In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!!!

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 17:55
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Thursday, July 2, 2020 3:54 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I can't tell you what a relief it is to have that garage at the point where hubby thinks it's functional. The project has taken many days out of each week for the past four or five weeks, and it seemed that just after we had completed one thing, he'd think of something else to work on.

I know I was just helping level, holding conduit or plywood or whatever in place, pulling wire, cutting plaster and wallboard etc and that hubby was doing all of the hard work, but given all of my aches and pains and the fact that I have daily household things to take care of, plus tax and legal shit to do, plus all of the yardwork and walking the dog, it was really taking a toll on me. I was beginning to wonder if there ever WAS going to be some sort of stopping point, or if this would continue interminably.

It wasn't until he had wired up the last quad outlet and put in the last circuit breaker and he started thanking dd and me profusely that I realized that he had come to some sort of ... well, not conclusion bc the garage still needs to be sorted and organized, but at least where he feels the garage is functional as a workspace: it has all of the outlets, shelving and workspace that he needs.

So altho it isn't "DONE!" it's not going to need an all-hands-on-deck effort.

So I'm in the process of making long-delayed phone calls and attending long-delayed business.

I'm also at a bit of a decision point with the yardwork: two of the three "big" projects that I started have been completed (vegetable and flower garden), the other is 90% done (taking the compost pile apart) and I'm sort of noodling about what to do next. There's plenty of plain maintenance to do ... weeding and pruning, mostly ... but I would really like to firm up a frontyard design so that I can actually make progress and not just keep status quo. But I'm having a terrible time coming up with a plan, I don't know why this is so difficult but I just can't seem to visualize what it should look like, so I just keep planting things to see how they work out and keep the things I like and get rid of the stuff I don't. Not a very good way to get things done!

Anyway, the pressure is off, for now.

We had a couple of thermostats bonk, so I called Honeywell for the next compatible model but wound up finding the exact replacement online. Looks like it should be able to just be plugged in. We should get them in a couple of days ... right before the weather turns really hot again!

It's never-ending, isn't it?

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

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Thursday, July 2, 2020 4:50 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Quote:
But I'm having a terrible time coming up with a plan, I don't know why this is so difficult but I just can't seem to visualize what it should look like, so I just keep planting things to see how they work out and keep the things I like and get rid of the stuff I don't. Not a very good way to get things done!

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

That's my MO. I started with the original yard that had rusty skin-ripper chain link fence (the tops hadn't been bent back down so the sharp cut-off points were sticking up), YUGE overgrown boxwood along the front, a large jacaranda on the west side, an ugly brick planter to the east side of the font door, the juniper which had two chest-high stumps cut down (it was originally a multi-trunked tree) on the east, and an incense cedar also on the east, a midgey sidewalk to the front door, and of course the Bermuda grass 'lawn'.

But I wanted to replace the old water main to the house because the original was galvanized pipe with a completely rusted solid shut-off valve (ie there was no shut off at the house), and the jacaranda was sitting right on top of where the water main ran. So I had the jacaranda removed and chipped up, but I took out the stump myself. I cut down the two juniper stumps, and removed the boxwood (it made the house look like a spooky Halloween house). Then I had planted what I thought was Catalina Island cherry nearish the west edge - it turned out it was more like a hollyleaf cherry and that I like that version better. (I think that's where the silver lace vine might have come in that I'm still finding). Eventually the cherry planted more of itself and made a beautiful hedge. Plus I had no trees on the parkway and the city was willing to plant one, so they ended up planting a large white crape myrtle. I also had brick walkways put in the parkway, which is how I found out about brick in sand making a happy home for ants.

A few years later I had a landscape architect design and install the front yard. That's where I got really pretty fencing, 4 stone pillars, a very wide wood-polymer walkway put in, a stone stoop, plus a whole bunch of drought tolerant plants. But drought tolerant landscapes were not even 'thing' 27 years ago so the plants were the best experimental guess available. But many of them didn't last past 5 years. So long rosa rugosa, dwarf ceanothus, blue-eyed grass, coral bells, and dwarf fescue! Plus I decided I really didn't like the rockrose, so bye-bye!

What DID last were the Catalina Island cherry hedges planted on either side, plus the extra pink crape myrtle planted in the parkway.

I did have some hardscape modifications made - I got replaced the sidewalks across the front with wood-polymer walkway, the main walkway extended on the sides, and had large wood-polymer walkways put in the parkway to replace the brick-in-sand ant haven from before.

Eventually the front filled in with wildflowers that grow naturally in the area, specifically, Mexican evening primrose, plus a few others. It was truly lovely, but maintenance was EXTREMELY time-consuming.

So this will be my last and final iteration, plus I'll extend my experiences to the rest of the lot.

I'm not trying to make this about me, but as you can see, my experience in trying to create a yard that looks nice to me, is drought-tolerant and wild-life friendly, and low-maintenance has involved a lot of do-then-redo. So you're not the only one.

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Thursday, July 2, 2020 5:01 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

But YAY HOORAY!! on the garage!!

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Thursday, July 2, 2020 6:54 AM

THG

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Good to hear you're still making progress Sigs. Always nice to get more trash out.

I didn't even bother putting anything out to the curb this week, after 6 weeks of putting out two full containers and wishing I could do three. Nothing really to throw out when I'm not dehoarding the garage, tearing something down I plan to rebuild or (thankfully) when the springtime weeds and seeds and fallen branches and constant lawn clippings finally give way to a much needed break.

I decided to buy more of the vinyl window film. I'm LOVING the stuff that I put up in the master bedroom and the excess I used on the front door. It looks great, and contrary to some really negative reviews about it not sticking, I think they'll stay up for 10 years since I prepped everything well and followed the directions. Not a single sign of any of them peeling at all.

It just occurred to me today that the windows in the basement are shorter than the ones upstairs and you can buy the same stuff that is twice as long so I can get the entire basement done with only two rolls and have more to spare. One more roll makes 3 and that will be pretty much every window in my house except for the large window in the living room.

In the basement, I'm going to put them on both the top and the bottom pane. Everywhere else, just on the bottom pane.

I love how clean they look upstairs and how I don't need to put holes in the wall or window frames to install any blinds or drapes. They'll look great when I repaint everything that I haven't done yet and make the new frames for the living room, and whenever I sell the house down the road it will be a clean slate for the new owners to decide what they want to do with them.

When my friend saw the windows I did at first glance he thought that I'd bought new windows. The last time he was up there was before I'd done the new sills and framed them out, and the windows had at least 8 years of dirt and grime built up. He actually thought I sprung for brand new windows with privacy panes on the bottom.

That means I get to tear down those old horrible blinds I have up everywhere that are caked with years of dust and crap on them too. Even though the film gives privacy, it lets a whole lot more light in than dingy blinds that are closed most of the time.

I can't wait!

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Stupid people don't know they're stupid, and they certainly don't realize how obvious it is to others.

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Thursday, July 2, 2020 5:41 PM