#WritingFromIsolationWard
Tag: house
Ah bloggy; it’s been a dog’s age.
When I’m doing nothing at home I think I’m wasting my time; and when I think I have spare time I waste it on podcasts and video games. I’ve passed up inspiration a couple of times recently simply because I didn’t feel like committing more time to putting pen to pad (as it were).
Yesterday I moved my photography work off of www.nitemayr.com and over to photography.nitemayr.com hosted on my rack here in London; rather than leaving it in Virginia. That way my images stay on my hard drives; I should be doing a daily mirror of my site over to here too … hmm. Maybe I’ll set that up today.
As for housekeeping on the for reals; I still have to move a proper doorknob onto the Spawn’s door (she has one but it doesn’t close correctly and I have a “spare” knob in the basement that locks like a bathroom door which should give her the privacy a teenager deserves (when she IS a teen in a few months) and the ability to keep the dog out of her room which she needs.
Our plants are really out of control too. I cut a bunch of them back but I think I’ll spend some of the coming weekend just cutting more and more of them back as they are blocking the AC and so on. This will be unpopular; c’est la vie. I had to cut down a bunch of roses this Saturday to make our front porch habitable; so I don’t see any problem with just cutting back some greenery; it’s not like there will be a shortage. I’ll size it up this Saturday morning and get it done before noon I guess. Hmm, I need a better sprinkler too; I had better keep that in mind this week.
I think, save for a couple of patches where drainage is an issue; I have the back yard taking shape. There is grass on about 98% of it now; as opposed to about 95% at the beginning of the year when we had a massive bald mud patch under the big tree (where the squirrel house used to be, but no longer is). It took two runs with seed and coverings to get the grass to really take in the patch; especially with how shady it is. The front lawn however is dying, for lack of watering and just from being weak. I think I’ll need to put way more into it in the spring. I’ll seed it and cover it with straw before the first frost this fall and maybe I’ll get lucky in the spring.
Who knows; maybe I’ll finally get my hands on a ladder and get my damn eaves trough cleaned out before august?
It was a good weekend to get out and see London and the surroundings, which is why I spent the weekend poking around the house and looking where I could fix things and so on.
I didn’t really get much done, what with spending Friday and Saturday fretting over a customer and the Sunday wondering if my basement was filling with gas after I *finally* managed to find the controls for the gas fireplace. I get light-headed with worry when I think about it; gas flooding my basement and killing us all. That thing is a hazard I just want rid of. I’ll keep the one in the living room upstairs; but the basement one has to go.
Hung a few photos, realized that I have to dig out more of them to hang.
Our Yellow Roses have come and are going, fuchsia ones are growing along the path and Champagne and White are on the way.
On the other hand; it was a nice weekend for the sun. I had to pass on a lawn mower, 75 bucks for a toro is fine, but I couldn’t swing it. Maybe some other time.
Spent a good deal of this weekend enjoying having a yard.
Watered and patched the front lawn a bit on Saturday; put down a ton of “shady blend” grass seed and covered it up with soil in hope that in about 2 weeks those bald patches will be covered in soft grass. Watered it all down and enjoyed the cool spray; it was already 75 in the shade by 10 AM Saturday and Sunday!
The back yard took a bit more, as the gardener (Jen) wouldn’t leave her basement lair in the morning, so she ended up toiling in her dirt corner in the hot sun. I spent some of this time tearing down the squirrel house from the big tree out back. I’ve been spoiling to take it down since the day I noticed the squirrels in it; they alternated between it and our roof all winter and I’m tired of the the pitter patter of little feet, truth be told. So I pulled it down and found it full of three things; dirt, fur and BEES. GOD-DAMNED BEES!!! A whole colony of BEES!!! RUN AUGH! AHHH! BUZZZZ.
Yeah, I found a bee’s nest in the thing as I tore it down and spent about 30 minutes trying to coax them into abandoning the furry confines they had built into. After poking and hoping failed, water and drowning appears to have won out. As they (thumb sized, no joke) bumble bees left the pile of fur and dirt for me to spread them over my new grass seeds on the south (shady) side of the yard.
Every time I go back there I see more crap that needs to be taken out of the yard and I get depressed at the sheer volume of stuff that needs to leave; the former owners left us with a literal ton of garbage and random bullcrap to clean up, not to mention a couple hundred dollars worth of basic repairs and painting to take on when we moved in.
Look; I love that when I wake up and look out my window I’m looking at my yard; but all the repairs (we still don’t have a stove due to the broken glass there) and the garbage cut the sweetness pretty hard.
Yellow roses and fresh cherries aside.
Sunday was nice, more watering more relishing the spray. More beers in the heat of the evening. Pad Thai for supper.
Still…
Spent a good deal of this weekend enjoying having a yard.
Watered and patched the front lawn a bit on Saturday; put down a ton of “shady blend” grass seed and covered it up with soil in hope that in about 2 weeks those bald patches will be covered in soft grass. Watered it all down and enjoyed the cool spray; it was already 75 in the shade by 10 AM Saturday and Sunday!
The back yard took a bit more, as the gardener (Jen) wouldn’t leave her basement lair in the morning, so she ended up toiling in her dirt corner in the hot sun. I spent some of this time tearing down the squirrel house from the big tree out back. I’ve been spoiling to take it down since the day I noticed the squirrels in it; they alternated between it and our roof all winter and I’m tired of the the pitter patter of little feet, truth be told. So I pulled it down and found it full of three things; dirt, fur and BEES. GOD-DAMNED BEES!!! A whole colony of BEES!!! RUN AUGH! AHHH! BUZZZZ.
Yeah, I found a bee’s nest in the thing as I tore it down and spent about 30 minutes trying to coax them into abandoning the furry confines they had built into. After poking and hoping failed, water and drowning appears to have won out. As they (thumb sized, no joke) bumble bees left the pile of fur and dirt for me to spread them over my new grass seeds on the south (shady) side of the yard.
Every time I go back there I see more crap that needs to be taken out of the yard and I get depressed at the sheer volume of stuff that needs to leave; the former owners left us with a literal ton of garbage and random bullcrap to clean up, not to mention a couple hundred dollars worth of basic repairs and painting to take on when we moved in.
Look; I love that when I wake up and look out my window I’m looking at my yard; but all the repairs (we still don’t have a stove due to the broken glass there) and the garbage cut the sweetness pretty hard.
Yellow roses and fresh cherries aside.
Sunday was nice, more watering more relishing the spray. More beers in the heat of the evening. Pad Thai for supper.
Still…
Spent a good deal of this weekend enjoying having a yard.
Watered and patched the front lawn a bit on Saturday; put down a ton of “shady blend” grass seed and covered it up with soil in hope that in about 2 weeks those bald patches will be covered in soft grass. Watered it all down and enjoyed the cool spray; it was already 75 in the shade by 10 AM Saturday and Sunday!
The back yard took a bit more, as the gardener (Jen) wouldn’t leave her basement lair in the morning, so she ended up toiling in her dirt corner in the hot sun. I spent some of this time tearing down the squirrel house from the big tree out back. I’ve been spoiling to take it down since the day I noticed the squirrels in it; they alternated between it and our roof all winter and I’m tired of the the pitter patter of little feet, truth be told. So I pulled it down and found it full of three things; dirt, fur and BEES. GOD-DAMNED BEES!!! A whole colony of BEES!!! RUN AUGH! AHHH! BUZZZZ.
Yeah, I found a bee’s nest in the thing as I tore it down and spent about 30 minutes trying to coax them into abandoning the furry confines they had built into. After poking and hoping failed, water and drowning appears to have won out. As they (thumb sized, no joke) bumble bees left the pile of fur and dirt for me to spread them over my new grass seeds on the south (shady) side of the yard.
Every time I go back there I see more crap that needs to be taken out of the yard and I get depressed at the sheer volume of stuff that needs to leave; the former owners left us with a literal ton of garbage and random bullcrap to clean up, not to mention a couple hundred dollars worth of basic repairs and painting to take on when we moved in.
Look; I love that when I wake up and look out my window I’m looking at my yard; but all the repairs (we still don’t have a stove due to the broken glass there) and the garbage cut the sweetness pretty hard.
Yellow roses and fresh cherries aside.
Sunday was nice, more watering more relishing the spray. More beers in the heat of the evening. Pad Thai for supper.
Still…
Yesterday was one of those “get things in shape” days.
In short order Jen, Elizabeth and I
- Removed half of the boxes from the master bedroom that had been “hanging on” opening up another 15% of the floor space in there and making it look cleaner.
- Hung some pictures and set the stage for more to go up in the living room area at the front of the house
- Cleaned out the storm drains at the end of the yard
- Cleaned up the damn pine cones all over the yard
- Spiked a bunch of weeds
- Coiled the old holey Garden hose for tossing out… might take it back and bury it in the garden instead as an under-ground watering system… bears more thought really.
- Finally packed away the dining room table. We don’t eat at it and we have a nice breakfast counter to eat at anyway. This opened up a ton of space in the livingroom/kitchen area too.
In terms of stuff to do I checked out Kijiji and Craigslist and found a bunch of lawn mowers for sale. I’ll have to check on them but we should be able to get a simple gas powered one for under 60 bucks as opposed for 90 bucks for an electrical one. Our grass is too long for an underpowered one…..
We have crab grass where I laid the new seed. Was the new seed full of crab grass? Hmmm.
The new seed didn’t really take universally so we still have a kind of patchy lawn. The back yard has really become this lush jungle of weeds though. We need a weed whacker.
I need to repair at least one plug and then get an electrician in to fix the spare bathroom’s lights and power.
Paint needs touching up in places, but I bet a nice rub with a cloth will fix some of them instead.
Still no oven, coming up with 300 bucks for a repair seems less likely as the months come on.
Some outstanding bills to deal with too.
Perhaps it is time to sell off the comic collection if only to get some of this stuff done.
Yesterday was one of those “get things in shape” days.
In short order Jen, Elizabeth and I
- Removed half of the boxes from the master bedroom that had been “hanging on” opening up another 15% of the floor space in there and making it look cleaner.
- Hung some pictures and set the stage for more to go up in the living room area at the front of the house
- Cleaned out the storm drains at the end of the yard
- Cleaned up the damn pine cones all over the yard
- Spiked a bunch of weeds
- Coiled the old holey Garden hose for tossing out… might take it back and bury it in the garden instead as an under-ground watering system… bears more thought really.
- Finally packed away the dining room table. We don’t eat at it and we have a nice breakfast counter to eat at anyway. This opened up a ton of space in the livingroom/kitchen area too.
In terms of stuff to do I checked out Kijiji and Craigslist and found a bunch of lawn mowers for sale. I’ll have to check on them but we should be able to get a simple gas powered one for under 60 bucks as opposed for 90 bucks for an electrical one. Our grass is too long for an underpowered one…..
We have crab grass where I laid the new seed. Was the new seed full of crab grass? Hmmm.
The new seed didn’t really take universally so we still have a kind of patchy lawn. The back yard has really become this lush jungle of weeds though. We need a weed whacker.
I need to repair at least one plug and then get an electrician in to fix the spare bathroom’s lights and power.
Paint needs touching up in places, but I bet a nice rub with a cloth will fix some of them instead.
Still no oven, coming up with 300 bucks for a repair seems less likely as the months come on.
Some outstanding bills to deal with too.
Perhaps it is time to sell off the comic collection if only to get some of this stuff done.
Yesterday was one of those “get things in shape” days.
In short order Jen, Elizabeth and I
- Removed half of the boxes from the master bedroom that had been “hanging on” opening up another 15% of the floor space in there and making it look cleaner.
- Hung some pictures and set the stage for more to go up in the living room area at the front of the house
- Cleaned out the storm drains at the end of the yard
- Cleaned up the damn pine cones all over the yard
- Spiked a bunch of weeds
- Coiled the old holey Garden hose for tossing out… might take it back and bury it in the garden instead as an under-ground watering system… bears more thought really.
- Finally packed away the dining room table. We don’t eat at it and we have a nice breakfast counter to eat at anyway. This opened up a ton of space in the livingroom/kitchen area too.
In terms of stuff to do I checked out Kijiji and Craigslist and found a bunch of lawn mowers for sale. I’ll have to check on them but we should be able to get a simple gas powered one for under 60 bucks as opposed for 90 bucks for an electrical one. Our grass is too long for an underpowered one…..
We have crab grass where I laid the new seed. Was the new seed full of crab grass? Hmmm.
The new seed didn’t really take universally so we still have a kind of patchy lawn. The back yard has really become this lush jungle of weeds though. We need a weed whacker.
I need to repair at least one plug and then get an electrician in to fix the spare bathroom’s lights and power.
Paint needs touching up in places, but I bet a nice rub with a cloth will fix some of them instead.
Still no oven, coming up with 300 bucks for a repair seems less likely as the months come on.
Some outstanding bills to deal with too.
Perhaps it is time to sell off the comic collection if only to get some of this stuff done.