Square Foot Gardening

Do you remember that awesome garden that Marty constructed, complete with an arbor for growing vines, and solar lights attached to the posts for that "special" touch?  Just to refresh your mind,  here's a photo of his handiwork from days past.

It certainly may be beautiful, but its function was diminished due to the shade of trees that were planted over 30 years ago.  Last summer resulted in an abundance of weeds and sweet  potatoes, but limited supplies of anything else planted. 

So, the garden was dismantled, and a new shed was built in its place. 

And, as luck would have it, the old shed had stood on a perfectly sunny area of our backyard, just waiting for a garden to spruce up the spot. 

I'll admit that I was quite skeptical that a garden would actually be part of this summer's agenda.  There is no doubt that some effort is involved, but, more importantly, time would be a determining factor, and let's face it......we just haven't been home much on weekends, and it seems when time would be available, there was rain....lots and lots of rain.  

I couldn't resist picking up some garden plants around Easter, but soon determined that I would need to plant them in pots if I wanted them to survive.   When the weather finally got warm, I put them out on my deck for safe keeping, and there they have stood for well over a month, acclimating well to the outdoors. 

I"m not quite sure what gave Marty the motivation to start a garden project this weekend.  Perhaps the tomatoes were calling his name.  It certainly was the perfect opportunity as we were home, and the weather was actually quite nice on Saturday.  So, he pulled out his birthday gift from Becky, "Square Foot Gardening", and started reading up on how to construct raised beds for gardening. 

I was excited about the prospect of planting in raised beds as the look is so clean, and weeding is minimal.  Much to my surprise, my husband had two boxes built in just a few hours! 

The location seemed perfect, although the author might disagree.  He claims that the garden should be within sight of windows in the house.  He likens the plants to children, and he feels that it is important to be able to keep an eye on them:

" Remember the Square Foot Garden way is to treat your plants just like you treat your children or grandchildren, and you know you would be glancing out the window at them.  I believe that every plant out there is constantly seeking your attention by saying, 'Look at me, look at my new blossom, look how big I'm getting.'"

Sorry, but I just can't bring myself to get that emotionally attached to my tomatoes.  After all, what would they think when I picked the fruit to eat it?  Better not to form any attachments if you ask me. 

So, we stuck with our original plan to put the beds in the spot where the shed stood prior to being dismantled. which isn't too far from the Apple Tree if one of the plants is looking for a tasty treat.  

With the beds in place, I was given the responsibility of transplanting the plants from the pots into their newfound home. 

Now, I'll admit that I'm not the best gardener.  My parents, on the other hand,  have always had an awesome garden.  Come to think of it, their garden is within eyesight of every back window.  Perhaps the author is onto something here.  I'll have to ask them if the asparagus waves at them on occasion.  

I wish that I had inherited their green thumb, but such is not the case.  Part of my issue is that I seem to attract swarms of pesky bugs the minute I step foot near a garden.  And, just for the record,  I am not keen on being eaten alive.  Even yesterday, which by all accounts looked dismal and dreary, I no sooner took my spade to the ground when I found myself being bombarded as part of a tasty snack to several of the buzzing creatures.  And, they were relentless, going for the eyes and ears and ankles. And, I didn't hear one of those plants thank me for risking my life moving them into a healthier environment.  Just saying.  

I had faced the enemy....and came out alive.  And had this lovely garden to show for it.

As I was planting, I noticed some movement just a few feet away and when I looked up, I gazed upon two large rabbits, obviously planning their newfound menu for the week.  That prompted me to have Marty put some of the old lattice around the beds.  No use tempting fate....or in this case...bunnies, right? 

This morning, I headed out early, while the bugs were still snoozing, and planted some beets and zucchini in the other bed.  In about 10 days, I should have some new family members seeking my attention.

Something definitely to look forward to, don't you think? 

House Update: Round 2

Memorial Day, in itself, was designated to remember all of those military personnel who lost their lives defending our country.  And, of course, there were tributes and parades and special events centered around that theme as part of the weekend.

But, let's face it....Memorial Day Weekend is often considered to be the beginning of Summer, and most people take the opportunity to have some fun. And there was certainly a lot of family enjoyment going on around us, which was obvious from the sounds of kids laughing and playing games, and the smells of hamburgers on the grill wafting in through the windows.

But partying was certainly not on our agenda for the weekend.  Nope.  We had an important mission to carry out instead.

If you recall, I posted a blog in early February, entitled "Flipping Geismom" which detailed the efforts that we had made to spruce up my in-laws' house in order to get it sold.  There was still more work to do, involving trips every other weekend, and, finally, the house was listed in early April.  The realtor was sure she could sell it in a month.

Well, sadly, after several weeks on the market, and a price reduction to encourage a buyer,  we found ourselves with absolutely no interest, despite a record number of people viewing the house.  In fact, the reports that we were receiving reminded me of episodes of Caspar, the Friendly Ghost.  And, when the word "scary" came up on a realtor review, we realized that any dream of a quick sale was out of the picture unless we went back in with a discerning eye and made some more updates.

And making that 8 hour drive every other weekend wasn't accomplishing much.  We needed a block of time if we were going to do something effective.

So, Marty took yet another vacation day (some vacation......right?), and I drove out on Thursday to get a jump on some of the clean up in the garage, which had been last on our list of priorities.

There is a room off of the garage which, to be quite honest, I had dubbed as scary a couple of years ago, when I was attempting to do some clean up and found myself exposed to rat poison.  I'm fairly certain that this house never saw a rat (well....maybe that was due to the presence of the chemical?).  But, that incident was enough to make me wary every time I would go in that room on one of our monthly trips over the years.  And, then there were the Carpenter Bees.  Which had made their presence known about a year ago, albeit dead.  But even dead Carpenter Bees are creepy if you ask me.

So, with gloves on my hands, I rolled up my sleeves, took a deep breath, and headed in for the challenge.

I had stuck a lot of things into boxes, in an attempt to organize this room, quite awhile ago.  And it appeared that a box is the perfect hang out for these creatures. 

Apparently the Carpenter bees had found a new home, although it does appear that it didn't work in their favor.  But, to make matters worse, I could hear buzzing in the room.  Ugh!  Luckily, there was a can of spray handy, and I did manage to wipe out a couple that made their presence known. 

I voiced my complaints to my husband, who seemed to think that it would be entertaining to play Buzzy Bee songs at breakfast the next morning.  Do you know, not one bee showed up the rest of the weekend?  That's why I take photos.  Proof is in the picture! 

It took several hours, but I finally managed to move most of the items out, and start a huge pile for "Got Junk", and then I made the mistake of looking up.

Apparently the rafters above the garage had been used for storage, and, I distinctly recall asking if this area had been cleaned up two years ago, when Marty and his brother had taken a full week's vacation to clean up the house.   And I do remember being on the "catching" end as items were dropped from above.  Do you suppose this stuff multiplies on its own?

I can happily admit that the rest of the weekend did not involve bugs, except for one stink bug who seemed to think that playing in paint was an enjoyable past time.

So, here goes the home improvement:

The kitchen walls and cabinets were part of the phase one improvements.  At the time, we decided not to replace the floor because we thought a perspective buyer would want to put in new flooring according to their taste.   We were obviously wrong.

Amy came over to help with the initial install and replacement on Friday, after work.  (That's me in the photo)

 Jim drove out and performed his magic touch on the countertop in the kitchen

(If that stove looks shinier, it's because I spent a couple of hours cleaning it.  Let's just say that Easy Off is over rated.  There was no "easy" involved.) 

How is that for a transformation?

The flooring extended into the front foyer, and a new light went up on the ceiling.

I scrubbed that floor on my hands and knees and added a coat of floor refinisher polish.

In the meantime....Marty was working on cleaning out the junk.

In trying to decide what we should do regarding making the house more appealing, we used our kids as our lifeline.  At one point, Marty and I had been standing at Lowe's wondering which kitchen sink to buy, and he said, "Ask the Millenials".  So I did.  And they were quite happy to appease us.   We've got great kids, for sure!

The girls had suggested new toilets and mirrors to replace the well-used medicine cabinets.  That prompted us to upgrade lighting as well as countertops in the bathroom.

This was the one bathroom after our first overhaul.

The room had originally held a double bowl sink as was obvious with two sets of lights and medicine cabinets, so why not restore the room accordingly?  New lights, mirrors, and double bowl sink.  Painted cabinet and windows.  

I'm not going to post the original condition of this tub/shower.  But I was able to clean up all of  the little tiles, remove the metal strip on the side that once held a door, and was lucky enough to find extra little tiles under the sink to fill in the gaps that had been chiseled out for the door frame.  

Painted the door for a clean look.  The original had been stained a very dark brown.

Amy painted this room and laid most of the flooring.  Marty installed the new vanity, sink, mirror and lights. 

And, I cleaned up the shower. 

I had originally intended to do a lot more with this shower, but by 6:30 pm on Monday night, I realized that somethings just have to give, and this is one of them.  I really just wanted it to look brighter. 

Got Junk came on Sunday and filled another 3/4 of a truck.  That company is great to work with as they actually come into your house and move the stuff out for you.  Marty took advantage of that and had the guys carrying tons of items that had accumulated in the basement and had been stashed in the rafters. 

At the end of the day, this was the last room that needed to be cleaned up.  It had started out clean, except for a desk and cabinet, but ended up being the "catch all" room from the weekend.  Now it holds only a rolling desk.  Unfortunately, things were getting too crowded in the garage. 

So, the garage still looks scary, only loaded with a ton of stuff.  But, all of that "stuff" is localized and kind of sorted. 

And, believe it or not, there was still even more trash to put out on the street!

I realized this morning, that I only sat down for 5 minutes yesterday, to eat half a sandwich, which definitely explained my exhaustion this morning, so I decided that it was in my best interest to relax a bit this morning before making the drive home.  Our original plan had involved us driving home yesterday, but, believe me, the house was in no condition to leave, and I did not relish the thought of returning next weekend to complete the task, so we altered the plan and added another day to the trip.  Marty left at 4:00 am to drive to work this morning, and I slept in until 7:00.  Great plan on my part!

As a final note, the best result of the weekend was finding a home for this photo.  It is a chalk painting that hung on the walls of my in laws' house since 1994.  We learned that Marty's Dad actually mounted the painting and made the frame.  But no one in the family had an interest in taking it and it was way too big to hang in Marty's Mom's apartment, so, with her blessing, we brought it to the Robertshaw B&B, and asked if they  might be interested in it.  Mother MaryAnn was thrilled and has already thought about a place to hang it. 

And that made Marty, me and his mother, very happy.  And, I'm fairly certain that his dad is smiling down on this decision as well.  

The Building of a Shed

It's been a long time a comin'! My husband dismantled his shed quite some time ago, with every intention of constructing a replacement in short time.  But, life got in the way, as it often does, and our priorities put a replacement structure at the bottom of our list.

But don't worry about these guys

We couldn't very well leave them homeless, out in the cold, could we? No.....Marty generously offered them a spot in the basement where they seemed to be quite content,  but I was ready for them to move out.  

So, we discussed the various options available, and decided on something rather unique:  a shed that could be built by us, but delivered in boxes to our home.  So, I made the order, and and we waited for delivery, which took about 3 weeks.

In the meantime, I applied for the building permit and Marty set about taking down the garden, and building a platform to support the structure.  It became obvious last summer that this site was no longer working well for produce due to the extended shade from the tall trees.  So, since this spot was already framed and level, it was perfect!  

The base was finished just before our son and his family came for a weekend visit.  Maddie enjoyed herself by pretending that the platform was a stage while she performed some dance moves  to entertain us. 

Meanwhile,  Jim, Finn and Marty got busy opening the boxes and sorting through what seemed to be about a thousand pieces.

They laid the pieces out on the cardboard and labeled them.

How clever was that?

Finn helped build the trusses.

and worked on the gable with PapPap G.

They managed to get all of the pieces put together, but we didn't want to spend the entire weekend working on a shed when there were babies to play with!

Could you blame us?

It took a couple more weeks before an opportunity arose where #1: we were home on the weekend, and #2: it wasn't pouring.  That was just this past Saturday.  The day was in the mid-50s and drizzly, but that was certainly better than the 92 degrees it had been just a day earlier!

The instructions stated that it would take 3 people 6 hours to put the house together.  Well....there were only two of us, but we were up for the challenge!

The base was ready.

We carried all of the side pieces down from the garage.

And we started constructing.  The building is kind of like a large Little Tykes creation.  The panels are sturdy but not too heavy. Our fist set of panels took us three different attempts to get them placed correctly.  It took awhile for me to realize that the company's idea of "front right" and "front left" were not what we had understood it to be.  I would have thought that the windows were in the front, but apparently the people who designed this did not.

Once we got past that hurdle, the walls were becoming relatively easy to install.

Then it was time for gables and trusses.

And, finally, the roof. Which actually did take quite awhile, and there aren't many photos since I was actively involved in helping with construction. 

And, here you see the finished product.

We were quite pleased with the end result.  It did take us longer than 6 hours to complete the project, but it was done.  Apparently two engineers can do the job of three people, because we didn't have any issues where we felt the need to beg a neighbor for help. 

Once finished, Marty began moving all of those "shed" items out of the garage and the basement.  And, if you peer through the window...

I'm pretty sure that you can see a smile on that King's face!

There is definitely one on mine!!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring! 

Blossoms blooming!

Bees a buzzing.  You can't see them simply because they were too fast for my fingers on the camera!

But if you were here, there would be no doubt that you could hear them!

Bluebirds watching

And, nests abuilding

Certainly one of the more unique places for a mama to decide to make a home.  What amused me the most about this nest, is that the creator added a bit of colorful flair by borrowing some of the Easter Grass that is sitting on the porch in a basket decorated with light up eggs.  How's that for being resourceful?

For those of you unfamiliar with this decoration, it is a Moravian Star, and after the Christmas holidays, Marty and I had decided to leave the star out on the porch, as there are many homes in the area that feature Moravian stars, so why not enjoy the evening glow ourselves?   

Apparently we aren't the only ones who find pleasure in it.  Mama bird was sure to make her presence known to us, and when I realized that I was sitting right below the nest, I decided that it might be in my best interest to head inside for the evening. 

I have the strong suspicion that there will soon be

eggs a laying'!

Yep!  I'd say that Spring has certainly Sprung!