Landscaping

I have so many idea's for our backyard, that I'm not sure where to start. I'd like to pull up the cement "barriers" that are around the yard parameter, plant some small shrubs and flowers, create a water feature (either a little pond or fountain), and make a small retaining wall near the garage. Soooooo many ideas and not enough time or money. During the creating of my internal ideas of the yard, I also have to consider the dogs. I love them to death, but I have to make sure the yard is dog friendly or they might tear it up. We'll see what happens this year with the yard. I'm sure it won't be huge, but I'd like to make some changes.

Last weekend I spent some time raking up the leaves and just making it look tidy. We had sooooo many leaves and weeds just hanging out around the yard. When I was raking I came across a little critter that startled me... a little snake. Ick. But this guy wasn't so bad, and I'm pretty sure I scared the crap out of him. He hung out on the rock that I put him on (with my rake, I didn't touch him) so I went inside and grabbed my camera (big surprise, right). I attached the picture below, but I am going to see if I have a better one. This one doesn't have his head focused. I put my camera near the snake and took the picture. My head was no where near the snake. I don't care if is was tiny, he is still a snake. :)