Progress and Pavers

I think I'll have a good picture of what the whole house will look like soon. The guys are rocking right along with the soffit and they've almost finished the new shingles on the front. Tomorrow should be the siding on the front of the first floor. I can't wait!

new shingles almost done on the front!

project supervisor kept safely inside

After the front is finished, they are going to skip around to the back. Bill is going to get the footers poured for my new back porch. Yes, that's porch, not deck. The aim is to make it look as if it was always part of the house and not something that was tacked on recently.

Anyway, that's up next so that our hardscaping can get started. I'm really looking forward to my new retaining wall that will corral the mess on the factory side of the house. For that project we are planning to use Techo-Bloc. This is my current favourite color combination.



techo bloc, mini creta, victorien and mista in champlaign grey and onyx black

Everybody else seems to think I should go with brown, but I see greys. With the silver roof and all the raw concrete that was used in 1930, it is honest and original. I was even leaning toward re-using these super simple concrete pavers we dug up from the cabin. But everyone is afraid they will break. So far they haven't, I have loads more, and you can still buy them new, so I actually don't see the problem. But I can't get anyone else on board, so, new techo bloc it is!

All browns just make me think of the bland brown neighborhoods that have cropped up the last couple of years. Blech! Again, I don't want something dated 2012.

So for today, I'm leaning toward the mix of medium greys with a touch of brown, and an accent of charcoal grey. The main field colors would be the wall and the floor. For the walls, they do come in the charcoal grey as well, so I'm thinking maybe a 10% mix of dark grey with the 90% medium tones. The edging around the floors and the stairs in charcoal grey will be a snazzy contrast, and help define edges to prevent falls and mis-steps. And of course then we need to make the caps dark to tie it all together.

Please, I welcome comments or suggestions regarding my color choices. I have to stop changing my mind very soon so they can be ordered!

Back Steps Gone!

Expect the Unexpected

digging up the yard in preparation for retaining walls and new porch

gee, I hope it doesn't rain!

a surprise find, and no, it isn't buried treasure

what's under the hatch???

down the hole: rocks, water, and... is that Oliver hair?

now we just wait to see what we can do about it...

On a Happier Note

a sun-dappled Oli-dog

lilac sprouting on both sides this year!

daffodils and tulips and hyacinth, oh my!

forsythia and purple leaf plum in full bloom - at the same time!

Winter Recap

Oh, no. Seriously? No, no, no. This can't be. Really? I haven't posted since November? Bad blogger!

Let's get caught up.

As you may know, we got the back bedroom done and now we are just down to accessorizing. And we need a headboard. And maybe nightstands. They can all wait until the perfect things come along.

King size bed!

It is a good thing we got this room ready because we had house guests for three weeks over the holidays.

Oli loves to leap on and off the new bed

Oli really loves the view!

We got digital in December, too! We now have a home wireless set up thingie. We upgraded to a blu-ray player, and I reworked our Verizon home services. By changing our outdated home phone plan, we were able add Dish TV and increase our Internet speed and it is now only about $10 more per month.

And we all got sick. So we got to make good use of the new tv service. (Remember, I haven't had broadcast tv in over two years, so I'm like a kid in a candy store.) I fought off multiple infections, including strep throat, double ear infections, fluid in the right ear that didn't want to go away on its own until threatened with tubes (yes tubes! at my age!), an upper respiratory infection that kicked my behind, and a bunch of stuff I'm probably forgetting. I missed a lot of work, but there were days I could hardly move for lack of energy. Mom and Lewis took good care of me. So now, almost three months, three rounds of strong antibiotics and a round of predinsone later, I'm finally feeling like myself again.

On top of all that, I'm playing wedding planner for my cousin's June wedding, advising mom on her new counter top selections, and still helping my aunt find things for her house. Everything is finally rebuilt from the fire and they were able to move back in just a few weeks ago.

Plus, get ready for this, Oliver's Bungalow is gearing up for a major face lift. I'll get into the details later, but here's the short list, slated to begin any day now:

new siding
4 new windows (side and back bedrooms)
insulation
roof painted
mini split system installed
re-grading the yard
long term yardscaping plan
fence for Oliver

It is just one of those projects where one thing overlaps another and suddenly you find yourself in the middle of another massive project and a major investment.

Some of the old trees have already been taken down. I'll have to get a couple of good pictures together, but in the meantime, Oliver has been having a blast tearing up root balls and sticks.

tear 'em up!

Oli, is that dirt on your nose?

and your tongue too? silly, happy doggie

Effects of the April Heat Wave

The forsythia and the purple leaf plum are both in full bloom this week. Usually the plum would bloom a little later, after the forsythia blossoms start to fade, but with this April heat wave we had this week everything is blooming!

More Sidewalk Talk

Ta da! There it is, all shiny and white, making all the sidewalk around it look bad. John and Bart really did a good job. The town inspector said it was one of the best in town, and you know he has seen a lot this season! Many of the sidwalk repairs were done by professionals, too.The guys put a shiny 2009 quarter into the cement before it set. See that little smear on the right there? That was supposed to be an imprint of Oliver's paw, but they waited a little too long and Oli was slightly less than co-operative.

House Numbers, Finally

At long last, we finally got around to mounting the new house numbers on the front porch!

We've only had these pretty metal numbers for the last four years, and since we installed the new old door last August we've been completely without house numbers. This became a big problem a few weeks back when I was expecting guests who had never been to my neck of the woods.

So, my friend Marc got roped into helping me put these up one day a few weeks ago. He's such a good sport. Please forgive the bug dirt, dust and pencil markings. Actually, does anybody know what will remove those pencil markings from the metal siding?

Something Else Happened the Day of the Oliver Crop Circles

Remember all those heavy stones I said I was carrying? Well they formed this:A nice mowing edge / path to divide the very back of the yard from the rest of the lawn.

Two reasons for this:
One, the 100' extension cord on the electric mower doesn't reach much farther than this, and, two, it is a pain to get under the apple trees to mow the weeds, 'cause nothing else wants to grow under there.

So the plan is to lay a mowing strip for a clear division (done), kill the weeds, and plant ground cover that will thrive in those conditions and not require much maintenance.

My little path starts near the fence at the spirea and crosses the main backyard path, past the apple trees, and ends at the retaining wall on the other side of the yard.

Girl vs. Groundhog, Rounds 1 & 2

I may be from Pennsylvania, the home of that most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, also home to the second-most famous groundhog, Gus, the spokes-critter for the Pennsylvania Lottery, but that doesn't mean I want giant holes in my yard!

This fat-cat has been digging giant craters in the yard for years, and we used to see him all the time, brazenly sunning himself out in the open yard. Not so much now that Oliver is on the scene, but it is evident that he's still around.

Since we've been digging up the sidewalk, and we had to dispose of some of the debris from that project, mom loaded a wheel barrow with soil-y rock, and I filled in the three largest of the groundhog holes. Then another load of rock-y soil on top. I had plans to sprinkle grass seed over the bare patches.

That was Saturday. I was pretty pleased with myself when I was done. By Wednesday he had managed to dig his way through the loose stones and tunnel back out.

I was hopping mad to see that new hole, and I set about fixing that groundhog. He is not going to outsmart me.
I found a large field rock from the giant pile filling my front yard flower bed, and I dropped it in his newly dug hole. Then I filled in around it with more rocky soil. Take that!

Re-purposing Rubble

We started with a truck load of broken concrete...Mom and I hauled the larger pieces over to the other side of the house, about four chunks in the wheelbarrow at a time, and we slowly built up a little rock wall.

This area along the fence is the bane of my yard. It is steeply sloped away from the house, with a slightly gentler grade from front to back. At only 7' wide, this little strip is at best difficult to mow, at worst dangerous to walk along. It is just too easy to loose your footing or turn an ankle.

Over the past couple of years we have puzzled over how to build this up a bit, and still keep the soil on our side of the fence. Aside from very expensive and drastic measures, this seems to be our best solution. Plus, it was free.
I don't think it looks too bad from the factory's side of the fence, but we'll get a better idea when they have trimmed the weeds and tall grass from their side. Hopefully that's not what's keeping all my rocks from sliding down hill!

Mower Damage

My next door neighbor has been super sweet by mowing my front yard and my little strip between our houses when he has his riding mower out. I am so grateful for even that little bit of extra help. That's why I feel bad for being upset over this:

It looks like he bumped the trunk of my purple leaf plum with the mower. He probably doesn't even realize he did it. I'm not mad or anything, just worried about the tree. What if it doesn't heal, or gets disease or bugs?

Otherwise, it looks full and happy and healthy.

We planted it last April, and it looks so much better. I can't wait for it to get tall enough to provide a bit of shade and privacy on the porch.

Crop Circles

I've uncovered the secret to crop circles:

Golden Retrievers love rolling and rutching their backs in tall grass.

Well, that's what Oliver likes to do, anyway.
Sunday was a big-work-outside day. I was afraid I was running low on my reclaimed from the cabin paving stones for my backyard project, we've been pilfering from that stack for the front yard for a while. So I decided I had better lay them out to see how many I could still take. And it's a good thing too, because I had exactly enough left for my backyard project. Not one more or one short.

Of course, I didn't take a picture of the finished walkway, I'll try to do that soon. But you get a picture of Oliver instead. I think my old cell phone took better photos than the new one, but that's what was handy. Oli doesn't get to this part of the yard very often, but I moved his rope so he could be near me, but not so close he could trip me up as I carried heavy stones across the yard! So, as you can see, he enjoyed himself. Also, you can see we seriously need to mow!

Rocks and Cement = Sidewalks

Last August, for my birthday, I got a letter from our town. A lot of people around got these letters. Mine came with a black and white printer copy of a photo of my sidewalk. More specifically, the big corner chunk that was coming loose (from where the town's snow plow hit it two winters ago). Residents had ten months to make the appropriate repairs, or the town will do it for you, charge you the cost, plus 10%, plus fine you. Nice. Well, what can you do? It is what it is, I guess. Oh, yeah, there's also a $15 construction permit either way.


Most people weren't prepared to make the repairs last fall, and of course you can't do this kind of job during the winter, so over the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of this sort of thing going on around town:Yup. That's my little slice of construction.

Mom's boyfriend John and his neighbor Bart are going to help with this, as they have both been laid off recently. John is very handy in general and Bart worked for years for a company that does paving in the summer, snow clearing in the winter.

On Tuesday Bart cut the broken sections away from the rest of the sidewalk and the street, then John took a sledgehammer to the sidewalk.

On Wednesday John and Lewis loaded the largest pieces onto the trailer that John left for us. Then Mom and I took over and we dug the rest of the smaller pieces out of the pit. That's what I'm calling it now. The pit.

As it turns out, there was a big layer of field rocks just below the cement layer. Most of them have come completely loose from the cement. Mom and I picked them out of the rubble and have piled them onto my crescent flowerbed. (Poor violets, they didn't stand a chance.) I'm not quite sure what I want to do with them yet, but I have many options. More on that later.Now, I'm not saying my sidewalk is in great shape. It certainly is not. There are only two sections that don't have cracks. I would have liked to do the whole thing at once, and if I could have put this project off for a couple more years, maybe we would have been able to do that. But right now money is so tight that I don't even know how I am going to pay for the supplies to finish this project. So thank you, town, for forcing this on the homeowners during the worst recession many of us have ever seen.

Oliver enjoyed watching us for a while, but once I gave him a chewy he didn't care what was going on anywhere in the neighborhood. That's it, buddy. Get rid of that nasty tartar and plaque.

First Signs of Spring

I'm relieved to see new buds on my purple-leaf plum tree. I was mildly worried about it making it through the winter. I haven't really been watering it because we've gotten a fair amount of precipitation this season. But it got a good solid start last spring, and I think we can rest easy now.

And I am very excited to see all those buds on my lilac. I think I had four blossoms last year, and I'm hoping for even more fragrant blooms this spring.

The Other Jenny Lind

Meet the other Jenny Lind.With a little luck, plenty of water, and some sunshine, this little plant should yield beautiful watermelon.

Now, I hadn't really planned on growing watermelon, knowing from mom's garden how they like to spread out, but when the lady at the nursery was helping pick mom select veggies for her garden, my ears perked up when she said Jenny Lind. How could I resist?

Finally Done With The Front Crescent

...for now, at least. We added some flowers at the front, and a bit of trellis for the cucumbers to climb. Hopefully they won't attack the tomatoes, which are in the big terracotta colored plastic pots. A big change from a couple of weeks ago, huh?