Saturday outdoor tasks done. One dead tree felled, several dead boughs on other tree lopped, mess cleaned, shower taken, ibuprofin ingested.
And I’m okay.
Chop chop!
Category: Home Improvement
“Can We Fix It?”
“Yes We Can! Well, Maybe! I’ll Be Right Back, Honey, I Gotta Run Down To Home Depot.”
[Original: https://xkcd.com/1994/]
Originally shared by +Doyce Testerman:
100% accurate.
Wind Chimes
— futuristbot (@futuristbot) May 9, 2018
RT @futuristbot: https://t.co/IJtTABz6H5
Irised Lens
Some photos of irises in our yard. I confess to a weakness for this flower, which leads to both magnificent beds for a few weeks each year, and additional expense at the Botanic Garden Plant Sale each year, too.
Pre-Kitchen goodness
A year ago today (well, actually, yesterday), here were some pictures I took of the Kitchen Remodel project, as we took delivery on the lovely new countertops — but the flooring and appliances (and pendant lights) were yet to arrive.
Hard to believe it's been less than a year since the kitchen was complete, as it's such a part of our lives now.
Christmas is now officially put away at our house
Cleaning and Tidying at Mom's
So I've spent the week at my mom's house (one of the few bright sides of being unemployed is that I can take a lot of time off), helping her with some major tidying and cleaning out efforts. She knows that she won't be in this house forever — maybe no more than a few years — and the task of getting it ready to eventually move out is daunting after living here since 1978.
I had some ideas before I came out, but one thing I did was buy her a copy of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. While the KonMari Method isn't wholly my cuppa, some basic principles she espouses are invaluable:
1. Does object X bring you joy to have? (If not, why are you keeping it? Really? Can you say that with a straight face?)
2. Do you actually want to keep object X? (Not, do you want to get rid of it — approach it in a positive manner, as selecting the things you want to keep, and letting the other things fall away.)
A lot of what we tackled was stuff that was there because it was there — books that had been picked up but never read, gifts that had been received but were tucked in bags or boxes in a closet, objects that might be useful some day but probably not. Stuff that others might find of use, but was not of any use here except to occupy cubic space. And it was all stuff that was, not-so-figuratively weighing Mom down, producing a paralysis about being able to do anything about it.
The office closet was the biggest thing, followed by smaller tasks of gift boxes in another closet and the office book shelf.
I can't show you the "before" pictures, under injunction of disinheritance, but the "after" pictures are what's amazingly cool. Mom did a hell of a job culling down what she wanted to keep in these contexts, and committing to some future activities to follow up. We took four decent-sized boxes of books down to the library today to donate to the book shop there, and another box that Mom's donating to her church. We have a half-dozen bags of hazarai going to a local charity tomorrow morning. We have a ton of paper, cardboard, etc., that will be recycled. There's a box of targeted items to give to others. I'm bringing a few things home in my carry-on, and my brother took a few things home with him.
And, yes, I cracked the whip a lot during this, but only with honesty and a spirit of being helpful. And, also, no, this wasn't my long-planned revenge for all the times Mom told me to clean my room when I was growing up. (No, really!)
All in all, it was a really successful trip, in terms of being able to help my mom here. And it was really neat being able to spend a week with her, both the going through of old stuff (e.g., boxes and envelopes full of photos) and just hanging out at night watching TV.
Not sure if I'll be able to make it back here any time soon to help with other problematic locales in the house (I hope to be otherwise employed), but she's made a great start and will, I trust, carry on.
Bravo, Mom.
[Note: Any resemblance between Dave the Hard-Hearted and Cut-Throat Tidier at His Mom's House and Dave the Inveterate Pack Rat at His Own House is purely coincidental, and should not be used for purposes of mockery, I'm looking at you, Mom!]
Closet Project Day 3: Contents reloaded, floor clear, boxes labeled, donations bagged, mischief managed
Closet Project Day 3: Contents reloaded, floor clear, boxes labeled, donations bagged, mischief managed #whatnext
Cleaning Project Day 2: Stacks of photos reviewed, sifted, sorted: many Photos discarded: quite a few Glasses of wine shared: multiple
Cleaning Project Day 2:
Stacks of photos reviewed, sifted, sorted: many
Photos discarded: quite a few
Glasses of wine shared: multiple
Cleaning Day 1 Tally: Big bags going away: 3 Stacks for sale: 1 Trash cans full: 1 Refs as “hard-hearted”: 4 Glasses of wine after: a few
Cleaning Day 1 Tally:
Big bags going away: 3
Stacks for sale: 1
Trash cans full: 1
Refs as “hard-hearted”: 4
Glasses of wine after: a few
Cleaning Project, Day 1:
ME: You can already tell, Mom, I’m going to be a nag
Cleaning Project, Day 1:
ME: You can already tell, Mom, I’m going to be a nag MOM: That’s okay, you come by it honestly.
As Dave Hill, International Man of Mystery, sets off on the adventure we call “The Case of the Crowded Closets”!
As Dave Hill, International Man of Mystery, sets off on the adventure we call “The Case of the Crowded Closets”!
VICTORY!
The Kitchen Project is Officially Over. We finally (for the first time since February) got both cars back in the garage. And before the snowy season starts.
Of such things are a warm and fuzzy feeling made.
On a Muchness of Mulch
Those who were "treated" to endless pictures of our kitchen project will recall (of course) how the front grass and several plantings got seriously torn up by the various bits of heavy equipment that had to go up the hill to the side yard, which was also torn up by all the excavation.
So it was too late in the season by the time all was said and done (including the sprinklers being brought back online) to do any planting. So I've dumped about 60 cubic feet (about 1.7 cubic meters, which sounds a lot less) on all the raked-out, bulb-planted, barren stuff, to help protect and condition the dirt over the winter.
The plan is to not replant the grass that used to be in all this space, but to put in actual plant-plants and ground cover, reducing the water usage. Some stepping stones will be in order, too. With luck, I'll actually be able to spend money to do that by the springtime. 🙂
On the raking of leaves
I've been known to treat leaf fall as natural mulch; the stuff that makes it into the flower beds gets to stay, but the stuff on the grass (a dwindling area in our yard, by design) or the rock areas or the driveway gets raked up.
The front yard will have a lot fewer leaves this year, due to the sketchy health of Old Tree Trunk (the giant cottonwood between our and our neighbor's driveway).
I've been doing a lot of mulching of the barren areas of the yard, post-kitchen-construction (48 cu. ft. and counting). Leaves will help both the effort and the appearance.
Originally shared by +Les Jenkins:
That is, assuming you don't live someplace where raking the leaves mandatory by local ordinance.
3 reasons why you should stop raking leaves this fall and never look back.
Fall leaves aren’t just pretty. They form their own “mini-ecosystem.”
Denizens of the Yard
We do have snakes here, who occasionally show up when I'm doing yard work. This little one was off in the side yard while I was doing a bit of work this afternoon.
Aside from the both of us being startled, no harm, no foul.
Of Tulips and Tyrants
Planting large quantities of bulbs tends to be like tyrannical regimes — first careful, individual burials, then mass graves.
Seven Years Ago: The Front Yard
I've been enjoying Google Photo's automated bundles of nostalgia shots. This one recently popped up for me — it shows our front yard after all the stone work was added and before any (or nearly any of the plants had been put in.
Seven years on, plants have filled in nicely, a few bits of concrete are getting loose, and the overall look is a lot softer (but still very nice). Also, all the grass is now gone, but that was the most recent project's fault.
Also, that little blond girl isn't nearly so little any more.
Kitchen Project – Day 306: Laboring Day Weekend
I'm just about ready to call the project complete. I did a load of work outside on getting the yard in shape (though that's an effort that will last into the spring, obviously), but, more importantly, we hit some major milestones this weekend:
1. We entertained a huge crowd. The kitchen passed with flying colors.
2. We got the living room into shape for … well, living. People could sit there. People could play games there. People could sit and play games there.
3. We got a car parked inside the garage. That right there, is major.
Some time in the next few days I'll recap remaining things to be done, and do some "After" pictures, but we're about ready to wrap things up!
America's biggest crop … is lawn grass
Though we're doing our part to reduce that. Both the side and front yard areas that were torn up by the kitchen/basement project will be replanted with … plants. Bushes. Roses. Grasses (of the ornamental kind). Ground cover. Not necessarily xeriscape, but more water-thrifty than the grass all was.
We'll still have a patch of grass in the back, but I'll have to mow that myself. (But not, I fear, with a jaunty smile and pipe between my teeth.)
(h/t +Yonatan Zunger)
How America’s Most Useless Crop Also Became Its Most Commonly Grown One
Contrary to what you may think (and what your food labels may suggest) corn is not the most grown crop in America. The most grown crop is something no one is eating, no one is asking for, and no one is quite sure what to do with. It’s your lawn.
