Category: Our Projects

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.

Faux Lacquer for Lazies

Well, as is the way most projects are going lately…these babies have taken awhile to get done.  Remember them when they first came home?

Their humble beginnings seemed to cry for a bit of orange lacquer, but that’s too much work for an impatient one like myself.  Let’s start sanding!

I decided to cheat and use spray primer instead of brushing it on because of all the thin areas…and because I’m lazy.

Then, it was paint time!  We have an HPLV (high pressure, low volume) spray gun attachment for the air compressor that we used for painting.  I bought a high gloss, oil based enamel (a Ralph Lauren color matched in Glidden since Ralph didn’t have high gloss enamel.)  At first we thinned the paint with paint thinner, but it was still clogging in the nozzle.  After a little research and polling of paint pros…I needed Naptha.  It was still early spring and weather made these stages go by in weeks rather than days.

Now, if we were professional-like, we’d set up a spray booth in the garage or something…but nooooo….

….So you get this…now it has to dry, and that bug has to be sanded off…crap!  At least there are multiple coats of paint so it will disappear.

Then after sitting around without glass for a couple of months..I finally got it done.  Glass inserts in…and NO WHERE TO PUT THEM.  I’m sad.  I really want to keep them, but they aren’t working anywhere right now.  If I don’t figure out a place soon, I guess they’ll have to go to the booth…which makes me sad….maybe the attic for future rearranging possibilities?

Sad…and lazy….did I mention the sad?

It’s Like Watching Grass Grow

Maybe because it IS.

You’ve heard me whinge about the mud around here many times.  Even though we are a (family) shoes off at the door house…the mud is still caked on all those shoes piled up at the door, and constantly scrubbing them, well, sucks.  Since we do not anticipate anymore backhoes, bobcats and the such, we can finally try and cover up some of that mud with something green.

We seeded the mud at the side a few days before “the rains” came and we figured they all got washed away…how pleasantly surprised were we to realize those little buggers hung in there and took root.  16 inches of rain certainly gave them enough water to germinate!

The Minors have been asking, oh, every other day when they can have the tire swing back, and the CC says…”not until it’s ready to mow”….aw Dad!

This is our trashy way of keeping it all from washing away…which for the most part worked.

It seemed a bit patchy from all the flooding, so I overseeded it again this past weekend…fingers crossed for some even, lush, green carpet soon.  I think I’m getting as excited as the Minors for a “soft place to play” to coin their phrase.

Oh, and my purple basil seeds have germinated…yay!

There’s LOTS of other muddy areas to attend to, but…well…you know….TIME.