Category: Landscaping

Holiday Progress

It doesn’t look like much, but we did actually accomplish more than stuffing our faces with carnitas over the July 4th holiday.  We have finally had a break from the Nashville Monsoon so I could finish that pesky spot of deck floor staining.

The old railings were really getting in the way of completing the stain job, so, even though we don’t have the hog panel yet, buh bye.

We’ve kept up the support posts since we will reuse them, but now we are thinking of rebuilding and widening the stairs.  We didn’t change them when they added onto the deck since they were attached to the old section and were perfectly fine.  We’ve got some planning and potential reconfiguring to do….of course…UGH!

So while deck progress is now at a potential screeching halt, the CC tackled a little work on the compost pile…

We are now using it although far from done…he has finished one gate, but could only find the ugliest hinges ever.  He has promised to paint/camouflage them since we grudgingly conceded that mail order stainless hinges were not required for a compost pile….although it would look SO much better.

AND, groan…we started to deal with the fallen tree.  One solid day of heat and sawdust.  I dragged branches to the road and stacked future firewood while the CC got all manly with the chainsaw.  There’s more to do, but what’s left is hidden from public view in the jungle so we can take our time finishing up.

We were so exhausted after that day…we packed up Thing One and Thing Two and headed to the pool.  I cracked out an old find from the depths…I think these were my dad’s.  Love ’em…even though the Things thought they looked “funny”.  I was too whipped to care if I looked “funny” in them or not.

Compost

Forest = leaves, and LOTS of them, since 99.9% of the trees on the property are deciduous.  We need to build our compost enclosure so I can start feeding my new plants some home grown goodness.

It is tempting to go all out and do something like this…

FOUR bins.  That’s some SERIOUS composting…the blog One Straw gives details on how to here.

But it has to be pretty as well as functional….that one above is great, but I don’t want to look at that.  Why does a composting bin have to be ugly?  Now this looks nice…..

Found this one on Nature Moms….only one bin…but attractive.  Don’t know if it gets enough air circulation though.  Now if we were really creative…and rich, we could knock out two projects in one with this…..

The Comploo.  It’s part composter, part igloo..and supposedly, is heated inside by the cooking compost.  Hmmm….It’s being hailed as an alternative Japanese Tea House…or in our case, a grounded tree house.  I love the idea….but the only tea I could think of in there would be compost tea, and I don’t wanna drink that, thanks.  It HAS to smell…no?  Not to mention the fact you can’t turn that “heat” off in the summer….Ooh..maybe it becomes a Japanese sauna in the summer?  Ahhhh…Spa ModFruGal….free your body of toxins while surrounding yourself with rotting organic matter…and worms, if you’re lucky…. I digress.

How about we just go with something that will be in keeping with what we already have going? We’ve tried the plastic tumblers in the past with lame results, so let’s just build one with the wood salvaged from the deck work.

Behold…the 2 sides of the future compost palace. (Compalace!)  recreating the look of the new slats at the front.

The CC started building this over the weekend…It will be a simple 2 bin system so we can have one side cooking while the other gets filled.  Ideally, form and function will work in perfect harmony.  And don’t think it didn’t occur to me that if he hadn’t diligently stained it…I’d have had enough left to finish the deck.  Eh, we would have needed more anyway….and it DID rain yesterday..I TOLD YOU.

Revenge of the Sweaty Solstice

Today is the summer solstice…and it’s hot.  We had 2 dry days, then rain, then another 2 dry days…I am ready to pounce.  I stained the area outside the kitchen, let it dry for 2 days, then dragged all the furniture over so I could tackle the next sections.

Things are moving along and the end is in sight….I thought it would take me 2 days to get the floor finished, but I am on track to finish by dinner.  It has been a long afternoon….95 degrees in the shade.

What?!  I’m going to run out of stain?  Nah…I can make it…it will be tight, but I can do it….I HAVE to.

Nope…I’m all set to paint myself into the living room, but noooooooooo…. I run out of stain dammit.  Just in case you think I didn’t try….

Ugh.  Back to the paint store tomorrow…it will probably rain… just to rub it in.

Slightly Less Mud

I’ve mentioned the mudfest before and I have been slowly tackling another area that was starting to bug me…outside our bedroom.  Where the L shaped deck ends at the living room, there begins an area that goes behind the house and leads to top of the trail through the woods.

It was mud and weeds when we bought the place…..

I had already started a little planting when I remembered to take pictures…but this is the channel we had to dig since the water was still pooling in this area despite new walls and drains, and we didn’t want to dig another french drain…compromise.

I had envisioned smooth river rock in the channel, but there are so many rocks in the yard it seemed silly not to use them instead.  Every time I’m out in the yard, I pick up a small bucketful and dump them in the channel…soon it will be a little rocked river bed.

When I found some of the trillium popping up on the trail, I transplanted it so it wouldn’t get trampled….it’s about done for the year.

Way happier looking out the bedroom and seeing these instead of a stagnant cesspool with mud and rocks.  Ah, baby steps.

Come ON!

Frustrated renovator/brattypants alert.  Remember how I’ve been wanting to finish up the new decks by staining them?  I can’t make it happen no matter how hard I try.

First, it was too cold.  Then it was too wet…so wet we flooded, with water restrictions until June = no pressure washing.  When the water restrictions were lifted, I was ready to go…and quickly before the heat kicked in.  *Insert loud buzzer noise* Rained every weekend.  This past weekend, I managed to squeeze it in before another storm, only to have it rain again yesterday.  I’m SUPPOSED to let the decks dry for FIVE days before staining them.  With this forecast (same every week, I swear) how am I supposed to finish? BTW, that 94 is a freakin’ lie.  They said it would be 94 yesterday and it was 99.  Optimists.  Despite working with water, I was dizzy with the heat whilst washing.

With the humidity, the heat index puts us at about 108 degrees.  (I know, my Texans…no pity party expected, just venting).  Oh, I should also clarify that any % rain with the clouds means it’s raining.  They can’t forecast well here.  Seriously.  I had planned to knock out staining in the wee hours of the morning all week when it was cooler, but…it keeps getting wet!  This five day thing may have to be changed to 2 days b/c that seems to be all the dry days we can muster.

Now that I’ve ranted, we will spiral into a severe drought and we will beg for rain again.  It will be my fault.  Maybe I have to wait until the fall?  It’s only going to get hotter this summer.

Before: Where the old met the new after…oh…could it be RAIN?

Now: Pressure washed where the old meets the new.  Ready for stain…but when…in 2011?!

Oh, and another reason I’m grumpy is because we were STUPID not replacing the railings with the hog panel when they were building it (and already had panels here for the front.) This one was free since it had already been here, but in hindsight, it would have been very little extra money to swap out the rails then, since they were already in the throes of it.  It’s a LOT of work for me to stain those rails only to tear them out, so now is the time.  Of course, we’ll have to rent a truck to go get more panels.  Ack!  The troll, a.k.a. Mrs. Crankenstein N. Grumplestiltskin will crawl back into her cave now and crank up the noise of the vuvuzelas until she keels over.