You know it's time the mow the grass when...

...your two-year old is captivated by the nearly (toddler) knee-high "helicopters" growing in the yard.

Ceiling Fan #2

New fan in the master bedroom.

Two down, one to go. O.'s room is next.

Miscreant Irises

I have a problem with irises. Although I like the flower, the foliage doesn't do anything for me, and the foliage lasts a long time. Plus, they have always seem to be a bit promiscuous and untidy in their division, which offends my Victorian sensibilities, I guess.

Imagine my delight when we bought a house with an entire bed of irises.

It's not a big area, maybe 8 feet, but it was on both sides of a fence and a mess. My strategy was 1.) clean out the beds on both sides of the fence, 2.) insert shrubs that can stand up to the irises on the East side of fence 3.) replant a small fraction of the bulbs along with some heirloom irises (for sentimental reasons) on the West side of the fence and 4.) hope for the best.

The irises won. See irises below, crowding the spirea.



And encroaching on the peony and hosta territory.



One of the heirloom irises bloomed--the first. This iris have been passed down from my great-grandmother. It smells like grape Kool-Aid.

The Herb Garden

One of my goals this year was to start an herb garden. I don't have enough time to take care of a larger vegetable garden, but I really wanted to have fresh herbs, and I always will remember Mom's wonderful-smelling herb garden.

Last fall I converted one of the few sunny spots of our backyard to a flower/herb bed. The previous owner had left a mound of daylilies here, as if they had dug them out of the ground and then didn't know what to do with them. J. and Dad cut back the cedar tree on the other side of the fence to bring in some more light. I spaded the area and installed the border. The soil here is hideous clay, so I added humic material. We planted some of the rescued daylilies along the fence, then added a weigela and a few other perennials. Mom provided chives and sedum from her garden.

My plan was to start herb seeds indoors and than transfer outside. However, I was a little busier than I projected this winter, mainly due to an opportunity at work that was too good to miss. When the weather turned unseasonably warm in March, I assumed winter was over and thought, "Well, heck, just throw the seeds in the ground." A respectable plan, until the freeze. Although nothing had sprouted when the temperatures dropped that week, the poor little seedlings probably never stood a chance.

So, I decided I'd replace what I'd lost with potted herbs. Photo from last night:

It's mostly mulched now, just a few spots by the fence. The bare spots on the ground are the few seedlings that did survive (marjoram, thyme, and catnip) plus a couple species for which I haven't found the replacements (tarragon and lemon balm).

I think I have gone a little crazy trying to fill in all the gaps with something green. J. now longer allows me to go to Lowes without a chaperone. I added a few annuals (marigolds and lantana) for some color and I couldn't resist a blue-eyed grass plant. And there are some perennials on the edges of the garden (out of frame) that I didn't photograph and I won't admit to.

Labelled version of photo:

I've been targeting culinary herbs plus herbs that are supposed to have mosquito repellant oils. I've read that you can run your hands through catnip or lemon balm and other herbs and fend off (partially) the bites.

So, that's where it stands. Can't wait to see what it looks like in a month or two.

Annuals

I planted annuals in the rosebed (the former rose-rockbed) today. I pulled back the plastic under the mulch and found a surprise.


The orange cable. It must be the cable/internet/phone line that our cable provider could not find when we moved here. Also, there's that a white plastic pipe with a square top, which reminds me of a gas release for a sewer. What is that?



The cable extends almost to the fireplace, and then I lost it again. I shoved the cable back under the tarp, so it now sits at the edge of the fold of the tarp (about 14" away from the cement). Mental note: don't dig there.

On with the annuals. I add some potting soil to the clay to increase the odds of survival. Then, I planted one six-pack of coleus (back row) and two six packs of impatients (pink and white mix in the front). I left them high relative to the ground surface, to account for the mulch.



The next step was a little tricky. I cut the "Ts" and "Hs" into the tarp so that the plants would poke through. Then, I pull the tarp back and rake the mulch back into place. (In retrospect, I should have cut the tarp first, then planted the annuals.)



Wow, they look so tiny there.

Neatest Park Ever

One of the lesser-known treasures of our area is the Rochman Park. It was built by a local investor as memorial to his son. This park has a Dungeons and Dragons theme, complete with dueling wizards, dragons, and gnomes. The main feature is a castle, which means Owen is in heaven.


The castle. (Pardon the bad photoshopping on this one. I think I focused on a cloud instead of the castle, and the castle become too dark to see anything. I lightened everything so that you could see the castle, but this made the sky look strange. I'm sure there's a way around it, but I need to learn more about photoshop first. Or, I could just learn to take better photos in the first place. Never seem to find time for either.)


Owen loves this place.


I like the ogre guarding the castle entrance.


The castle is a maze. What you see in the photo above is likely no less than four different paths through the castle. And that's just a part of one corner. Children and husbands easily become lost. Fortunately, there is only a few exits, so at least they're contained.


View looking upwards at one of the towers.


The level of detail is insanely amazing. Everywhere you look, there is something else to see. In the photo above there is a goblin, towerguarding a corner.


A finer point; a handmade tile.


Still astounded by the details; this is one type of the light fixtures.


Again, sorry for the surreal-looking photoshop job. What I was trying to photograph is the flying dragon, carrying a skull in its claws.


The park is set in a grove, and the trees complement the area perfectly. Above: a carving in one of trees.


Our little monkey, scrambling up a knight's effigy mound.


And sliding down the mulch.

That's all the photos. There is much more, just too much to take in at one time.

Brrr.

We've had a cold snap, with night temperatures in the 20s oF for the past three nights. Last night was supposed to be the last of the freezing temperatures. I'm kicking myself for setting as many things outside as I did. Eh, live, learn, and go back to Lowes.

We covered the hostas, the basil, the lavender, and the rosemary. The basil is deader than dead. Everything else looks a little stressed.

We should have covered more, though. The hydrangeas, the weigila, and the crepe myrtle have all suffered. Even the boxwood bushes and the nandina are droopy in the morning. Argh, so much for an early spring.

A Tree Surprise

We have a dwarf/ornamental-type tree on the southeast corner of our house, outside of the master bedroom. I had assumed it was a crabapple tree from the shape and size of the branches and from the fruit that Owen enjoyed hurling at the fence last summer. I have been looking forward to seeing it bloom all winter, partly to see what it would do.

The tree bloomed today, and this is no crabapple.


Dogwood, maybe? There are lots of dogwood in bloom right now, but I haven't seen one like this yet.

Flowering Quince

According to Grandma B., these shrubs are only worth having during the spring, as they are messy and ugly the rest of the year.

So I thought I'd better photograph it while it is in its prime.

We will rock you

All of the flower/shrub beds outside of our house are covered in black plastic with rocks on top. When we bought the house, J and I didn't love the rocks, but they promised to be a low maintenance form of weed control, so we called it good enough.

Rocks are not as low maintenance as we'd hoped. They collect leaves and twigs. We've tried rakes and leaf blowers but there is no efficient way to keep the rocks from looking junky. And we were constantly picking rocks out the grass. Plus the grass and chives grow through rocks regardless.

J and I hatched a plan to spiff up the shrub beds, and mulch is the answer. With this, we'd be at least maintaining a bedding material that we like to look at. We also learned that mulch is not advisable next to our house, due to termite issues. And since we wanted to put in beds for shrubs on the southeast and southwest sides of the house (underneath the bedroom windows), we decided to save to rock for those areas. J was jazzed to start this project, and we decided we'd start on the area closest to the patio first.

Please note that the record shows that J's comment prior to the de-rocking project was "Oh, it'll only take a couple or hours, and it'll be fun!"

Ha. Well, fun is relative term. And it took the better part of Sunday. But we have completed this much.



Hmm. This project definitely has a high tedious and sweaty work to landscaping impact ratio.



Here's where we stopped. I buried the cable/internet/phone line (apparently Medicom does not bore through rocks) and put in the stepstones, with the hope that this will remind me not to dig there.



But we have a long way to go. The rocks go to the fenceline.

One last photo.


This is where one of the new flower/shrub beds will be. I put in a snowball viburnum, which is supposed to grow 10 ft x 10 ft and cover the brick between the two windows. We plan to put in an edge border with some artistic swoop to accent the viburnum.

Oh, and it was 80 oF and sunny here this weekend.

Spring Break at Home

Mom and Dad visited last weekend. They helped us paint (and/or entertain O. long enough to enable the painting) the laundry room. It's a sunny yellow color called "linen napkin." Sorry if the photos are framed strangely. I was shooting from odd angles.



This is much better, I think. Bright, warm, and clean.

We did the cabinets and the trim, too. Now all that is left is to replace the door between the laundry room and the garage.


We also burned a good portion of the of the sticks, leaves, etc. collected from our yard during the winter in the outdoor fireplace. O. found this fascinating.


And, because we can't have the excess of combustible materials in our yard dip too low, Dad and J. replenished the firewood supply.

First Day of Spring

And things are changing, yet again.

The grass began turning green about a week ago. Daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses, tulip trees, forscythia, and scilla are in bloom. Everything has buds. Our favorite hardware stores are stocking mulch and compost.

I've potted pansies and purchased a lavender and a rosemary plant for the soon-to-be herb garden.

I think really like this more southernly spring.

Ceiling Fan #1

We installed our first ceiling fan this weekend. This one is located in the guest bedroom. We decided to begin there just in case our installation fails and disaster occurs.
So far, so good.

Return to two working bathrooms

The plumbers came today to correct the leaky shutoff valve and replaced it. They also noted that the larger problem is that the toliet base has some wiggle to it. The floor in the bathroom is not level, as there is a rise in the concrete slab in the Norwest corner of the bathroom. Therefore, the toliet doesn't sit flat on the floor, and gives a little when you ascend the throne. The plumbers suggested that they lift the stool and reset it, replacing the wax ring and adding shims. And since the slight thrill of feeling like I might fall everytime I sat is gone, I agreed.

And my dad will be happy to know that, per our home inspector's suggestion, the plumbers also installed the drop tube on our water heater (though it may actually be called a t/p joint. Still haven't figured that out yet.)

Ruminations

1.) I'm thinking of painting our office-slash-computer room, shown below (viewed from the living room), green.


One of these greens. Something that would match the pear in the argon or the olive in the oxygen.
Or, a shade lighter than the green shown in the Greg Stones print, below.



I'm letting the idea marinade for awhile because this sounds like one I might regret in six months.

2. J and I would really like to improve the smaller bathroom. The floor is our least favorite part of the the bathroom because it is a color of yellow that defies accurate description. Thus, the floor is very good place to start.

We were browing the Super Menards last weekend, and saw self-adhesive laminate tiles. We calculated that it would take about $50 of tile to cover the bathroom, plus the cost of leveling compound. We're picked out a couple of samples, see below. I think I like the colors in the one on the left better, but I wish it were lighter like the one on the right.


Then, we realized that if were going to install new tile and have to yank the trim anyway, that we might as well sand the trim and repaint it. No problem, I have all that stuff, just need to buy some trim nails ($10, if that.)

Then, we realized that we would probably have to take out and remount the toliet to install the tiles. And since the toliet is white and doesn't match the rest of the bathroom and I'd like a low-flow to save water, we might as well buy a new toliet too ($160+, in "bone" color to match the shower and the sink).


But, if we're replacing the toliet, well, heck, we may as well replace the cabinet under the sink. We can keep the sink since it's of decent and durable material and remount it on a new cabinet and plus install a new faucet. (And this is where I quit estimating the costs.)


But, if were doing all that, we should get a new medicine cabinet that matches the cabinet. Plus we'd like a bigger one, because solving the storage problems in the bathroom would be a major victory.


And of course, if we buy a new medicine cabinet, we'd need new lighting to replace the only source of artificial light in the room. We'd like to replace the fan on the ceiling with a light/fan combo, and then put in nifty curio lights near the medicine cabinet.


As you can see, the $50 "let's replace the floors" project has become a near-complete remodel. I can't decide if we're better off with the above plan, or gutting the whole thing and starting from scratch.

Blue paint and a birdfeeder.

In honor of Groundhog Day.

Here's the new paint in the "big" bathroom. We painted the cabinet white, too. I still have touch-up work to do at the ceiling and a few spots where the tape tore the paint.

I think I like the color, but I wish there was less of it. Maybe crown molding at the ceiling? Or wainscoting on the bottom half of the walls?

And thanks to Ben and Missy for the birdfeeder. Emma likes it too, because it brings the tasty-looking birdies closer to her spot in front of the French doors.