I might trade you my one geriatric bladder compromised cat for two of your cute little kittens. lol My old cat probably needs to be put down but I don't have the heart. I have to keep her shut up away from the carpet unless she's right with me. I put her out on the deck or patio occasionally but I can't leave her outside long because she's a bit crippled and couldn't get away from a dog. Ok - Here's my story about Jackson: My daughter who just turned 18 is the one who brought him home. She LOVES dogs and always has from the time she was big enough to point at pictures of dogs in books. Everything she wanted for Christmas for several years had a dog/puppy theme, clothes, books, toys etc. Anyway - A few weeks ago we were in the living room.... Daughter: "Mom I need to tell you something" Me: "okay" Daughter: "I've been wanting to tell you for awhile" Me: "okay what?" Daughter: "Promise not to ground me" Me: knowing not to argue "okay" Daughter: "Promise not to take my phone away" Me: now getting a bit concerned "okay" Daughter: "You know how I said Jackson was a stray?" Me: now getting more than a bit concerned "yeah" Daughter: "Well he wasn't" Me: "What?!" My daughter has never stolen anything that I know of but that was my first thought. She didn't (thank goodness). She told me that a friend of a friend was planning to move out of state and couldn't take her dog with her. She was looking for a home for it and my daughter wanted the dog. She'd never even seen it but it was a dog after all. So they cooked up a scheme. Her friend and the dog's owner met her across three fields on another road more than a half mile away with the dog. My daughter walked, and they drove to the spot at an agreed time. My daughter MADE mud and took it with her to rub on the dog so it would look more like a stray. They scratched out the writing on his rabies tag so it couldn't be traced and she carried him home. She had been told that it was a dachshund mix which he is, but STANDARD dachshund not the itty bitty kind so he's very heavy, between 30 and 40 pounds. She carried her new muddy dog about a quarter mile towards our house and then called me out of breath from her cell phone to tell me she had "caught" a stray dog at the back of our field and could she bring it home and feed it. So after I spent a few weeks looking through every lost-dog site on the internet, posting in the paper, making signs, taking him to the vet to have him scanned for a chip, etc, we gave in and decided to let her keep him. The kids had all voted on a name for him and decided to call him Jackson. Well his name was ALREADY Jackson. My daughter had told her two sisters where he really came from and they kept her secret for a few months until she finally told me. My hubby still doesn't know. I'm not sure he would see the humor in it. I'm having some trouble seeing the humor myself. lol So...That's Jackson's true story (to the best of my knowledge) lol Here's what I posted back in June and it has another photo and a video of him. Here is a link that might be useful: Me - in the dark - posting about the

Sorry about the confusion. The "+" sign is a symbol representing the center of a plant. The circle represents its perimeter. In this case, it represents a small tree. The "." symbol is the same thing. In this case it represents a shrub form. The shapes in between the patio and house are generic plants ... there only to give the plan a vague sense that plants in that space are possible. When looking down from above (as in a PLAN) all individual plants are going to look like a circle with a center. The scalloped edge thing is a plant MASS .... where smaller plants are amassed together such that you do not see the individual, but only the perimeter of the group. Here, it's all generic and doesn't yet matter about the plants. I'm only showing them to say that "some plants can fit in this space." At this point, all you need to care about is the patio. The hardscape (patio) comes first. The plantings are subordinate and will comply with whatever way the patio ends up being. Since you don't want a deck, whatever steps you have will come fairly near the door. You'll still need a landing at the door (rather than immediately stepping down as that would be cheap looking and feeling, such as what one would expect to see in a mobile home situation) which is why I suggest make it and steps full width of the wall face. It will work and look much better than if you try to make it only one door width, as it is now. You only need 4 risers for the set of steps. You want a small patio. There is no need or reason to make a contrived or convoluted set of steps with this small, simple need. Keep them spacious and simple and you will have a nice finished package. Get cute or clever and you might like it for a while, but others will wonder why you bothered or the next owner may dislike it. Simple, well functioning steps will work best. You can glamourize them in the construction details, if that suits your taste. If you want something other than straightforward, it would be best if you sketch it out in plan view, and then I'd be happy to react to what you've proposed, giving the pros and cons. I think I mentioned before but did not see your answer .... you'll need to figure out the total square footage that you want for patio space. It doesn't need to be to the square inch. You just need to get into the ballpark on it. While I'm not working to scale -- just proportion -- I estimate the patio in the sketch to be about 170 s.f., which does not count the pure walking space in front of the steps. Including that, it might be around 200 s.f. Keep in mind that in order to do the same functions (cook and eat) requires a little more room outdoors than it does indoors. Outdoors, people move about faster and flail their arms more :-).

Consider creating terraces. Decide how much room immediately behind your home you eventually want for a backyard patio. Leave at least six feet beside each fence not dug but dig a ditch/footing for a wall of concrete block down to hard ground across the center of the rest of the back yard. Once your terrace wall is built, level the area above the wall, including by adding a truck load of gravel and/or dirt and/or shoveling dirt from below the wall to above it to level both your patio area and a space below the wall. Once you've reserved your patio space -- while your dogs pack it from using it -- you can begin to plant your garden, preferably in a way the dogs can be taught to leave what you plant alone. Pay attention to how the sun passes over your back yard so you're not planting anything that will eventually shade your garden too much for it to grow. Brackets on fence posts can hold potted plants -- choose the strong ones. https://www.google.com/search?q=very+strong+bracket+for++holding+flower+basket&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy1KW5l4LoAhWiSt8KHRZkBw0Q_AUoAnoECAwQBA&biw=1366&bih=628 Consider the stronger tomato cages for tomatoes and beans. You can buy individual trellis/cages in the spring from the big box stores or build your own -- there are You Tube videos on how to build different kinds. This is just one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozQNsd5Oek4  Consider building a mini greenhouse using plumbing pipes and/or wood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsSI4w3CqEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQWPnaiixe0 https://www.bing.com/search?q=building+greenhouse+with+pvc&form=EDGSPH&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&msnews=1&plvar=0&refig=d03dc932a900445e84174ddd49ea6bb8&sp=1&ghc=1&qs=AS&pq=building+greenhouse+with+&sk=PRES1&sc=8-25&cvid=d03dc932a900445e84174ddd49ea6bb8&cc=US&setlang=en-US If you build raised beds with wood, remember to line the wood box with plastic to make the wood last longer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef_TS19TRQg and / or building tiered structures for plants https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+tiered+structures+for+planting+strawberries&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiv8fyvk4LoAhXEEFMKHS1JBKMQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=wood+tiered+structures+for+planting+strawberries&gs_l=img.3...95448.101579..102697...0.0..0.134.1724.15j4......0....1..gws-wiz-img.NbM-ukJ-fRs&ei=qFFgXq_9FcShzAKtkpGYCg&bih=654&biw=1366&client=firefox-b-1-d#imgrc=irj20Wqm9lLhnM

I would get a quote from a contractor to see how much they would charge for a deck constructed like this. If they suggest a different method, they'll tell you why. Then you'll have a point of comparison for your cost of materials including delivery, purchase or rental of power tools etc. I would only consider a floating deck on level ground. The cement footers will have more soil pressure from the slope on the house side - could this could gradually shift them downhill towards the iron rail fence? Might cost a lot to fix a moving deck and a damaged fence. Your HOA board will probably take a good long look at your construction method, which is a hassle you don't need. I hope some people more familiar with construction methods will chime in.