Yard Attack
When you spend as much time in the yard as I do, it’s frustrating when your efforts are foiled by invaders.
Invader #1: Slugs. These guys target the hostas in my flower garden, and the basil in my herb garden. I’d heard the cup-of-beer trick, but since I didn’t have any skunky beer hanging around, I opted for my own brew with a recipe from The Art of Doing Stuff. I now keep a bottle of Slug Chug in the greenhouse and refresh the cups a couple times a week.
Invader #2: Lawn Fungus. Several lawns in the neighborhood have been affected. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it turns the lawn a fairly vibrant shade of yellow. Just a few days after applying Scott’s DiseaseEx Lawn Fungicide at the curative rate, my strip of side yard seems to be going back to normal. At least it’s not bright yellow. Or spreading.
Invader #3: Rodents. I’m not sure which variety… moles or voles or chipmunks… but someone has been eating the bark off my wisteria tree. It has been completely girdled, which means certain death unless I can perform some surgical miracles. I’m attempting to learn how to graft a bridge that will allow nutrients to cross over the barkless area. I guess we’ll find out next spring if I’ve been successful.
Rain Chains
If the Pacific Northwest is known for rain, then it should also be known for rain chains. The flare for arts and metal sculpture makes Seattle the perfect place to turn drizzle into music. I’ve always loved the lotus-cup rain chains (below) on my aunt & uncle’s post-and-beam cabin in Sequim, Washington.
Sadie relaxes in the shade by the Sequim house.
Rain chain water collects in an anchor bowl.
My house has three downspouts across the front that I’ll replace with rain chains. I purchased four 8’ Ring Rain Chains, three gutter adapters, and three anchoring basins.
Overview of the house, with downspouts on each end and at the center.
I decided to start with the short end of the house. I had always thought the bank of forsythia made the garden look somewhat lopsided, so it was easy to part with the one on the end. (Plus, it looks great at Rosemary’s house! #WillWorkForPlants)
For drainage, I filled the hole first with large rocks, then with pea gravel that I had leftover from the greenhouse installation. Finally, I topped the hole with round decorative beach rocks and an anchor bowl. (Note: I later decided to drill holes in the bottom of the bowl to avoid the mosquito breeding ground.)
Digging out the forsythia.
Big rocks.
Pea gravel for drainage.
Decorative rocks and anchor bowl.
First rain chain done!
Inside the gutter.
Rain chain #2
Water pours easily down the chain in a deluge. (Sorry for the crappy through-the-screen pic… as you can see, it was raining outside!)
I expected a little splashing, and since my deep eaves put the gutters about two feet away from my house, I don’t have to worry too much about damage.
Heavy rain.
Roses & rock river.
Bidet
I’d been thinking about a bidet BEFORE the big Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020, (#CovidSucks) Trouble is, the warm air dryer - while lovely - takes forever, and I’m too impatient. The soggy backside requires more toilet paper than no bidet at all, therefore failing to achieve the TP-free goal. So, now I offer up fluffy clean cloths and a laundry deposit… here’s to cleaning the undercarriage in style!
Flooring
I love the idea of scraped floors. These floors are installed at my aunt & uncle’s old house in Sequim, Washington… they’re cut from lumber from the property on which the house is built. The scrapes are REAL SCRAPES… not the factory-perfect texture you see on manufactured hardwoods. Gaps between the boards trap dirt and dog hair for safe keeping until the next vacuum day. Kinda perfect for my way of life.
If I can find reclaimed materials, that would be awesome. If not, here are some other samples that I love.
Floor Molding, Finally
I love using Christmas stay-cation to hole up in the cold weather and work on indoor home improvement projects. Instead of starting a new project, I made a list of the odds and ends that were never completed from my previous projects. You know the ones… the good-enough-for-now, I’ll-finish-it-someday sorts of chores.
Well, the dining room wallpaper came down in Nov 2014, and with it the sticker-wrapped-plastic floor molding. Two years later, I busted out the wall to make space for the new fridge. The next spring, my multi-talented arborist offered to help me fix the tile and drywall while he was here for my big tree removal project. (He later also built my pergola using local lumber!)
Even though I’m sure I’ll have to rip the molding back out when I replace the floors, I’m just sick of looking at the bottom three inches of rough unpainted drywall. Plus, now I get to buy an automatic nailer, and justify keeping the chop saw from Mom’s garage.
I started with the corner that’s hidden behind the bookshelf.
Not bad for a first attempt.
I’m certainly getting a lot of practice with corners.
Nothing too fancy, but matches the trim in the other rooms of the house: WM 662 9/16 in. x 3 1/2 in. Pine Primed Finger-Jointed Base Molding
Mockup: Kitchen
Kitchen
Move the door to put a cabinet to the left of the stove, and add a floor-to-ceiling appliance garage in the corner. Change the swing of the door to open to the back of the carport.
Patio Sealant
I knew when I filled the patio cracks with stone dust that I’d need to find a way to set the material in place. Of course, I didn’t get to it for a couple years… so weeds set in, over and over.
The first photo shows the patio with weeds coming up every crack. The second photo shows the patio (after hours of weeding) in the stages of sealing: dry pale brown unsealed stones at the left, milky white newly-applied sealant in the middle, and matte wet-look deeper brown at the right.
Bedroom Ceiling Fan
The brass-and-oak ceiling fan in my bedroom rattled when it was on, so it was almost never on. Even the ReStore wouldn’t take it… they already had a number of brass fans that no one was buying.
I also wanted to have better control of the fan speed and light brightness, so we added the Lutron Fan Control option as well.
Summer Storm
Holy cow… microburst. Time to get out the rakes and shovels and clean up the neighborhood.
Basement Drop Ceiling
My basement ceiling is truly horrible… the rectangular tiles are floppy and dirty and torn. But because I have utilities that I’ve had to service more than once in the last five years, I really like being able to pop out the ceiling tiles and get to whatever’s up there… electricity, gas pipes, cable, etc.
So, I’ll get the ceiling re-done someday. For example, the Boulanger EMB80WHB Embassy Ceiling System (shown below, right) is simple and clean. I’ll also swap out the big fluorescent tube lights for recessed LEDs.
Spring Seeding
Time to try out the new greenhouse! My first wave of seeds had to grow inside given that the greenhouse is not heated. But it wasn’t long before I could harden off my little baby plants and allow them to overnight in the greenhouse with heated plant mats. We had an exceptionally soggy spring, so I planted greens in seed trays too… next year I’m hoping to direct sow.
Garden Tags
I like labeling my plants… mostly so I remember what I already planted when spring rolls around and I want to stick a shovel in the ground. Some of my perennials are late to pop to the surface, and others never pop up at all. Such is life in Zone 5.
The trouble with plant tags is that they’re generally white. Or yellow. They look like litter against the thawed-but-not-yet-sprouted garden dirt.
Enter SPRAY PAINT, my new favorite medium. Combined with a white acrylic marker pen, these tags look neat and camouflaged.
Guest Bathroom Ceiling
The heavy popcorn ceiling in the guest bathroom had been painted over - heavily - with water-resistant paint. Probably Kilz, or something like it. The obnoxious concrete-like granules tore at my knuckles and refused to be scraped loose.
So, a few YouTube videos later, I decided to try my hand at coating over the popcorn with drywall compound. I was feeling pretty okay about my initial attempts. (See the smooth-ish area over the window?) Then life got in the way… and this is how it has looked ever since.
Then Rosemary showed me her beautiful newly popcorn-free ceiling. Knowing I could stare at this eyesore for a few more years, or throw a few hundred bucks at the problem and have it done in a couple days… done.
First coat… um… WAY better than my sorry attempt:
Coated, sanded, painted. Popcorn BE GONE!
Cable Tangle
Before the days of wifi came the days of cable splitters. My house had coaxial cable running everywhere. I pay for premium internet service to support my work-at-home needs (and my HD streaming habit), and it’s frustrating to have crummy signal. Luckily, I have a dog-walking neighbor who works for Comcast. He told me to suggest egress (signal leakage) and noise as possible reasons for my signal degradation.
As it turns out, the line from the telephone pole had probably been chewed by squirrels, and had water inside the casing. Once inside, the line fed to a splitter, then to another splitter, then stretched to an amplifier in the workshop area, then doubled back on itself before reaching - you guessed it - a third splitter.
Wound up with all that was a nest of telephone wire. Like, for someone (not me) who maintains a land line. Instead of feeding to a neatly-installed junction box in the wall, these wires were fed through holes drilled in the floor… this made it especially easy to rip them out.
Stairwell
Finally… the last of the wallpaper is gone. PHEW. I know that there are some modern, trendy, easy-to-remove-later wallpapers out there… but this wasn’t that. This was the kind of wallpaper that holds musty odors from 30 years ago.
To be fair, this wall paper wasn’t as terrible as all that. But it was torn in places, and very dirty. And there was an area of concealed mold on the drywall adjacent to the french doors, so I’m glad I took it down.
Okay, this ‘before’ picture is terrible, but it’s the best I could dredge up from before the wallpaper was removed. You can see how the wallpaper ends at the french doors, and the wall on the right reflects the wainscoting and paint used around the rest of the room.
Ripping the wallpaper down also tore off the skin of the drywall in areas… so, this became a skim-coating and sanding and drywall dust nightmare.
The existing paint suits the room perfectly… I think a color color would detract from the richness of the woodwork, brick, and tile. Behr’s Linen White matches the existing walls perfectly… although I do plan to freshen up the room with a new coat.
Not perfect… but good enough for now.
The old brass-and-glass wall lamp is now replaced with a simple tiffany-style sconce that matches the new ceiling light and desk lamp in the office.
Arizona
Red rocks and FINALLY the Grand Canyon. #BucketList
When my company sent me to Phoenix for meetings on the eve of a holiday weekend, I decided it would be silly not to take advantage. I booked my return for the following Tuesday, giving me four days to explore Arizona.
Red Rocks State Park
Tuzigoot
With the federal government shut down, I only got to see Tuzigoot from the locked entrance gate.
Jerome
This tiny copper mining town perched on Cleopatra Hill now houses art galleries, cafes, and glorious views of the Verde Valley.
Sedona
Moonrise hot tub
Sunrise hike at Airport Road
Oak Creek Canyon State Park
I took the scenic drive north from Sedona so that I could meander through Oak Creek Canyon, stopping at the West Fork for a hike.
Sunset Crater National Monument
Grand Canyon National Park
![Bright [Snow] Angel Trail](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58cb29d4d482e91781bc0952/1548546583001-K2W8QNK4DPA32U311SPG/P1030015.JPG)
Meteor Crater
Driving from Winslow
Barcelona
Architecture, narrow winding streets, and beach castles.
My Seattle-based friends Jeremy and Sonja and their 5-year-old Alex have been traveling Europe since last June (lucky!) I had been thinking about hopping the pond to say hi for a while, but it wasn’t until they decided stay put for a few weeks that our schedules aligned enough to make it possible. Where? Barcelona? DONE.
Hotel
La Passatge de Vilaret was the perfect little street for our gang to hang out… my hotel at No. 13, and Jeremy & Sonja’s little apartment at No. 21. Beyond being convenient to each other, these units were three blocks away from La Sagrada Família. The bed in my place was painfully uncomfortable, but the prime location, good price, and futon mattress available for stacking made it the perfect choice.
Food
Some favorite finds in the city:
Restaurante Renoi, right next to our hotel close to Sagrada Familia
Irati, just off La Rambla
La Sagrada Familia
La Rambla and Barri Gòtic
Beach
Block of Discord
Park Güell
Hilltop view
Sant Pau
Roman Wall
Cathedral
MonTjuic: Cable Car, Castle, and Park
Fountain and Art Museum
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya serves as a gorgeous viewpoint or backdrop for watching the fountain show. This evening spectacle draws a great crowd, even in the off-season. Looking down from the museum, you are treated to a beautiful view of the four columns, the fountain, and the promenade leading to Plaça d'Espanya.
Las Arenas and Caixa ForuM
Flamenco at Palau de la Música Catalana
I knew I wanted to see the Palau, and splurging on a show provided an ideal opportunity to enjoy the full experience. Barcelona y Flamenco mesmerized us! While photography is not allowed during the show, check their website for some incredible footage.
Dali Muesum
Girona
Well, Girona deserves its own post. :)
Girona
Lovely little town in Spain made famous by Season 6 GoT (spoiler alert!)
SPOILER ALERT: This page references plot lines from GoT Season 6.
I’m not such a Game of Thrones nut that I’d travel the globe looking for filming locations, but the cinematography is so outstanding that I couldn’t drive past the town without getting off the highway. As it turned out, Girona made for a fantastic evening.
#1: Girona Cathedral
This is a spectacular sight, especially if you’re a GoT fan. Climb the very stairs that Jamie Lannister rode his horse up, to the spot where Margaery prepares for her Walk of Atonement, and the building that collapsed in a great green explosion. There is no ocean view… for that, you need a top-notch CGI department.
#2: Plaza del Jurats
What better place to stage a play than on a stage used for plays? This is where Arya sees the satire of her family and dramatized murder of Joffrey.
#3: Dry Creek Bed
The water and the giant statue are clearly CGI, but this asymmetrical stone arch bridge is unmistakeable.
S06E07: Arya gets stabbed by the Waif
#4: Sant Pere de Galligants
This landmark was closed when we arrived, but the surrounding gardens afforded us nice views of the architecture. The interior of this building was used, but obviously the exterior looks nothing like what’s shown onscreen.
S06E10: Sam arrives at the Citadel
#5: Arabic Baths
What a fabulous gem nested in this town. Arya only skirted through here for a moment, but it’s worth lingering. Don’t expect to see naked guys getting steamed… unless, you know… you travel with some eclectic friends.
S06E08: Arya Stark kills the Waif
#6: Carrer Sant Llorenc
While we’re on the topic of Arya being chased through the streets of Braavos by a murderous waif…
#7: Pujada de Sant Domenec & Església de Sant Martí Sacosta
Arya leapt from a nearby wall and then tumbled down these stairs knocking over fruit baskets along the way. We got there late, but the Barcelona Film Commission website has some daytime pics & info.
Other Views of Girona
Besides the spots famed for GoT screen-time, Girona is filled with fun nooks and crannies to explore.
The original town of Girona was surrounded by defensive walls and towers, many of which can still be climbed today for stunning views of the city.
Christmas Light Hooks
The biggest post-holiday pain in my ass is setting up the ladder in a snowbank to take down Christmas lights. The tiny teacup hooks were all bent and rusty, so they got pulled out in preparation for the painting of the eaves. My new system lets me install and uninstall Christmas lights from the ground. I now have 23 evenly-spaced hooks, and an extending pole that reaches up to hang the string lights.
