Looking For A Mason

We need an affordable mason. Any suggestions?

The porch we need is only 45"x86" with two steps and an 11"x7' sidewalk to the driveway. We got a quote from a large company that we used several years ago on our last house and it was $10,000! Yikes!

Looks like we'll be building a porch soon. 

How Convenient

To have a door next to the driveway.

When we bought this old house we couldn't even see the window in this corner. Like every other part of the garden, this area was terribly overgrown.

Some aggressive pruning revealed a rotten window in the breakfast area. Hmmm, right next to the driveway.

How convenient it would be to have a door there. Especially since the front door is so far away.

Finally on July 3rd, we hired a concrete cutting company to cut the opening in the brick. That saw went through those bricks like butter.

Voila, a door! Well, an opening anyway. We screwed plywood over it for two days while we prepped and fitted the door. We also scraped and painted, and replaced the rotten fascia board.

Just yesterday I painted the door our accent color: Calypso Blue.

We still need to install the light, make a porch, and finish painting, but we're loving this door!

Critter Wars

Our neighborhood is rather wild. Laid out in 1946, and originally miles from town, the first houses were really out in the country. They had wells, septic systems, and no natural gas. They also had critters: possums, skunks, raccoons, and rats.

Seventy years later, even though we've long been incorporated into the city and houses have sprung up all around us, we have the same wild critters in the neighborhood.

A good chunk of our time in June was spent trying to eradicate two teen-age possums that were living under the kitchen. We finally trapped them and took them to the river where they seemed quite happy. 

We've found evidence of possums under the house and in the attic. We've also found rat nests in the soffits. And the front lawn is all lumpy from skunks digging for grubs. Just last Sunday night we came home to the unmistakable smell of a skunk in the sideyard.

We've Googled all these critters and now know more than we ever knew, and as they say, knowledge is power.

Possums are good climbers and good swimmers but typically won't dig much and prefer a man-made "den" to sleep in during the day. They also love cat food. In the middle of the night.

Skunks don't climb, but are good diggers so fences will actually keep them out of your yard. However, they eat snails, slugs, and grubs, so maybe they are good visitors. But there's that smell thing...

To deter the skunks I sprinkled moth balls along the ground in the sideyard and secured the gate that they were digging under with rocks. I hope it helps.

Meanwhile we are still dealing with these critters. Can't seem to get rid of them.

July Garden Report

It's been warm and dry lately so these agapanthus are quite happy. They always bloom for the 4th of July and look like fireworks to me, so that seems appropriate.

We have two Rose of Sharon shrubs on the property and I didn't know what they were at first, but as the buds formed I figured it out. They are both a soft pink color.

And oleanders, we have too many oleanders. Although they are drought tolerant, and figured prominently in a movie I like called "Enchanted April", I just don't like them and wish they weren't here.

There is a large magnolia tree right next to the pool. Consequently there are magnolia flowers, leaves,  and flowers parts in the pool every day. They smell nice, but the constant litter is annoying.

I discovered these crocosmia flowers in the jungle. They are drought tolerant and attractive to hummingbirds so I'm going to encourage them to spread. 

Lantana with a soft purple blossom.

I found this odd white azalea blooming this morning. Odd in two ways: blooming in July (?), and it has touches of green on the flower.

And then there's good old impatiens. A dependable shade plant, but mighty thirsty. I may have to reevaluate their place here.

So that's what's blooming at New Acorn Cottage this July.

Windows, Doors, Siding

We have been busy, busy, busy working on the house lately. Just last week I painted the front door "Calypso Blue" and yesterday we got a new American flag.

We've installed all the new windows and doors in the back of the house, and replaced the siding. Now we're working on the front of the house. 

I like to go back and look at old pictures to see just how far we've come. This photo was taken in May. You can see the new front door and tell that we've pruned a lot of shrubs.

This photo was taken in December before we pruned the camellias.

This photo was taken last September before we even owned the house. Notice that the overgrown shrubs hide most of  the windows and the front door.

Here's the back of the house where most of the fire damage had occurred. Plywood covered the broken windows and doors back in September.

Here's that same area with lots of shrubs removed and new walls, windows, and doors.

The siding is complete now, but I still need to paint all the windows and trim.

Now let's go back out front and show you a gloomy corner where a significant change will occur. Under the plum tree, next to the driveway, was a bay window into the breakfast area.

Heres that same area, but with trees and shrubs removed in preparation for the big change.

Yesterday we removed the air conditioning unit  and that rotten old bay window to make room for a new door! It will be right where that plywood is.

I don't know why no one ever thought to put a door here, but we are really looking forward to it. This old house really rambles, and the front door is miles from the driveway. Since this new door will go into the breakfast/kitchen area (where we spend a lot of time) it will be very convenient for groceries and all those other things that come and go from a house. It will almost be like a good old Maine doah yahd.

That one's for you, Barb.