our annual 'raises' due in July were postponed until October. So I guess it's beans and franks and PB&J for awhile! And I'll have to root cuttings instead of splurging on new plants! :-)