June 07, 2009

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here. Planting and fertilizing and trying to convince the moles there are better places for them to dig (like the neighbors yards).
I do miss the old garden but it's been great fun having a new yard to landscape. I decided to go mostly with annuals for season long color. I'll probably add a couple more perrenials next season. I think I need something purple and spiked. Maybe some salvia or veronica.







































The last homeowner planted lots of peonies along the pool. Every plant is a little different. All of them have pale pink buds but one. I can't wait to see this one after it opens. Even the giant buds are pretty!














Below is my new foliage/ hummingbrid border. I just love the colors and textures you can get from foliage. This is my Coral Bells border which I planted right outside the bay window so I don't miss the hummers. I'm not so crazy about their flowers, but hummingbirds luv 'em. Now all I need are the hummingbirds! I did see one out there, one time. Just wait till the coral bells bloom!!! There is a humming bird feeder just out of sight of the camera lens as well.









































I passed the coleous while I was carrying a purple leafed coral bells around at the nursery and thought they would make the perfect companions!
They were just planted last night and still need some mulching.
We wanted to build an extra shed to store pool toys and equipment but the township only allows one permanent structure separate from your house. So, we found a friend with some old rusty wheels and bought a pile of old barn wood from Craigs List. We are going to build our pool shed on wheels. Nothing permanent about that! My prim twin tells me it will look like Gypsy's have come to visit, LOL. But, I'm looking at my pile of wheels still attached to their old wood axles and thinking how cute it would be just sitting, as is, in the garden with clematis twining and flowering on it. Hmmmm........... maybe I need to buy some more wheels for the shed?
I was busy dragging up box after box from the basement and setting up a garage sale while hubby was opening the pool for the year, only to have the pump go up in flames and leave us with a green mosquito farm while we wait for the new motor to come in from Texas. We almost had a fire sale instead of a garage sale. We've also been without cable for 4 days. Come to find out that the wires were over heated from the fire and we needed all new. Good news is the cable is back on. Bad news there is going to be a bill attached to this cable repair.

Just a small sample of my sale including three 8 ft tables, one 6ft table, three 4ft tables, card table, 2 shelving units full, a 12ft rod of clothing, and a driveway lined with stuff.

































Ahhhhh! Doesn't it look refreshing?
Bob (Hubby) has a friend who is a cabinet maker. I was after him all winter to make me a new door for the built in china cabinet. Unforetunately he didn't get to it until a couple weeks ago. Sure wish we waited until all our other projects (planting, sales, pools, painting) were done before we started this. Now I have a big old mess in my dining room while this project is at a stand still.


Before the tear out -
Hello 1970's!




In the middle of the remodel -
Will it ever be done?
The mess I'm living with in the meantime. I can't wait
to get the china and my milk pitcher collection into their new home.
Now, heaven forbid we should only have the previous 5 projects going on at one time, but we also built some new flower boxes and shutters in preparation for new divided double hung windows later this summer and for painting the house at the end of the month.


Before - After -
Yikes! Not the dreaded seventies
windowless arch!















After -
We really do have a remedy coming
for that arch. Really!
Unforetunately there is a raised brick border all around the windows and we couldn't think of a good way to mount the shutters closer to the widows without creating a roosting place for bats, birds, and squirrels behind them. Still an improvement though. Now for that top arch make-over and new windows!

This picture is my inspiration for how my windows ultimately "should' look.


We also built a rather large raised veggie garden from the dirt we pulled out last summer while digging the pond. The sides are concrete block. Some re-claimed from Craigs List and some seconds we purchased. Thats not quite finished either. It's all planted but the top of the walls haven't be finished off yet so it's just not picture worthy, LOL. Maybe next when I share pics of my finished windows and the annuals all filled in. Well, thats it for now. I better get back to work on all those half finished projects. Stay tuned!