Larry, you may be behind last year, but you are ahead of me. My tomatoes are only about 4 inches high, but they look nice. I actually had to start over once. I started with a poor starting mix the first time and it dried out so quickly that I gave up and started over. Even after that, I planted too many seeds and probably have 60-70 plants, but I don't have a lot of variety. Outside I have planted onions, potatoes and a few peas. I threw some corn salad seeds in the onion bed, but I think the birds cleaned most of it up before it sprouted. When we had a hail threat, I covered one onion bed with row cover just to make sure I didn't lose them all, but the hail didn't come. I think the robins are having a family reunion in my garden this year. When we get past the next 10 days, then I will worry about getting everything in.

Is it a nylon collar? If so, take something metal and pointed, like an ice pick or a skewer, heat it over a flame and then burn a hole into the collar. Mark the area you want the hole before starting the process. With a cat collar you just need to make sure you don't make the hole too large or the latch may not hold well. Another option is to try a hole punch with a small hole size, then burn the edges to keep them from fraying.

Your home looks nice as is but one change that would be worth making, if structurally possible (weight bearing wall), is to remove most of that solid wall (about six feet) that is located to the right of the entrance in front of the door and altering that one arch across from the front door (only that one) to create a wider (rectangular) opening there -- an opening distinctively different from the arches of the porch and the windows. Making that opening larger would make your front door more visible and it would enable you to make your front entry more the focal point for the front of your home -- especially if you added some dark bold color by painting your front door -- and changing that one arch to a rectangle should not "confuse" the style of the home. You could frame that rectangle in wood. and/or You could also add a pergola or sun roof in front of the rest of the front porch -- in front of the arches -- if enlarging your front porch is of interest to you. Another idea to "break" the look of so much concrete could be to add vertical wood boards between each of the arches and add brackets for hanging flower baskets on those boards.

You have a very charming house! But you are correct, it needs something. If this was my home I would add tons of white trim to the exterior. Big trim on the corners and around windows & doors. I’m not fond of the circular part above your front door. I would remove it. I would then install a different siding in the 2 large peaks and have a big piece of horizontal trim separating the 2 sidings. The siding within the peaks could be scalloped, or board & batten, or smaller and vertical, there’s lots of options out there. Also remove the storm door (I’m one of those anti-storm door people). Also, I wouldn’t go too crazy with landscaping. What you already have will grow and fill in.