My Pride and Joy

In the brutally hot summer of 2010 I decided to plant a garden in an awkward space in the front yard.  It's a little strip of land next to the neighbor to the south.  It's lower than the rest of my yard and had been planted with a strip of iris and ladybells.  When I first moved in my brother mowed the front lawn and didn't realize this strip belonged to me.  Here it is after I had ripped up the grass.

Part of the motivation in planting this area was to procrastinate on painting the back of my house, which is 32 feet high at its peak.  I was burned out from painting the front in 2009.  I primed for 9 hours with a ten-minute break one day and another day for eight hours with a couple short breaks.

Since I didn't want to spend a lot of money, I transplanted plants from my mother's abandoned, large cottage garden in her backyard.  Talk about brutal work.  Heat, humidity, mosquitoes, hauling huge bushes and plants, and mulch from my sister's pile. I am amazed that everything lived, and thrived.

It was a leap of faith, as life generally is, and especially gardening.  I had no idea what colors the flowers would be, or even what they were, since my mother couldn't remember too well.  I ended up with two hydrangeas, phlox, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, Russian sage, a rose, coreopsis, daylilies, coneflower, ribbon grass, and veronica. I bought, on sale or with coupons, four roses, an ornamental grass, a butterfly bush, cranesbill, gaillardia, veronica, catmint, dwarf blue spruce, dwarf Russian sage, and bellflower. My friend Tina gave me a hydrangea as a hostess gift and I transplanted many iris after dividing them, as well as some ladybells.

I had no idea how it would fill out the following year.  That fall I bought three asters and a chrysanthemum and also planted bulbs--red tulips, purple hyacinth and purple grape hyacinth.  Here's a look at the fall garden.

Here's the spring view.

This past summer the garden really came into its own, which is surprising for only its second year.  My mother pointed out that that's because I was transplanting mature plants.  Oh.  Duh.

 

The tiki torch is my neighbors;' I'm not so much into tiki torches.

New Kitchen

Before

Almost After

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Almost After

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Almost After

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Almost After

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Almost After

Well, I finally got my new kitchen.  My oven died while cooking dinner for a birthday party, and my dishwasher died shortly thereafter.  Oh, the decisions!  The mess!  The stress!  The huge amount of MONEY!!  As usual, I had it all planned out with my pre-conceived notions:  white beadboard cabinets, keep the beadboard on the walls, paint the upper walls a cool color (like maybe yellow or blue), brushed nickel bin-style drawer pulls and round knobs, white appliances.  I picked none of the above.  I went with a Martha Stewart design--her Ox Hill cabinets and everything associated with the look in her brochure (cabinet pulls, shelving, corbels, paint color).  The only thing I did differently was to not include a backsplash and to get granite counters (Luna Pearl).

I fell in love with the picture in that brochure, which my kitchen designer at Home Depot had suggested as an alternative plan, plus the white beadboard seemed too busy and sterile and I wanted something simple due to my tiny space.  The layout was a difficult decision.  I've got the front door, back door, bathroom door, basement door and doorway to the dining room all in this space, plus two windows and two radiators. Generally I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I'm not sure it could have been done in another way unless I wanted to make major changes.  I'm more inclined to want to stay with the general look in the house to keep it historically accurate.  I opted for a long stretch of counter which wraps around to a backwards "L" shape rather than gain more space on either side of the stove.  Previously I had had to take down two upper cabinets above the refrigerator when I ordered a new one (the old one started leaking the Thanksgiving weekend of my first year) and it was one-quarter inch too tall.  So I stacked them and put bricks between them for a little more counterspace next to the cooktop.  I'm not sure why the previous owner thought it was a good idea to put a cooktop in and leave the kitchen with about nine inches of counter space.  My sister and I had dragged up a base cabinet from the basement, and that was handy for storage and more counterspace.

I changed my mind and decided I wanted stainless steel appliances when I saw my "dream" stove in person--an LG.  I got an Advantium GE microwave oven and a GE dishwasher.  I love them.  I already had a stainless Frigidaire fridge, even though it's too small and I hate it.  I'll just wait till it dies and replace it eventually.

The best decision I made was to gut the exterior walls to add insulation.  What a difference it made this past Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad winter!  I never wanted to leave that room!  Also, I had the radiators sandblasted and they were powder-coated silver and look fabulous!  But, whoa, that was expensive, and required bleeding the pipes to remove them.  I also like how the floor refinishing came out.

Please excuse the unfinished painting.  I had removed paint from most of the trim, doors and windows but was so sick of dealing with construction dirt, dust and grime, I didn't want to finish.  I just wanted to enjoy my beautiful kitchen and entertain.  I started demolition in October and the contractor finally finished in April (we had trouble with the cabinets being warped and it took a while to get replacements).

It's Wisteria Time!

Well after five tries, I finally pruned the wisteria correctly this year.  What's even more startling is my neighbor's hardly bloomed this year, and hers always looks spectacular.

So for those of you in Zone 5b like me, cut off new growth (leaving three or so leaflets) to the branches that look like a hand with fingers, no later than late September.  At least, that's what worked for me!

Can you see that I've changed the color of my house?  After much anxiety I asked a color expert at Benjamin Moore who said my house looked like a farmhouse and suggested white, red or pale yellow.  I've always wanted a yellow house (like my beloved paternal grandparents' house) but three out of the eleven houses on the street (in my town; the street is in two different towns) were yellow when I moved in.  Then one of those houses was painted green, which was another color I'd had in mind.  I didn't want to be a copycat so I went with yellow (Benjamin Moore Weston Flax).  I don't think I'd paint any house white, except maybe an old Colonial, because I love color so much.  I thought red would be too bold, so yellow it is!  Now I have to figure out the shutter color.  I was going to go with dark green but I'm thinking it's too much of a contrast.  I don't really like the look of white shutters, so maybe greyish-blue?  I think I need shutters for some pizzazz and detail.  I'll take some clearer pictures of the house when the peonies bloom in a week or so.

By the way, I finally got a digital camera, which makes posting this so much easier, plus I'm online at home, so maybe I'll keep up better with this blog!

As Promised--Painting Pictures

Garden/Summer

My neighbors had their house painted. Doesn't it look lovely? The cat drinking out of the birdbath is Rudy. I took him in off the streets so he's still kind of ghetto. No wonder there are no birds in my garden.

Kitchen Backsplash

Well, here's one project I finally completed. When I went to paint the kitchen the summer after I moved in, I discovered that underneath the shelf paper (!) on the backsplash was plywood. Interesting. I removed that and found half plaster and half sheetrock. I can assure you it was a bear to spackle the two together. I got so sick of that job that, as you can see, I did it quite sloppily. The main goal was to git 'er done, so I hung the two spice racks and the tiles left by the previous owner in order to camouflage the bumpiness. I had to hang the spice racks high because that's where the sheetrock portion is, and I didn't think the plaster could take the weight. I have trouble with plaster. I just learned how to hang pictures without creating enormous holes. I was previously screwing screws into the wall. I broke two plates and chipped a beautiful picture of my great grandmother and her sisters. Then I learned it's all in the angle. All you have to do is buy those picture hangers for the appropriate weight. Duh.

I also realized that the back of the cabinets were plaster, not wood, so I painted them. The color of the kitchen is a bit of a disappointment. It had more blue in it when I tried it in the living room. I was going for a bit of a retro look, trying to match Jadeite pottery, but of course I picked too bright a color (like always). It's a little too mint chocolate chip ice cream-like for me. I still have trouble picking colors. I now know to pick the color above the one on the chart or else it will be too bright and/or dark.

I guess I justify my crummy job by thinking that I'll eventually change the backplash, anyhoo, when I re-do the kitchen. I can't wait to change the 1980's greige countertop and trim paint.

I'm determined to strip all the woodwork, beadboard, cabinets and at least one window in this room this winter. I think I'd get a lot more done if it didn't make such a mess. It's hard to live, never mind entertain, when everything's in disarray.

What year is it?

Yeah, yeah, I know . . . it's been awhile. I'm a busy girl, OK? I can't wait to retire when I'll only have to work one job.

When last we talked I had just gotten my floors refinished. What a difference that made. The house looks noticeably cleaner and brighter. Unfortunately, someone cracked a window and made holes in the closet wall. The glass replacement is so expensive because the glass company orders wavy glass from New Jersey for me. The holes I fixed myself and just charged the floor people for the paint.

It seems all winter I was lazy. Sometimes I think I have Seasonal Affect Disorder and get depressed when there's not enough light in the day. Anyway, I was very anxious for spring, which didn't arrive until the end of June, I think. It was cold and it was rainy! I did start ripping off the asbestos shingles, though. It was surprisingly easy and quite rewarding. I found out that I can throw three cubic feet of them in the garbage each week.

Underneath the shingles, the clapboards were in pretty good shape, although filthy and with alligatored paint, which was also chalky. I can't tell if it was always white or not. There were a couple spots where it looked like it was a pale marigold yellow, but that just might be something funky that happened to the white paint. I found some shutter ghosts. Of course, I've only worked on the back side of the house so far. I finally finished taking off the last shingle a couple of weeks ago. It was 32 feet off the ground. My brother-in-law loaned me his 28-foot ladder, but it wasn't tall enough. So I bought a used 32-footer for 75 dollars. I'm not sure that's tall enough to do the soffits, though (I'm on the short side).

Anyhoo, I finished painting half the house. A good portion of that is where the deck is, so it was easier in terms of height. I've had to get used to being 25, then 28, then 32 feet off the ground. Also, the right side of the yard is terraced with two stone walls, the lower of which slopes downward. It was a bear trying to paint that side. I had to put a brick or rock underneath to level it, and the ladder shifted maybe a total of three times. So far that's the closest to an accident I've had. I never really have been afraid of heights. I just keep looking straight ahead and concentrating on what I'm doing. When I climb the 32-footer I stop halfway up to rest, and maybe pray.

Other than the height, the worst part is moving the ladders around. I had to go up and down the deck, which is on the second level since it's a walk-out basement. I have to go around a shed which is underneath the deck and walk on the two stone walls.

Here's the routine: after removing the shingles, I have to remove the remaining nails. Roofing nails were used to fasten the Tyvek-aluminum-foil-type sheet that is underneath the shingles. I have to loosen the nails with a screwdriver or needle-nose pliers and then pull them out with the hammer claw. This is not so easy 32 feet up, when I have to use both hands and let go of the ladder. The nails used to fasten the shingles (I think there are six of them on each) are threaded. If they don't pull out easily with the pry bar, the heads usually get stripped. Halfway into the process my brother-in-law showed me how to remove them with vise grips and a shim underneath. Around the door and window frames there were aluminum strips attached with smaller nails than the roofing type, and these heads seem to get stripped frequently. The ends of the windowsills were cut off to make them perfectly square for easy installation of the aluminum strips, I suppose. Then I use the jet spray on my garden hose to wash the clapboards down. They are filthy and have insect cocoons stuck to them. I also think that exposing them helped get them clean, especially with all the sideways rain we had. The soffits are very deep but the roof ridge is perpendicular to the street so the clapboards are fully exposed on the main part of the back of the house. Then I give the clapboards a quick scrape (most of the paint stays on; the bottom edge of the clapboards is very loose, though). Then I patch the holes with wood putty. I've also had to use dowels to plug holes made with a router. I've used Gorilla glue for some of the split clapboards. After sanding this down, I remove the dust, and start priming with an oil-based primer. I had the paint guy tint it. I thought maybe I could get away with one latex top coat, but nooooo . . . The coverage wasn't even. The paint is Twilight Blue, Benjamin Moore low-luster paint. The oil primer is messy and hard to get on. The latex goes on much easier and dries very quickly.

What a difference a coat of paint makes! I'll let you see for yourself once I'm able to post pictures. I was way up high painting one day, when I thought I heard my neighbor praising the color. My other neighbor said "You gonna leave it that blue?" Oh yes, Jimmy, it's gonna remain blue, blue, blue! Victorians are supposed to be colorful, right? It may not be historically accurate, but my house is a vernacular style, and a workingman's cottage, so I felt it was acceptable to take liberties.
I don't know if I'll finish. I only really started working on paint preparation in September. I had promised myself I'd hire someone to build stairs from the deck if I finished, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's gotten cold, plus there's hardly any light left when I get home from work. That leaves only weekends, and we continue to get slammed by rain, especially on the weekends. Also, I hurt my foot, and I'd like it to heal. I can't quite figure out what happened, but possibly the seam in my left sneaker presses against my toe. The pain is weird, but intense. It sort of feels like a burn, not really a sprain. It's been hard to wear heels.

The other project that I'm proud of is my garden. I had a special birthday this year, and some of my generous family and friends bought me gift cards from a garden center (the beautiful Garden Barn). I was finally able to fill out the spaces in my too-large (13 by 33 feet) garden out back. The weeds were out of control, so I finally broke down and put wood-chip mulch down. That is a horrendous project which took several weekends. I'm frugal/cheap so I got the free stuff from the Town. I filled large leaf bags and trudged down the stairs on the side of my house (access by car is impossible) all the way out to the garden. I also laid a paving strip of bricks in the front, and beefed up the stone wall upon which is sits. It looks so pretty, so I spend a lot of time out there, even now. My red and pink Knockout roses are still blooming like crazy. I just planted a variety of parrot tulip bulbs and a purple chrysanthemum on top of that. I also planted double Ducat daffodils. It should look pretty next spring!

I injured myself rather severely around the fourth of July. I'm still not sure how. I was pruning my forsythia with my big loppers then helped a friend get a pencil holly, which we planted, and also dug up her hostas and divided them. I had horrible pain the next day just under my right breast and pain upon taking a breath. It's not good when it hurts to breathe, folks. It was stabbing pain which got worse as the day wore on. By 11:30 p.m. I could not sleep nor find any relief in any position, so I drove to the hospital (thankfully, it's about a half-mile away). They put me on a morphine drip and gave me some muscle relaxers. I specifically asked the nurse if the pills he gave me would kill the pain because I could not handle it. I got my prescription at the all-night pharmacy and fell asleep until 10:30 a.m. I woke up in horrible pain; my sister showed up and we decided to go back to the hospital. The daytime staff was far superior, diagnosed a chest wall injury, and I got some oxycontin, which certainly killed the pain. I was out of work all week and made another trip to a large city hospital on the advice of my brother, the former nurse. He was concerned it was my heart, and of course my electrocardiogram was abnormal, as it always is. A call to my cardiologist confirmed that it was indeed, normal. The upside of this experience: I've lost 19 pounds! Nothing like heavy drugs to kill thirst and hunger! No wonder drug addicts are usually skinny. I occasionally get a twinge-y thing happening there but nothing too alarming. Thank you, God, for safety and good health!

Floor Makeover

Here are the before and after shots of my floors--green living room, purple office, yellow dining room and rose toile parlor.  Yes, my rooms are a little like Easter, and yes, on purpose!

Longing for Spring

I've decided that spring, not fall, is now my favorite season because it's so exciting to see the flowers budding. I especially like bulbs, and planted 40 tulips, 15 hyacinths, 35 Dutch iris and 10 allium last fall. Unfortunately my brother-in-law and I stepped on some of them while putting together my wisteria arbor. The Dutch iris had popped up during our very warm January weather and then they disappeared. I finally located them in the back yard and across the street in the neighbor's front yard. I've replanted them and hopefully the critters will leave them alone now.

My first year I discovered various daffodils around the back and side yards and I've transplanted them to the front gardens. I also had a lone hyacinth show up in the front bed opposite from where I planted mine (all of them came up), so I don't think that was one I planted. Is it moles or squirrels who move them? I can't figure it out.

I couldn't resist some pink and white tulips at Home Depot, so I'll be planting them this year. Also, my friend Holly gave me some bulbs that she got free with a plant order, so those will go in, too. I hope my daffodils come back. I'm never quite sure I've transplanted things successfully, although I transplanted about ten hostas last year and they're all fine. The sad little peony I transplanted from the side yard didn't get any blossoms this year. I've only seen one blossom on it, anyway, unlike my white one which is beautifully full.

My wisteria this year was a big disappointment because I only had seven blossoms. I'd hacked the heck out of it last year, when it was leaning on an old ladder. Before that it was just flopped into one big unattractive mound. There are two wisteria, one on each corner of my L-shaped porch. This spring I spent a considerable amount of time untwisting it and laying it across the arbor, plus digging up the parts that had rooted itself from lying on the ground. What a chore that was, digging about eight feet across and two feet down. It's now way too full, but I won't cut it for fear of removing blossoms like last year.

So here are some shots of the wisteria, last year and this year, and some spring flowers. Also, this year I planted 95 gladiolus bulbs, but only about 35 came up. I get so disappointed when the package shows all kinds of beautiful colors but only a few come up. Most of my glads were salmon-colored but I've thrown in pictures of most of what came up.

Coyote!

I spotted a scrawny, scraggly wild animal last night about 7 P.M. in the neighbor's driveway. At first I thought it was a fox, but it's a coyote. I've also seen a fishercat there. Now I'm terrified to let my cats outside. They are not going to be happy, especially my adopted stray. I heard some weird sounds Sunday night but couldn't figure out what it was. I was too tired to look out at the backyard. I listened to some animal sounds online and think it might have been a raccoon, but I haven't seen any this year. Yikes, that makes me nervous. I had seen what I thought was a fox earlier this year on the next street over, and my neighbor said she saw a fox with babies at the top of the second hill on our street. Maybe they were coyotes instead?

Everything's Coming up Roses (and Other Things)

Actually, these pictures are from about the third week in June when all my roses were in their first bloom. They're in their second bloom now. I'm just happy the two I planted last year (David Austin old English rose "Abraham Darby" and "Queen Mary 2" hybrid tea rose) survived our freaky warm-warmer-cold weather pattern last winter. I planted the red ("Crimson Bouquet" grandiflora) and yellow ("Sunny Delight" floribunda) rose this year. I'm really pleased with the red one's performance. I think they've taken a hit from two recent heat waves and my neglect. I was out of the house due to the floors being refinished and my sister broke her arm, so I've been helping her out.

My plan was to have this be the Year of the Garden. When I bought the house two years ago June 7th, my father died six days later, and I had scheduled a trip to Hawaii for late July. All I really wanted to do, anyway, that first year was clean, get rid of the junk left behind, and figure out what colors I wanted to paint the inside.

Last year I started painting in June and finally finished in March! That was fairly torturous, but probably not like my planned winter project of stripping, scraping, priming and painting all the woodwork and doors.

So for the Year of the Garden, I played around with re-using bricks and pavers left by the previous owner and working on the edging. I planted an Endless Summer hydrangea (which is pale lilac), two tomato plants, two cucumber plants and a packet of sunflowers and pumpkins. I've picked three cucumbers, the many tomatoes need to grow and turn green, the sunflowers never came up and the pumpkins are taking over the garden. I also planted a beautiful Aurora Blue delphinium, which has new growth, as does the hydrangea. My May Night meadow sage I planted last year didn't come back, nor did a chrysanthemum which I planted two years ago. I have three others that came back, although one has been eaten somewhat by a woodchuck.

Next year I want to buy a cedar trellis, like I did for the wisteria in the front yard, for the entrance to the garden and plant a climbing rose on the sides. I'm trying to figure out how to lay out everything, like stones for a path from the patio to the "entrance" to the garden. Right now I have two big pots with pink geraniums (cutting variety) and purple verbena in them. I don't have enough bricks for the paths in the garden so I might replace them with stones. There are so many huge rocks in this area.

You might not be able to tell from the last picture, but the verbena pots are sitting on two enormous flat, squarish rocks. Can you see my nemesis, the woodchuck, munching on my cucumber plant? Look to the right of the white pail. Also, ignore the blue tarpaulins. I'm trying to smother my other garden nemesis, the mighty Japanese Knotweed.

What, me worry?

This is why I worry. I was scheduled yesterday to have flooring installed in a closet, then get everything but the kitchen and bathroom on the first floor sanded and a first coat of oil-based polyurethane. My three cats, who are my very precious babies, were in the basement, all snug with their beds, food and water.

I get home from work to take a look at the progress and check on the cats. The basement door is open, and I can't see any cats down there. The light near the electric panel is on. I start calling for them, but don't see or hear them. I go upstairs, which is extremely hot due to a heat wave we're having, and Carly, my big tortoise girl, comes out. I grab her, she's trying to escape by clawing at the quilts on the banister on the way down, but I win the battle and put her downstairs. I see Rudy, the huge stray tomcat I adopted, downstairs. I guess he'd been hiding. But where's Lucy, my orange tabby?

So I called my flooring lady who said there would be no reason for the guys to have gone downstairs. I called my mother and asked if she went over to my house. She said no. Could it have been a would-be burglar (I left the basement door unlocked)? The only other person who has a key is my sister, who was in Minnesota at the time. Should I call the police? My flooring lady called me back, at which time I discovered my wanderer, Lucy the orange tabby, hanging out on the wall near the wisteria, very nonchalantly. She really has the old wanderlust in her, plus is not inclined to interrupt a nap to respond to my frantic calls.

Meanwhile I've worked up a horrendous sweat and much anxiety. Didn't the workers notice cats dashing out the door? Why didn't they bother to mention it? This is why I wanted to be present when they arrived but didn't find out until the last minute what time they'd be there. Isn't coordination the job of the flooring lady? Why do I have to manage the world? Am I overreacting and being unreasonable?

This is why I worry. And I'd be really ticked if it weren't for the fact that my floors look absolutely FABULOUS!