predrilled through the furring strips into the shutter and simply made a solid frame out of it. You can't see it but on the bottom board I put a rolling caster to support the weight of the door because it's pretty wide and heavy and I knew it would eventually sag. It's attached on one side with regular gate hinges and there's an eye-hook latch on the other end to hold it shut. I can't say what a difference it's made in our house. We can order pizza without the delivery guy getting assaulted by our dogs. People can come in our house without worrying that that the dogs are going to slip past them and out into the street. This year, my Christmas tree didn't get that extra little watering the Chewie liked to provide. It's been nice.

archeological dig. As I was removing the layers of ivy, I started finding random newspapers, nicely sealed in plastic bags, from nearly 2 decades back. The toys I found were adorable--from baseballs to tonka trucks to the simplest toy cars for toddlers. It was like traveling back through a little boy's childhood. The funniest thing I found was that at the bottom of it all was a WALL. A big honking stone wall. None of the neighbors had any idea there was a wall there. The ivy had consumed it.

crutches, baseball bats, golf clubs. I've seen iron that used to be used on a porch that would make for interesting table legs, and metal piping could be dolled up with some odd fittings to give it an industrial look.

lot of work, but looks like a million bucks! Give yourself a pat on the back from me.