Thursday, May 26, 2011

Outdoor updates

How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?  MS came over last weekend for some more wood chopping.  They managed to split all of the wood that was left from the tree removal several weeks ago.  I have no idea what we will do with it all but it's nice to have that area of the yard back.

 See how the axe collection has grown (they each have 2!)

 Nice looking pile.  AB -- looks like a camp fire is in the future!

 Our front lamp post area was looking sad.  We had a ton of daffodils spring up this year (along with endless weeds and unknown plants).  Unfortunately a lot of the bulbs did not bloom so I am in the process of digging them up for replanting.  I did not take a before picture but I dug out a large ring of bulbs around this pole. 

 The result was over 125 bulbs.  I have about 10 more areas this size to dig up.  That means close to 1000 bulbs!  I hope to replant many of them.

 We can grow grass!! It's not the best, but it's a start.  We're trying to fill in all of the holes created by the tree removal.  Our soils don't drain well and we had a lot of puddles everywhere they dropped a branch. 

 A current shot of the front yard.  We hope to plant a large bed in and around the trees.  Anything for less grass to mow!

 The garden is also coming along nicely.  We got a late start and it doesn't get as much sun as I would like but for the most part the plants are doing well (at least they're still alive!).  This shot shows the snow peas and snap peas.  I noticed a few flowers today, so hopefully the peas are on the way.
 
 Lettuce in the back, radishes on the front right and beets on the front left (the beets aren't doing very well).

 More lettuce, spinach, and cabbage.  This block gets the least light.  We were so worried about the trees at the back of the yard that we didn't think about the dogwood at the top left of the picture.  It's a very nice dogwood, so we'll have to figure out some better plants for this part of the garden.

Tomatoes in the center. 

 Poor eggplant.  Destroyed by a stealth insect.  It was the first destruction I noticed. 

Our lovely neighbor felt the need to cut down a dead tree on our property.  Yes, it was dead, and yes, we planned to take it down ourselves, but it wasn't his to cut down.  Maybe I liked looking at the dead tree everyday.  Look closely to the left of center and you can just see the stump.  We plan to have the lot surveyed in the next few weeks in preparation for fence installation.  We'll fix his wagon!  Too bad he won't have anywhere to dump his grass clippings!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The cabinets are in!

Meaning delivered to the store, picked up and currently sitting in the family room -- not installed.  Andy has been hard at work on the plumbing in the bathroom and I hope to post an update about that in the next few days, but we are still pretty far from installing the cabinets in the bathroom. 

For now they are still in the family room with the counters in place and one faucet installed just as a test.  We picked them up on Friday and at least once a day I stand at the sink and imagine what it will be like when the bathroom is finally finished.

 It's not level -- you can at least get a feeling for the layout.

 Counter and single hole faucet.  The faucet was a big debate.  We were originally thinking the wider set 8" faucet with separate hot and cold controls but decided on the single hole to save counter space and make cleaning easier.  

 Close-up of the vanity.  You still can't see the glazing on the doors and drawers very well.  I will try to get a better picture once they are installed in better lighting.

We still need to select the light fixtures and configuration, but otherwise most of the major decisions are made (yippee) and we are well on our way to a new bathroom (and closets).  I can't wait to have all of my stuff in one closet again.