Back Yard Progress

It seems like we just planted the beds in our back yard, but after looking back at our weekend extravaganza in June, I realized that we've made a lot of progress in just a month. It's a completely new space that is so much more inviting than what what originally there:

East facing - Left: June 4th, 2012   Right: July 9, 2012

West facing - Left: June 4th, 2012    Right: July 9, 2012

Tomato plant progress - Left: June 4th, 2012     Right: July 9, 2012

The Great Flood of 2012

So the weekend before last (May 26th) Portland got an epic amount of rain in just a few minutes. I think it was record-breaking (ever) rain amounts for May and we got to experience it first-hand. Thunder, lightning, and seriously the most rain I've seen since our summers in DC. We watched it fall with bated breath, as our gutters shot out water like a fire hose and the street flooded with water. I'm not exaggerating when I say flood. 

The water quickly rose up over our bumper and stood still in the street long after the rain clouds passed. Emergency crews came out to assess the situation (thinking that they'd just unclog the storm drains) and scratched their heads when it wasn't debris causing the massive water build up. It receded by the morning, but our car had already been flooded. It was shocking, really. 

We moved the car into the driveway after the rain stopped, but it was too late. We had about 3 inches of water in our passenger side that wouldn't drain. J and I baled out as much water as we could, but given it was a Saturday night on a holiday weekend, all we could do was pull it in the garage, open the windows, and hope that the insurance claims adjuster was working on Monday. As we were soaking up the flood water our neighbor, Jim, pulled out his kayak to assess the damage. Beech was flooded for a couple of blocks, due to the deluge and the cistern's inability to drain with any speed. Welcome to the neighborhood!

On Tuesday, things with the insurance company were settled and we had our car towed to the body shop, since we drove it in bumper-deep water and were uncertain if water had gotten in places where it shouldn't be. Little was intrigued with the tow truck at first, but then it made our car go "upside down," which was quite distressing. He talked about it all day -- amazing how kids this young retain so much. 


We got the car back yesterday. Not only is it dried out, but its cleaner than it's ever been (since we've owned it). They detailed the thing inside and out. I commented to J after I pulled up in front that he left finger prints on the exterior trim. Seriously. It's that clean. The guy at the detail shop joked with me that the car might have a funny smell for a day or two, but assured me that it was just "the absence of smell". I assured him that I have no idea what that could even mean, given that I live with an almost two-year-old boy.

Super de-ionizers sucked out all of the funk we left (even before the flood) and magic elves picked out the Lara bar from the rear seats and the crumbs from the sick shift. It was like Christmas. I felt like if I were a hipper lady, I would have driven around with our windows down, blasting out the latest tunes that the young and beautiful listen to these days. 

Instead, I still rolled down the windows (on my way from Fred Meyer) while listening to political commentary on the Wisconsin recall elections while grasping a mini Snickers bar in my hand. As I pulled into the driveway, I could feel Robert Siegel giving me a tender nod as I tucked that Snickers mini bar wrapper in my purse instead of the map holder on the driver side door. 


Welcome back Mazda Protege 5. We promise to have your alignment checked and that ganky fog light changed out very soon.
 

Front Yard Progress

Today we spent all of our time in the front yard digging, turning beds, moving rocks and dirt, and planting all of the 20+ perennials that we purchased to fill in the pretty blank canvass that was our yard. I'm sad that I wasn't better about taking "before" photos of our pruning and progress from when we first moved in, but I've tried to do a better job of documenting our progress. So here goes, just over one month of progress on the front yard:

March 14th, 2012, taken after our home inspection

June 3, 2012, taken before massive planting today

June 3, 2012, after planting a massive amount of perennials

Yard Work & Man Card

The weather was glorious last weekend, so we spent a lot of time in our yard. As we've found out from several sources, the house was a rental for a few years before we bought it, which explains the quickly landscaped back yard and the overgrown shrubs in the front yard. Our camellia, pieris, and vine maple were overgrown and puff-ball-like from several seasons of non-pruning (or pruning with a not-so-delicate hand with the hedge trimmer). 

J and I got out our tools, and equipped with pruning shears, a hack saw, and a bucket, we plucked and chopped away the dead limbs, and got rid of a lot of stuff that should have been cut back years ago. It's hard doing all of that work and still have your shrubs look wanting, but we realize that this is a process that could take years of care to correct. I'm okay with that, because they already look so much better. The bushy thing on the right side of the photo is our vine maple in the process of being trimmed up a bit. We also had a few volunteers here and there, one of which happened to be a tree growing nearly into our fence.  As you can see, J ripped out the tree with his bare hands and rightfully earned his "man card" for the weekend.

Little was thoroughly impressed with the feat of strength and despite his cast, proceeded to walk around the yard trying to lift things 10 times his size while saying "heeeaaavy" "heeeeavvvy" and grunting. The testosterone was palpable that Saturday afternoon. The green waste can was filled to the brim and we were all dirty and incredibly tired. 

I also tackled the side yard next to our driveway, which warrants an entire post to itself. It seems like it was just a trash pile for the various residents both recent and past. I turned up lots of glass, some bike parts, a bit of clothing, and two separate layers of landscaping plastic. I guess whenever things got too shitty, they just covered it in plastic and a bit of dirt to cultivate some moss and dandelions.

Next up? A lawnmower!

Home Repairs: Bathroom Tile

While my parents were in town, I put them to work. Dad installed a cable jack upstairs for our modem, changed out a dimmer switch that I hated, and read for hours and hours with Little while he convalesced from his slide accident. 

I swear some days the renovations to this house are held together merely with chewing gum -- a sort of booby trap that the previous owners rigged to get them through inspections, but would spring as soon as we used the appliances/plumbing/electricity in any meaningful way.

Anyway, whoever reworked the bathroom upstairs installed the shower liner (which is not my favorite, but hey, it works) without putting some sort of water proof material surrounding it -- no hardback board, no caulk, no tile, just drywall up against the shower head and top of shower liner. Brilliant. Since the liner is just 6 feet tall, we found out just a day or two after living in the house that the fine sprays and splashes would do some major damage to the surrounding drywall. After the first use, the outer layer of the drywall was starting to peel. 

I consulted with my tiling expert (mom) who assured me it would be a simple weekend project. We set out to get the supplies, and as planned, put her right to work. We found the tiles at a local place called the Rebuilding Center, which ended up costing $10 for the whole stack (about 200 tiles). If you're not familiar with the cost of ceramic tile, that was a fantastic deal (practically free). I failed to take "before" photos of our ugly shower, so you'll just have to trust me on this one. My mom got right to work putting up the tiles while I ran around trying to keep up with Little and actually get some work done. It took her about a day to put the tile up on the wall (there were quite a few little cuts to fit into the sloped ceiling). We ran out of time, so she left the grouting up to me (although with a guilty conscience, since I'd never done it before). 

After watching her do the basic motions, and reading the back of the grouting tub, I got to work. It took a couple of hours, I think, and the grout was complete. Not a terribly complex task, but draining nonetheless. I can't imagine doing a much larger space, but I guess if the work didn't involve reaching over my head for hours at a time, it wouldn't be nearly as bad. The shower actually looks pretty respectable now and we can rest assured that we won't be doing any further damage to the walls. The next step will be to find a more suitable shower head (one that actually enables you to adjust the settings) and we'll be set. 

A more spendy project down the road would be to actually replace the shower doors with more attractive frameless glass, but there are so many more projects around the house that take priority, like insulating the attic, adding soffit vents, extending the gas line to the kitchen so we can get rid of our sucky electric range, and oh yeah, paying the mortgage. 

I'm not complaining though, the house is fantastic in spite of its former owners, and I'm looking forward to a summer full of projects, both inside and out.  

Cost: About $100 with tile, grout, the menagerie of tools needed to apply adhesive, grout, and cut the tiles.
Time: About 2 1/2 days of working hours to place tile, grout, and caulk the seams. And another week of curing. Pretty simple and cheap compared to hiring a professional.