I remember it like it was only ten years ago. Becky and Bish made an offer on a house, the offer was accepted, and the New House Blog was born. It had a humble beginning with its first Episode, and it has made great progress since then. Here, for your convenience is a link to that first, humble Episode (so that you can go back to the beginning and re-read all of the wonderful Episodes, and relive all of the exciting projects that we have completed since that first, humble Episode). To commemorate all of our progress since May 5, 2012, we will be inserting random questions into this Episode. All answers may be found in New House Blog Episodes of the past. But since you have read and re-read them all many times, you won't need to look up the answers, right?
Stump To End All Stumps
You may recall from this Episode that we had to have a dead elm tree removed. It had been in poor health for some time, and the great freeze of '021 finished it off, so we had it removed before it fell and damaged our Texas House (or Becky's truck). At the time we did not choose to have the stump professionally removed. I figured I could handle it. After all, I had removed many tree stumps before, or so I thought.
This elm stump was in a totally different class from all of the previous stumps I had battled, and it challenged (and injured) me. Little did I realize at the start that it would take me 8 months to win this battle o' the stump.
Random question 1: What was the first ever project posted to the New House Blog?
As you can see, much like an iceberg, only a very tiny percent of the stump was visible above the surface. The greater mass of wood lay hidden under rocks and dirt. Of course, I wasn't engaging the stump in battle every single day - more like once a week, sometimes for brief ten or twenty minute skirmishes.
Eventually the pit was large enough for me to bring in some power tools.
Finally, after months and months of battle, the stump was defeated. I did not feel the need to dig up all of the radiating roots: my main objective was the removal of the center mass and some of the surrounding root material. As you can see, the final pit was quite deep.
Here you can see all of the tools that were used in this grand battle. At one point I did consider seeking out a neighbor with a chainsaw and asking for help, but I never put that plan into action.
Have I mentioned, yet, that the soil at our Texas House is full of rocks? These light-coloured boulders were dug up while battling the stump. I do not know how there was room for them and the tree roots, but there they were.
And these two piles are (left to right): the dirt removed from the pit and the pieces of elm that were removed from the pit. Does anyone need any firewood?
Daisy is now 13 years old.
Edgar is nine years old.
Fillmore is 6 years old.
Satchmo is 14 years old, and still as active as ever.
Our Candelabra Aloe (Aloe Arborescens) also succumbed, so we replaced it with this Dyckia. We do not know the exact variety or species. As you can also see, the Silver Torch Cactus (Cleistocactus Strausii) in the background made it through the winter and is thrivening.
Behold our Elephant Ear ‘Sumo’ (Alocasia Hybrid). I have seen these thriving along the local rivers, so it seemed like a good choice for our Texas House. We planted it in the spot formerly occupied by a dried-up, dead philodendron. We believe that said philodendron died because of a buried sprinkler that we had to replace (more on this later).
This Gherkin (Delosperma Echinatum) is in the spot formerly occupied by the entry-way aloe (see above), which was a replacement for the Euphorbia Lactea Crest Grafted (Euphorbia Lactea Cristata) that did not survive the snows of 2021.
Meet the Gumby Cactus (Austrocylindropuntia Subulata Gumby). Have I mentioned, anywhere, ever, that we sometimes choose plants based, in part, on their names?
This is the train that delayed me one recent night as I was on my way home from a rehearsal. We have a several very active train tracks in and around our small town.
This sprinkler was completely buried under dirt and rock, so we dug a hole, extracted the old, installed a riser, installed a new 180° sprinkler, and filled in the hole. We believe that the above-mentioned dead, dried-up philodendron became dead and dried-up due to this sprinkler being completely buried and ineffective. So far it seems to be providing plenty of water for our new elephant ears plant.
This is all that is left of our Sunburst Cactus (Opuntia Sunburst). It survived the move from California, heat, cold, snows, more heat, cold, wet, dry, deer; and then one day it was simply dead. There was another entire cactus inside the cage, and it simply disappeared. This one in the picture just ceased living. It is a mystery.
As is our custom, we planted pepper plants in our food garden, but they are not doing so hot because of the hot air, recently-enacted watering restrictions, and lack of rain. They are still clinging to life, and have managed a total output of one pepper, but they have definitely not thriven so far. There is some hope, as they seem to have made a new effort to grow and survive.
Meet our Mexican Redbud (Cercis Canadensis Var. Mexicana). We were actually looking for a Sandpaper Tree (Ehretia Anacua), but the nursery did not have any in stock, and this one checked the right boxes (drought tolerant, deer resistant, looks good, cold tolerant to -5° F, not too expensive), so we chose it as an alternative.
Random question #2: What was the date I first posted about black widows (Latrodectus mactans)?
Random question #3: What were the dimensions (length and width) of the kitchen sink of our California House?
Cute Cat Interlude
How can we do a tenth anniversary Episode and not show off our cute cats?
Random question #4: What is the Episode number where we first mentioned Edgar?
Just a random dude in a random paraplane. This is the first such that I have seen in the wild.
Oh no! Something is eating the moon!
Random question #5: To what did I compare the section of rain gutter that fell off our California House?
Random question #6: To what did I compare the old rain gutters on the Parents' House?
Random question #7: How many dishwashers installations have we posted on the New House Blog?
Yup, it's a new cat door.
Fillmore approves.
The Lace Aloe (Aristaloe Aristata) that was in the left-hand entry-way pot succumbed to the cold, so we replaced it with this other aloe that we do not know the variety of. It was elsewheres on our property, and it survived the winter, so we decided to move it here instead of spending money on a new plant. Its new little shoots seem to be doing well so far.
Random Paraplane
Lunar Eclipse
Recently I witnessed a lunar eclipse at our Texas House.
Cute Cat Project
As we did at our California House, we recently installed a cat door in Becky's office so that our cute cats would be free to ingress and egress at their leisure.
Random question #8: How many in-sink disposals have we replaced during the first ten years of the New House Blog?
Spring Planting
Once again we lost a few plants over the winter, despite their claims to tolerating low temperatures. And once again we have replaced said lost plants.
Random question #9: What was the name of our gasoline lawnmower?
Random question #10: What is the name of our electric lawnmower?
Look Both Ways
Random question #11: How wide was the original stove hood I replaced at the Parents' House, and how wide was the replacement hood?
Another Lost Sprinkler
You may recall from this Episode that we found, replaced, and raised a sprinkler that had been completely buried by dirt and rock. Recently we found a second such sprinkler when we were testing out our irrigation system.
Not Doing So Hot
So now we are down to only one outdoor transplant from California that is still alive and threyeving - our large (well, less large because of last year's snows) aloe plant.
Random Question #12: What color are Satchmo's harness and leash?
Red Bud
Well, we couldn't just leave a big, open pit where the old elm stump used to be, so we planted a new tree and filled in the dirt all around it.
Bonus random question #1: What was the temperature in Barstow as we drove through it on our escape from California?
Bonus random question #2: What did we eat for supper at our first night's stop on our trip to our Texas House?
Bonus random question #3: What was the peak airflow rating of the stove hood we replaced in our California House?
Bonus random question #4 - Part 1: How many snake sightings have been posted on the New House Blog? Part 2: How many of those were venomous vs. non-venomous?
Please post any/all answers in the comment section. Correct answers will be provided in the next Episode of the New House Blog. Thanks everyone for your support.
Here's to another ten
bIsh
Acts 4:8-12
