Planning

Colin and I are always planning future projects.  We are always thinking of ideas, researching something, and sketching out ideas on scraps of paper, graph paper and on Google SketchUp.  It is fun to dream up projects.  I sometimes think that planning the project is the best part.  There are so many options and possibilities, but once you start to build, you have shut the door on those other options.

Our recent project planning is our garden, particularly the part of our yard that is now the end of our driveway.  Our driveway is plenty long for our one car, and the driveway is the sunniest part of our yard.  We have long wanted to turn that area into a garden.  Finishing off the back steps of the porch is the first step.  Here is the most recent iteration of our project (drawn by me in Google SketchUp):

 

I had to include the picture below, just because of the car.  I went online to look up the component for the grill and then wonder if anyone had uploaded a Ford Explorer.  They had, and in our unique blue Eddie Bauer edition color!

Drainage for the Retaining Wall

As we learned recently with the recent flooding, drainage is very important.  Water comes down the hill in the spring, and water (and snow) fall off the porch roof.  Colin started to install a perforated pipe and landscape fabric to drain the water away from the wall.  We're not sure of the water's final destination.

Building a Short Retaining Wall

There have been a lot of trucks in our neighborhood this week.  Most of the truck activity is related to the massive flooding and road damage we had on Tuesday afternoon.  There were three payloaders clearing mud and rocks on Tuesday, and there was a lot of truck activity on Saturday when they rebuilt the road at the top of our small hill.  We also have had trucks delivering material for our latest project.  We are building a small retaining wall at the back of our porch to raise the level of the ground.  We would like to have a more level slope (rather than one that slopes steeply towards the house).  Monday, we had some landscape timbers delivered, and on Saturday we had gravel delivered. (The same gravel truck brought gravel to our neighbors up the hill.  They had some significant part of the yard wash away.)

 

Yesterday and today, Colin installed most of the retaining wall.  It was hard work in all this heat and humidity.

Spring Crocuses

 

Spring is finally here! (Although we had snow on Friday.)  I am nearly done with raking all the leaves that blew down over the winter.  The crocuses are beginning to bloom and the daffodils and three random tulips are growing.  The bleeding heart and some of the monarda are also starting to grow.  I think we might have a hellebore flowering within the next week as well.  Very exciting after a long winter.

New Kitchen Booth Benches

Dad (aka Grandpa) also made us new kitchen booth benches.  Once we finish the baseboards, they will look built in.  The best thing about these benches is that the lids lift up to we can store things inside.

New Entryway Bench

 

Our back door is a bit of mess.  We have only a small coat rack (which bought at a shop down the road from us when we lived in St. Albans) that can't cope with all of our coats.  Dad made us two new coat racks that we hope to hang up soon, and he made us a new bench.  Our hope is that the bench contains our shoes and also gives us a place to put a basket for hats and mittens.

 

The kids "helped" their Grandpa find the wall studs, measure, and of course drill.  Here they are on the new bench.

Uptairs Flooring

Dad is visiting for a couple of weeks and is helping us with the flooring upstairs.  He is working on the floor in the play room where Colin left off.  Colin is removing the rest of the flooring from the master bedroom.  It is somewhat strange to be ripping up something that we put down.  When we first moved in we renovated the upstairs kitchen, painting the cabinets and installing new floor.

Level Flooring

Dad made great progess on the floor while he was here.  The top of the stairs (above) and the hallway just outside the master bath are now level.  I no longer feel like I'm going to fall into the bathroom while walking past.  Dad also installed the spine all the way from Alistair's room to the master bedroom.  Now it is our turn to finish it.

Leveling the Landing

We live in an old house.  Sometimes I think about the women who might have lived in this house, and I think about what they wore.  Did they have hoop skirts, or more simple day dresses?  Over the nearly 150 years since this house was built, it has sagged a bit in places.  When you would drop peas or other round things in the upstairs kitchen, they would roll away.  Our pine Ikea hutch leaned towards the center of the room.  Now that Dad is installing the new hard wood flooring upstairs, we are becoming more acquainted on the details of the undulations.

 

The landing at the top of the stairs is, in our minds, a slight step down from the hallway.  It made sense, especially with the door and wall that separated the two.  They had different surfaces and they were different heights.  It turns out that if you put a level across from the edge of the hallway surface to the outside wall of the landing, it's nearly level.  There is a quarter of an inch difference.  Using plywood and building paper, Dad built up the floor so that the landing is now level.  In the gap where the wall was, he was built a small ramp to make the quarter of a inch transition.

Tree Peony

 

Today our tree peony bloomerd!  Three years ago I bought a tree peony at an end of the season sale at Edgewater Farms.  This spring buds appeared for the first time.  We had a very severe frost a few weeks ago, so every night I went out and put an empty sump pump bucket over the peony so prevent damage to the buds.