Tag: First Home

Irrigation Systems and the Physical Limitations of my Body

WolseyLeave a comment

I bought some Rain Bird drip irrigation kits on Amazon. I was super excited, and ready to make watering my garden easier. I have bad days where I limp and it’s hard to just stand there and water things physically. I was hoping by setting up an irrigation system that it would be easier on me.

My first set back was when my neighbor knocked on my door to let me know that a silver van was following the Amazon truck and stole my boxes. I was in the garden at the time, and only 20 minutes past the delivery point. Reporting this to Amazon was near impossible and the cops in my jurisdiction won’t even take a report for petty theft. I went to get what I could locally, and reordered what I could not.

Not counting the stolen items, I am in for roughly $200.

Everything started off well, and it turns out splicing a hose is pretty damn easy. I also have quick connectors I attached, and then started laying out the actual irrigation tubing and dripper ends.

Dripper end on my tomatoes.
Dripper end on my broccoli, and an extra bit that I forgot to pick up.
Drip hose in my onions.
Drip hose in my herb garden.

This is where I hit my second set back. While it is relatively easy to set up, if you have a physical limitation of any sort, this may be difficult. I had a garden seat to sit on, but being hunched over each plant in each bed? Ouch!

Then my final set back? I ran out of supplies. It took significantly more than the kits. I added a dripper to each of my larger plants, such as tomatoes, broccoli, and cabbage, and dripper tubes to the rest. It took significantly more time than I was expecting.

It was probably for the best I ran out of supplies because I was really hurting by this point. I’d been out there for a couple hours, and my wife was worried.

I also realized my original plan would need redone. My original plan was to use quick connects to attach hose sprayers for general yard work, but under pressure these do connect and unconnected with they will soak you. Not the best idea when I am usually in my PJs before bed when I am watering the garden.

Original quick connection set up.

I have ordered some more stuff to revise this to be easier, and here’s hoping it doesn’t get stolen off the porch again!

New plan:

  1. Get more supplies and a four hose manifold? I think they are called manifolds or splitters when you have a one in, and four out situation?
  2. Redo the hose connections with dedicated hose sprayer areas so I don’t get sprayed with the quick connects.
  3. Add dripper lines to the last 2.5 beds in the big garden area that still need it.
  4. Add dripper lines and tubing to the two beds on the other side for my mint and rhubarb.
  5. Plan enough time, and down time afterwards to I don’t have to rush, and I can recover more easily.

Bonus picture of my first tomato this season!

First tomato!

Changing Refrigerator Door Opening Direction

Wolsey1 Comment

The thing about moving into our own home is that we get to fix things that bother us. The downside is my list of fixit’s is so long that some items, like this morning’s fridge door fix we talked about, but just never made it to the physical list. My list is like a 5 year plan with marvel-esque phase roll outs.

This morning’s issue was the refrigerator door. For some reason, the way the fridge door opened was away from the cooking area in the kitchen. You’d have to walk around it, open it, then bring everything back to the counter.

It kind of breaks my heart that the little old lady that lived here before us had to shuffle around the fridge door every time she cooked. Someone should have fixed this for her.

My wife and I hated it from the day we moved in, but I while I had a hazy idea it was possible to flip them, I didn’t really know how, and honestly there were just so many more pressing things that needed done.

Last night, I had insomnia and was up at 3am, and for some reason when I got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the door irritated me again, and with nothing else to do, I started watching videos on it.

I found this video with my make and model fridge, mostly:

Video on how to reverse a refrigerator door.

It took me about a half hour to 45 minutes from gathering tools to putting them back in the shed and then it was fixed!

I had two white plastic door hole caps that were so old they broke, but they were decorative, and you can’t even see them on top the door. I could care less. I am so happy to have the fridge door facing the right direction now. My wife and I are both ecstatic.

Funnier to me, was when I popped out the bottom grill to move the bottom door post over a bunch of rice came out. That is my rice, from the day I moved in.

I dropped somewhere around 5 pounds of short grain rice in its plastic tub, which spilled literally all over the kitchen. You cannot appreciate how far 5lbs of rice will scatter until you drop it. I was so exhausted and sore from moving that I almost had a five star meltdown. I was in a hurry, and had to get so much else done as I was bringing it over before work that day, then I ended up sitting on the kitchen floor laughing at the absurdity of it all.

I told my wife, even after sweeping it all up, that rice was going to keep showing up for the rest of our lives. This bunch of it came out from inside the refrigerator grill. I guess I was right.

This is one less thing on my giant list, even thought it never made it to the list proper. I can stop thinking about it every time I open the door.

Garden Update – Late June

WolseyLeave a comment

My garden is really starting to take off. I am so inexperienced, but I feel I am still doing pretty well.

My cucumbers, above, are doing well. If they all take off I might be buried in pickles, though. I planted a lot of them because of my inexperience and I wasn’t not sure if I’d kill them or not. I will hang some twine on the front brace and train them upwards. The sunflowers are also great. Those are taking off. I don’t know if they will survive the birds, and if I will get any, though.

My sunflowers are doing well, but my herb garden seems slow. I have no point of reference, and I did start direct from seed because my house was so buried in new home projects and boxes and work that I didn’t have the space or mental head room for starting seeds early. So I am hoping the basil, parsley, and dill take off.

The green onions are taking off. The top two big squares are grocery store green onions. the rest are ones I planted. The seed planted ones are starting to work, but they are taking some time.

My broccoli is taking off. I had to add more support ties to my stakes, and take a few leaves off that were overshadowing my green onions.

I also got some unwelcome visitors:

These are cabbage moths. At first I was thrilled with the white “butterflies” in my garden, until I started finding my leaves eaten. Then I looked it up, and realized I have cabbage moths. The bird feeders mean they are eaten pretty quick, but those caterpillars are like crazy greedy. I keep finding them and flinging them away from the garden. I mostly feel tricked and betrayed because I like butterflies. Stupid cabbage moths!

My tomatoes are starting to take off. I did prune off some of the lower branches for easier watering, and I have been training them up the support. My biggest plant already has flowers. I am very excited. I have some good Ball canning recipes for tomato sauces, juices, and whatnot. I hope I get enough to do that.

My red cabbage is also huge. I had to trim a couple leaves that were overshadowing my strawberries.

My strawberries continue to do well. I am even getting a couple of berries. I have been trimming off 2/3 of the flowers like the directions say, in order to force better growth. I won’t probably get enough to do another batch of jam but it’s nice to see them going.

I also bought this garden stool on Amazon. My joints are bad, and I am only 51, so I felt like an old man, but this really helps. I can flip it over to kneel, and I can sit on it and work on my beds. It was very much more comfortable. Worth every penny.

Lastly, to get my plants enough water, I am spending a lot of time every day watering. I think it’s time to invest in a watering system. I was going to do it next year, but this is a lot. I have some bits and bobs coming from Amazon this weekend for the 4th, and I will see if I can get it put together. Even if it’s not a permanent structure, but just something I click the hose into for an hour, that would help. If it does work out, the system has a timer so I will try that too.

House Improvement Baby Steps & the Physical Impact of Projects

Wolsey4 Comments

I am in my 50s, and I have a degenerative joint condition. As a consequence I work 4 days a week at a sit down office job, not five, because sitting in an office chair is painful. This is in stark contrast to my younger years, when I would not only work 5 days a week as a floor nurse, but also do 12-16 hour project days on the weekends. This means that small projects can wreck me for a few days.

With this in mind, yesterday was a nice day, so I pulled out my saw horses and tools, and built a cabinet box for next to the dishwasher.

I haven’t put the trim molding back because we are contemplating putting some sort of panel on the wall there. Something more water resistant due to the dishwasher. We are waffling between a traditional bead board look, or just abandoning all sense and doing art under acrylic sheeting.

This was just a gaping hole under the unsupported butcher block counter tops that the shit contractor left. He was paid to make a slide out cabinet but didn’t do the work. This is an ugly cabinet box made of 3/4″ plywood. I plan to paint all the cabinets and I will edge band and paint it when I do the rest. I was mostly concerned about the unsupported heavy butcher block drooping onto my $600+ dishwasher. Now I feel my dishwasher investment is protected, and we will be fine.

While I did this, I also cut up two closet sliding doors that we had to get rid of, so I can slowly feed them into the garbage can.

It also was good practice for using a circular saw guide that you clamp onto the wood. I’d never used any kind of guide before and this is my first circular saw.

This is a Bora WTX clamp. I really like how it works, but the reviews are right. The sled was just a pain in the butt for my Dewalt saw, so it’s got no use for me. I got straight cuts without the sled just fine.

I don’t have the most experience with circular saws, because when I was a kid I looked like a girl and my father refused to let me use any tool you had to plug in. I’m mostly self taught with the help of online videos. The guide came with a saw sled, which pretty much all the reviews said was garbage, and they were right. I tossed the cheap plastic thing, and just did my thing without it.

Turns out circular saws are not as scary as I had originally thought. I feel pretty comfortable now. It’s definitely weird going from being treated like a girl, and disallowed all access to the tools to make my life easier, to now not only being given access, to being supported and having other men in stores get excited to walk me through it. If transitioning from female to male ever taught me anything, it’s that sexism around home improvement and gender rolls are pretty damn real.

Speaking of ignoring gender rolls, I also finished sewing the curtain for my work room.

The house came with these thick white blinds. They aren’t terrible, but the cat and I hate the blinds. We lost about 6-7 inches of window at the top of these like you see in my half thought out before picture below.

That cat tree is going to be replaced with a built in wall unit for our fat princess. It will take less space and be in less dire threat of being toppled by her antics.

Below here is an unfairly better taken after picture in which I opened both curtains, and also washed the windows because I noticed how filthy it was.

Ignore the potting bench that I am using for delivery drivers to hide packages behind, when they can be bothered. I am buying a bench to put there instead. Also, ignore the portable air conditioner. Getting mini splits for air conditioning is a few years off.

We will probably always keep the sheers closed because there is a lot of . . . activity across the street and we don’t necessarily need to live in a fishbowl.

I mean, The windows look so much bigger with that 6-7″ of space back. Also, look at that nice new window sill! I did that a few weeks ago, mostly because our cat is fat and can’t get up on there without it.

These projects are all a part of Phase 1 of the house plan. When I get all these little things done, I will deep dive into each room. That means better curtain rods, painted walls and cabinets, and finishing touches. Right now? I am just trying to get things functional and ready for a full launch into next year.

After all this, which I don’t think is much, I spent the rest of the day laying in bed sore as hell. I will probably not do much today either. I have to accept I am not 25 anymore, and pushing my body this hard has consequences. I’d be very kind to anyone else fighting with this, but I always feel like I could have done more.

After I finish writing this, I will probably make some breakfast for the wife and I, and go lay in bed again. Not a bad days plan, overall.

Most Underrated Kitchen Appliance – Instant Hot Water

Wolsey2 Comments

This picture is my homemade instant hot cocoa mix in front of my wife and my coffee and tea set up. The white jar is for loose sugar for my wife, the dark blue one is for instant coffee, and the teal one is for sugar cubes for me.

This is not a sponsored post. I don’t have affiliate links. This is just me, in my first home, marveling at the small upgrades I can make in order for my life to be a billion times better. I just like to document and link things.

My incinerator. Ignore the gap between the backsplash and the counter. I have to fix that. It’s relatively mild here, but is like a 1/4 inch as it creeps larger at the end of the counter. I haven’t sealed it yet because I am waiting to fix it.

This is an Insinkerator. That’s the brand name of my infant hot water system. What it does, is deliver water hot enough to make tea out of. You can increase of lower the temperature to fit your needs.

In my home, my wife prefers instant coffee. That is probably horrifying to folks, but she grew up on it, and prefers it. Over our 30+ years of marriage we have had normal coffee makers, high end espresso machines, you name it. She always goes back to instant. This actually frees up a lot of counter space, and reduces waste from Keurig and espresso machines, presses and coffee makers.

I am a hot cocoa and tea drinker because I am a very high energy person, and caffeine takes me into the arena of damn annoying real quick, so I stick to my caffeine-free tea, and my hot cocoa. What little caffeine I get from the cocoa is about all I should ever have.

In the apartments we have been in, we were in a constant hot water kettle search. We would burn through one every year or so, because between the two of us, we would have tea, cocoa, and coffee all day long. We just killed them from over use. I was even considering one of those massive zojirushi how water dispensers.

Add to this, my wife has ADHD, and she would always come start the kettle, then leave, and an hour later come back to start the process all over. Just waiting for the water to heat was enough time in ADHD for her to end up distracted and not get her coffee. Some mornings she would realize she’d have related the task endlessly and never gotten her morning coffee.

With this in mind, one of the first items I bought for the house was a hot water on demand system. It’s like a mini on demand system that holds a gallon or so of water for your use. The Amazon listing says 3 gallons, but that’s wrong. I think it’s closer to 2/3 of a gallon.

This is like a $250 luxury. I can get my cocoa in the morning instantly. My wife no longer circles the kitchen in a remember & forget coffee dance.

I think this is the single most amazing item we have in our home. I had no idea when we put it in that it would help my wife so much. This was worth every penny. When or if it dies, I am replacing it immediately.

Being able to modify my home in such a tiny way, to help make our lives easier? I really want this for everyone. We were so lucky to get out of the rental racket, and into a home, and I just really want this for everyone.

It’s just so shocking to me that with such a relatively small purchase I can make such a huge impact on my enjoyment of my home.

Garden, a Dragon Onesie, and iPad Storage

Wolsey2 Comments

I got the stakes to fix my broccoli. It’s been windy and rainy here, so all my broccoli fell over. I had no idea it needed staked, because I hadn’t ever grown it before, but now it looks much better. No more sideways plants, with upside down leaves. Ignore that tiny one. It’s a replant when that square of broccoli didn’t come up. He’s doing fine.

Also, my Amazon purchase for my wife came in. I like to buy her things. Today? It was a red dragon onesie. I love it and she was thrilled with it. The cat? Tally is really not too sure about this development. She’d only just gotten over the balloons my wife got as a get well soon gift from her coworkers for after surgery.

Behind her is a router and all sorts of internet cables on the shelves. I was supposed to drill a hole through the wall, install 2″ desk grommets, so the wires could go through, but instead I made wall pockets for iPad and laptop storage next to our bed.

I found a unicorn tote for my wife, the lovely disaster unicorn, and a hail gay satan one for me. Yes, yes I did find a hail gay satan tote bag on Amazon. You can find anything there. It’s amazing sometimes.

We both use an iPad in bed, and my wife also uses an old laptop for writing her YouTube scripts and gaming notes. I am always concerned they will get stepped on, so I made them a place to go up off the floor. We can’t use a normal nightstand arrangement because our bed is literally in the closet, sticking out, which is cool with star lights, but I don’t want to do pictures until I finish the canopy for it. This means we have to get creative with storage.

Also, my wife has ADHD, and tucking anything in for a nice clean look was out the window 30 years ago when we married. I find keeping everything in easy to access and visible areas increase the likely hood that it will get put away, and that she will remember where it is.

This is actually straight, but the picture makes it look crooked.

Construction was just a fabric envelop made out of tote bags with pictures I liked on it, and then I used the straps for the totes to make a small loop at the top, then I put some hooks in the wall, with carabiners I had laying around. The rainbow ribbon was just what I had on hand because I bought 100s of yards of it on Amazon once, so I use it in my projects when I need a bit of ribbon tab.

The most exciting part about this is I own the whole damn house, and I could use actual hooks that screw into the studs in the walls. It’s not a rental, and if I want to put holes in my walls, I sure as hell can. The sheer freedom to put 6 cup hooks in the walls? Worth every penny of my mortgage.

Garden, Grass, Squirrels, Clover, and salt

Wolsey2 Comments

My garden continues to grow, but I’ve never grown broccoli before, and did not stake them. We had some wind and they are all falling over and I will have to see if I can stake them this weekend.

It’s not terrible, but I need them to grow up due to my limited space.

I did tie up the jute twine for my tomatoes. I am using tomato clips. I think I got like 300 for a ridiculously cheap price on Amazon.

You just clip them on the twine and the tomato and you are done.

I am also fighting the animals. Squirrels dig a lot of holes in the dirt in my yard. Since it’s not full of grass, they really go to town.

I do it to myself because we have so many bird and squirrel feeders around.

We have several of those black basket peanut and corn feeders. We get a lot of crows with them. I love crows and they won’t eat out of a feeder, and honestly I love the squirrels too. We have an enormous number of squirrels all over.

When we redo the deck, I will make a more permanent set up for them. This is just until then.

Below is the disaster that is my front lawn.

My lawn is half dead because they got it green enough to see the house, and it’s just dying. That crap fill dirt is the same in the front of the house. It’s filled with rocks, glass and rusty nails. I don’t like grass anyways, so I am re-seeding with clover. It’s actually starting to work.

I think it’s doing better than the dying grass. I have seeded twice, and will do it again in July here. It doesn’t grow as tall, and is way greener.

Then I have this problem:

The driveway and front walks have a bare inch of gravel and no landscaping fabric was laid down. I had thought it was weird there was like a gallon of heavy duty weed killer in the shed when we moved in. I guess that was their solution. I am not so keen on that. I don’t want to put damaging chemicals in the ground.

Instead, I am trying rock salt. Just Morton’s rock salt. I have mixed it up in solution of 2 cups for a gallon of water, and sprayed it with a hand held sprayer, but this last time I got tired of carrying it so I just sprinkled rock salt all over. I got more salt in, and then watered it in. It’s working, but slowly.

You do have to be careful to not get it in your lawn. It will kill anything. I am hoping after several treatments, this will make the driveway and walk ways ungrowable. the walkway is kind of temporary?

We do plan to install a large fence when we do the decks, and change the walkway layouts. We will add another walkway straight to the road, and straighten out this one in the picture to the driveway. I will probably do like I am planning in the back, and make a wide gravel walk, done right this time, with big 2′ X 2′ pavers for stepping stones. It will carve out more grass out of my small lawn. The less grass the better. It’s not ecologically a good ground cover choice.

It’s just so novel for me to be able to work on these things and make a difference. I am not used to this, having been a renter for so long. I still feel grateful every day we managed to get into a house.

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.

I can put holes in my doors!

WolseyLeave a comment

I have rented pretty much my entire adult life, and having a house I own lets me do so much. Today I put up a hanging ceiling lamp, and punched three holes in the ceiling. Don’t ask, mistakes were made! However, when I was done, I just sparkled it back up and when I touch up the paint, you will never be able to tell. I’d have been terrified to do that in a rental.

Hell, I just put cat doors in my bedroom and living room doors. (Our layout has no real living room, so one of the bedrooms is a living room.)

My cat can now come and go as she pleases. I have always wanted this, but you certainly can’t do that in a rental. Being able to make my house weird is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Lawn Terrorism & Other plant and food updates

WolseyLeave a comment

-Originally posted on Tumblr

My lawn was destroyed this winter. Part fo the reason is they used garbage fill dirt to level the yard, front and back. This means the dirt is filled with roofing shingles, plastic, metal nails, bear bottles, and ripped up beer cans.

Add to this, that we had a couple feral cats decide the front lawn was thier litter box, and I swear they dug up half the front lawn before I figured out what was up.

I love cats, so I just go out every time I see them in the lawns and since they are feral and the neighbors across the street are taking care of them, they have stuck to that side of the street lately.

To fix this, my wife and I bought 5 pounds of white clover seeds. I don’t like grass. It’s ecologically crappy, grows fast, and requires a lot of mowing. I hate mowing. Clover is also good for the soil, and returns nitrogen to it.

Planting clover is like ecological terrorism because I am sure my neighbors with nice manicured lawns are not going to be happy if it takes hold and spreads.

I am a shit neighbor, because I just planted it out. I have hated grass, to a weird spectrum-y level for as long as I remember. It’s creepy. It’s ecologically a poor idea. I am going to be shit neighbor and grow clover.

My raspberry jam worked out except for one 4 oz jar. We will just eat that first. I am on to strawberry jam today. I have to make some berry pancake syrup but I will plan that out and do that next time. Also, QFC did not have corn syrup which my recipe called for and I am not searching all over town for it.

I swear, I feel like I live in a 3rd world country. I can’t get tater tots or hash brown patties. Tahini is gone, and now corn syrup. I never know what product is going to be unavailable week to week. Hell, I have only seen oyster mushrooms in grocery stores once since the whole pandemic began.

Once my garden is established I should figure out mushrooms.

This is my broccoli. I planted it way too late in the season, but we will see how it goes!

My red cabbage is peaking out too. It was also planted way too late in the season, so I am watching it as well.

I bought some strawberry shoots off Etsy. I literally know nobody in my area, so I could not bum a shoot or two off of anyone. I bought 10, and they gave me 12, and they are already starting to perk up after 24 hours. Here’s hoping next year I have a good strawberry crop. I am glad I got the Etsy ones.

My green onions are not coming up yet, so I planted my grocery store green onions. I saw a video where someone did that and it worked out really well, so I am just going to do that with the last bunch I have in the fridge when I cut them down, and we will see how it goes.

Still no sign of life from my tomatoes. I am worried about them. If nothing happens in a week or so, I will buy some tomato starts from a nursery.

In all, this is going really really well. Buying a home has opened a whole world for me that I could not image being a part of. I am still angry that not everyone gets this chance.

Being able to garden, and having kitchen big enough to can? I think some folks don’t understand the incredible privilege it is to have that kind of space. I could not have done this in my last 564 square foot apartment. I couldn’t even afford to store canning materials I was only going to use once a year do to space constraints.

I am so grateful I can do this. I don’t think I will ever take this for granted.