THE LATEST WRINKLE

 Our carpeting is turning into a wrinkled mess here at the manor. Seems that our "Lady of the Rehab" gave us the cheapest possible shag goods from Home Depot and the poorest quality installation. So what to do? We could have it cleaned and re-stretched but we'd still have a crap carpet. 

Our solution was to visit "Completely Floored," our locally owned flooring store and pick out a very nice wood-like replacement for this stuff in our great room. The bedrooms will have to await another windfall of dollars. We were able to swing this project (though just barely) because Jack sold a Saab 96 transmission he has had in storage. So in a few weeks, we'll have a nice wood floor (actually it is a laminate product that looks just like real blond oak with a no sheen finish. We are keeping the cost down a bit with doing the baseboards (we have none now) ourselves...60 feet of 'em to paint white. Look for updates in April. By the way, the day of the installation is Good Friday...seems appropriate! 

MINDING OUR MANOR

You're looking at the official cat "hidey hole" here at the manor. This is the very reason we didn't put doors on this project! Izzie loves to hang out here where she can get the morning sun. Tough life!

The sun came out this week so we decided to launch our patio project!  Privacy and functionality were the objectives. Not killing ourselves off while doing it wasn't a priority as it turned out!

 Day 1: We started with 6- 10' posts. We dug and dug, cut out a 4" maple tree root, bailed out the water from the overnight shower, dug out the mud and hauled in gravel. Here in the land of expanding clay soil, concreting in posts just guarantees that they will pop out of the ground, concrete and all at some later date. So tamping in gravel works much better. Lots of tamping, leveling and more tamping.

 Day 2,3 & 4:  We installed the 2"x4" stringers between the posts top and bottom, securing them with our own custom made metal hanger brackets. We had planned on a solid fence at the north end with a built in BBQ table for our table top Weber. The upper shelf was an added bonus. We used some 2"x8"x8' planed cedar planks that cost us $17.50 each for the top of the table and the shelf. We cut lots and lots of firring strips from 1"x8" fence boards so we could mount the lattice (the 40 year old Sears table saw helped us again!). We screwed them to the posts and stringers the lighter color wood). 
Day 5: Rain and a Saab engine job predicted for tomorrow so we wanted to finish this up today! The lattice...custom cut to fit (heavy duty stuff from Canada). Jack drilled and screwed the panels into the firring strips.
And finally it was time for the trellis on the top. We angled the 2'x4' supports topped by 2"x2" boards. Wouldn't you know we were short 2 sticks of 2x2's. So another trip to the lumber yard next week to finish it off.   

Considering all the lumber required and a couple of design changes along the way, we did very well on the estimating and planning. We also used about 300 screws. Now we have an outdoor room and some privacy from neighbors. Total cost for this project was about $450. Total satisfaction...priceless! 
"Iron Lung" time tonite as my head carpenter put it! Oye! 

HARBINGER OF SPRING

 Meet Forsythia x intermedia 'Spring Glory.' This shrub is a favorite of country landscapers because the deer usually ignore it and it blooms so early. It gives us hope that spring is coming. I've put this one in a tall pot to keep it up so maybe the jackrabbits will not bother it since they mainly feed at ground level. After it blooms, I'll plant it in the ground and hope for the best. 

The rest of the year it is a ho-hum rangey background bush. It should get up to 8' tall and just as wide. This is from my favorite plant grower, Monrovia. It is an Oregon grown plant and can take extreme temps of -30 degrees, so it's what we gardeners call a "no fuss, no muss" kind of plant.

MULCHSATIONAL!

 My trusty mulch bin has been working away quietly since Fall (along with the red worms) to produce garden gold for use this spring. Here you can see the kitchen scraps (banana peels, green waste, egg shells and coffee grounds) combined with layers of maple leaves and grass clippings at the top of the bin. 

A few months later and I open the lower door on the bin to reveal dark, rich stuff at the bottom of the bin.  

 I dig it out and screen it to get out the twigs, peach pits and those stupid sticky fruit labels...don't get me started on those things...
The screen also helps to break up the egg shells into small pieces.

 I avoid putting in rose prunings and tomato vines (too many pathogens or viruses with those plants) along with meat scraps or bones (they might attract vermin). I also make sure to layer dry mulch with the wet or green kitchen scraps and I add a quart of "worm tea" that I buy at the grower's market. The tea has red worm eggs that hatch and fill the bin with garbage eating wonders! So I get worm "castings" (poop) mixed in with all the good stuff.    

So here is the finished result...fantastic, sweet smelling (yes!) and crumbly garden gold to recharge my raised beds and pot up new plants (I add in some high quality potting soil for potting). If I were a plant, I'd be saying "yum!"

ROCKY START TO VALENTINE'S DAY

"She never saw a gravel truck she didn't like!" That's what Mr. A says about me and it just might be true. 
Today started off before 8 a.m. with coffee, cinnamon buns, valentine cards and a big ass 10 yard dump of gravel. Ah, nothin' says lovin' like 10 yards of three-quarter minus! I gifted our gravel truck driver, Frank, with a cinnamon bun for his exceptional work at "spreading" the gravel with his finessing the dumping process. 
Since the onset of winter our country driveway has turned into a mud bog. The gravel virtually disappeared into the expanding clay soil as about 100 suv's drove down our driveway to look at the house for rent across from us. We had put down 10 yards 3 years ago but it was clear we needed a "refresher." 
Yesterday whilst I was checking out at Trader Joe's, the clerk asked me if I had plans for Valentine's Day. I told him I was getting 10 yards of 3/4 minus gravel. The lady behind me started to chuckle. and then she told me this story...
"I work as a volunteer at the Crater Rock Museum," she said, " and we have groups of school kids in to learn about rocks. So I ask them if they know what the State Rock of Oregon is...(the thunder egg, by the way). One little fellow raised his hand tentatively and said that he thought the state rock was called something like three-quarter minus!"
Good times!

REFRESHED

I was surprised to realize that my custom built potting bench was over 15 years old. For this gardener, a potting bench is a top basic piece of equipment. My under-gardener built this one all those years ago and it has served me well. So I thought a fresh coat of paint after all these years couldn't hurt. And now it looks like new! I've kept it covered with a tarp in the winter and just this year I splurged on a large vinyl 6' bench cover that fits it perfectly. Can't wait to get started in the garden this spring! (Snow predicted this weekend).