the past week has been pretty busy preparing a new flower bed in the back yard along the alley. it’s actually more of a “fence” than a flower bed. for now, the main reason for it is to hide the ugly backyard of the house next door. we are really tired of looking at the random trash (currently an old broken futon, 2 shopping carts, and chunks of styrofoam) along the fenceline. the owner of the house (he owns all 3 houses at the corner) told me he plans on cleaning up and turning the house into an office and putting a parking lot in the backyard. but, from what we hear he is notorious for not following through on what he says and, well, a parking lot is pretty freakin ugly too. so, we'll hide it with 29 Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' (aka Feather Reed Grass) ... a nice sorta-tall ornamental grass. eventually (next year?) we'll add flowers and such to the bed and have the grasses serve as a nice background.
i started with layout and turf removal on Tuesday night. more removal on Weds. and Thurs. and Fri. and Sat. turf removal stinks. i did salvage some strips to try to fill in some bad spots in the back yard. we’ll wait and see if that works. i think i have unfortunately contributed to robin obesity in the northwest Old Town Noblesville area. as i removed turf i found lots of little grubs. a lot of them. something like 5,200,483 of them (plus or minus, depending on if you count dead ones or not). as i came across one, i would grab it and toss it in the alley. not for any particular reason, just something to do to help pass the time. at some point a few of the local robins caught on to this and began feasting on these suckers.i think i must be some sort of robin superhero or something now. grubman.
finally on saturday afternoon the last of the grass was finally gone (gone as in piled behind the shed). i amended the soil with a little new topsoil and manure and began the hole digging process. of course, i found out that the soil is really rocky so it, like every other project out there, took forever. plus it was stinkin hot (today too). we were gone all day Sunday, so we were back at it today. finally by late this afternoon the last of the holes were dug, the grasses were bought (Chrissy cleaned out 2 Wal-marts). several hundred pounds of manure and topsoil later they were planted! hopefully these guys spruce up and fill in nicely (Wal-mart plants are cheaper than they are nice). after a year or so they should be a few feet in diameter and the plumes should top out around 6'. that should hide the alley junk nicely. not sure what to expect out of them this first year. we shall see. hopefully this week we'll get a load of mulch in, maybe edge it with bricks and call it good.
speaking of filling in nicely, the veggie garden is looking great. last weekend we planted green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. everything is now up except for the lavendar and we have it on good sources that it takes forever. the peas are growing up the bamboo and jute trellis nicely. the beans are growing almost in front of your eyes. we actually had our first homegrown lettuce salad tonight. tasty.
oh, and Tony found this huge turtle roaming down our street.
i found this video that i think its probably pretty close to what happened here the other night. pretty amazing.
i also forgot about the near break-in that we head last weekend. we were in the kitchen and heard scratching on the back door. we figured it was a stray cat or something. i went to the door and looked out the window only to see a squirrel ... on the doorknob. i swear it was trying to open the door. it kind of looked at me ... realized i caught him in the act ... then took off across the alley. so all you fellow Noblesville residents beware, there are some thievin' squirrels lurking about.
yup, it's that birthday/anniversary time of year again! Chrissy has managed to survive 2 years with me! brave woman she is. we decided to celebrate by spending the weekend in Cincinnati since we were in the area for a wedding on Saturday. my good friend Carl from college went and got himself all married up! we felt so bad for them though. last week was so miserably rainy and it continued into the weekend. the wedding was held out at her parent's land near Brookville Reservoir. the area is beautiful ... a pond, several old barns and houses/cabins, lots of trees, large open expanses of grass ... just gorgeous ... but add lots of water to that and you get mud. lots of mud. georgeous mud, but still mud. they moved the ceremony into one of the barns (which turned out really neat) and had the reception in a big tent. but you still had to get there and the tent was just over grass ... so everyone got pretty muddy. everyone seemed to take it well though and still had a good time ... and they'll have some fun stories about their muddy wedding to tell their grandkiddies. upon leaving, the valets managed to get our car stuck. there were wheels spinning and mud was flying everywhere. it was kind of humorous really. the car was unbelievable coated with mud. so we tracked down a carwash in town before heading into Cincy. unfortunately this picture barely does the mud justice.
we spent the night downtown at the Westin (yeah Hotwire!). very nice. Sunday we got lunch at the world's best rib place ... Montgomery Inn! oh yeah. that is some good stuff. way good. from there we headed to the Cincinnati Zoo/Botanical Garden. in the 2 summers i lived there, i never went ... not sure why. turns out it's really a great zoo. i think they say it's in the top 5 nationally or something. lucky for us, the weather cleared up and we even a few minutes of sunshine! here are a few photo highlights ... everyone loves pictures of animals!
baby flamingo.
baby cheetah being lazy.
about 2 minutes after that picture was taken ... ATTACK! funny kitties. i think Hazel could take them, unless it's thundering outside (she's a wuss when it comes to storms).
these guys totally cracked us up. these are ring-tailed lemurs. we walked up and here these 4 sat on this log like 15 feet up in the air. all lined up, arms out (almost in that meditative finger-pinching stance). i love the sequence of these pictures ... let's all look away ... ok now let's all look back. seeing them there ... i just had to think: Dave, Jim, Nate, Chris (me and my brothers).
not necessarily a "zoo" animal, but there were sure a lot of them there. we wonder what native animals think about these weird creatures they live amongst. hmm.
we encountered this strange bird also. we went into the first room of the bird exhibit and there was this bird standing inside. he was trying to figure out how to get through the automatic doors. after a few minutes we noticed he was gone ... must have got out when the next people came in. we didn't see his little picture in that room, so figured he didn't belong in there anyway. when we went to the next room ... there he was again. hmm. picture not in there either, and he was gone almost right away. the next exhibit wasn't in a separate room, just a little cave-like thing off the hallway. there was a crazy dancing parrot in there ... and that same bird had crawled in and was munching on some food in the back. when we left, he was attempting to leave that exhibit also. we still aren't sure where he was supposed to be. maybe it's just some native Ohio bird that roams in there from time to time?
and of course, lions, tigers and bears ...
we followed up our zoo visit with more great food ... Graeters ice cream. some scoops of black raspberry chip (nothing finer) and mint chip later, we headed home. thus endeth our Cincy trip.
Sunday night Tony came over and we finished off the stumps! and the natives rejoiced (yeah). they provided more of a challenge than we expected considering all the rain we'd had. but, they met their doom nonetheless. Monday we had Chrissy's "birthday dinner" and cleaned up from the stump pulling (dirt and roots were everywhere). Tuesday we had dinner w/ one of Chrissy's college roomates. after that i sharpened the lawn mower blades (got the kit in the mail on Monday) and sort of mowed the yard. i say sort of because it didn't go so well. with all the rain it had grown quite tall ... and it was still wet so the tires would slip which means the blades aren't getting power. i managed to get through it, but it doesn't look good. i'll have to try to trim up tomorrow.
tonight we worked in the garden a while. then things got interesting. just after the hippies won Amazing Race (woohoo, way to go guys!) the power suddenly went out. not the usual dimming, trying to come back on type of outage ... just gone. we were stunned for a second then started to look around to try to figure out what happened. we were looking outside and noticed a flash down the street. we also heard this humming noise, like some sort of motor trying to start. we went outside to see what was going on only to see the light from what obviously was a fire down the street about 3 blocks. it got brighter ... and brighter ... then we saw flames over the buildings .... then a fireball ... then a bigger fireball. i bet it was about 150 feet in the air! Tony and i decided to go check it out. it was a transformer of some sort that blew we heard. by the time we got down there the fire was pretty small and there were already some electrical-type guys looking around. so, we don't have power. i'm typing by laptop-light and candlelight. the fire is still going after almost 2 hours (i just went and checked on it). that probably means we won't have power anytime soon and this post won't actually get posted tonight.
well, sorry this post got so long. what else is a guy to do but blog when there is no power? how did people ever live without electricity? update: just as i finished, the power came back on. good work by the fellas over at Cinergy (or are they Duke Energy now?).
i guess we have to compete with Nate & Deb about reasons to live where we do ... so here are a few from the last couple days.
- trash week. well, maybe that's not the official name of it, but that's what it's about. this week everyone is allowed double trash pickup and, more importantly, several 30 cy dumpsters are spread about for dumping junk in. conveniently, one of those is about just around the corner. last night, i took this opportunity to dispose of some trash we've been wanting to get rid of. first, 14 trash cans full of pee-stained oak. yes, it's finally gone. no more pile of nastiness in the shed. second, 3 loads of laminate flooring (formerly in sunroom). again, finally gone from shed. 1 load of random sheets of plastic (from the shed). 4 trash cans full of junk from the basement. most of it was found when i worked in the crawlspace this winter, some of it was debris from various projects down there. 3 loads of dirt, leaves, and trash from along the curb. not sure how that much stuff accumulated up there. i guess it has probably been many years since it was cleaned. after that, i was tired. there are still some chunks of brick and piles of coal dust in the old coal storage room, but that will have to wait for some other time.
- e85. i just realized there is an E85 fueling station down the street. another one just opened up in Carmel also. while i'm not sure ethanol is THE answer to the oil drama, but it's a start i think. if they can improve the efficiency of producing it with corn, it will be a lot closer to an answer (maybe one of several answers). that would also be very good for Indiana seeing as how we have boatloads of corn (and the gov't is still paying some farmers to NOT grow corn).
- May. May in the Indy area means one thing ... racing season. the Indy 500 isn't a one or two day event like most races or sporting events. it's a full month of interest here. rookie orientation/practice began Sunday with full practice sessions opening today. the next 2 weekends have qualifying and more practice. after that, practice, carb day ... and the race. a big client of ours had a suite for the day, so i spent the afternoon out there. nice. dem der cars go real fast, make lots o noise. i'll be out there at least one more time for practice. it's a fun spring tradition. it's always interesting just how many people show up at the track, during the week, just to watch practice sessions. i guess it's a good excuse to not work. i like those. this relates to the previous issue also ... the IRL is switching to ethanol (ethanol/methanol mix this year, ethanol only next year).
in other news, we bought and planted some pots for the font porch and 2 hanging plants. i'll try to post a picture next time.
hello again. sorry it's been a while ... things have been on the busy side here. it's been amazing how quickly spring has arrived the past few weeks. trees have leaves, many have had flowers and lost them already, tulips and daffodils have come and mostly gone, grass is growing like mad ... unfortunately dandelions are too. Hazel is loving spring ... mainly sitting in the sunroom, especially when we open the windows. she'll sit out there gazing at ... something, for hours and hours. even after it gets dark.
where do i start? first, the lawn. there has obviously been much mowing to be done. i'm learning that the reel mower gets a bit tough to use in thick, long grass. partially my fault that i'm not mowing frequently enough. it was especially tough tonight as the grass is starting to go into seed... and those little seedheads are tougher to mow through. i probably also need to sharpen the blade on the mower. we've also done a spring fertilizing, crabgrass pre-emergent, and sprayed for weeds. as much as last fall's herbicide did, quite a few weeds survived (dandelions, wild violets, etc.). hopefully they start to thin out as the grass improves. the big dead spots have begun to fill in decently. all-in-all, despite some weediness here and there, the yard isn't in too bad of shape (compared to what it looked like last year).
here is a picture that will warm the hearts of all you poison ivy sufferers out there ... some poison ivy in the throes of death!! mmmwahahahahahaha (evil laugh). finally, we have our vengence! i may have gone a little overboard when i was spraying it with weed killer, but hey ... it deserves it for all the pain and itching it has brought me in my life. this plant got to suffer for all of his nasty bretheren's work. this particular little joy has (hopefully, "had") a pretty well developed structure on the walnut trees by the old garage. i could see it's vine growing about 12 feet off the ground. i located small bits in other locations around the garage and in one small spot alongside the house. i'll have to keep an eye out and keep that stuff away. evil, vile, nasty plant.
in nicer plant news, we also started a garden! from front to back we will have lavender, dill & tomatoes, lettuce (2 rows), carrots, green beans (2 rows, yet to be planted), peas, and cucumbers (on right side, yet to be planted). what you probably can't see is that the lettuce, dill, and peas are peeking through. the peas especially are really hitting it hard. i'll need to build a little trellis for it to grow on soon. mmm, fresh garden veggies (except tomatoes ... yuck). we'll probably do some more planting soon so we get some staggered crops this summer.
we also bought and installed a porch swing. found a really nice one on, of all places, walmart.com. it's made of an indonesian hardwood which is very similar in composition to teak ... yet WAYYY cheaper. i'm sure it's because of some sort of poor farming practices and/or slave labor ... so i apologize for that factor. it should handle the weather very nicely with just yearly oiling with teak oil. and yes, it is a bit high still. we got some extra chain to drop it a little lower ... but it was too low, so need to have a couple links taken off the extensions to get to the sweet spot sitting height.
we've continued planning for our landscaping project. we're getting pretty close to buying plants i think. we got a bit of a head start the other day actually. i was driving home from work and noticed a sign "free ornamental grasses" at a house about 1/2 block from my office. so i stopped in. the very nice lady who lives there was thinning some of her grasses so was giving away the clumps of excess. she showed me around the rest of the things she and her husband had planted around their place and gave me some good hints and tips on our upcoming planting. she offered starts of just about any and every plant she had on the property! it's really nice to find good people like that these days ... too bad it seems to be the exception not the rule. i believe the grasses are "maiden grass" (miscanthus sinensis "gracillimus") based on what she knew about them (miscanthus family, grow to about 5-6 feet with plumes over that). she gave enough clumps for probably 6 good sized (about a foot or so in diameter) starts or more. i think we have a spot for them in our master plan, so hopefully we'll get those in the ground soon.
the stumps are mostly still there at this point. Tony backed his truck over one night and we pulled at them for a while. two of the smaller ones came out, but the bigger two weren't coming. it had been somewhat dry the week or so prior, so they were pretty locked in the ground. one of these days i'll soak the ground around there and we'll finish the job. oh, and Tony decided to make a career change and re-start a lawn care service he had in school. so, if anyone in the Indy area needs someone to mow, just call Tony's Lawn Care (TLC)!
we almost had our own truck to pull out the stumps with ... almost. there was one for sale down the street that i think would have been perfect. but, the guy sold it over the weekend before i had a chance to test drive and make an offer. dang! back to the hunt. so if anyone knows of a 1998 or 2000 Ford F150, 2wd, ext. cab for sale ... let me know.
a few weeks back, we discovered Forest Park across the river. it's really a great park with a lot of neat things to do ... Ross and I especially enjoyed the funky modern teeter-totter. it's nice to see our little town come alive in our first spring here.
i'm sure i'm missing something since it's been so long, but i think that's probably it for now. over and out.
along the alley. it’s actually more of a “fence” than a flower bed. for now, the main reason for it is to hide the ugly backyard of the house next door. we are really tired of looking at the random trash (currently an old broken futon, 2 shopping carts, and chunks of styrofoam) along the fenceline. the owner of the house (he owns all 3 houses at the corner) told me he plans on cleaning up and turning the house into an office and putting a parking lot in the backyard. but, from what we hear he is notorious for not following through on what he says and, well, a parking lot is pretty freakin ugly too. so, we'll hide it with 29 Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' (aka Feather Reed Grass) ... a nice sorta-tall ornamental grass. eventually (next year?) we'll add flowers and such to the bed and have the grasses serve as a nice background.
more removal on Weds. and Thurs. and Fri. and Sat. turf removal stinks. i did salvage some strips to try to fill in some bad spots in the back yard. we’ll wait and see if that works. i think i have unfortunately contributed to robin obesity in the northwest Old Town Noblesville area. as i removed turf i found lots of little grubs. a lot of them. something like 5,200,483 of them (plus or minus, depending on if you count dead ones or not). as i came across one, i would grab it and toss it in the alley. not for any particular reason, just something to do to help pass the time. at some point a few of the local robins caught on to this and began feasting on these suckers. i think i must be some sort of robin superhero or something now. grubman.
(gone as in piled behind the shed). i amended the soil with a little new topsoil and manure and began the hole digging process. of course, i found out that the soil is really rocky so it, like every other project out there, took forever. plus it was stinkin hot (today too). we were gone all day Sunday, so we were back at it today. finally by late this afternoon the last of the holes were dug, the grasses were bought (Chrissy cleaned out 2 Wal-marts). several hundred pounds of manure and topsoil later they were planted! hopefully these guys spruce up and fill in nicely (Wal-mart plants are cheaper than they are nice). after a year or so they should be a few feet in diameter and the plumes should top out around 6'. that should hide the alley junk nicely. not sure what to expect out of them this first year. we shall see. hopefully this week we'll get a load of mulch in, maybe edge it with bricks and call it good.
last weekend we planted green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. everything is now up except for the lavendar and we have it on good sources that it takes forever. the peas are growing up the bamboo and jute trellis nicely. the beans are growing almost in front of your eyes. we actually had our first homegrown lettuce salad tonight. tasty.
