Copper Toppers

A frequently asked question here is regarding the vegetable box. People always ask me why the corner posts are so tall. People come up with their own theories on why it's this way. People suggest I cut them off.

The answer to this question is: I don't know why they're this way. I didn't build the box. I'm not interested in figuring out the thought process of the person who built it. I'm not cutting the posts off.


















Several weeks ago, I saw the cutest copper toppers at Menards in the gate/fencing section and I immediately thought they would look cute on my box. I didn't buy right away, they were a little pricey.

I couldn't get the copper toppers off my mind, so during the next trip to Menards I bought them.

SUPER CUTE!!!!

These little toppers look exactly perfect on the box. I have to say the corner posts look finished, and I would suspect no one will ever ask me again what the deal is with the corner posts.

PS: Here is a LINK to an older post where you can see the box without the toppers.

Independence Day (Or Something Like It)

Ava made the cutest little flag at daycare. She had been saying earlier in the week they were going to make flags, so I was pretty excited when she finally presented it. She was proud of the flag, and we both agreed we would hang it on the refrigerator.

Shortly after the flag was hung, I recalled the back side of the flag was pretty colorful, but I hadn't really looked at it. I removed the flag from the refrigerator, turned it over, and saw the flag pieces had been pasted onto an advertisement for Old ElPaso Taco products.

I said to Ava, "Ooooh, tacos!" We like tacos." She agreed, and decided she wanted to 'look at the yummy tacos'. She even kissed the taco pictures. I would turn it around to show the flag, but Ava would notice it and turn it back to the tacos.





So, for the last 2 days, we've had a taco ad hanging on our refrigerator, and I'm sure it will remain that way for the rest of the holiday weekend.

Happy Independence Day from Gayle and Ava

(and hoping everyone gets to eat at least 1 taco over the long weekend.)

The Secret Garden - Completion

A follow-up to my previous post of The Secret Garden:

To the LEFT is the "Before, and the RIGHT is how I finished it...the official "After".






















I planted seven variegated Liriope (aka Lilyturf or Monkey Grass) at the entrance, and mulched.

Just for Ava, I added a little frog perched on a mushroom. She likes to pat the frog on the head and run up the path whenever we go outside.

A special note of interest...at the entrance to the path, you will see I inserted several river rocks which fill in the gap between the path and the driveway. These are stragglers from the major rock removal. I did this for 2 reasons:

1. To fill the gap.

2. To commemorate the back-breaking work it took to dig and haul all that rock out of there. It's just a reminder that when you put in the effort and see it to the end, the final result is worth it.

The Secret Garden

The latest project is The Secret Garden. I've been planning this area for the entire year I've lived here, and started working on it a couple weeks ago. It's been a nice break from chopping trees and clearing land. Here is the Before and Today. I say "today" because there's still some work to do.






















The space is located between the neighbor's fence and my garage. It's 5 feet wide x 20 feet long.

The biggest challenge here was clearing out the river rock. I believe previous owners dumped this rock here, probably intending to use it somewhere and never got to it. This rock went under the soil 4-6 inches.

I dug the rocks out with a hand tool because...if you've ever had to move landscaping rock...you already know shovels are useless. Only Satan would approve of something like this. I ended up digging out the individual rocks handful by handful, and hauled out 84 gallons of rock. That's almost seventeen 5-gallon buckets!























I chopped down the tree, and leveled the soil as I laid the path. The curve of the path just happened on it's own; however I did have to work around the stump from the tree. I dug some experimental planting holes to check for tree roots & unknowns. Fortunately, the soil was clear and I was ready to go.

I knew generally what plants I wanted and mostly where they would go. I made final decisions at the garden center, paying very close attention to the sizes of the plants at maturity, then got to planting.

I haven't finished planting at the entrance of the path because that area gets more sun...requiring some different plantings which I haven't decided on yet. And, I need to be creative with figuring out how to cover the tree stumps.























For anyone who cares, here's the Plant List:

• 1 Hosta 'August Moon'
• 3 Pulmonaria 'High Contrast'
• 2 Heuchera 'Obsidian'
• 2 Heuchera 'Crown Jewel'
• 1 Autumn Fern 'Brilliance'
• 2 Fern 'Lady In Red'
• 1 Hosta 'Independence'
• 1 Hosta 'Big Daddy'

And...the TO-DO List:

• Mulch. (I'm doing that today.)
• Paver sand in the stone to lock it all in. (I'm doing that today.)
  
• More plants at the entrance.
• Build, install, and plant a window box.
• Add some secret surprises.
  
• Water.
• Time.

ADDED LATER: You can see the official AFTER post here.

Glorious Garden Festival-Garden Walk

Today Ava and I attended the Glorious Garden Festival-Garden Walk. This is the 13th year the garden walk has been going, and probably my 6th or 7th time. This is the first year Ava has attended. Proceeds go to the David Davis Mansion Foundation.

The routine is you pick up your booklet/ticket at the David Davis Mansion in Bloomington, IL; and you guide yourself around town to walk through several private residential gardens. You can go at your own pace. This year there were 11 gardens to walk through.

Of course, I love this every time. Ava had a great time, and to my surprise, wasn't even tired when we were done. She was actually upset to hear we'd seen them all & didn't have any more to see.






My favorite gardens are always the places where the Owners do all or most of the work themselves. This year there was only one new home which screamed "$$money to blow$$" and advertised the company doing the work with signeage right in your face. The rest were beautiful examples of homeowners celebrating their hard work and creativity.

Ava's favorite gardens were the ones with water features and/or ponds. She'd stand at the ponds and look at everything. In fact, a few of them she wanted to stay for so long that I had to make her leave so we could keep moving.






It was a long day, and completely fun. I'm thrilled she loved it. She's asking if we can get a pond.

Ava's Chandelier

I've been planning to change Ava's bedroom light fixture with a chandelier for a while now. I had the selection narrowed down to 2, and let Ava pick the final product.

The chandelier Ava DIDN'T pick was cool, and I may go get that one for my own bedroom. As I expected, Ava picked the one which was more child-inspired and had some pink on it.

Light fixtures are hard to photograph...lights on?...lights off? Shadows. Dark backgrounds. This is the best pic I could get. The unit is white with a slight distressed look. There are 3 lights with clear crystals (plastic beads!) for the most part, and several pink crystals as accents.

I have didn't trouble with the electricity hookup, mounting brackets, or getting it hung. On the other hand, I struggled with the instruction manual and getting the pieces lined up in the correct order prior to hanging it from the ceiling.

The written manual was pretty vague and the pictures (where the important detail was presented) was all blurred, so I had to sit with the fixture and study it for about 20 minutes before I figured it out.





Here's what the light fixture was before:

Saturday Projects

I completed few outdoor projects yesterday. Here's a quick rundown:

Trip Hazard:
I fixed the trip hazard at the entrance of my Barr Brick path when I installed the brick border. I only had to pull back 3 sections of brick to get a subtle slope. I'm officially done with the hardscaping in this area and happy with everything. It's pretty nice to know that I don't have any changes to this area anymore.




















Front Walkway:
A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted to remove the wood border along my front walkway and install the same brick edge as above. I removed the wood yesterday and decided bricks are not necessary. The remaining 2 layers of wood on the end are attached together with iron rods, and are holding up the soil. I don't want any landslides, so I will address this in the future.
















It's interesting to note that once I got the wood off the sidewalk edge, the planting area immediately felt more connected to the sidewalk and yard. The wood border made the planting area appear elevated and pronounced. There seems to be better flow and breathing space now. Putting bricks in the space would stifle it all over again.


Re-Sculpting Borders:
My landscaping plan for the front of the house is substantial, and the major changes are not on the docket for 2009. Part of the overall plan requires a little re-sculpting of an existing grass/planting area, and really needs to get done prior to the major project.

I marked the new boundary with a garden hose and raked the mulch out. Under 4 inches of soil was the dreaded (evil, evil, evil!) landscaping fabric. After an hour of digging, moving dirt, shifting around, and yanking...I got the fabric out and relocated a couple plants.

Today I will move those 3 little ferns (I was too tired to finish that at the time). Then, just finish prepping the soil and plant grass seed.

Fortunately, I have a water spigot right there, so I can watch and water the new grass...considering the time of year and type of grass seed I'm growing.




Clearing Out:
And finally...this goes without saying...I continued clearing out the woods. Here's the debris pile for Saturday. I actually had to quit for the day because I couldn't pile trees any higher. I noticed the tree pile settled overnight, so I may resume demo today.

Within the wreckage, you can see the wood border strips, landscaping fabric, and trees. On the other side of the tree pile where you can't see, I have a couple piles of raked sticks, leaves, and general debris which are just part of clearing the land.

I am so thankful the Town of Normal picks this stuff up. All last year, so far this year, and for the rest of the season this year...every other weekend when I don't have Ava...this is what the front of my curb has looked like...and will look like. I'm starting to wonder if and when I'll get a knock on my door from uniformed city officials ordering me to get a dumpster because I've taken "Yard Waste Collection" too far.

Sleeping On The Job

Ava wanted to do some coloring at the big desk in the computer room. I set her up and let her do her thing.

About 10 minutes later, I thought things were too quiet in there. I peeked in. Asleep.

She's still there as I write this blog entry. She'll wake up with a big red mark on her chin.

UPDATE 1 HOUR LATER: I'm sitting on the couch watching TV. Not a sound from Ava, but all of a sudden I hear the sound of the marker rubbing on the paper. She woke up and started immediately coloring where she left off.

Fairview Family Aquatic Center - Normal, IL

As long as I've lived in Bloomington/Normal (17 years), I have never been to the pool at Fairview Park. The pool has undergone a couple renovations over the years, and since the park/pool is right on Main Street, Ava has been requesting we go there.

I would rate our overall experience as very good. Ava had a great time and that's what's important. As with any busy pool, it's key to get there early or you're out of luck with getting decent chairs and locations. That was the case at this pool.

A concession stand is at the site, and we ate lunch there. While the prices were pretty reasonable, the Papa Murphy's pizza they served was cooked to a leathery state and I think the Papa Murphy's people would be mortified if they knew how poorly their product was represented. The french fries were horrid. They tasted like Freezer Burn and weren't heated all the way through. Even Ava said they were "yucky" and only ate 2 fries. I think...in the spirit of being Fair...we will try the concession stand one more time; however, based on the first experience, I will conclude the concessions should be limited to pop or other beverages.

The area designated for the little kids was excellent. Ava was a little scared at first, but soon became comfortable and ran around like she owned the place.

Her favorite part was the little kid water slide. It's a polar bear themed slide where she wanted to be about 90% of the time. Fortunately the pool wasn't too busy, so she got to slide non-stop the entire afternoon.

There are some other sprayers and attractions for the little kids. Ava checked them all out over the course of the afternoon...always returning to the slide.

We spent 3 hours at the pool. We were both sunblocked up, but the sun was starting to get to me, and Ava was starting to get tired. In fact, she was so tired that after we got home and changed clothes, and she was asleep in 15 minutes.

Eco-Friendly Cleaner On A Budget

I use eco-friendly cleaners in my house, and have been doing so for about 2 years now...except for the occasional bleach-down which has to happen once in a while as far as I'm concerned.

I tried using vinegar & water for cleaning, but I don't like the smell. People say the vinegar smell goes away when the surface dries...but I've done it and I respectfully disagree with that. People say you get used to vinegar smell. I disagree.

Many years ago, I bought a bottle of Shaklee Basic H (that's what it was called for years until recently, it's now Basic H2) and used it off and on for specific and limited uses (because it's expensive) until I made the decision to stop buying commercial cleaners.

I decided to try the Basic H for all-purpose cleaning according to the recipe, and found it cleans my kitchen & bath, carpets, car interior, and anything needing cleaning far superior to any other product I used. I don't buy any specialty cleaners anymore (ie. comet, soft scrub, shower cleaners, toilet cleaners)...except that bottle of bleach I referenced above.

The reality is that Basic H is not cheap. Yes, it is a great value for the volume of cleaning you can get out of a bottle of concentrate...but I wanted a BETTER value.

I looked at my bottle of eco-friendly dish soap one day, and started comparing product info with that of Shaklee. You know what...I started trying my eco-friendly dish soap using the recipes from my Basic H handout, and discovered the end result was exactly the same as Basic H. The key is making sure your eco-friendly dish soap of choice contains plant/vegetable-based products and not petroleum-based. Just read the labels. It's not hard to find.

Now that eco-friendly cleaners are easy to come by and price-points get better every day (a couple bucks for about 25 oz of eco-dish soap), using eco-dish soap as an all-purpose cleaner is a no-brainer. You can see the cost for 16 oz of Basic H2 here.

After doing the math, I can make a 16oz. bottle of spray cleaner with my own eco-friendly dish soap for 2-cents. That's a huge savings compared to any store-bought / ready-made spray bottle of cleaner for $3-$4 each depending on the brand you prefer.

All Purpose Cleaning:
1/4 teaspoon eco-friendly dish soap to 16 oz of water in a spray bottle.

Grease or Heavy-Duty Jobs:
1 ½ teaspoons eco-friendly dish soap to 16 oz of water in a spray bottle -or-
2 ounces eco-friendly dish soap to 1 gallon of water in a bucket


THE BEST PART: There are no residues left behind with this eco-dish soap cleaner. I'll bet you didn't know you have residue with petroleum based cleaners. You do. You can research it all day, but you don't understand the full effect of what CLEAN means until you start cleaning with vegetable/plant-based cleaners and get to see & touch the end results.

I'll let you do your own research on the differences between vegetable/plant-based cleaners versus petroleum products and you can make your own conclusions. I'm in no way bashing Shaklee and figure any Shaklee Rep would go into long musings about how their products can't be compared to anything else. I'm just being real, and reporting the fact that there is a cheaper, and equivalent way to get REALLY clean, be eco-friendly, and save lots of money.

Let me know what you try, and what you think!

A Brick Border

I've been plugging away at this little project over the past couple weeks off and on, and just finished this morning.

The edge of my driveway had a pine wood border separating the concrete driveway and the yard. It was fine while it was there and didn't bother me much, but I've got all these bricks laying around...and one day I just decided bricks would be cuter than wood.

I didn't take a proper Before picture...probably because I worked on it bit-by-bit, and didn't make it a dedicated project on any particular day. Below you can see photo from last fall of the vegetable box, and you will get a general idea of what the wood looked like.

I just had to laugh when I pulled out the wood. It doesn't surprise me anymore when I discover the excellent work the previous owner did when building things. As you can see in the second photo below, every wood strip was secured with iron rods. I measured them, and every single iron rod went down into the soil 21 inches.

Fortunately, with a shovel as leverage, I was able to lift the wood loose and pull them straight out without much effort. I had to saw one of them in 2 because the wood was wedged tight between the house foundation and the vegetable box and was not coming out. It's clear the wood edging was put in at the same time the vegetable box was built, just by the way it was in there so tight.

The only complication now is the trip hazard when walking from the driveway to the brick path. I installed this new brick border level with the driveway; whereas, the old wood strips were installed to set up a couple inches taller than the driveway.

As you can see, the brick pathway to my back door is now several inches taller than the driveway. I will disassemble the brick path several feet back, grade the soil to a slight slope, and put the path back together. It will be easy and I'm not too worried about it at the moment.














Below: (1) general photo of the wood border, (2) it's 21 inches of iron from the underside of the wood to the end.
















My Next Brick Project:
I am now planning to do the same thing with the wood at the front of my house. The long strip to the front door will be easy. The double-deckered wood at the end corner is something I need to think through first.

Pecatonica River - McConnell, Illinois

Ava and I drove to rural Lena, Illinois to visit "The P's" (the parents) on Mother's Day. Mike, Adriana, and Amy were there too.

We all drove to McConnell, Illinois to check out the new boat ramp being installed at Bobtown Landing.

I remember going here as a kid, and this was a treacherous place. Yes, you could drive a car back into the bowels of the river's edge to put a boat in, but you really needed to know where you were going, how to drive in mud and weeds, and have complete confidence in your driving abilities. I never attempted to drive back there before they cleaned it up.

I don't have any fascinating stories about the Pec River, other than we went and I took a couple pictures. The first picture is everyone standing on the new boat dock. The second is a picture of the bridge on McConnell Road. I was standing on the boat dock looking to the north.

RIP Rapunzel

Our fish died sometime today. His name was Rabbit, but a couple months ago Ava re-named him Rapunzel.

We had a burial in the back yard. Rapunzel was wrapped in a "Little Mermaid" napkin and laid next to the Lily Of The Valley patch. Ava helped dig the hole.

I asked Ava if she would like to sing a song or say a prayer. She said:
"God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food. By His hands we must be lead. Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen."

It's what they say in daycare before they eat lunch.

The Screened Porch Is Open For Summer

I spent time this weekend getting my screened porch set up for the summer season. Last year I had the furniture and the white wicker chest. That was all. I was too busy with other things to worry about the porch.

I knew I wanted to add some greenery and accessories of sorts this year. Here's what I've come up with:
















I hung ferns in the corners. I propped a bunch of starfish in the rafters. Though you can't see it in the photos, I brought in a wood bench I've kept outside, and set it next to the door for shoe changing. Oh, and don't forget the new porch light I put in several weeks ago.

I'm looking for a more appropriate candle holder for the coffee table, and the candle for the future holder will be white...not yellow as I've got there now.

That's about it. The hanging ferns was the trick to making the area feel a little more cozy. Once I had the ferns up, I immediately knew I needed to prop starfish in the rafters, so I ended up making an emergency starfish run this morning.

I would have loved to put down a nice big sisal rug on the floor to anchor the furniture and cover the concrete...and glad I didn't impulse buy one last year...because the last year has shown me the floor gets dusty fast, and any rug I get will be ruined in one season. The concrete floor is discolored, has some filler which was not smoothed, and general unevenness. I'm researching and tossing around ideas for maybe staining the concrete, or finding some other options to make the concrete not so splotchy...but that's not on the list for 2009.

And one last thing not related to the porch, I changed the light fixture on my garage this morning. Now all my exterior light fixtures match. Finally. The only complication I had was the screws were rusted, so I ended up using my trusty bolt cutters to get the old fixture off.

I took a quick photo out my back door to show the fixture. Nothing photogenic here...just a general shot for reference.

"The State Of The Lawn" Address

"A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule." Michael Pollan

It's been 1 year since I've moved into my house, and I feel it's appropriate to give my State Of The Lawn Address. My last house/lawn was my learning laboratory for achieving the perfect turf. The lessons, mistakes, and strategies I learned there are being applied to this yard, and I'm not messing around.

Dandelions
Last year, I spent hours digging dandelions in the lawn spaces. Hours over the spring and summer added up to days-worth of digging. That's no joke. I would dig until I couldn't bend over anymore, and go do it again weekend after weekend.

This spring, I've dug one 2-gallon bucket of dandelions throughout the front and back yard, and I'm caught up. I will have to do what I affectionately call the "weed walk" pretty regularly this entire year; however, it's not even close to what I had to do last year. I will not have to block out hours of time just for dandelions.

I keep my dandelion tool behind the door next to the shotgun (kidding about the shotgun...but would have one if the situation was different), so I can easily take care of a straggler when appropriate.



Grass/Turf
Last year, I would grade the front turf a C- upon possession. I would grade the back turf an F+.

After a year of observation, a couple experiments in types of grass seed, germination times, shade/light conditions, and weed eradication, I would now grade my front turf a B, and the back turf a D+.

I won't go into all the details because I could write a thesis about grass. I'm working on the bare patches in the back & why they are bare to begin with, soil PH, and more. I have new grass growing in various areas, and by the end of the season I expect the grades to go up...especially in the back.

2009 Projects

• I have a strip of grass along the street & chain link fence which is not part of the usable lawn space. I wasn't aggressive with weeds last year because it's more weeds than grass, I had better things to work on, and the weeds get tougher as the growing season goes by. I will make progress this year.

• I will be growing grass in bare patches throughout the season. I've determined the worst lawn areas in the back are bare due to past neglect...which has created a haven for weeds. I originally believed my overgrown woods made the back lawn too shady & not good for grass...and I was wrong. I've also determined spring seeding is not the best for me. The spring rains and natural drainage patterns are too heavy for my grass seed to stay in-place long enough to germinate (for the seed I'm growing). I'll take the time and effort to seed & care for these areas this summer and early fall when we have less torrential rains, and I have more control of the environment. When I get decent sections of grass growing in the bare spots this year, I will have less problems with filling in grass seed over time...and the issue of weed seeds migrating will not be so dramatic.

Everyone applaud for a successful 2008, and for great results in 2009. Thank you very much.