Well, rain yesterday and a bit the day before...thunderstorms! We have damned few thunderstorms off our friendly, mostly benevolent Pacific Ocean but upon occasion...yes, a few...and Tuesday evening was one of those times. Mostly cloud to cloud strikes but ONE "got" a nearby house and blew chunks of plaster off the ceiling and cracked the brick wall outside, no fire, no injuries but the electricity was out there for about a day while repairs were made. A very wet night and the next day similar. Cold too.
Kats? A few...but mostly they are staying away. I wonder why? The general level of cat cries and mating kat rituals are down and I haven't seen any out and out mating on the porch either. Cat porno is definitely down.
The porch pillar repair is done for now, new beam and joists and landing pad plus the porch flooring replaced in that area. It's good. Then I patched in a small section of the flooring right in front of the door. The next projects are to paint the whole porch including the stairs, then paint the house after 20 years of sun, wind and rain it looks pretty shabby.
We hired a gardener, 120 bucks and he cleared all the winter debris, fallen leaves, weeds, and oxalis from the north and east side gardens as planted by Marsha last summer while we were in France. Bless her! We came back to a fine looking garden with many new plants and a relocated kitchen garden plot, a bit smaller but now fully in the sun in the morning, a real plus for tomato growing.
I spent Tuesday morning planting Sweet 100's and some other heirloom tomato varieties, 6 in total. Then some peppers, red and a pimento variety too. A squash (zucco) and it's in need of a few others but it's a good start...then it rained. I seeded in some parsley, basil, corriander, zinnas, marigolds and a few other herbs in open spaces and planted Kelly's bulbs in others, there WILL be pictures eventually.
Then a precipitous phone call from our lovely renters...they want out of the lease a couple of months early so they can move into their new purchse (a house) and get married, not necessarily in that order.
Shit, shit, double-shit. Soooo, sure, no problem...taking it in the shorts again I fear. At least we have abandoned our normal schedule this year and won't be going to France. So off to write and assemble an ad on Craig's List. That was Tuesday as well. This morning got a call...fingers are crossed. The Swamphouse IS beautiful! A BIG GIRL of a house!
Here's our humble abode...
Kats? A few...but mostly they are staying away. I wonder why? The general level of cat cries and mating kat rituals are down and I haven't seen any out and out mating on the porch either. Cat porno is definitely down.
The porch pillar repair is done for now, new beam and joists and landing pad plus the porch flooring replaced in that area. It's good. Then I patched in a small section of the flooring right in front of the door. The next projects are to paint the whole porch including the stairs, then paint the house after 20 years of sun, wind and rain it looks pretty shabby.
We hired a gardener, 120 bucks and he cleared all the winter debris, fallen leaves, weeds, and oxalis from the north and east side gardens as planted by Marsha last summer while we were in France. Bless her! We came back to a fine looking garden with many new plants and a relocated kitchen garden plot, a bit smaller but now fully in the sun in the morning, a real plus for tomato growing.
I spent Tuesday morning planting Sweet 100's and some other heirloom tomato varieties, 6 in total. Then some peppers, red and a pimento variety too. A squash (zucco) and it's in need of a few others but it's a good start...then it rained. I seeded in some parsley, basil, corriander, zinnas, marigolds and a few other herbs in open spaces and planted Kelly's bulbs in others, there WILL be pictures eventually.
Then a precipitous phone call from our lovely renters...they want out of the lease a couple of months early so they can move into their new purchse (a house) and get married, not necessarily in that order.
Shit, shit, double-shit. Soooo, sure, no problem...taking it in the shorts again I fear. At least we have abandoned our normal schedule this year and won't be going to France. So off to write and assemble an ad on Craig's List. That was Tuesday as well. This morning got a call...fingers are crossed. The Swamphouse IS beautiful! A BIG GIRL of a house!
Here's our humble abode...
