Tag: DIY

Everything is Planted & I hurt

WolseyLeave a comment

My normal work schedule is Monday through Friday. I took off Thursday, and my wife and I made three trips to Lowes. We got 24 bags of dirt, 12 at a time, and 5 huge bags of beauty bark. As you can see in the pictures the beauty bark filled out the rest of the hoop house aka the Squirrel Interdiction cage.

The problem with having a physical disability is you like to forget and think you can do things you used to do 30 years ago. I am in rough shape. I not only filled the raised beds, added the bark, but I mowed the lawn.

My lawn mower saga is now over. I had ordered that lawn mower from Lowes, and they no-called, no-showed me three times, so I canceled and ordered a Makita battery mower from Amazon.

I was just going to test it to make sure it worked, so I could break down the box, but it was so cool, I mowed the back yard. My grass is only in tufts becuase they used nasty glass and garbage and rock filled dirt to level the lot, so it’s a bumpy nasty yard to mow.

We also have an issue with the driveway as they only put a bare inch or so of gravel over the crappy fill dirt, and it is growing so many weeds now. We are opting to use 2 cups of rock salt in 1 galloon of water to kill the weeds. I have sympathy at trying to get a house ready for sale, but a lot of corners were cut all over.

So anyways, I have things set up in the garden finally, and I was starting to wonder if I had committed a bit of overkill on the hoop house and chicken wire, until the day after I planted it all.

The damn cat, which is lovely and beautiful and feral, had dug up my mint bed to pee in it. I had to drag out the chicken wire and wrap each of those small round beds to keep him out.

All this is to say, I am dead up against a wall of sore and exhuastion today. I spent the day in bed and watched Good Eats on Discovery+ with the wife. She made game maps next to me while I dozed.

I have so much more to do, that it’s nuts. I have 9 more curtains for the house, a kitchen cabinet box, and a coffee table. I’d have been done with this in a few days when I was healthier. Not so much now. I have to take each item day by day.

Like for instance, today I was going to sew one set of curtains, but I just can’t. I hurt. It’s really hard to be able to work with your hands, and be prevented because of your body’s failings.

I am trying to be patient with myself and happy that at least the garden is planted. I will need to top the beds with dirt in winter, and maybe transplant the strawberries to a fuller raised bed, but it’s in its final form. Now, even when I am hurt and sore, I can still do the little planting things. As this condition progresses, I am set up to continue with my garden which brings me a lot or joy.

Garden Progress

WolseyLeave a comment

-Originally posted to Tumblr

I got the gate on, and dirt in three of the five beds. It started really raining, so I gave up and it’s been raining all day today. I need to put my tomato cage in the back bed. I am just going to put a PVC frame in there and use twine to train them up. I need to make two because I have cucumbers as well I am planting.

The dirt looks amazing in the beds.

(Spoiler from future me: It was not enough dirt and settled down pretty low. I will have to amend and add to it next spring.)

I get the rest of my dirt on Tuesday. I’ll hopefully have my beds planted by Wednesday. This year’s last frost was super late, and I am later still because I was building this out. However, I am happy! Next year will be pretty easy.

After putting the dirt in the beds, I found some big ‘ol worms, which I put in my tomato beds.

My wife wanted nothing to do with them! I am finding some great ones as I am slowly moving Mt. Garbage Dirt out.

I am pretty grateful to my wife for helping me move the dirt. I am not as physically able as I once was, so her help really is appreciated.

I think the last thing I will need is some bark to lay down on the ground between the beds. I also have some mushroom compost I need to lay in when I plant, and some straw to use as mulch.

I have never been this excited for dirt before. I never thought I would get a home, and be able to have a garden. It still feels unreal.

Garden Progress & Operation Squirrel Interdiction is a go

WolseyLeave a comment

Well, I got the chicken wire up on Operation Squirrel Interdiction.

I am going to use PVC pipes on the front there, and make a door that is all chicken wired.

I am thinking of covering the ground with gravel, but I can’t seem to figure out how much gravel I need, and I had sticker shock when I looked at Lowes.

It occurred to me my cat can come out with me to the garden when it’s done because it will be inclosed. She may like that.

I also used some of the surplus dirt to fill holes in my front yard. Oliver the big black main coon stray cat that was re-homed and his incredibly feral littermate were using my entire front yard like a free roaming litter box. I had thought it was a dog because the leavings were so damn big. These cats are bigger than some dogs.

The result is my lawn looking like it is going through chemo because of the tufts of grass and big dug out holes.

So with the holes filled, we seeded the lawn with clover seed. We prefer clover to grass. We will see how that works out.

What I have learned is the lawn looks like it was landscaped with some sort of garbage rock fill dirt. There is literally garbage all over. Glass, roofing shingles, plastic, kids toys, and so damn many rocks. It’s bad. I am glad I am going with raised beds and expensive new dirt.

I mean, the city I live in is notorious for superfund sites anyways, and you have to get the soil checked if you want to grow in the ground. I don’t even want to try, and now with all the rocks and crap? Yeah, no. I’m not in a specifically known site, but I’m not taking chances.

I had to order more T fittings for the PVC and it won’t get here until Thursday. That and a couple bails of straw are the last items I need to start an actual garden.

It may be late in the seasons, but honestly the last frost date just happened so we are all late this season.

Butcher Block Counter Tops

WolseyLeave a comment

-Originally posted on Tumblr on 3/1/23.

This is my countertop after normal messy kitchen use for months. It has been covered in sauce drippings, coffee rings, and red cabbage spots.

When I put it in the shitty contractor was very vocal about how fragile it would be, and I read online and watched YouTube vids where people were super unhappy about having it in their kitchens. It got me scared that I might have made a mistake and I started worrying about it a lot. I’m a worrier at heart.

Yet, we’ve dumped things all over it and it comes right off. I finished it with mineral oil, and reapply it when I remember, and it’s been amazing. Nothing has remotely stained it. I have literally dumped steak drippings all over it, and it just wipes right up.

I used to work at The Wild Garlic in Bellingham, and it had dark 30 year old butcher block counters. We cut directly on them, and some areas were actually concave where decades of cutting happened. We never gave it any thought. I loved them because we tossed hot pots right on it. It’s the reason I got them in my house.

I’m not sure anything we do can mess it up honestly. It seems to be perfect and I am no longer worried. I am really happy with them.

I just want to note the shitty contractor took a picture of this corner join, not when it was 1/8th inch uneven between sections and unfilled, but after I spent the evening after he left, sanding and filling it. As if he did the finishing work. Like, unbelievable.

Little Blue House Projects

WolseyLeave a comment

With my craft/sewing area almost done, I have a bunch of projects for Little Blue House.

  1. Build a cabinet box. This was what the shit contractor was suppose do. That got paid $275 to do. That they did not do. I need to build and install a cabinet box on the other side fo the dishwasher. I plan to leave it open, paint it, and use it to store large cookie sheets. My stumbling block is that I am trying to straighten out my cupped plywood. I am also partially terrified of my circular saw. It’s a big spoon project because I have anxiety about it. When I get my plywood straightened, I just have to do it and get it over with to not worry about it anymore.
  2. Curtains for the wardrobe craft overflow bedroom. I have the curtain. I sewed it all up. I just need to put up the curtain rod.
  3. Buy a rug for the craft area. I can paint without it, but it would be nice to have a “disposable” flooring for my painting. I am messy.
  4. Put together two more garden beds. I put one together, which took me like an hour and a half and 144 bolts. I bought dirt that will arrive tomorrow. Dirt costs way too FUCKING much money.
  5. Arrange the first three garden beds. I need enough space to build a chicken wire cage around them to prevent the squirrels from eating my food. The great squirrel interdiction shall begin eventually. Shoveling dirt into the beds will be a lot of work for my broken body. Gardening is pushing my physical abilities by a lot.
  6. Curtains. I have to get fabric and make curtains. I’d buy them, but I just don’t like what is on sale. I want white fabric backed curtains so little blue house has white curtains from the outside to match the trim but cool curtains on the inside. I have to sew those. It’s not a huge project, but it tires me out so much.
  7. Screens! All of them are garbage. Like dry rotted and old, and we have cats. So I have to replace every screen in the house. I literally can’t remember that when I go to the hardware store. I forget the minute I walk in and never buy screening, spline, or a spline roller. My wife worries about how hard it will be, but it’s like a 15 minute job per screen if I had the materials.

I like having a new house, but I am a very picky everything-in-its-place kind of person, and it’s a lot. I am over 50 with a degenerative condition, and I am so tired. Sometimes I just can’t do things. 30 years ago I’d be done with everything right now. It’s hard to be kind to yourself when you can’t keep up with your physical capabilities.