I finally have these suckers strung up on my patio! At our previous apartment, there was no way it was going to happen since the balcony was fairly small and it just didn’t make sense to, but with the size of our current ground-level patio, the extra lighting is definitely a plus. Not to mention I’ve wanted these kind of lights since I saw similar ones strung up in Olive Garden for the first time many years ago. While the fence around our patio is made of wood, I didn’t really want to hammer in nails. Thankfully my smart place did me some good and since there’s railing at the top, I came up with the brilliant plan of using zip ties! Secure but impermanent! Brilliant!

I bought a 100 pack of 14″ zip ties and came home to find out that they were just an inch or so too short! AUGH! Now I had to go back to Home Depot and get the huge ass 24″ ones that I contemplated on but figured they’d just be way too long. After driving a few blocks, it dawns on the me that I have more than enough zip ties currently to just link TWO together and that’s solves the problem! Doy! That saved me from spending another $5-$10 since the 24″ packs carried only 10, I believe. Huzzah!

That patio is definitely on its way to look presentable for friends when they come and visit. There are also two more chairs and a little metal table now. No more using an upside-down tub to put our ashtray and drinks on! We’re moving up, y’all!

Unfortunately the border stuff I bought to go along the base of the patio fence is too short to actually prevent Gunny from possibly squeezing through if she really wanted to. I’ll need to try and return those to Home Depot and get taller ones. I even bought a cheap-o rubber mallet to pound those bastards into the ground! Bah. Measure twice, cut once… Always.