April 2008

Green Wishlist

April 30, 2008

As Earth Month comes to a close, there are still plenty of things we’d like to do to reduce, reuse and recycle, such as: Replace showerhead and faucets with low-flow units Replace the toilet with a dual-flush, low-flow unit, like the Aquia from Toto or the selection from Caroma Finish replacing all lightbulbs with CFLs. [...]

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Barrels o’ Rain

April 29, 2008

When we planted our arborvitae recently, we discovered that the PO had the downspout from the house attached to plastic tubing which is buried under the grass and empties out to the alley. Tsk, tsk. That’s going to change. Thanks to a post I read a while back at Our Tiny Oak Park Bungalow, I [...]

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Mr. Wonderful

April 28, 2008
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While I toiled away inside (yes, I really had work to do), here’s what my wonderful husband was doing: In the rain. And the cold. Then it started sleeting and snowing. He kept at it. What a trooper. I’m making him a big batch of soup. We bought landscape edging for the garden paths and [...]

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The PO Visit

April 28, 2008

Yesterday we had the PO and his wife over for lunch along with a neighbor couple from across the street. We first really got to know this neighbor at the PO’s wedding a couple years ago and they’re a lot of fun. The PO always managed to get the husband, who is retired and old [...]

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Can You Dig It?

April 25, 2008
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Yesterday we ordered 5 cubic yards of Grade 8 Limestone for the paths and patio foundation. According to calculations it will fill the patio and about half of the paths. The delivery truck can only handle 5 yards at a time because of the weight of the stone, but we planned to order a portion [...]

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Unearthed

April 23, 2008
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We spent the day Monday preparing the yard for our future patio and garden. We’re beat. We rented a sod cutter from Home Depot, which was invaluable for this project. We also enlisted help from my stepbrother, who had used one of these before. It was easy to figure out and use anyway, but the [...]

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Chain, chain, chain…

April 21, 2008

Our old chain link fence, which Pete gave the neighbor as a peace offering of sorts, is going back up. This morning the neighbor dug up the currant bush that had inadvertently been planted on our property and he is in the process of re-connecting his fence, which is at the correct property line, using [...]

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Local Harvest

April 18, 2008

We usually plant a few tomatoes in our yard, but we won’t be planting any vegetables at all this summer for a couple reasons: one, I’d rather concentrate the overall garden design this year and see where a small vegetable patch will fit in with it; and two, I just don’t feel like dealing with [...]

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Arbs and Dogs

April 17, 2008
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Here are the photos I promised yesterday. First, to refresh your memory, the before picture: Same view from our family room, after: Another view from ground level: We spaced the Arborvitae (again, the “arbs” as they were called at the nursery) 30″ apart. They will eventually form a privacy hedge and will grow 8-10 feet. [...]

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Cautiously Optimistic

April 16, 2008

We planted the Arborvitae last night (photos to come). We also saw the neighbor wife and she seemed better about the whole thing. We really don’t want cause strife so I hope she understands. We also bought dogwood shrubs while we were at Lurvey’s but ran out of time (and sunlight) last night, so we’ll [...]

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