The Bad 2010

The Bad




#1 Water vs plumber



The leaking water line in month 2 of living here. It is no joke to open a mailbox on a Friday night and find a $300  water bill. The former owners HAD to have known about this, as they had 1 or 2 high bills before they moved. But it was not caught on the inspection nor is there any proof so we didn't get to blame it on anyone. $1500 later with only a $56 credit from the water company (50% of 50% of 1, 2 month bill, minus $75 admin fee) Decembers water was free!

It would be listed under ugly, but it brought to us the lovely patio plan which elevates it up one level. (And because I promised to be more optimistic)

Here is where it started:

When we moved in this faucet on the patio was drip drip dripping away. In fact, the moving party was still here and Travis was determined to fix this. RIGHT NOW. So he did for about 30 cents in 2 minutes.

Now it WAS leaking almost 10 gallons a day, just by the innocent drip drip dripping. So when we pulled up this one broken cinder block, we shouldn't have been surprised to find a swimming pool.

And since we thought it was all from the drip drip dripping, we thought we could bail it out.

But by the time we got one hole empty, all the other holes had filled back in. But we kept it up and kept it up til they were ALL empty at the same time... I mean, how long had 10 gallons/day been leaking on to the patio?

Slowly the sun went down, and they all filled back up again. At this point we started wondering about a leak and I believe the very next day the bill came.

So we called 3 plumbers, hired 1 and waited for a sunny weekend for a surprise destruction of the patio

Now this is less than 2 months after moving in--all we really wanted to do was plant a garden, clean the house and sand those beams. We also had company coming in July for a week and this was the state of the patio in the middle of June:

We couldn't bear to put these back in. All the work to level out the dirt to hate these cinder blocks some more? No thanks! And this is where the dream was born.

And this is how far we got for our company. A big gravel yard!!! I spent A LOT of time vacuuming.

#2 The Beams from hell

Back when everything was white. *shudder*

The beams. The @#$% beams.
Travis couldn't wait to get started on these beams once we moved in. Underestimating the amount of time and work it would take. Grossly underestimating the annoyance.
Also--did I mention he doesn't like heights? (I won't say afraid, because he probably would not approve)
We recently called in some contractors for advice about what type of wood they were and how to stain them and every single one mentioned how Travis had done all the hard work all ready. They oohed and aahed at the fact if we hired them the rest would be a cake walk. (Bastards)
I wonder if the truth was known before we bought the house, if Travis would have still wanted THIS house.

Travis finished PHASE 1! YIPPEEE!



Full shot of Phase 1 complete--time for phase 2, detailing



Some of these divots are super deep



My all time favorite picture. Travis in deep thought about Beams






If it wasn't for this project, we should have moved upstairs. Or so we think. But another item actually is keeping us in the dungeon as well--coming up in Ugly

The truth is Travis climbed off the ladder in the middle of June to let the plumber in, and did not get back up there to work til the patio was done, actually almost done, but the weather was done with being cooperative.
Also climbing to the tallest area in our house in the middle of summer would have been pretty unbearable.

He has clocked more than 80 hours ON THE LADDER.

Phase 1, Sanding: standing on 10ft ladder holding belt sander up and using appropriate pressure to get a good even result. (I was not interested in trying it myself). Also wearing coveralls, goggles and nose mask.
Phase 2, Detailing: same as above, minus sander, but using metal pics and other smaller tools. we will find out after he begins.
Phase 3, Staining: more of the same using conditioner, stain and possibly brushes or rags.

I have forgotten about the first 2 pre-phases the applying of stripper and the scrapping off that happened back in early April. I am sure he has not.
By the end of this--Travis will know these beams quite well. Having worked on each inch more than 5x.


(I do believe I am sounding pessimistic now. I have thought about this series for far too long and have stretched them out to the point that it is now FEBRUARY. I am going to stop being so wordy and try and still make my point.)


#3 Timber

The Tree threatening to fall on our house.


Another item the inspector COULD have mentioned. Being noobs at home ownership--who would think something OUTSIDE the house and yard would pose a risk. This isn't in any manual for people. Actually maybe there is and I didn't get the memo?

The broken fence and leaning tree should have been our first clue

First shot out NE window. Very rustic

I absolutely LOVE the look of this tree

Ominous light-this is how far it leans OVER our yard

Blowing in the breeze

It is on a slope, eroding away with some drainage issue somewhere, leaning leaning leaning. During the wettest season of the wettest year...


I really really do love this tree and all the birds that grace it. If ONLY it was not leaning towards our house, but away, towards someone elses house or not leaning at all!
Only time will tell...

Stay tuned for part 3 of 'The Good, the Bad & the Ugly'

A long boring post of things growing in pots!

The garden is nothing too impressive at this time so I will delve in to the other things that grow.

It is lightly snowing in this pic, but my camera doesn't agree.  So blah.

I should know what to do with all these plants to save them, but I have never put much thought in to my containers. If they live--Yay! If not, it wasn't meant to be. People often believe I have a green thumb since I have so many containers(even when renting) but I just get rid of the dead ones, and let my impulsiveness to buy new ones free! 

Given all my abuse and neglect over the years, I am astounded that so many have done so well.

I brought in the 'fuchsia gartenmeister bonstedt' below a few weeks back

hoping to save it from certain death like last years.. and it started losing blooms but I figured it was part of the change from outdoors to indoors. But it kept on losing blooms so we were going to move it downstairs to keep a better eye on it.

And then I noticed this:

Icky little bugs feasting on it.

So I immediately took it back outdoors.

I have never had any luck spraying down plants with soapy water. Is there another way to save this?

Or will I be forced to buy a new one every year?

I have never cared much about losing a plant(except the gardenia--that was embarrassing!) until I fell in love with this plant in 2009

Onward!

Old cinder block patio, compare to current view at top!

Chester is looking mighty cold on the left. The below is back in April. He is taller than I am now since he got a much larger pot that day. He started in a Starbucks cup back in 2005ish. We are hoping to get him planted in 2011. I have collected 12 horse chestnuts from the surrounding neighborhoods this year and am hoping to sprout him a mate so he can bloom. If I haven't stunted his growth he could grow to be 80 ft tall so he will not be planted in our yard but the community island in our culdesac. I am oddly attached to this silly tree because I have had him since he was just a little nut. (I'm a little nutty myself!)

Here are my poor abused Clematis. I should probably get them in the ground next year. They have been travelling from rental to rental with me for 5 years. One flowers each year, and the other finally flowered its first time this year. Being I do not know what kind they are, I can hardly prune them properly. I have previously left them til early spring and the chopped off all the dead stuff. This year, I'm going to cut them completely to 12 inches, and see what happens! Maybe I'll get to buy NEW ones that I know the breed of.

Mint on the right... will it die? Who knows! Will it spread since it went to flower? Who knows! If it doesn't come back, Ill get a new one.

Lemon balm in the back pot. Not sure what to do with it. Pot on the stand--I forget what is in here. This is a common occurrence with this single flower pot for some reason. I have planted and replanted things in it all year that have not sprouted. The Stellar jays were messing around with it last week and since I forget what is in there, I'll just leave it.

Do slugs freeze? I sure hope so. Some one has been eating my half assed try at early spring greens. We planned on levelling the garden in the fall/spring with several yards of soil, but I was forced in to starting these guys by my gardener. Maybe they can go in pots when we bring in the dirt and I can stick them back in.

Here we have some weeds in pots. The back planter is some random mint that I found hiding in the garden. It isn't from my plant though, I have chocolate mint, and this is peppermint. The tall grassy thing is really a weed. It was the first to spout in the garden, and I thought it could be something... until they started popping up every where in the garden. I haven't gotten around to removing it. Weed, mint, same thing.

The front pot is some hens and chicks. I received them over growing a much smaller pot, so I just threw them in here so they can spread before I decide where to put them.(Oh--I just got an idea! Ill put them by Kermit next to the bonsai tree and heart shaped rocks I have collected! )

This is the sedum ground cover that will not die. 3 years ago, I had a covered patio in a rental and this guy was over flowing in the giant teacup in a splendid way. Winter came and I for some reason decided it no longer needed to be watered. It was outside after all. Early spring and it was almost dead. About a thumb nail of it was still green when I started cleaning up the plants for spring. I got rid of all the dead stuff, and stuck the last living bit back in soil. It grew and grew and then I would rip it in half and stick both ends back in soil, and now I have this! The pot on the bottom right is the escapees that fell out and were trying to root in the ground. The fern on the left is a volunteer weed that I thought looked nice. This too can go to the kermit/bonsai/heart shaped rock garden

This is Cilantro that I know I obviously need to get in a smaller pot and bring in side. But it is cold... and snowing. I have emptied a pot to bring in, but I still need to clean it for indoors.

This WAS a house plant. A spider plant from my fathers house. Until it got bugs and I put it outdoors. It is still alive and kicking though barely. Maybe I'll bring it back inside soon.

These guys don't mind being inside one bit! These are the last of the zinnia blooms. I took the whole bunch and shoved them in a vase with water last Sunday. They are rewarding me daily with new flowers!

Another houseplant I tried to kill years ago. This is a prayer plant I bought for $2 at a garage sale in 2004. It was doing so fantastic back in 2006. So fantastic that I decided to prune off all the older leaves that no longer stood up at night and move it to a different location in the apartment. It did not like that one bit. Not to mention when you touch a leaf it will turn brown. It promptly started dying... so I put it outside.

Bad plant bad!

Spring came and I started cleaning up...and I had 7 new shoots under all the dead stuff!!

I potted it in 3 new pots and gave one to my father. I noticed mine was pathetic and his was amazing and huge and blooming a year or two later.. his was in the bay window! Light? It wants light? I have that! So here we are 6 months later and they are flowering like crazy! So if you have a plant doing well--LEAVE IT BE!

That is all for this edition of a long boring post where April talks about things in pots!

I have more things in planters, so watch out!

Feel free to tell how to easily save anything growing outdoors especially the Fuchsia!
It is still snowing as I write this

Progress on the patio

It seems I didnt take alot of pics of the cinderblocks prior to their departure. For those that haven't visited, you will just have to imagine what 500 cinderblocks looked like.



July





August


Sweet sweet stones.

Wood chips > Cinder blocks

It was a tie for my hate... but the wood chips have gained my respect.

More photos

Because I'm so damn impressed with myself ;)

3 months in

3 months in and what have we finished? Check back at 4 months...

In this pic below, we have the garden at 6 weeks. You can also see a large section of cinder blocks are gone. More pics on that coming up later. We may be to half way point Monday night. We can then start levelling it out and adding new stones.




I absolutely love these angles.
Primer is finally done for the accent walls. Had to get a move on as my friend Tyana is coming back for 4th of July... and she helped me start painting April 3rd! I should probably finish! We plan on repainting the accent wall yearly.. but maybe Ill keep this color for a while. I like it alot! Its to be cajun Red.. about the same as this color but brighter.

Here is a wider shot including the beams. Looking better and better all the time. Travis will be found on a ladder every weekend morning til August! The center beam is 4ft from being done, and the one on the right is one sided so should be much quicker. We will soon get to pick the stain color. It will be glorious!