Real World Event Discussions
In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 425 of 1154
Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:27 AM
SIX, that looks awesome!!!! Nice job!
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
#WEARAMASK
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Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:31 AM
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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Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:44 AM
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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Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:49 AM
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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Saturday, May 2, 2020 4:06 AM
Brenda - you are STILL my role model!
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Saturday, May 2, 2020 4:07 AM
Quote:With lots of area around them to give you room to work.
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.
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: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.
But I need to find a reliable source of chipped bark/tree.
Quote:That sounds AWESOME!
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.)
Quote:Bermuda grass - a nasty problem we both have.
*****
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.
Quote: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.
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.
Quote:3 65-gallon bins A WEEK !!??? That's a lot of bins!
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.
THAT'S A LOT OF WORK !!!!!
Quote:I could not manage even half of your schedule. Maybe just a quarter.
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.
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
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Saturday, May 2, 2020 4:20 AM
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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Saturday, May 2, 2020 9:53 AM
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 11:47 PM
Got the rain right. Raining right now.
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