REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!!!

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 17:55
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Wednesday, April 22, 2020 11:00 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


100 degrees already? Jesus Christ... No thank you. It will be 50 here tomorrow.


Was around 60 the last two days, and boy have I gotten a lot done.

I drilled holes in the inflatable tire wells from two tires I re-purposed from an old broken cart that I had been meaning to use to fix my broadcast spreader that's been broken for ages. Worked a charm, and I finally put down the fertilizer that has been sitting inside my garage unused for the last 5 years.

Cleaned up two large trash bins full of sticks that fell since fall and mowed the lawn the day before.

Unclogged my shower drain which has been backed up for the last few months just a while ago. Unfortunately the auger broke, so there's another $25 down the drain for a replacement. Whoopsie. But at least the drain is clear and I won't be standing in 2" of dirty water by the end of my showers for the time being.


Put too many coats of poly on my stained shelves to count now... Drying time is a bear, so I've been doing all of these things in between coats. They look fantastic, but still need another coat on the bottom side before I give them all a light sanding and put the final coat on. The rub-on poly sure is nice in that there is very little cleanup, but if you're looking to do things quickly this is not the product for you.


Before the shelving goes in, I decided to primer the backs of the bifold doors I wasn't going to paint. That closet is just too deep and when you're hanging and/or looking at clothes on the side racks you see the inside of the doors and they looked like shit. I'm also doing some work and paint around where the door hardware is up top too, so that's all got to be finished before I finally put the shelving and polls in.

All that will be left after that for the closets is getting the baseboard in (and I do have to get two bi-fold doors for the 2nd bedroom and paint them too).

I'm so excited. I'm going to finally have a legit closet to hang clothes for the first time in 8 years. I'm tired of having that $20 rack from Aldi sitting in there all lopsided in a bare closet without any doors.




I'll have to show ya'all a picture when I'm done. I used your idea for the dual shelves/polls on the left and a single larger one in the back. There would still be room on the right side for some sort of shoe rack or something too down the road, but I might just leave that clear and the next owner could decide if they wanted to put something there.


Feels good to be working again. Not thinking about any of the bullshit of the world when I'm lost in my own little world.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, April 23, 2020 12:01 AM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
The rain is back.

Over here it's hot and sunny. Friday is predicted to be almost 100F!

Too hot!

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

#WEARAMASK



Would love that where I am but not sure what Summer will look like here.

Right now up the Cariboo region and Chilcotin are worrying about flooding. Heavier than usual snow pack. Cache Creek a small community in the area has already experience some.

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Thursday, April 23, 2020 1:29 PM

BRENDA


Out for my walk in a bit with my trusty umbrella.

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Friday, April 24, 2020 1:26 PM

BRENDA


Out for my walk in a bit. Least its not raining right now.

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Friday, April 24, 2020 2:53 PM

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.



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Friday, April 24, 2020 3:10 PM

BRENDA


Yeah, Kiki. Just had a look around, paid a bill. Stretched my left leg. Decided as a treat to buy some scratch lottery tickets. Last time I did that I won $25 on one of them. Bout all I can do since I can't get my twice yearly casino days in this year.

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Saturday, April 25, 2020 7:03 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Does cancelling the casino days save money?



*****

Just a few more days until the end of this blasted heat wave ...

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

#WEARAMASK

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Saturday, April 25, 2020 1:52 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Does cancelling the casino days save money?



*****

Just a few more days until the end of this blasted heat wave ...

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

#WEARAMASK



Yeah, it does SIG. I usually take $100 with me when I go to the casino and play that out which is either until I win something or I get tired of all the blinking lights and fake clinking sounds around me. Casinos are bad places really for someone with a seizure disorder. And when I leave some times I have a little more in my pocket than when I went in and sometimes a little less than when I went in. It's all just for a bit of fun. I go twice a year around now or May then again in September.

Heat wave?! We've got rain again here. So when my laundry is done I will be out in it.

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Saturday, April 25, 2020 2:06 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Well, it looks like we're going to cool down in a couple of days. If my "weather flip" notion holds up, maybe it means you'll warm up??? I hope so!

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

#WEARAMASK

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Saturday, April 25, 2020 4:17 PM

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.


Man Signy - my cool-down temps are your heat wave temps! It's a LOT warmer here!

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Saturday, April 25, 2020 5:00 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, it looks like we're going to cool down in a couple of days. If my "weather flip" notion holds up, maybe it means you'll warm up??? I hope so!

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

#WEARAMASK



Actually the rain had long stopped by the time I got to my laundry, so my walk was nice and dry. There is sun out now and some blue sky though a wind has come up.

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Monday, April 27, 2020 1:58 PM

BRENDA


Out for my walk in a bit.


Had a small bout of depression hit yesterday. Going to happen.

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Monday, April 27, 2020 2:29 PM

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.


I'm sorry to hear about your bit of depression. I myself get SAD during the winter, so I feel I understand your experience.

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Monday, April 27, 2020 3:46 PM

BRENDA


Yeah, I've dealt with the SAD when I was in the other space because of lack of natural lighting.
Depression I've been dealing with of and on for a number of years. Something hit me yesterday and I had a bit of cry which seemed to help.

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Monday, April 27, 2020 3:53 PM

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.


I truly understand.

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Monday, April 27, 2020 11:23 PM

BRENDA


Happens. Every so often I feel older than my 50 odd years. Sunday was one of those days and add a little loneliness to the mix and not good.

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Monday, April 27, 2020 11:25 PM

BRENDA


Well, finally this evening got around to swapping out a picture on a frame that I did up a couple of months ago. That made me feel good.

Still have another frame I want to do up with some more family photos.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020 1:59 PM

BRENDA


Out for a walk in a bit.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020 4:31 PM

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.


Just stopping by to say HI all!


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Tuesday, April 28, 2020 11:57 PM

BRENDA


Everyone have some feels for Fort MacMurray Alberta. They were burned out 4 years ago with all the wild fires and this Spring the residents are being flooded out.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 2:35 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.




Jeez.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:12 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Everyone have some feels for Fort MacMurray Alberta. They were burned out 4 years ago with all the wild fires and this Spring the residents are being flooded out.

That's terrible.

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

#WEARAMASK

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:13 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, finally this evening got around to swapping out a picture on a frame that I did up a couple of months ago. That made me feel good.

Still have another frame I want to do up with some more family photos.

It's always nice to get something accomplished!

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

#WEARAMASK

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:22 AM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:


Jeez.



Yup, and you can see all the lovely ice in that picture.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:24 AM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Everyone have some feels for Fort MacMurray Alberta. They were burned out 4 years ago with all the wild fires and this Spring the residents are being flooded out.

That's terrible.

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

#WEARAMASK



It is. The universe doesn't seem to love Fort McMurray.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:25 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Still digging out that veggie garden. Ripping out the sage wasn't too bad, but it had been also overcome with Bermuda grass. Bermuda grass ... it spreads by runners, by roots, and by seed. Great, it you want it for a lawn. A real hell if you want it out of your garden.

It's not just a case of turning over the soil. I have to sift thru each shovelful to make sure that I'm getting all of the storage roots out, otherwise it will re-sprout from the tiniest little piece. With the weather and my age, I can only manage about 15 sq feet a day. But if I keep at it, it will get done! And at least my soil is silty. It could be worse: it could be clay!

Also waiting to see if the weed killer worked in the front. I sprayed the parts I can't torch. Hoping to see weeds die soon! Tomorrow, dd and I will be torching more weeds in the back. Plus, since this is the time that avocado leaves fall ... really helped along by the hot dry weather ... we have a ton of leaves to rake up. But since the weeds will just keep getting worse and worse unless we do something but the leaves will just stay there, I've decided to focus on the weeds first.

This weather! It's like it jumped from winter to August! We had near 100-degree weather just a few days ago, it dropped to 85 but the forecast has it going up to near-100 again! Whatever happened to "May gray" and "June gloom"?





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

#WEARAMASK

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:30 AM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, finally this evening got around to swapping out a picture on a frame that I did up a couple of months ago. That made me feel good.

Still have another frame I want to do up with some more family photos.

It's always nice to get something accomplished!

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

#WEARAMASK



It is. The family photos I am putting into another frame are all of my dad and his siblings along with my grandfather. I am hoping to finally get it done over the weekend or next week. *fingers crossed*

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 4:19 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.


BTW, Brenda - you're my role model - set a goal of accomplishing a project and keep working on it till it's done.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 2:02 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
BTW, Brenda - you're my role model - set a goal of accomplishing a project and keep working on it till it's done.



Thanks Kiki. Just trying to keep moving so I don't stiffen up so much I get stuck.

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Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:51 PM

BRENDA


Out for a walk in a bit.

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Thursday, April 30, 2020 6:03 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Oy, it's a race against the falling avocado leaves, weeds, and bugs. And the leaves, weeds, and bugs are winning!

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

#WEARAMASK

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Thursday, April 30, 2020 11:30 PM

BRENDA


Good news. Water is starting to recede in Fort McMurray as the ice in the river is breaking up.

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Thursday, April 30, 2020 11:30 PM

BRENDA


Flipside rain heading in my direction again by Saturday.

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Friday, May 1, 2020 7:50 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Well... after having my mood dampened 2 days ago with my house springing a leak that I was mopping up on the reg until after 4:00AM and more or less taking yesterday off other than cleaning up the residual mess and assessing my situation, I've come to the conclusion that Spring sucks. Oh, and those gutters have to go up this year hell or high water. *pun intended*. I believe I found the source of the leak. I can't believe that I hadn't noticed it before now. There is a big patch under one of the basement windows that is cracked because they did such a horrible job on it. Once things dry up around here I'm going to dig a trench, keep my fingers crossed that it's only the top layer that need to be tuck pointed and give it the same fix I did the cinderblocks on the porch last year (that still look just as good as the day I finished them).

Back to work today. Those bedrooms aren't going to finish themselves.


In the mean time...

I didn't get a chance to really celebrate the fact that the closet was done since that happened. I don't think I'll truly be able to do so until my brother comes to stay here and we can move all the furniture up against the walls since everything will be finished by then except for the window sills and casings I have yet to construct and install.


Here's the pictures.

Thanks to Sigs and Kiki for the suggestion on what to do with my weird closet. I'd say it's definitely a huge upgrade from the closet that was there when I bought the place.



BEFORE:




Yuck. Bent metal crap shelving and two poles in front of each other on the right side.

Might be hard to even notice the yuck in that when you've got to get past the crap beat-up door trim, the crap beat up baseboard that had 15 layers of paint on it and were the same color as the walls, the crap beat up carpet and the crap beat up bi-fold doors.

I'm sure I have a picture somewhere too where the closet floors in both rooms were the skeeziest I've ever seen. Filthy grey wood that had never been given a coat of stain or poly after they were put down (why wouldn't you treat hardwood floors, even if they're in a closet where you wouldn't seem them 99% of the time?

AFTER:








I'm pretty pleased with the results. It only took me 8 years to finally have a working closet in the house.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, May 1, 2020 1:45 PM

BRENDA


Nice job Jack.

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Friday, May 1, 2020 1:47 PM

BRENDA


Out for my walk in a bit. Getting bored now. Got some of the days a bit mixed up last week. Don't like that.

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Friday, May 1, 2020 2:26 PM

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:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Got some of the days a bit mixed up last week. Don't like that.

I read that that's happening to people A LOT without their regular work-schedule.

Have a good walk!

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Friday, May 1, 2020 2:30 PM

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:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oy, it's a race against the falling avocado leaves, weeds, and bugs. And the leaves, weeds, and bugs are winning!

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

#WEARAMASK




For the weeds, I have 2 words for you Signy - hardscape and mulch! (But your hardscape needs to be ant and weed-proof - no bricks, blocks, cobblestones, flagstones, or pavers set in sand!)

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Friday, May 1, 2020 2:31 PM

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.


Good work Jack! Nice design Signy!

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Friday, May 1, 2020 5:26 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Got some of the days a bit mixed up last week. Don't like that.

I read that that's happening to people A LOT without their regular work-schedule.

Have a good walk!



I can believe it.

Walk was good. Did a bit of shopping.

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Friday, May 1, 2020 5:27 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


SIX, that looks awesome!!!! Nice job!

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

#WEARAMASK

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Friday, May 1, 2020 5:31 PM

BRENDA


Late lunch after clearing out two more old photo albums. The kind where the page is sticky. Luckily I got all the photos out with no damage to them. Yay! The other album was just old postcards my mom had collected over the years.

A few had letters written on the back. One from an uncle of mine, one of my dad's brothers writing to a sister. He was telling her that he had work for $4 a DAY and was looking for more work. Think he was in Saskatchewan. A place called "Conquest".

My dad's family also had a thing about taking pictures of another uncle with horses or horses and wagons.

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Friday, May 1, 2020 5:44 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Oy, it's a race against the falling avocado leaves, weeds, and bugs. And the leaves, weeds, and bugs are winning!

KIKI: For the weeds, I have 2 words for you Signy - hardscape and mulch! (But your hardscape needs to be ant and weed-proof - no bricks, blocks, cobblestones, flagstones, or pavers set in sand!)



Coming around to the idea that what I need are big, off-the-ground perennials that I can weed and mulch under. But I need to find a reliable source of chipped bark/tree.

I do have an area of front yard that's already dominated by ashy leaf buckwheat, pheasant's tail grass, purple three-awn, hollyleaf redberry, and rock purslane. (In fact, the rock purslane is SO successful I'm going to have to cut it back.)

*****

Part of the problem is that I'm also trying to convert what was formerly bee's bliss sage groundcover (it really was bee's bliss!) into a vegetable garden and - unfortunately- while it was a great groundcover the Bermuda grass crept in. So I've been digging up the area (about 12'X24') and sifting out the Bermuda grass roots by hand, so that adds a huge workload. And the weather has been so unseasonably hot that I hope I can actually plant successfully and not have the young plants and seedlings just die from heat. I hope the weather cools down in time for planting. Plus, the avocado trees are dumping all of their leaves all at once. We have filled six 65-gallon bins with leaves and sage in the past two weeks. Also, up on the agenda is to hose off the avocado trees from the bottom to control the persea mites. Over the years, I've found that works better than Neem oil or beneficial bugs. So I have to get the leaves while they're still leafing out and the mites while their populations are low.

I think I can continue to work outdoors in the AM until next Tuesday. After that it gets too hot, and I have to shift to indoor work.

*****

The problem with all of this ... weeding, watering, mowing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry ... is that you know that if you finish it today, you will just have to do it again tomorrow, or next week. There's no sense of accomplishment, just treadmill.

So I try and pick out one SMALL thing that I can accomplish and FINISH.



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

#WEARAMASK

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Friday, May 1, 2020 5:49 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Well... after having my mood dampened 2 days ago with my house springing a leak that I was mopping up on the reg until after 4:00AM and more or less taking yesterday off other than cleaning up the residual mess and assessing my situation, I've come to the conclusion that Spring sucks. Oh, and those gutters have to go up this year hell or high water. *pun intended*. I believe I found the source of the leak. I can't believe that I hadn't noticed it before now. There is a big patch under one of the basement windows that is cracked because they did such a horrible job on it. Once things dry up around here I'm going to dig a trench, keep my fingers crossed that it's only the top layer that need to be tuck pointed and give it the same fix I did the cinderblocks on the porch last year (that still look just as good as the day I finished them).

Back to work today. Those bedrooms aren't going to finish themselves.


In the mean time...

I didn't get a chance to really celebrate the fact that the closet was done since that happened. I don't think I'll truly be able to do so until my brother comes to stay here and we can move all the furniture up against the walls since everything will be finished by then except for the window sills and casings I have yet to construct and install.


Here's the pictures.

Thanks to Sigs and Kiki for the suggestion on what to do with my weird closet. I'd say it's definitely a huge upgrade from the closet that was there when I bought the place.



BEFORE:




Yuck. Bent metal crap shelving and two poles in front of each other on the right side.

Might be hard to even notice the yuck in that when you've got to get past the crap beat-up door trim, the crap beat up baseboard that had 15 layers of paint on it and were the same color as the walls, the crap beat up carpet and the crap beat up bi-fold doors.

I'm sure I have a picture somewhere too where the closet floors in both rooms were the skeeziest I've ever seen. Filthy grey wood that had never been given a coat of stain or poly after they were put down (why wouldn't you treat hardwood floors, even if they're in a closet where you wouldn't seem them 99% of the time?

AFTER:








I'm pretty pleased with the results. It only took me 8 years to finally have a working closet in the house.

Do Right, Be Right. :)



So, in case my post got buried... NICE JOB, SIX! IT LOOKS AWESOME!!! I'm glad you took "before" pictures, because it shows what a great job you did on the walls, trim, and floor too! It looks legitimately great!

I'm always forgetting the "before" pictures and thinking about them halfway thru, so we never get to see how awful it was.


Sorry to hear about the leak, tho!

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

#WEARAMASK

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Friday, May 1, 2020 6:06 PM

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.


Brenda - you are STILL my role model!

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Friday, May 1, 2020 6:07 PM

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:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Coming around to the idea that what I need are big, off-the-ground perennials that I can weed and mulch under.

With lots of area around them to give you room to work.
I'm in favor of very large shrubs you can walk under to very large trees, myself. Shrubs block breezes. OTOH shade-providers keep the sun off the ground and off of structures, so they don't heat up and reradiate heat later on. And they allow breezes underneath. But that's just me!
Quote:

But I need to find a reliable source of chipped bark/tree.
I'll see if I can find any in your area. For now I recommend wood shavings as temporary cover to keep your weeding from undoing itself right away. It's clean and not infective. You can always add more attractive mulch on top later on.
Quote:

I do have an area of front yard that's already dominated by ashy leaf buckwheat, pheasant's tail grass, purple three-awn, hollyleaf redberry, and rock purslane. (In fact, the rock purslane is SO successful I'm going to have to cut it back.)
That sounds AWESOME!
Quote:


*****

Part of the problem is that I'm also trying to convert what was formerly bee's bliss sage groundcover (it really was bee's bliss!) into a vegetable garden and - unfortunately- while it was a great groundcover the Bermuda grass crept in. So I've been digging up the area (about 12'X24') and sifting out the Bermuda grass roots by hand, so that adds a huge workload.

Bermuda grass - a nasty problem we both have.
Quote:

And the weather has been so unseasonably hot that I hope I can actually plant successfully and not have the young plants and seedlings just die from heat.
Sun can also be part of the problem. It makes the plants transpire even more. If you can provide some off-the ground shade it might help.
Quote:

I hope the weather cools down in time for planting. Plus, the avocado trees are dumping all of their leaves all at once. We have filled six 65-gallon bins with leaves and sage in the past two weeks.
3 65-gallon bins A WEEK !!??? That's a lot of bins!

THAT'S A LOT OF WORK !!!!!
Quote:

Also, up on the agenda is to hose off the avocado trees from the bottom to control the persea mites. Over the years, I've found that works better than Neem oil or beneficial bugs. So I have to get the leaves while they're still leafing out and the mites while their populations are low.

*****

The problem with all of this ... weeding, watering, mowing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry ... is that you know that if you finish it today, you will just have to do it again tomorrow, or next week. There's no sense of accomplishment, just treadmill.

I could not manage even half of your schedule. Maybe just a quarter.

But that's why, many years ago, when I was deciding how to landscape ... and after a native, drought-tolerant wildflower front yard for about 3 years with rockrose and rosa rugosa shrubs around the edge and in the middle (while trying to exterminate the silver lace vine from everywhere) ... I settled on drought tolerant large shrubs to large trees, hardscape, and mulch, as low-maintenance and overall beneficial.
No that any of them are boring! The oak trees have already bloomed and are busy growing their bird-and-critter friendly acorns. The holly-leaf and Catalina island cherry trees are blooming their white sprays and the cherries are also bird-and-critter friendly. The bee-friendly privet will be blooming soon, and have bird-friendly berries later on. After that the bee-friendly crape myrtles will be blooming. And eventually I'm going to be planting even more types of very specifically drought-tolerant, native, and wildlife-and-pollinator friendly shrubs, small trees, and some vines for the alley fence.
Quote:

So I try and pick out one SMALL thing that I can accomplish and FINISH.



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

#WEARAMASK




Then Brenda AND you are my role models!!

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Friday, May 1, 2020 6:20 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Brenda - you are STILL my role model!



Got tired of looking at the photo albums laying around and decided to finally deal with them.

Found a good for the time frame outdoor photo of my dad, two of his brothers and their dad for that frame that I want to do up.

Also found a nice photo of my grandmother's sister. Too bad I don't have any of her brother.


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Friday, May 1, 2020 11:53 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Nice job Jack.



Thanks Brenda.

Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Good work Jack! Nice design Signy!



Yeah. We're getting there. Finally....



Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, in case my post got buried... NICE JOB, SIX! IT LOOKS AWESOME!!! I'm glad you took "before" pictures, because it shows what a great job you did on the walls, trim, and floor too! It looks legitimately great!

I'm always forgetting the "before" pictures and thinking about them halfway thru, so we never get to see how awful it was.


Sorry to hear about the leak, tho!



Thanks Sigs.

Feels good to finally be making some notable progress that actually has some function too. Finally was able to ditch the Aldi clothes rack that was in the middle of my bedroom keeping me from being able to do the rest of the work.

Even with that out of the way, trying to paint trim with only a foot and a half between the wall and the furniture is painful. I taped down painters paper all along the walls, but after about 4 feet of that I ripped it all up and just cut it all in along the hardwood floor by hand. All the paper was doing was promoting sloppy painting and I knew that when I removed it I was going to have paint on the floor that had already dried and would be a bitch to remove. In both bedrooms I may have gotten paint on the floor about 5 or 6 times, but if you remove it quickly with a sponge or wet paper towel correctly you can give yourself a do-over and not have a mess.


Yeah. Got to remember the before pics.

Those were actually from when I was looking at the house with my agent. That crappy little camera I used has long since been given to Goodwill. I remember it took 4 AA batteries and ate them up almost immediately and the pictures were really bad compared to the tablet that I have now. I'm actually taking a ton of videos these days with it, pretty much documenting everything I do every step of the way.


That leak sucks, but at least I think I know what I need to do to fix it. Only problem is I need to wait until the weather is dry, so that probably won't be the last time I'm mopping things up in the mean time. Oh well... it's not like I'm going to be going out much in the near future, so I'll be around to do it.




The bedroom is done though now except for making windowsills and doing the window casings, and a few touch up spots on the wall when I buy more paint. Supposedly the stuff I bought (at $60/gallon) allows you to do touchups that blend seemlessly with the original paint job, so I have to buy 3 sample pints at $14 a piece to do all my touchups when I'm ready.

But all of that can be done later. When my brother gets here we're going to move the furniture to the walls and that'll be his room for a few weeks or more.



Before he gets here I want to re-caulk my tub/shower, finish painting the trim and casings in the hallway so he doesn't accidentally bump into wet paint, and I'm trying to install a light kit for a ceiling fan that just won't seem to work. I think I have to remove the entire assembly because idiot dipshit who lived here before me didn't wire the fan up right.



I'm exhausted. It's been a couple of very long days.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, May 2, 2020 1:47 PM

BRENDA


Got the rain right. Raining right now.

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Monday, May 4, 2020 3:57 PM

BRENDA


So nice to find a hamburger joint open when I was out and about. Went in and got a small cheeseburger with no onions and no mayo. My blood sugar sure needed that boost.

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