New House Blog: Episode XX - The Real Episode LC

As I explained in the previous Episode, due to a numbering error many months ago Episodes XIX and XX have been inserted after Episodes XXXXVIIII and LC.  This puts us back on track with the correct numbering sequence.  As I have not yet explained, the larger-than-usual time gap between this Episode and the previous Episode is due to a time-consuming (but fun) musical commitment on my part.  Projects are continuing, however, and exciting events will be taking place right here in the New House Blog.

Front Yard Gardening - Take III

As part of our front yard gardening project, first seen in this Episode, we re-bricked the front yard planting area.  That is, we replaced the brick border that separates the front yard planting area from the front walkway.  The old border was made up of those horrid pink/red arched bricks that you see everywhere (you know the ones).  The new border is made up of wonderful tumbled pavers.  Whereas the old pink arched brinks allowed a good bit of soil spillage through the gaps between the arches, the new tumbled pavers will be excellent at soil retention.  Here are some pictures of the before and after.

This is what the horrid pink arched bricks looked like in the ground.  Note the massive amount of soil spillage.

This is what the horrid ping arched bricks looked like after de-grounding.  They are relatively fragile and easy-to-break.

This is the hose connection area after de-shamrocking and re-bricking.  Please note that the flat internal pavers are of a different variety than the border pavers.

 Here is the Aloe Arboretum after re-bricking.  The picture below shows the line of bricks extending to the front porch.

The Sixth Battle Of The Stump

There once was a boxwood plant by our driveway.  It was in the way so we cut it down to a stump.  Then we left it alone for many months.  Recently we did battle with this stump, and we emerged victorious.  So far it is Bishops 6, Stumps 0.  Sadly, between the time of the actual battle and the time of this report many details of the battle have been lost from our (my) memory.  I  remember that Spike and Bari played big parts in this battle, and probably Shorty, too, but I don't remember the exact sequence or timing of the attack.  I do remember that the roots were not deep, but they were spread out quite a bit.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

 Before de-earthing.

After de-earthing.  Note the wide, shallow root system.









New Cat Door

Becky works from her home office, and the cats like to enter and exit her office at seemingly random times, and the cats didn't like waiting for her to get up to let them in or out, so we put a cat door in Becky's office door to allow the cats to come and go as they please, instead of having to wait for her to get up and open the door for them.  Initially they were all quite curious about this new door, and it was Miles who first learned to use it successfully.  Satchmo was the next to catch on, and finally Daisy got the hang of it.

Back Yard Archaeology

This Back Yard Archaeology update is all about artifacts.  I recently found the best artifact to-date, and some real US currency.  I also found a tool in surprisingly good shape, considering its age, and some rusty nails and a piece of ammunition.  Not all of these artifacts were found in the actual back yard, but I'm lumping them all under the one umbrella of BYA, rather than creating separate archaeological categories for each section of the property.  First up is the rusty nails.  We still do not know why the pre-Bishopians used rusty nails.

 Here are three rusty nails and one badly-corroded penny.  I do not remember exactly where they were found.

Here is a rusty nail next to a piece of ammunition, which appears to be of the Nerf type, and looks like it may have been used in actual Nerf combat.  This is the only direct evidence we have of any kind of pre-Bishopian military or warfare.

Next up is the actual US currency mentioned above.

 This is the obverse.  It shows a date of 1974, three years after the house was built.  Is there some significance to this date?  This penny was found near the front door, in the front yard planting area.

Our current theory is that the damage inflicted on the coin was possibly caused by a lawnmower blade, assuming the pre-Bishopians had access to lawnmowing technology.  We believe the penny was possibly struck by said blade and flung through the air to its resting place of nearly 40 years.









This next item was found under the house, near the crawlspace access panel that is in Becky's office.  As you can see, it is a miniature crescent wrench, and it is in excellent shape.  Or it was, anyway.  It was not very sturdy and it snapped in-two soon after its discovery.  It was about 1.5" long when found.

The best, and most useful, artifact to-date was found in the dirt by the fence on one side of the house.  It was discovered while we were excavating a pile of rocks by said fence.

This is the front of the artifact.  It is metal, highly detailed, and it shows some signs of wear, which would seem to indicate that this artifact was in-use at some point in the distant past.  This artifact tells us that the pre-Bishopian trade networks may have been larger and more complex than previously thought.  What is this artifact, and from whence does it hail?  Did pirates bring it?  Or a Roman Legion?  Aliens?  A.A. Milne?

It is, in fact, a boy's belt buckle.  There does not appear to be any maker's mark on the artifact, and we have not yet found out its current market value or point of origin.



Bonus Picture

And finally, a bonus picture.  This little spider was caught trespassing in the Aloe Arboretum, and it was promptly executed for its infraction.  We don't believe it was a black widow, but that does not excuse trespassing in our Aloe Arboretum.

If anyone calls, I'll be in the Aloe Arboretum.
     bIsh

New House Blog: Episode XIX - The Real Episode XXXXVIIII

Yes, you read that right - the real Episode ILC.  Because of a counting error, someone (not Becky) accidentally skipped from Episode XIIX straight to Episode XXI.  Thusly, Episode LC was really the 48th Episode, and not the 50th.  Instead of simply moving on and keeping up the false numbering system. and instead of going back and renumbering all of the previous Episodes, we (I) have decided to insert the two missing Episode numbers here and in the next Episode, which will be the actual 50th Episode, even though it will be numbered Episode XX.  This should put us on back on the correct Episode number when we get to Episode LCI.

Confused?  Just remember that Episode XIX is really the XXXXVIIIIth Episode, Episode XX is really the LCth Epiaode, and Episode LCI will be actual LCIth Episode.  And if all of those Roman numerals are still confusing you just relax, take a deep breath, let go your conscious mind, and let the Force guide you.  Or your conscience.  Your conscience can also be your guide.

Obstacle Removal

The tall bush in the corner of our front entryway planting area had to go.  When we bought our New House the bush was intruding into the airspace above the walkway and it had to be severely cut back, which left the bush severely lopsided.  Since then it had been bugging us, taking up the space where I wanted to plant my aloe plant and blocking the view out our front window.  We knew that it was just a matter of time before the bush was cut down and put in the street to be carted off by the city.  The time came and the bush went.  Frisky (introduced in this Episode) and Snips (introduced in this Episode) did the cutting and hacking and the bush didn't even try to fight its fate.  Before and after pictures are provided below.

 Notice how the bush is lopsided (we think it was planted too close to the walkway), and how it blocks the front window.

This is much better.  Now we can see all the way out to the street, and beyond.  If you look closely you can see yours truly reflected in the front window.  And if you look even closer you might be able to see where the house number should be but isn't.

Also note the overabundance of accursed shamrock plants in the plant area.  These would also have to go, right after...







The Fourth Battle Of The Stump

It was not a good day for the bush in the corner of the front entryway planting area.  First it was cut down.  Then it was uprooted!  Yes folks, once again we engaged a stump in battle, and once again we were victorious.  As usual, Spike went in first to probe defenses, followed by Shorty (or Shortstaff, depending on which Episode you are reading), and, well, nobody else.  These two brave team members tackled this particular stump (and accompanying roots) without the usual help from Longspade and Bari.  This was a battle not of probing deep and finding huge main roots to sever.  Rather, it was a battle of probing wide and engaging several small roots.  Indeed, this bush's myriad roots were relatively shallow and somewhat spread out, as you can see in this photo of the battle's aftermath.

The Purge

The next stage of sprucing up the front entryway planting area was the purging of the accursed shamrock plants.  The process went something like this.  Step 1 - manually uproot the shamrock plants in an area, typically a couple of square feet.  Step 2 - use Sqarehead to remove the 1" to 2" of dirt and bark mixture that was sitting on top of the real dirt.  Step 3 - pick out the eleventy billion small bulbs from the dirt to ensure that more new accursed shamrocks do not grow in the future.  Step 4 - move to the next small area and go back to step one.  We also removed the lilies and other small plants that were growing in the planting area.  This process left us with a somewhat level, bare dirt planting area containing only one unwanted tree stump, and you know what we do to unwanted tree stumps...

The Fifth Battle Of The Stump

This battle turned out to be one of the less intense stump battles.  Spike went in to action, first as usual, and found the ground to be soft and the stump to be lacking in deep rootage - it's roots were wide and quite near the surface.  In fact, none of the other team members was called in - Spike was able to handle this stump alone, a first for Spike.

In the ground

 Please note the lack of accursed shamrock plants in the planting area.

Out of the ground

With the removal of this stump our planting area was clear for us to plant our...








Front Yard Garden

But first we had to...

Remove Old Sprinklers

Yes, we had to remove three old sprinklers and their associated PVC pipes from the front yard planting area before we could plant anything new.  These sprinklers were not connected to any water supply, and they came out pretty easily, as you can see for yourself below.

This is a typical front yard planting area sprinkler, before removal.

This is all three sprinklers, and their associated PVC plumbing, after removal.  Please note the residual water flowing from one of the pipes.

Planting time.



Front Yard Garden, Take II

And plant we did.  We drove Becky's new truck to the local Home Depot and loaded up with succulents and tumbled pavers.  You'll hear more about the pavers in a future Episode.  Upon returning home the digging of planting holes commenced.  The first succulent to be planted was the previously-mentioned aloe plant that Bish has had for many years.  It was in a pot and it had grown to the limit that the pot would allow.  Added to the planting holes was a hand-mixed mixture of dirt, pumice, gardening soil, and sand from the famous Sand Pit in the back yard.  This mixture was added to each hole to aid in draining, because our succulents like well-drained soil.

Let me out.  I'll help dig holes.

We start our brief garden tour with this overview photo.  This is looking towards the house.  All of the rocks in all of the garden photos were already extant at our New House.

Who's that in the window, watching the action unfold?












Our first stop on the tour is the Aloe Atrium.

Here we can see three different varieties of aloe.  The largest of the three is also the oldest (and possibly the wisest).  Its exact species and common name are unknown at this time.  The other two aloes are the Gold Tooth Aloe (Aloe Nobilis) and the Crocodile Plant (Aloe Brevifolia).  Also to be seen in this picture are two Elephant Bushes (Portulacara Afria) and one Rainbow Elephant Bush (Portulacara Afria 'Variegata').  The Elephant Bushes are ground cover, and they seem to be thriving in their new home.

Our second, and final, stop on our garden tour is the General Garden Area.

Here we can see many different plants, some of which were chosen for their interesting names.  We start with the ground cover, which includes the following plants: one Elephant Bush; Two Rainbow Elephant Bushes; one Golden Sedum (Sedum Adolphi); five Coppertone Stonecrop (Sedum Nussbaumerianum); two Jade Plants, aka Gollums (Crassula Argentea cv. 'Gollum'); two Echeveria 'Perle Von Nurnberg' Echeveria Hybrids (Gibbiflora v. Metallica x Polosina); and two Kalanchoe Maternity Plants (Kalanchoe Tubiflora), which, according to its information tag, "Forms tiny plantlets that fall to the ground and grow."

The featured plants include: three Aeonium 'Voodoo' (A. Undulatum x Arboreum 'Zwartkop'), which are the three flower-looking plants on stalks; three Aeonium 'Kokino' (Aeonium Hybrid), which are the three flower-looking things not on stalks; and two Euphorbia Leucodendron (Euphorbia Leucodendron), which are the skinny, green, stalk-like things.  The Euhporbia are native to Madagascar and we are calling them Madagascar Pencil Cactuses.

Bonus Poppy Image

We closed out the previous Episode with a picture of the first poppy of spring.  We close out this Episode with a picture of more of our poppies in bloom.  And as an added bonus we are including a second poppy picture at no extra charge.

Did I mention that while we were digging plant holes we had to remove another eleventy billion bulbs of various sizes and shades?

Eleventy billion - it's the new
    bIsh