So, I'm chilling at home with some vino, watching Grey's Anatomy on my computer when I should be doing something like, hmmmm....repairing the gaping hole in my hallway wall that had previously been covered with cheap wood paneling when there was that telltale earthquake sound (combo of thump and a massive house creaking). Only this wasn't a one shot deal, this one was a roller that lasted several seconds.
The Dump was wobbling, but it didn't fall down. Thank goodness since earthquake insurance is really expensive, so I opted out of it. :)
The geek in me loves this site that details all the recent earthquake activity. It usually has a bunch of little freckles all over it, but this time it revealed a massive box covering the south bay area. 5.6--not too shabby! The map reveals that there have already been a number of eeeny-weeny aftershocks in the same area. I didn't feel those since I'm some 25-30 miles away from the epicenter.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the black cat that was sitting on my doorstep this evening....
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Composting underway
I arrived home on Friday to find my county-subsidized compost bin on my front porch. So exciting! I set it up Saturday afternoon and set about building my compost pile. I had that can full of apples, a huge pile of jasmine clippings, plus all the leaves that the magnolia tree drops EVERY day, so I knew I was well stocked for a good pile.
I laid a layer of jasmine branches to start and dumped the can of apples onto that since I knew I wouldn't be able to lift the can up to dump it into a partially filled bin. Then I added leaves and jasmine branches, layering them with more apples that were on the ground.
What I didn't realize is that I have enough yard waste for TWO or more compost bins. I abandoned Mt Jasmine figuring if nothing else, I could have the tree crew remove that when they come for the apple tree. Besides, the pile should cook down a bit in the coming weeks which will make room for the continual supply of fallen leaves from the magnolia tree.
After that was completed, I started pulling out the ground cover that had established itself in the driveway. Since we've had a bit of rain in the past month, it came up quite easily. I was pulling at a particularly large tuft when something moved. After jumping back, I went to take a closer look and found one of these little fellows in there. I thought about moving him to the same type of plant in an area where I wasn't going to remove them, but he was quite tangled in the plant and looked really fragile, so I decided I was finished gardening for the day. Hopefully he will have found another home by next weekend. If not, I'll set about relocating him.
I laid a layer of jasmine branches to start and dumped the can of apples onto that since I knew I wouldn't be able to lift the can up to dump it into a partially filled bin. Then I added leaves and jasmine branches, layering them with more apples that were on the ground.
What I didn't realize is that I have enough yard waste for TWO or more compost bins. I abandoned Mt Jasmine figuring if nothing else, I could have the tree crew remove that when they come for the apple tree. Besides, the pile should cook down a bit in the coming weeks which will make room for the continual supply of fallen leaves from the magnolia tree.
After that was completed, I started pulling out the ground cover that had established itself in the driveway. Since we've had a bit of rain in the past month, it came up quite easily. I was pulling at a particularly large tuft when something moved. After jumping back, I went to take a closer look and found one of these little fellows in there. I thought about moving him to the same type of plant in an area where I wasn't going to remove them, but he was quite tangled in the plant and looked really fragile, so I decided I was finished gardening for the day. Hopefully he will have found another home by next weekend. If not, I'll set about relocating him.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Wish I'd been faster with the camera
Knowing how dirty the bathtub was (who am I kidding..knowing how dirty the ENTIRE house was), I should have known the pipes were not likely to be any better. I REALLY should have known this after I'd showered there the first time and was up to my ankles in water. But I snaked the drain and had no progress, so I assumed the pipes were just slow due to their age.
However, in a brilliant flash of wisdom this past weekend, I thought I'd try to "fix" the stopper to the tub, thinking maybe it's not fully open and that's causing the slow draining. I went from slow drain to no drain. Fearing I'd broken it in the stoppered position, I called a plumber.
He looked at it and said that it was simply clogged and proceeded to snake it. He spent 20 minutes snaking that bad boy and pulled out a hairball the size of a small rodent. I went running through the house to get the outside garbage can and tried not to puke. Unfortunately, I was not thinking clearly enough to go get the camera and so it went into the trash with no documentation.
He also replaced the diverter so that my shower head fully engages and I had a very satisfactory shower experience this morning. My bathroom is now officially fully functioning with no hiccups.
However, in a brilliant flash of wisdom this past weekend, I thought I'd try to "fix" the stopper to the tub, thinking maybe it's not fully open and that's causing the slow draining. I went from slow drain to no drain. Fearing I'd broken it in the stoppered position, I called a plumber.
He looked at it and said that it was simply clogged and proceeded to snake it. He spent 20 minutes snaking that bad boy and pulled out a hairball the size of a small rodent. I went running through the house to get the outside garbage can and tried not to puke. Unfortunately, I was not thinking clearly enough to go get the camera and so it went into the trash with no documentation.
He also replaced the diverter so that my shower head fully engages and I had a very satisfactory shower experience this morning. My bathroom is now officially fully functioning with no hiccups.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
100% elbow grease--no photoshop involved, I promise!
Alright, you know The Dump was disgustingly filthy when I got it. I have mentioned this several times. The progress I made in the bathroom, little bedroom and living room prove it. however, with continued cleaning, it's all coming around.
When I saw the kitchen linoleum floor, I thought it was dated, a bit dirty and VERY worn (Assumed to be worn beyond recognition in some places) and I vacuumed/swiffered to pick up the big stuff, but that's about it. Since I've been staying there a few nights a week and padding to the coffee pot barefoot in the morning, I decided to scrub the floor. I quickly discovered that the floor is dated, VERY, VERY dirty and only a bit worn (under where the table probably was). Armed with a bucket of water with Murphy's Oil Soap and a scrub brush, I made an 18" swath of clean floor and decided I needed to photo-document it.
The following photos are completely un-retouched and may shock you. Viewer discretion is advised. :)
BEFORE (well, sort of. Do you see that "stripe" against the wall? That's clean floor, so this is technically a "during" photo):
Here's the "really worn" area:
AFTER (turns out it's worn only in patches):
BEFORE (Lovely 70's BROWN and yellow lino):
AFTER (Only moderately dated yellow & tan lino):
As if that is not proof enough, I opened the laundry room door after finishing in the kitchen, and saw the line o' grime:
Yes, it is still ugly, and yes, it is still worn in areas, but other areas are shiny and clean. Now that the heavy scrubbing is out of the way, I'll go over it with some Mop n' Glo to make the whole thing look shiny and clean.
When I saw the kitchen linoleum floor, I thought it was dated, a bit dirty and VERY worn (Assumed to be worn beyond recognition in some places) and I vacuumed/swiffered to pick up the big stuff, but that's about it. Since I've been staying there a few nights a week and padding to the coffee pot barefoot in the morning, I decided to scrub the floor. I quickly discovered that the floor is dated, VERY, VERY dirty and only a bit worn (under where the table probably was). Armed with a bucket of water with Murphy's Oil Soap and a scrub brush, I made an 18" swath of clean floor and decided I needed to photo-document it.
The following photos are completely un-retouched and may shock you. Viewer discretion is advised. :)
BEFORE (well, sort of. Do you see that "stripe" against the wall? That's clean floor, so this is technically a "during" photo):
Here's the "really worn" area:
AFTER (turns out it's worn only in patches):
BEFORE (Lovely 70's BROWN and yellow lino):
AFTER (Only moderately dated yellow & tan lino):
As if that is not proof enough, I opened the laundry room door after finishing in the kitchen, and saw the line o' grime:
Yes, it is still ugly, and yes, it is still worn in areas, but other areas are shiny and clean. Now that the heavy scrubbing is out of the way, I'll go over it with some Mop n' Glo to make the whole thing look shiny and clean.
Monday, October 22, 2007
No news
No progress on The Dump this weekend as it was Nike Women's Marathon weekend! I did basic housekeeping and started steam cleaning the grout in the bathroom floor Saturday morning (amazing! Wish I had a photo of how it looked before), but since I slept in until 9:00 to be rested for the race, and we left for SF at 3:00, I didn't embark on any big projects.
But, the race was awesome, the post-race BBQ involved steaks the size of a child and lots of other yummies (including some of Kat's cookies that were seriously addictive), and I was in bed at 8:00. Read for a while, but definitely had the lights out by 9:00 for 10 house of sleepy time.
I was told to expect the bid from the contractor today, but I haven't seen it yet...
But, the race was awesome, the post-race BBQ involved steaks the size of a child and lots of other yummies (including some of Kat's cookies that were seriously addictive), and I was in bed at 8:00. Read for a while, but definitely had the lights out by 9:00 for 10 house of sleepy time.
I was told to expect the bid from the contractor today, but I haven't seen it yet...
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Super cute!
I put the finishing touches on my little pink room last night (opted out of painting bathroom trim since it was cold and damp out--it would have taken forever to dry and I'm sure I would have messed it up along the way). I have to say, it looks SUPER cute and I'm totally in love with it.
This is how it looked before:
And this is what it looks like now:
Even though I do not have a nice wide-angle camera the way most realtors do, I'm sure you get the idea that it's a drastic improvement.
Next up is to use the floor wax solvent I got last weekend to get rid of some of the grimy wax buildup on the floors. I sure hope it works!
And, since it's taken a gazillion attempts to get these two photos uploaded (Blogger was clearly having some issues this morning), you're just going to have to wait until later to see the bathroom photos. Sorry!
This is how it looked before:
And this is what it looks like now:
Even though I do not have a nice wide-angle camera the way most realtors do, I'm sure you get the idea that it's a drastic improvement.
Next up is to use the floor wax solvent I got last weekend to get rid of some of the grimy wax buildup on the floors. I sure hope it works!
And, since it's taken a gazillion attempts to get these two photos uploaded (Blogger was clearly having some issues this morning), you're just going to have to wait until later to see the bathroom photos. Sorry!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Painting trim
If I ever offer to help you paint, for the sake of our friendship and the sake of your desired outcome, do not hand me a brush and point to endless miles of trim. Vast expanses of walls and/or ceilings done with a roller--no problemo!
For as much as I love the way a fresh coat of paint changes a place (such an inexpensive upgrade!), and as much as I love rolling it onto walls, I HATE painting trim. That's probably because I'm a HORRIBLE trim painter as I rediscovered last night. I'm so horrible, I almost bagged it to leave half the baseboards primer white, especially since the room is going to be gutted in 6-9 months.
I struggled through it and got the job done. I'll hang the curtain tonight and will consider the little bedroom good to go. It looks pretty darn cute, truth be told.
I'm planning on camping there tonight so that I can finish the bathroom trim (ugh!). Photos tomorrow for sure.
For as much as I love the way a fresh coat of paint changes a place (such an inexpensive upgrade!), and as much as I love rolling it onto walls, I HATE painting trim. That's probably because I'm a HORRIBLE trim painter as I rediscovered last night. I'm so horrible, I almost bagged it to leave half the baseboards primer white, especially since the room is going to be gutted in 6-9 months.
I struggled through it and got the job done. I'll hang the curtain tonight and will consider the little bedroom good to go. It looks pretty darn cute, truth be told.
I'm planning on camping there tonight so that I can finish the bathroom trim (ugh!). Photos tomorrow for sure.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Ouch!
My body aches this morning. I spent 90% of my waking time this weekend painting at The Dump. The results are FANTASTIC though, so I don't mind feeling stiff and sore. I got the little bedroom painted with my $4 gallon of pink paint, and the bathroom is now a nice lovely tan. The dot on the can lid didn't look that tan--more of a creamy white. Oh well--it's not bad at all, so I'm going to go with it. It achieved the desired result--a fresh looking bathroom where I don't feel dirty while trying to get clean. Same goes for the bedroom--it's REALLY pink, but it's fresh and cheery and most importantly, it's CLEAN. The difference is amazing.
I skimped in the bathroom and did only one really good coat on the walls (the can said it offered one-coat coverage, and it mostly delivered). The ceiling required 2 of the white-white I used, even though it is the same type of paint. That second coat was well worth the effort though. I think it helped that the bathroom was previously painted with semi-gloss paint--it went on quite smoothly. Even with the primer, the bedroom walls and ceiling sucked in the paint. They took two coats (thankfully I had enough paint!). The closet got only one coat because, well, it's a closet and it was the end of the day!
Unfortunately, we ran out of gas, so the trim work did not get done this weekend. So, I didn't take any photos since it's not 100% finished. Maybe later this week if I can get out there early enough after work one night.
I set up the twin bed in the bedroom and it looks quite cozy and fresh. Coincidentally, about a year ago I found some cute pink and brown bathroom textiles on uber-clearance at a closing Hold Everything store. I bought it up planning to re-do the bathroom at the condo, but then never got to it. I'll be using the striped shower curtain to cover the window, and a bath mat for stepping out of bed. The nester in me bought a brown duvet cover for my queen sized down duvet (since the room is cold, I want to be able to snuggle down) for $20 at Ikea. The colors all tie in nicely and it looks quite planned. HA! Nice work for a under $50.
Getting these two rooms freshened up and usable has made a big difference in the spirit of the place. It doesn't change that it's all going to get ripped out and remodeled soon, but at least the place feels a bit more perky and a little less Dumpy. If it means I can stay there more regularly until construction actually starts, I'm satisfied. I'm now using the big room for storage of tools, paint, etc so that the kitchen/living room stays tidy and I've closed the door to that bedroom so I don't even have to look at it.
I skimped in the bathroom and did only one really good coat on the walls (the can said it offered one-coat coverage, and it mostly delivered). The ceiling required 2 of the white-white I used, even though it is the same type of paint. That second coat was well worth the effort though. I think it helped that the bathroom was previously painted with semi-gloss paint--it went on quite smoothly. Even with the primer, the bedroom walls and ceiling sucked in the paint. They took two coats (thankfully I had enough paint!). The closet got only one coat because, well, it's a closet and it was the end of the day!
Unfortunately, we ran out of gas, so the trim work did not get done this weekend. So, I didn't take any photos since it's not 100% finished. Maybe later this week if I can get out there early enough after work one night.
I set up the twin bed in the bedroom and it looks quite cozy and fresh. Coincidentally, about a year ago I found some cute pink and brown bathroom textiles on uber-clearance at a closing Hold Everything store. I bought it up planning to re-do the bathroom at the condo, but then never got to it. I'll be using the striped shower curtain to cover the window, and a bath mat for stepping out of bed. The nester in me bought a brown duvet cover for my queen sized down duvet (since the room is cold, I want to be able to snuggle down) for $20 at Ikea. The colors all tie in nicely and it looks quite planned. HA! Nice work for a under $50.
Getting these two rooms freshened up and usable has made a big difference in the spirit of the place. It doesn't change that it's all going to get ripped out and remodeled soon, but at least the place feels a bit more perky and a little less Dumpy. If it means I can stay there more regularly until construction actually starts, I'm satisfied. I'm now using the big room for storage of tools, paint, etc so that the kitchen/living room stays tidy and I've closed the door to that bedroom so I don't even have to look at it.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Bargain shopping at OSH
Let me start by saying that I LOVE the idea of the mis-mix discount bin at hardware stores. Random colors that were mis-formulated end up here instead of going to waste. Some of the colors are not anything I'd be able to use, and there is definitely not critical mass for a big project. I've never actually put it to use, but it is an idea touted by a lot of popular budget design shows. Quarts are $1, gallons are $4! Wheeeee! It's definitely a good price for some fun.
I went to OSH late Saturday night to pick up some supplies, and also had the notion that I'm going to need to paint the bathroom once I finish patching the wall over the tub. The mis-mix bin is right outside the front door, and it was a treasure trove this time given my needs.
I found two quarts of semi-gloss in nice benign white. They are not the same color, but I figure they are close enough to offer decent coverage of the bathroom for my purposes. One quart is probably not enough, but since this is a short-term upgrade, I'm OK with a little mix and mingle of two pretty close colors. Whatever the case, it'll be an improvement over what's there! One can is even the special "kitchen and bath, mildew-resistant" formula. Yay!
As I was digging through, I came across a gallon of flat interior paint in a nice, happy pink. Again, I'm not a fan of flat paint, nor was I looking for pink paint, but I thought that for a short term upgrade of the little bedroom which will be my crash pad for the next few months, a $4 can of paint is right up my alley. It would make it cleaner looking, cheery and would also seal in the mildew that is on the walls in a few places as a result of lack of ventilation. The current paint job is so old, it's not at all able to withstand scrubbing to remove the mildew.
So I bought a full-priced can of primer since I'm sure the walls are going to suck in whatever I put on them, some rollers and then made my way to the wall patching supply area where I found a roll of adhesive mesh to use with some drywall compound to patch up cracks and holes that spackling can't handle (i.e. the bathroom wall).
Happy with my plan, I went home to prep the little bedroom for painting. I started out saying I was just going to fill the biger holes and ignore the little thumbtack holes. However, there were SO many that I spackled many of the larger clusters in one big swipe. There were far too many, so I eventually gave up, telling myself this is not a long-term improvement. This is really to make the place clean for occasional use and as a small perk me up until the big perk me up stuff starts happening.
Mom and I set about to painting on Sunday, and as predicted, the walls sucked in the primer like a dry sponge sucks up spilled water. Even the primer white was an improvement over what was there before! I hope the primer does it's job and the paint goes on evenly. I have only enough paint for one coat, and may even water it down to make it more of a wash so that it goes further. I won't get down to the business of painting until next weekend, but here is a test patch of the color I'll be using:
It's much pinker on the wall than the little dot on the top of the can seemed. But, for $4, I'm not too concerned...
I went to OSH late Saturday night to pick up some supplies, and also had the notion that I'm going to need to paint the bathroom once I finish patching the wall over the tub. The mis-mix bin is right outside the front door, and it was a treasure trove this time given my needs.
I found two quarts of semi-gloss in nice benign white. They are not the same color, but I figure they are close enough to offer decent coverage of the bathroom for my purposes. One quart is probably not enough, but since this is a short-term upgrade, I'm OK with a little mix and mingle of two pretty close colors. Whatever the case, it'll be an improvement over what's there! One can is even the special "kitchen and bath, mildew-resistant" formula. Yay!
As I was digging through, I came across a gallon of flat interior paint in a nice, happy pink. Again, I'm not a fan of flat paint, nor was I looking for pink paint, but I thought that for a short term upgrade of the little bedroom which will be my crash pad for the next few months, a $4 can of paint is right up my alley. It would make it cleaner looking, cheery and would also seal in the mildew that is on the walls in a few places as a result of lack of ventilation. The current paint job is so old, it's not at all able to withstand scrubbing to remove the mildew.
So I bought a full-priced can of primer since I'm sure the walls are going to suck in whatever I put on them, some rollers and then made my way to the wall patching supply area where I found a roll of adhesive mesh to use with some drywall compound to patch up cracks and holes that spackling can't handle (i.e. the bathroom wall).
Happy with my plan, I went home to prep the little bedroom for painting. I started out saying I was just going to fill the biger holes and ignore the little thumbtack holes. However, there were SO many that I spackled many of the larger clusters in one big swipe. There were far too many, so I eventually gave up, telling myself this is not a long-term improvement. This is really to make the place clean for occasional use and as a small perk me up until the big perk me up stuff starts happening.
Mom and I set about to painting on Sunday, and as predicted, the walls sucked in the primer like a dry sponge sucks up spilled water. Even the primer white was an improvement over what was there before! I hope the primer does it's job and the paint goes on evenly. I have only enough paint for one coat, and may even water it down to make it more of a wash so that it goes further. I won't get down to the business of painting until next weekend, but here is a test patch of the color I'll be using:
It's much pinker on the wall than the little dot on the top of the can seemed. But, for $4, I'm not too concerned...
Monday, October 8, 2007
Camping
Jen and Chris are selling their house, so in an effort to make it look more spacious, they moved out some furniture. Happily for me, an item they were looking to remove for the next month is a twin bed. That means I can crash at The Dump on occasion if I want to stay there late working, or be there early for something. yay!
I camped at the house Saturday night. Just like camping, it was cold and there were strange noises in the night, but I survived and it was nice to get up at 7:30 and hop to it. I'm looking forward to doing that on weekends and maybe a few night a week for the next month. If it proves to be really helpful, I'll go buy a twin bed of my own after they move theirs over to the new house.
I camped at the house Saturday night. Just like camping, it was cold and there were strange noises in the night, but I survived and it was nice to get up at 7:30 and hop to it. I'm looking forward to doing that on weekends and maybe a few night a week for the next month. If it proves to be really helpful, I'll go buy a twin bed of my own after they move theirs over to the new house.
Lawn mowing and soap scum
Busy day out at The Dump on Saturday... I went to the Nike run in SF with Eryn and then planned to spend the rest of the day working to get the bathroom clean and functional. That meant that I needed to get the shower useable (read: clean enough to use without getting cooties).
So, I worked on scrubbing the soap scum off the tub some more. I had made great progress with the stuff on the tiles last weekend, but the layer on the tub was persistent. It had definitely had plenty of time to accumulate! I finally resorted to scraping most of it off with a straight razor blade, which sped things up considerably. It's still not gleaming, but I think if I keep spraying it whenever I'm there, the lingering bits will eventually melt away.
After some yardwork (mowed the lawn, raked up magnolia leaves, pruned back the jasmine stumps even more with some long-handled pruners and raked the driveway smooth), I was ready to test the shower. But I had to keep it quick since I hadn't repaired the wall over the tile yet. At least it was mostly clean.
BEFORE:
Many years of soap scum, mostly deteriorated caulk, a few spots of grout failure, plus the water damaged wall made for a really ugly picture. Too bad I framed it poorly and you can't see where the tub meets the floor--that was pretty gross too.
The one advantage to all that soap scum is that it sealed the grout pretty well. The black mildew scrubbed right off instead of penetrating and staining the actual grout.
When I went to peel the poorly executed caulk from the top edge of the tile, half the wall came with it. Alas, I did not photograph that interim step. Just know that it was pretty bad.
AFTER:
Note the gleaming tiles, once again white tub, mad-crazy caulk job and the kick-ass patch job (more about that later). Mom cannot decide which is more impressive--my caulk or drywall skills.
I still need to figure out how to remove the soap dish. It's pretty much corroded into uselessness, so it might as well go away.
Here is a close up of the tub just because this is a miraculous comeback for a 50 year old tub:
In addition to the straight razor, the other product that made this miracle happen is Lysol Bathroom Cleaner (formerly Lysol Basin, Tub & Tile). I had stopped using it about a year ago in lieu of less toxic cleaning products. As much as I like the Method Home line of cleansers, I knew I need to bring in the big guns for this task. I used a whole bottle on the bathroom over the course of one week, which I think burned all the hair out of my nostrils even with the window open for ventilation. Once I've achieved baseline cleanliness, I'll go back to the nicer for me and the environment stuff.
So, I worked on scrubbing the soap scum off the tub some more. I had made great progress with the stuff on the tiles last weekend, but the layer on the tub was persistent. It had definitely had plenty of time to accumulate! I finally resorted to scraping most of it off with a straight razor blade, which sped things up considerably. It's still not gleaming, but I think if I keep spraying it whenever I'm there, the lingering bits will eventually melt away.
After some yardwork (mowed the lawn, raked up magnolia leaves, pruned back the jasmine stumps even more with some long-handled pruners and raked the driveway smooth), I was ready to test the shower. But I had to keep it quick since I hadn't repaired the wall over the tile yet. At least it was mostly clean.
BEFORE:
Many years of soap scum, mostly deteriorated caulk, a few spots of grout failure, plus the water damaged wall made for a really ugly picture. Too bad I framed it poorly and you can't see where the tub meets the floor--that was pretty gross too.The one advantage to all that soap scum is that it sealed the grout pretty well. The black mildew scrubbed right off instead of penetrating and staining the actual grout.
When I went to peel the poorly executed caulk from the top edge of the tile, half the wall came with it. Alas, I did not photograph that interim step. Just know that it was pretty bad.
AFTER:
Note the gleaming tiles, once again white tub, mad-crazy caulk job and the kick-ass patch job (more about that later). Mom cannot decide which is more impressive--my caulk or drywall skills.I still need to figure out how to remove the soap dish. It's pretty much corroded into uselessness, so it might as well go away.
Here is a close up of the tub just because this is a miraculous comeback for a 50 year old tub:
In addition to the straight razor, the other product that made this miracle happen is Lysol Bathroom Cleaner (formerly Lysol Basin, Tub & Tile). I had stopped using it about a year ago in lieu of less toxic cleaning products. As much as I like the Method Home line of cleansers, I knew I need to bring in the big guns for this task. I used a whole bottle on the bathroom over the course of one week, which I think burned all the hair out of my nostrils even with the window open for ventilation. Once I've achieved baseline cleanliness, I'll go back to the nicer for me and the environment stuff.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Zero lot line
So, I'm pretty close to a neighbor on one side. The other side has a fence and a wee little strip of dirt (where the dog run will eventually go). I've taken to calling the fenceless side the "alley" since that's what it feels like. I've tried to explain this to a number of folks, but I clearly wasn't doing a good job, so here is a photo:
To give you a better idea of the layout of the house, that's the laundry room door, kitchen windows (the ones over the sink), bathroom, then large bedroom.
I have a door onto the alley from my laundry room, but my neighbor does not. In fact, there is no reason for him to ever enter the alley because his access to his yard is on the other side of his house. However, under that blue tarp is a bed frame that needs to be removed pronto, and there are a couple screens hanging out back there too. I plan to discuss that with him tonight when I'm out there to mow the lawn (with my awesome new Brill reel mower that Nancy gave me--so cool!).
To give you a better idea of the layout of the house, that's the laundry room door, kitchen windows (the ones over the sink), bathroom, then large bedroom.I have a door onto the alley from my laundry room, but my neighbor does not. In fact, there is no reason for him to ever enter the alley because his access to his yard is on the other side of his house. However, under that blue tarp is a bed frame that needs to be removed pronto, and there are a couple screens hanging out back there too. I plan to discuss that with him tonight when I'm out there to mow the lawn (with my awesome new Brill reel mower that Nancy gave me--so cool!).
Monday, October 1, 2007
Haircut
Yesterday's major accomplishment at The Dump was to remove the jasmine that was growing wild on the front porch and carport. While it was very pretty when it was in bloom, and I'm sure smelled like heaven, it a) was way too much for the little house and b) needed to come down anyway when it came time for doing the roof. Probably was going to be in the way of wrapping the house for termite fumigation too.
I decided to remove it now rather than wait. I wanted an instant improvement and I definitely got one!
Here is what it looked like a few weeks ago:
And here's what it looks like now:
It was growing up into the roof and was tied on with string and twist-ties and looked like it had never been thinned out. All in all, it was quite a masterpiece of plant gone wild. There are some really thick, woody stalks that I could not cut with my hand pruners, so I'll get some long handled loppers this week to take care of them next weekend to bring them down to ground level. I'm not sure if it will send out new sprouts or if I cut it back enough to kill it. If I didn't kill it, I wouldn't mind having it climb back up, but would definitely do it in a more controlled fashion so it doesn't overpower the little house.
When I have someone out to remove the apple tree, I'll have them limb up the magnolia while they are there. I think that will do a lot to open up the view of the house from the street. Much like trimming shaggy bangs...
We also took a whack at the shed attached at the back of the house, but it wasn't ready to budge, so we left it there.
And I now have a nice, clean living room:
(remember how it looked on the 5 cent tour?):
And here is an apple-free yard:
Worked on the bathroom yesterday too. That is some persistent soap scum, but it is coming along. No photos of that until it's totally clean so you get the full effect. However, it's cleaning up so nicely, I'll be able to shower there if necessary without getting the heebie jeebies or needing to wear shower shoes.
I decided to remove it now rather than wait. I wanted an instant improvement and I definitely got one!
Here is what it looked like a few weeks ago:
And here's what it looks like now:
It was growing up into the roof and was tied on with string and twist-ties and looked like it had never been thinned out. All in all, it was quite a masterpiece of plant gone wild. There are some really thick, woody stalks that I could not cut with my hand pruners, so I'll get some long handled loppers this week to take care of them next weekend to bring them down to ground level. I'm not sure if it will send out new sprouts or if I cut it back enough to kill it. If I didn't kill it, I wouldn't mind having it climb back up, but would definitely do it in a more controlled fashion so it doesn't overpower the little house.When I have someone out to remove the apple tree, I'll have them limb up the magnolia while they are there. I think that will do a lot to open up the view of the house from the street. Much like trimming shaggy bangs...
We also took a whack at the shed attached at the back of the house, but it wasn't ready to budge, so we left it there.
And I now have a nice, clean living room:
(remember how it looked on the 5 cent tour?):
And here is an apple-free yard:
Worked on the bathroom yesterday too. That is some persistent soap scum, but it is coming along. No photos of that until it's totally clean so you get the full effect. However, it's cleaning up so nicely, I'll be able to shower there if necessary without getting the heebie jeebies or needing to wear shower shoes.
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