@kmkane... The "old thread" comments, at least from ME... aren't for any other reason than letting some contributors know, that the advice they might believe they are giving, may be moot. I know that when I 1st became involved on Houzz, I was glad when someone indicated that I may be addressing a question which had probably been answered months (if not years) ago. Helped me "learn" to check the original posting date before blathering on about an issue someone was no longer interested in.

I won't bother with lattice, barrels are partially obscured from the street by fencing and if I put it up I would have to work around the lattice in order to turn the valves for water. If I can just make better use of collected water I'll be happy. We are at the end of our growing season so I should be cleaning up the garden and putting it to bed for the winter, just can't seem to get motivated. We had our first frost last week. Usually, our average early frost date is 1 November. I got almost no produce from garden this year, but there is always next year. Chookchook2 I've seen some of those decorative metal panels and they are gorgeous, sure hope your budget will allow you to get some before too long. Most of our state has been on fire for a good part of the summer. The closest is across the river from us and they have been battling it for almost a month. Some friends have had to evacuate repeatedly. We've only been concerned once, a small grass fire on our side of the river on a day we had wind gusts up to 65mph. Fortunately, it was put out quickly. Australia and New Zealand have both sent firefighters to help with the blazes. I can't begin to tell you how appreciative we are. The closest fire was fought for almost a week by local volunteers only as there were no other resources available. They were all on other fires. The Army National Guard (reserve troops) were called out to help with support duties and for the first time ever the federal Department of Natural Resources (DNR) asked for civilian volunteers to help with non firefighting tasks, cutting fire breaks, moving supplies etc.

We solve this issue with our clients all of the time with outdoor water features. We recommend getting a water wall that is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. Not only will they drown out the noise but will also act as a nice privacy wall. https://www.soothingwalls.com/outdoor-fountains/glass-outdoor-fountains.html

I suspect I've driven every South Island road over the years haha -- once I worked out to look for the Port Hills I worked out the one way street system in Chch haha , then half it fell over and they put cones everywhere . I've been out to Oxford and Hororata and Twizel and Otematata more times than I could count , same with Gore and Haast and Reefton . One of our Motorsport customers lives on the edge of Keri Keri -- he has 4 or 5 race cars and maybe 30 classic cars , so often its me that drives up and collects or swaps a car with him -- he spends $200k a year on motorsport , a fair amount of that with us , so I do Whangarei and Kerikeri several times a year too .