The Plumber Drama: part two

Well we have had our success!

In the outdoor faucets!

Having a long plot of land, requires a lot of hoses when you are building garden beds!

But we had other things to inquire about...

Things that had been on our chacklist of priorities for a long while...

Our well water comes in (if you are not familiar) & gets stored in a bladder.

Well water is never truly known for its grand water pressure.

So we asked if there were a larger version we could upgrade to.

The theory was to have more water in storage to create more pressure, especially if one were watering the garden and someone else were to be washing up indoors, etc...

Of course the Plumber said he would take a look.

Luckily, even though, we had thought he was just there to give estimates, he had a schedule open enough, to do more than just chit chat.

He inspected the small bladder & said that there was not enough air left in it to create much pressure to begin with.

Ok, so we are making this a priority today then.

I would get you a pick of our set up...

All I focus on when I look in the cellar is cobwebs & dust. Yuck!

I won't put you all through that... 

He also said something about algae, & honestly, I just sped passed how that could be super gross...

And we agreed, let's just take care of this today!

Now, when we lived in apartments, having no knowledge of any real inner workings of wherever we lived, or, how much it might cost... Spending a couple grand on anything but fun, food, or experiences would have just blown our minds.

But, now, watching all of the rents in our area surpass what we pay monthly to live where we do, & knowing how our property value has gone up as we have owned... The investment, sits front & center when we make these repairs and changes. 

That purchase doesn't just go away... It grows with your home, and you, and if/when you plan to live somewhere else... Rent or sell, you benefit. Not to mention your everyday life can be enhanced by fixing/improving. 

Now, if we can get a contractor here to do the bulkhead, and the trim around the windows...

These are not things that I am well versed in...

Sure, I've watched a few videos...

I have read about, and I can understand how to do those things...

I would be more apt to try taking down our pony wall between the kitchen and front room, than I would ever be willing to try heavier chop and water proof, check for other signs of damage & know what to do about that, etc... Not to mention, I still do not have the tools...

Anyway,

The faucets work great, the bladder has been working great...

Glad we had them out to do it, some of the piping by the front spigot in the basement had all sorts of areas that would be at the end of their life soon, and needed upgrading as well... would have been interesting if something had gone leaky there, because they hover over the current laundey situation... Eek!

Can we make more plans though please!

An Electric Hot Water Heater for the elimination of using the furnace during the warmer months?

Or get the new laundry set up in the old linen closet upstairs...?

New back door?

Finish painting the inside?

Maybe once the summer heat prevents me from building the garden beds? 

And Mother nature is providing me with so many volunteer plants, I am really just scrambling to get things in the ground/raised beds asap!

Yellow Paintbrush or Meadow Hawkweed has sprung up and I am here for it!

The False Lily of the Valley is so charming... The real Lily of the Valley is having a moment in the backyard... I should really take some time to take more pics...

I have been trying to work as efficiantly as possible, but I have put up a few shorts on the YouTubes...

I have been wearing a pedometer while working on the garden:

There's a lot of movement happening!

Ive been waiting for this level of vitality to come back.

Let's get all the things done this year, yes?

Was this more about gardening than plumbing? Maybe, but who's arguing with that?

K, I'm going for a walk lol

x~J 

The Plumber Drama :part one

Was there drama?

Well, when you call up your trusty plumber and he’s closed up and retired… 

First thought was YIKES!

Panic was lurking 

Waiting 

Just along the perimeter 

Of thought.

My curiosity won out though.

Thank goodness really.

I asked the lovely lady who rattled off some other business name, that of course I hadn’t any reference to, so it did not register as having any importance yet…

My thoughts were wanting to lead me down the path to fresh and frustrating memories. The episode of concern was my most recent efforts of watering plants outside using our well defunct faucet in the backyard.

The tap at the front of the house used to be my go to until it broke 4years ago. So we doctored up the back one with tons of plumbing tape, and put a trugg under it to catch the dripping leak… 

Last year the leak became bigger, still usable though…

I’m yelling in my head, “WHY DIDN’T WE TAKE CARE OF THIS SOONER?!?” 

Yes, we are agreed, we should have just done it.

Supposing that there hadn’t been anything that financially blew our timeline for such things way out of reach in the recent years…

We probably wouldn’t have put it off.

On the perspective of this lense, we did great with what we were dealing with. 

Until the leak was so bad… 

Just even a slight turn of the tap and it would spray off so far… 

It was comical.

Having a hose with just a trickle coming out to water with…

Not to mention that in the brief action of turning the tap slightly…

My knees were soaked, and nearly 10 feet away would be a puddle for the rest of the day… The sense memory of the drips making their way down and into my gardening boots. Gently mixing with the small bits of sand, potting soil and mulch that had already breached the short boot perimeter. Now being married to the socks, and beckoning the toes to squirm. 

No trugg, bucket or plumbers tape would save this.

It was time. 

The woman on the phone had been very reassuring. Able to recall our recent records of service with the old plumber, and she even had the previous owners of our houses information…

She was going to send out someone to give us estimates for the job of getting both taps replaced. 

Part two tomorrow: The What, Where, When & How!

Blogmas???

VLOGMAS

Blogmas???

 Is that a thing? Like VLOGMAS? But blogs? Hmmmm… 

IMA DAY LATE THEN!!! lol

Anyway…

Scenes of Christmas past…

I was thinking of sorting through some decorations yesterday to start the festive month off… BUT

We had quite the storm the night before…

Lil concrete bunny 

Heavy but tossed to the ground!

I had to put the wreath the right way around… 

Where’s the pic of the wrong way tho…? 

Maybe the wind blew it down the other end of the blog…?

Flipped pot.

Tossed pot.

Had to move the bike

The bike that no one wants

Who has a twin 

Living in our cellar…

Oh the carnage!

Nature placed.

Holy Hell!

How much of this can I take!

Here it is!

You know what they say about 

A wreath facing the wrong way…

Log holder cover

Gone walkies.

Another pot done.

Two new leaning trees 

For me to chop on!

Do you see 

Twig trellis and arborvitae 

Reaching for each other 

In their moments of distress!

Don’t blow that ikea lantern!

It’s been in the family since 2016!

The lounge chair had it coming.

Always lazing about.

Spiffed.

Right as rain…

Maybe this lil one needs accompaniment?

Across the street there were several leaner trees 

All caught up in the trees next to them…

See!

The men with the biggest chainsaws came out in service!

To cut the smallest of trees, that could have killed somebody 

As they drove down the street.

Luckily no one was hurt…

And the crew that had just come through the week before to preemptively trim the dead standing just feet from these

Murder weapons…

 I guess maybe they weren’t wearing their glasses that day.

Right.

Lol

Funny but not.

Sorry 

But 

Not.

Oh well.

That’s all fodder for the whatever right…???

Let’s end on a Xmas note. 

Omg, Charli Girl from 2014!!!

No grey in her muzzle…

Ack! So cute.

Kk, so I’m rushing off to get some Christmas in our decor.

Deck the halls and presents for pretty girls, etc…

May your fire burn bright my friends!

x~J

Ps~ VLOGMAS has begun on my channel d’Youtube.

Landscaping Wrap Up ‘22

 I’m glad it’s almost over!

We are ending year 6 of living in our lil corner of woods.

Plans have evolved over the years…

Some things have drastically changed…

Some have unfortunately stayed the same…

And we have added more tools to our arsenal...

The lightweight battery operated Ego self propelled mower was a real game changer for us this year...

When we first got here there wasn't really any grass... sand and some moss in the frontage, and mostly weeds in the back... but those pine needles etc... kept most things from thriving...

Now the grass is growing and spreading, along with red clover, wild violets and creeping Charlie, which I think smells like fresh basil when mowed... mmmmmm....

Here I am placing some planters. Trying to create focal points, and a bit of a wall to prevent our Old Charli Girl from roaming. Now that the foliage is dying back, she goes looking for whatever smells the best (to her), and she went deaf over a year ago, so recall is tricky. 

If she gets the idea of bolting we have to scramble to reach her thru the brambles, its a whole thing.... that we would like to keep to a minimum...

~lol~

Anyway~

We’ve had an amazing amount of volunteer plants 

And trees come in since we had nearly 100 eastern white pine

Removed from the immediate area around the house.

When we first moved here, there were no extra plant growth 

Events, or many animals… rarely would we even see a squirrel…

Only drama & jump scares when large branches or 100 foot pine trees would snap in half in as little as 14 mph winds...

And yes, I still think our house should be painted black...

And...

Now that we’ve cleared out so many of those monoculture/water sucking pine trees…

We have a huge amount of flora and fauna that have made their way in…

It’s overwhelming to list, but if you are like me, and had no idea that things like this could just spawn thru seed or rhizomes etc… here’s what we’ve seen so far…

I added some pics, not all, because the blog would in fact go on forever...

Mullein or verbascum

Rudbeckia

Wild roses 

Queen Anne’s Lace

Fleabane 

Ragged robin

White campion

Goldenrod 

St John’s Wort

Cranes bill geraniums 

Tall garden phlox 

Milkweed

 Thistle- which I pulled out all the fluffy seeds from the other day to help them spread! 

Service berry tree

Bebes willow 

Poplar tree

Oak

More eastern white pine 

Maple

Birch river, silver and paper

Aspen

Buckthorn 

Pagoda dogwood 

And several types of cherries 

There’s more, but, they aren’t beneficial, some, in fact, invasive… bittersweet, for one… we have been battling the whole 6years now… 

While I do love feeding the birds in the winter, I know, they eat the berries and then distribute them liberally… 

We pull it, cut it, mow it, cover it, and at times think we have it bested… but then we end up having to start over and keep going… 

Oy.

Let’s just stop thinking about that source of overwhelm now…

The diversity of animals caught on our wyze cams & what we have seen, has increased this year as well...

Fox, porcupine, black bear, possum, moles, voles,  mice, turkey vultures, deer, and a skunk!

The first we have seen since moving here... 

And Ed said he saw a Moose down the street!

Lets not forget the Red Squirrels... They are so loud! Most of the time we don't even see them. but we can hear them... As soon as we go outside, they sound off! lol its a whole lotta personality in those wee bodies!

So, to mostly help my sense of accomplishment...

We have managed to maintain this year, and gain a very modest amount of ground with the invasive species…

And now, hopefully, in the next week, all of the winter prep will be done. 

Although...

The current warm weather conditions have us fooled…

One might think that it was early October… 

And especially this weekend… maybe even early September…

69 degrees in the evening and muggy…

Contemplation of putting the air conditioners back in…

Supposedly, it is changing today… should be 35 degrees tonight.

And we are expected to have the first snow, which won't really accumulate, or stick... in the next 10 days!

And... Attempting to calm an anxious mind...

And as we head to bed...

Knowing that our chores outside are almost done...

And the leaves are off the paths and backyard…

Just a few more things to put in their place for the winter...

And get the bulbs in the ground…

Then...

The few lighting elements for the dark times of December and January get placed or batteries changed etc… 

We have a new remote/app control splitter for the outdoor plug in lights coming… 

We did get our café lights mostly situated last weekend, which was great… 

Now the farthest reaches of outside lights will need testing and arranging… 

And then place the black oil seed for the bird feeding in the winter~ somewhere safe from bears...

And get the epsom salt for the icy conditions that hit between January and February ...

And...

And...

And...

lol...

So, we can put this years landscape to rest, knowing that we absolutely did as best as we could. Made some headway, tried not to get discouraged by what we couldn't control... And we have hope for aiming for the gravel and goshen stone hauls for next year... maybe ... 

I have to make some big decisions next. Do I continue giving you ghosts for poems, or go to another collection...?

Maybe you will have to employ your ability to delay gratification... 

There are several more collections from the last two years, plus some from the vault...

The End.

x~J

Julys Manifest Course Correction

Wearing red

Feeling red

Looking at blue

Deep breathing 

And not forgetting to hydrate 

Taking in nutrition 

Not just temporary medicine 

I’m following the instincts 

And correcting 

The negative self talk

That voice

Is not mine ~ it never was.

Anyway ~

Messages from the outside on the heavy humid nights ~

We now have enough “yard” to need an actual lawnmower ~

Battery powered and self propelled FTW …

A lil capture from the wyze cams for you…

This is a view from The Arches in the east yard~

We have some raised garden beds of the hugelkultur variety~

Lined with logs from our dead standing trees.

There are planters waiting for their drainage holes to help encircle the table and chairs within ~ whatever will we nestle into these planters… ? ? ? 

I now understand why I have heard that gardens can take 20 some-odd years to build. And considering that I’m building it up from having a derelict wooded lot ~ then terraforming up~ with removal of a monoculture of eastern white pine that had sucked all of the water from the soil. And not to forget the invasive bittersweet vines, etc… and coming up with a plan that has evolved as we’ve gotten along… I get it. 

Maybe we will win the lotto and hire in and have it all delivered and installed in a wink… dreaming is free…

Lil Kit is helping me with my cool oil footbath~

So curious, and cute, I think it helps soothe and charge the process. Cold soak on a hot day is refreshing… reminds me of the old pool days, sitting on the edge and putting the legs in… 

And we have been keeping our lists of wants and needs going for the home projects… 

We are gluing our brains together at this point tho, Bodies & Entities~ would be nice if we could get some handy hands to come round and take our monies. But, it’s no one getting back to us land as we wait for the train to do it yourself purgatory…

Jokes on us, eh…? Well it’s all in the same breath that some of these blokes say ‘no one wants to work’ as they aren’t takin the job or even messaging back… they’d rather hold on to their economic model of keepin the cash and not giving a living wage to their crew… prove me wrong luv, k, I’ll wait till you get back from ye summah house vaca… jokes… 

As I keep accumulating tools to do these things, we are going to really need that garage…. BUT WHOS GUNNA BUILD IT!!!

Belly laughs!

Who will

Build

Our extension?

New kitchen 

And garage with the almost finished apartment 

Thingy 

Hmmmmmmmm???

I tell you what…

The contingency is…

Keep going on the garden 

And

Bide my time 

Until the house is worth double what we 

Bought it for (mebbe sooner than later)

Then go buy 

A house with a garage and the bells n whistles 

Buh bye

Sorry house

Thought we would die here

Loved you much

And our hearts are broke

But

The last 6yrs of begging ppl 

To get back to us is a lil bit much

From electricians 

To landscaping 

And trim work and front door 

Don’t forget the 

Screen porch 

Idk

It’s why bother 

It’d be easier to sell and move all our stuff again 

Lol 

Who would have thought it?

No wonder I’ve been seeing red….

Buh, shake of that mood now*

And what could shake us more~

One of the manuscripts I’m working on  

Is about this lil lady, my great grandmother’s sister 

I was given a picture from a Facebook friend~

& as it turns out is a distant cousin ~

Anyone else get into ancestry while quarantined?

Details filled in a bit…

I think about this bit of the family 

Every day.

Ok that’s it~ for now~

X~ J aka Painter Le Fay