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All these things and a Dog named Robert

Published by NiteMayr on June 10, 2015
Backyard Mornings

Living in London has been rewarding for me; especially having my own house with my own yard and trees.  While I’m not outdoors-oriented in any way, I do enjoy my yard.  I enjoy it in the way a gentleman does, someone else picks up the poo, my mailbox is monitored by my household staff and my guard dog “Bob” keeps out the racoons.

At least I would if I had grounds, staff or a dog named bob.

Instead I get to sit in my house or yard; watch the bluejays and the cardinals in spring, fireflies in summer and chickadees in winter.

It’s not a bad life; to have a nice house in London.

All these things and a Dog named Robert

Published by NiteMayr on June 10, 2015
Backyard Mornings

Living in London has been rewarding for me; especially having my own house with my own yard and trees.  While I’m not outdoors-oriented in any way, I do enjoy my yard.  I enjoy it in the way a gentleman does, someone else picks up the poo, my mailbox is monitored by my household staff and my guard dog “Bob” keeps out the racoons.

At least I would if I had grounds, staff or a dog named bob.

Instead I get to sit in my house or yard; watch the bluejays and the cardinals in spring, fireflies in summer and chickadees in winter.

It’s not a bad life; to have a nice house in London.

When the mercury was hitting 80 I was in the yard

Published by on May 31, 2010

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…

Original Article

When the mercury was hitting 80 I was in the yard

Published by NiteMayr on May 31, 2010

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…

Original Article

When the mercury was hitting 80 I was in the yard

Published by NiteMayr on May 31, 2010

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…

The house, the yard and stuff

Published by NiteMayr on May 17, 2010

Yesterday was one of those “get things in shape” days.

In short order Jen, Elizabeth and I

  1. 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.
  2. Hung some pictures and set the stage for more to go up in the living room area at the front of the house
  3. Cleaned out the storm drains at the end of the yard
  4. Cleaned up the damn pine cones all over the yard
  5. Spiked a bunch of weeds
  6. 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.
  7. 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.

Original Article

The house, the yard and stuff

Published by on May 17, 2010

Yesterday was one of those “get things in shape” days.

In short order Jen, Elizabeth and I

  1. 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.
  2. Hung some pictures and set the stage for more to go up in the living room area at the front of the house
  3. Cleaned out the storm drains at the end of the yard
  4. Cleaned up the damn pine cones all over the yard
  5. Spiked a bunch of weeds
  6. 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.
  7. 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.

Original Article

The house, the yard and stuff

The house, the yard and stuff

Published by NiteMayr on May 17, 2010

Yesterday was one of those “get things in shape” days.

In short order Jen, Elizabeth and I

  1. 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.
  2. Hung some pictures and set the stage for more to go up in the living room area at the front of the house
  3. Cleaned out the storm drains at the end of the yard
  4. Cleaned up the damn pine cones all over the yard
  5. Spiked a bunch of weeds
  6. 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.
  7. 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.

Bet you though winter was over!