Just bee-tastic.
Last Wednesday I was raking up the dead leaves and the dead weeds. The dead weeds have been the only silver lining in our cloud and rain free summer to date. There was one stubborn thistle that needed pulling, so I reached down and gave it a good tug. What I didn't see in the evening twilight was the large hive of underground bees buzzing around. My efforts gained me one large thistle and one large bee sting. I'd been stung once before, when I was around 10, so I didn't get too concerned about allergies, but it still really hurt.
Saturday the buckthorn infested city land behind ours had a box elder come down. We helped another neighbor finish disposing of it. And what did I put the same bee stung hand into while moving some lumber? ANOTHER nest of ground bees. I got two pokes in the hand that time around.
I guess the dry weather is making the bees cranky too.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Overstayed
I think that the next time we buy a house, I'd like to see it NOT re-painted. Conventional wisdom says that before putting a house on the market, its a good idea to paint the interior a nice neutral color. We've repainted the majority of our interior rooms now and they look much better. The paint also hides all the flaws in the plaster. I think I'd much rather not know the true shape of the walls.
One of the houses that we looked at was in a desirable neighborhood and had the feel of a house where the occupants had overstayed. Overstayed houses are houses that were once lavished with love and attention. Then the occupants stayed well past their ability to care for the house, whether due to financial or health reasons, and the house slid into disrepair.
This particular house had late seventies decor. Wallpaper was holding loose plaster to the wall. The floor was uneven. The chimney needed to be rebuilt. There were signs of water damage in some of the rooms. It had a lot of potential, but the lot was very small and the house was built on the edge of a ravine, so it had no backyard. It wasn't what we were looking for.
We only saw a few "overstayed" houses, but ours was one of them. The most egregious example of water damage in our home at the time of purchase was this.
The problem comes from our built-in gutters over the front entry. (Ms. Huis thought it'd be great to get a picture of me too - I'm taking apart the dining room window, the one I don't know what to do with yet.) The gutters have been lined with black pond liner to try and increase their lifespan, but it's not working very well.
Unfortunately, the gutter (or the soffit) tilts towards the house. The water runs back towards the house and then along the brickwork. This had been going on so long, that the water dissolved the mortar holding the brick together. The water would travel through the brick to the window lintel and then into the house.
There was no point in painting or plastering this area right away, and the first winter we had a little bucket under the window to catch the drips. Then last year we had the house tuck pointed. Now that those gaping holes are plugged, the water running against the house stays outside the house. Last winter the window and wall were dry, even in the face of record snowfall. We finally felt comfortable painting the dining room.
The tuck pointing is only part of the solution of course. Getting the gutters and roof replaced on the front entry is on the list of things to do in the next few years.
One of the houses that we looked at was in a desirable neighborhood and had the feel of a house where the occupants had overstayed. Overstayed houses are houses that were once lavished with love and attention. Then the occupants stayed well past their ability to care for the house, whether due to financial or health reasons, and the house slid into disrepair.
This particular house had late seventies decor. Wallpaper was holding loose plaster to the wall. The floor was uneven. The chimney needed to be rebuilt. There were signs of water damage in some of the rooms. It had a lot of potential, but the lot was very small and the house was built on the edge of a ravine, so it had no backyard. It wasn't what we were looking for.
We only saw a few "overstayed" houses, but ours was one of them. The most egregious example of water damage in our home at the time of purchase was this.
The problem comes from our built-in gutters over the front entry. (Ms. Huis thought it'd be great to get a picture of me too - I'm taking apart the dining room window, the one I don't know what to do with yet.) The gutters have been lined with black pond liner to try and increase their lifespan, but it's not working very well.
Unfortunately, the gutter (or the soffit) tilts towards the house. The water runs back towards the house and then along the brickwork. This had been going on so long, that the water dissolved the mortar holding the brick together. The water would travel through the brick to the window lintel and then into the house.
There was no point in painting or plastering this area right away, and the first winter we had a little bucket under the window to catch the drips. Then last year we had the house tuck pointed. Now that those gaping holes are plugged, the water running against the house stays outside the house. Last winter the window and wall were dry, even in the face of record snowfall. We finally felt comfortable painting the dining room.
The tuck pointing is only part of the solution of course. Getting the gutters and roof replaced on the front entry is on the list of things to do in the next few years.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Blitter
Since my wife has started using Twitter, her blogging has decreased significantly. I didn't get Twitter at first; after all what's the point in trying to communicate in 140 characters or less?
But over the last few weeks I've had several ideas for posts and as I let them roll around in my mind, none of them had any real substance. They could have easily fit into those 140 characters.
Now there's no reason that I couldn't have still posted them on the blog, but there just seems to be a certain "weight" that blog posts have. I don't expect to read a one page story from my local paper in a copy of National Geographic. And I don't expect to find a tweet on my blog.
I was looking at one of my old posts and realized there was a solution for this. So, in the interest of combining these different types of media formats, welcome to my...blitter? twog? blogter?
When did they go to dimensional lumber? And what was the progression? My 2 x 8 joists are neither 2", nor 1 1/2". They're 1 3/4".
We ordered and bought enough wood to build screens for two windows in every room. The mill strongly suggested poplar as a more affordable alternative to clear pine. Didn't expect that. Went with it anyway (they're only screens). We'll see how they hold up.
I work with a guy who used to work at the factory near our house. He started to go on and on about "some house" on the National Historic Registry that kept the factory from expanding in the 90's. I stopped him before he ranted too long with, "Oh yeah. That's my house." The look on his face was priceless, especially when he asked if he could see it sometime.
It's really dry here. We've gotten 0.85 inches of rain in the last 37 days. That makes for a lot of watering of the 66 yews I put in this year. Didn't figure THAT into the cost.
Horrible, heavy, thick clay soil that holds water like a sponge is great for keeping plants alive in a drought, even if it does make my basement damp.
A weight broke in the upper sash of our double hung dining room window. I just bought a copy of Repairing Windows by Terence Meany. This gave me enough courage to take out both the upper and lower sash and the parting bead. OK Mr. Window, now what do I do?
We went to a neighborhood barbecue last weekend. I found out one of our neighbors is a marathon runner. She qualified for the Boston marathon this year.
Our neighbors to the south (who hate yews) have been at their lake cabin all summer. It's been wonderfully quiet - almost as if we've been at the lake cabin.
I've had no luck catching rabbits with the stick and box trick yet. But the girls talk about it.
The neighbor's sour cherries were ready this weekend and they let us pick our share. We canned about four pounds and took the other four pounds and added them to a mead I have brewing.
Our mulberry tree also fruited over the last two weeks. More fruit for the honey-ginger-cherry mead. Next year we'll have raspberries too.
Work has been insanely busy - not so much the amount of work, but the number of things going on is making it really hard to keep track of everything.
I think I vaguely remember a time in my life when I was bored a lot. I wouldn't mind a little more boredom.
But over the last few weeks I've had several ideas for posts and as I let them roll around in my mind, none of them had any real substance. They could have easily fit into those 140 characters.
Now there's no reason that I couldn't have still posted them on the blog, but there just seems to be a certain "weight" that blog posts have. I don't expect to read a one page story from my local paper in a copy of National Geographic. And I don't expect to find a tweet on my blog.
I was looking at one of my old posts and realized there was a solution for this. So, in the interest of combining these different types of media formats, welcome to my...blitter? twog? blogter?
When did they go to dimensional lumber? And what was the progression? My 2 x 8 joists are neither 2", nor 1 1/2". They're 1 3/4".
We ordered and bought enough wood to build screens for two windows in every room. The mill strongly suggested poplar as a more affordable alternative to clear pine. Didn't expect that. Went with it anyway (they're only screens). We'll see how they hold up.
I work with a guy who used to work at the factory near our house. He started to go on and on about "some house" on the National Historic Registry that kept the factory from expanding in the 90's. I stopped him before he ranted too long with, "Oh yeah. That's my house." The look on his face was priceless, especially when he asked if he could see it sometime.
It's really dry here. We've gotten 0.85 inches of rain in the last 37 days. That makes for a lot of watering of the 66 yews I put in this year. Didn't figure THAT into the cost.
Horrible, heavy, thick clay soil that holds water like a sponge is great for keeping plants alive in a drought, even if it does make my basement damp.
A weight broke in the upper sash of our double hung dining room window. I just bought a copy of Repairing Windows by Terence Meany. This gave me enough courage to take out both the upper and lower sash and the parting bead. OK Mr. Window, now what do I do?
We went to a neighborhood barbecue last weekend. I found out one of our neighbors is a marathon runner. She qualified for the Boston marathon this year.
Our neighbors to the south (who hate yews) have been at their lake cabin all summer. It's been wonderfully quiet - almost as if we've been at the lake cabin.
I've had no luck catching rabbits with the stick and box trick yet. But the girls talk about it.
The neighbor's sour cherries were ready this weekend and they let us pick our share. We canned about four pounds and took the other four pounds and added them to a mead I have brewing.
Our mulberry tree also fruited over the last two weeks. More fruit for the honey-ginger-cherry mead. Next year we'll have raspberries too.
Work has been insanely busy - not so much the amount of work, but the number of things going on is making it really hard to keep track of everything.
I think I vaguely remember a time in my life when I was bored a lot. I wouldn't mind a little more boredom.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
WW - Pre-painting "Before" and a Very Red "After"
(Thanks, Gramma Pet & Papa Pharaoh for the painting & kid-watching help!!!)
Cross-posted to Musings & Mutterings
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Yewdaism
Well, now that Ms. Huis has let the proverbial cat out of the bag, I guess I'd better come clean.
I'm a yew lover.
There I said it. I hope you can all accept me and will support me now that I've come out. I'm no longer a closet yew lover.
My path toward yewdaism began when I was 17 years old, before I even knew about yews. My mom and I took a trip to Europe for a month where we visited Blarney Castle, in Blarney, County Cork, Ireland.
Blarney Castle has extensive gardens attached to it with numerous old yew trees. I have a picture of me, at 17, in a black, stone-washed, jean jacket sitting in the limb of this tree.
At the time, I didn't know that this was a yew tree. I just knew that it was a really cool tree. Then as I grew older and started thinking about the tree more, I started wondering what kind of tree it was. I was able to confirm that it was a yew tree when I went back to Ireland with my wife in 2003. I was hooked.
This yew tree is a major pilgrimage site for yew lovers. We even moved to Blarney for two years where I lived within just a few miles of it. I have since returned to the rest of the world to teach others and evangelize about the joys of yewdaism.
If anyone is going to Blarney Castle, this tree can be found at an elevation of 127 feet at north 51 degrees, 55 minutes, 45.54 seconds and west 8 degrees, 34 minutes, 4.09 seconds. Once you get into the gardens, follow the main path through the tunnel under the road. Stay on the path, past the elephant ears and it will be on your right.
There are a lot of yews in the landscape of the current community we live in, but they tend to be used as accent plants. This is good, but there is so much more that can be done with yews! Too many people have fallen sway to the false Society of the Arbor Vitae (treasonous splitters), somehow believing that they make a better hedge.
I have begun my evangelical work by starting a yew hedge around the House of 42 Doors. To date, I've put 66 yews (195 feet) in the ground, and more are coming this fall or next year.
Long live the yew!
I'm a yew lover.
There I said it. I hope you can all accept me and will support me now that I've come out. I'm no longer a closet yew lover.
My path toward yewdaism began when I was 17 years old, before I even knew about yews. My mom and I took a trip to Europe for a month where we visited Blarney Castle, in Blarney, County Cork, Ireland.
Blarney Castle has extensive gardens attached to it with numerous old yew trees. I have a picture of me, at 17, in a black, stone-washed, jean jacket sitting in the limb of this tree.
At the time, I didn't know that this was a yew tree. I just knew that it was a really cool tree. Then as I grew older and started thinking about the tree more, I started wondering what kind of tree it was. I was able to confirm that it was a yew tree when I went back to Ireland with my wife in 2003. I was hooked.
This yew tree is a major pilgrimage site for yew lovers. We even moved to Blarney for two years where I lived within just a few miles of it. I have since returned to the rest of the world to teach others and evangelize about the joys of yewdaism.
If anyone is going to Blarney Castle, this tree can be found at an elevation of 127 feet at north 51 degrees, 55 minutes, 45.54 seconds and west 8 degrees, 34 minutes, 4.09 seconds. Once you get into the gardens, follow the main path through the tunnel under the road. Stay on the path, past the elephant ears and it will be on your right.
There are a lot of yews in the landscape of the current community we live in, but they tend to be used as accent plants. This is good, but there is so much more that can be done with yews! Too many people have fallen sway to the false Society of the Arbor Vitae (treasonous splitters), somehow believing that they make a better hedge.
I have begun my evangelical work by starting a yew hedge around the House of 42 Doors. To date, I've put 66 yews (195 feet) in the ground, and more are coming this fall or next year.
Long live the yew!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Sworn to secrecy
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Et tu, Brute?
While I was in charge of the girls last weekend, I tried to make a point to get out of the house and do something fun with them each day. On Friday, we went to a nearby state park for the first time. My plan was to do a bit of hiking and have a small picnic before we went back to the house for nap time.
We found a nice, flat broad path perfect for a two year old, an almost five year old and an out of shape dad. We were really enjoying ourselves when I started to notice the local flora.
What did I see? Tartarian honeysuckle, buckthorn and garlic mustard.
I guess that when they say "invasive", they really do mean it. It makes me wonder though, what exactly is to be done about invasive species? Is it inevitable that the Wisconsin understory will someday be buckthorn, garlic mustard and honeysuckle? Will we lose all of our ash trees to the Emerald Ash Borer, just as we lost our elm trees to Dutch Elm disease? It's really very sad.
We found a nice, flat broad path perfect for a two year old, an almost five year old and an out of shape dad. We were really enjoying ourselves when I started to notice the local flora.
What did I see? Tartarian honeysuckle, buckthorn and garlic mustard.
I guess that when they say "invasive", they really do mean it. It makes me wonder though, what exactly is to be done about invasive species? Is it inevitable that the Wisconsin understory will someday be buckthorn, garlic mustard and honeysuckle? Will we lose all of our ash trees to the Emerald Ash Borer, just as we lost our elm trees to Dutch Elm disease? It's really very sad.
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