25 posts tagged “house”

I took some quick photos of the yard this morning...everything is so darn green since the rain we've had (I know, such a tough problem to have) that some of them are hard to get much definition in them, but they give a general idea of what's been happening around here:

Front Yard

Patio

New Grass!

This afternoon there will be a trip to Home Depot for paint and supplies. (I need blue tape!) And then the fun will really begin. Luckily, in the living room there isn't that much that needs taping - just the baseboards, the window, and the back door. Unfortunately, then there is the guest bathroom (and my bathroom) that have a billion and one things I need to tape off.

I hate taping. It is the WORST part of painting.

Once the living room walls have thier two coats of paint and the guest bath gets its one coat of new color, I will do some touch-up painting in the entryway where people and dogs have scratched up the walls. Day two will consist of painting the remaining living room wall its two coats and giving the hallway another going over (I need to clean up along the tops of the walls where they meet the ceiling). By then I should be throuroughly tired of looking at Falcon Brown. So, to change things up a bit, I will tackle my bathroom. I am pretty sure that the bedroom only needed two coats of paint to cover, but it has been so long I don't really remember so we will just have to see how it goes. Of course, I will also do a few touch-ups in the bedroom since I will have that color paint out.

After ALL that...the remaining project to tackle (which will probably take place next weekend) will be a third coat of paint in the dining room and then.......... the kitchen. The kitchen area doesn't actually have all that much wall space that needs painting, but it is all in weird, hard-to-reach areas (like over the cabinets and above the pantry) with lots of edges that cannot be taped off. And being that it is the same color as the dining room but in an even better lit setting - I know it will take at least three coats to cover well. *sigh*

But, if I can get this tackled in the next week and a half or so, then the downstairs will be done! WOOHOO! Wish me luck...

Then it will be on to tiling...sometime....way, way, way down the road.

Boogy-woogy-woogy!

HOUSE: (the first four are just never-ending)

I just checked the website to see if there was any new info on the shipping dates for the furniture. The estimated delivery dates are the 7-13! I can't believe how quickly it will be here. I am hoping for delivery on the 11th...I need next weekend to finally get the ceiling in here painted and get things cleaned out so there is room to assemble and place the new stuff! It also looks like I will need to do some touch-up painting on the walls where the current desks have been - or rather, where stuff that is on the current desks has been jammed into the walls. I may as well also take the time to redo some shoddy patching that I did where I had hung a shelf in here. The places where the holes had been are still pretty obvious, but can be fixed with some more sanding and spackle.

Argh. The water main coming off of the city meter is leaking yet again. The plumber came out around two weeks ago and re-crimped the connection which seemed to work at the time, but this evening while I was out in the yard (again) I noticed that it was once again sopping wet around the meter box. And seeing as how it was not that way this morning while I was out working in that area it looks like the plumber will have to come back out. I did check, and it isn't leaking fast enough to be turning the meter which is good. I sent another email to the builder and will call them tomorrow afternoon if I haven't heard back from them by then.

The city has let up slightly on the water restrictions. For the time being I am now allowed to water my lawn on Thursdays (even number homes Thurs...odd are some other day of the week) and I can wash my car on Fridays. 

Everything that I purchased for the yard, thus far, has been planted...three maples (Autumn Blaze), six crape myrtles (Acoma), three glossy abelia (Edward Goucher), and a euonomous (Greenspire). Most the holes we alright to dig - comparatively speaking. Two of the maples ended up in places where I was simply able to dig a hole. There are areas with a TON of rocks in the clay. The clay itself is heavy, but wasn't too terrible to dig in.

I had wanted to try to save the half-dead maple that was originally in the front (planted by the builder), but as we were digging it up the trunk snapped and we saw that it was rotting through the middle - hence the dead tree mess at the end of the driveway. We have a yard waste truck that comes on trash day that mulches leaves, branches, etc. Along the lot line there on the right are five of the crape myrtles. They are also very fast growing so in another year or two they should offer a nice screen between my house and the neighbor's driveway (which is currently the view I have from my bedroom and dining room). 

Front yard

The oak tree in the back yard was completely dead...it hadn't even rooted itself in so I essentially yanked it right out of the hole by its trunk. The maple that replaced it ended up getting moved a bit farther back from the house and more to the left (when looking out the back door). The old tree was just too close to the house and in a strange spot in the yard. One of the crape myrtles went by the back of the house so it will help shade the patio in the evenings and will be able to be seen out the kitchen nook windows. One abelia went by the front lot corner on the right (near the mailbox) and the other two went on either side of the guest bedroom window...someday when they grow in, they will offer very pretty flowers and some screening so there is some privacy in that room even with the blinds open.

My last project to finish up is replacing all the old pine straw in front of the windows with red rock. Then I am going to tackle some additional hardscaping...I am going to extend my back patio out to each side with paving stones so that the grill can be moved away from the living room windows and there will be more room to sit and relax out there. Once that is done I will be designing and edging all of the planting bed areas and filling them with red rock too. Generally speaking, they will be around the edges of the yard and around the trees.

Front - window bed

Still no Clyde. With each day that passes I am more and more sure that a wild animal got him. Last night there was a small (I think young by the way it acted) opossum on my patio. It made me wonder if maybe Clyde got into it with the mommy possum. Now, I also have to find a different place for the outside kitty food since obviously that is what this one was looking for. (It had been moved up onto the patio table yesterday so it wouldn't get contaminated while the exterminator sprayed the foundation.) I did talk to neighbors as well as the office here and put up some fliers...lots of the neighbors recognized his photo and mentioned what a sweet kitty he is and said they would keep an eye out for him, but hadn't seen him in awhile.

Aside from that I flung poop today - it desperately needed doing. The yard was getting gross due to crappy weather lately. After that I made my first hike down the hill. I have no finally set foot on all of my land. Heh. It is lovely down below with relatively easy access to the creek that runs through back there. The hill itself is rather steep and somewhat tough to get back up (then again, I am also horribly out of shape)...but I think if I work at it, over time I can create a stair/path that will make climbing back to the top easier. I also scouted out the gully area that I am going to clear out and replant with wildflowers. I don't think it will be too tough to do, actually. There is just one area that has some washout issues that I am going to have to ponder. It looks like I will probably need to build some sort of retaining wall. I wonder when Dad is planning on coming back to visit? Ha-ha!

Now I need to go change my clothes since I am covered in little sticker bush burr things and find something for lunch. Then I think I might watch a movie...I am exhausted. Marly, Sadie and Bandit were all antsy last night and made sleep hard to get.

P.S. Bandit is doing just fine...he is a little timid jumping, but otherwise surgery doesn't seem to have bothered him in the least. (He got neutered and micro-chipped yesterday.)