Visions of Springs Future

Today at 4pm, we had a landscape designer from the local nursery come over and look at our yard - she was great! The nursery has a great deal where you pay $60 for her to come consult for an hour, and you not only get the consultation, but you get a $60 voucher for supplies from the nursery, so it's basically free! 

Diana (the landscaper) got so excited with our big blank slate of a yard she was practically dancing around - she used hand motions and sound effects to describe different plants, like grasses that grow in mounds and lean to the side or oat grasses that have the little dangling seeds... What was great is I could tell she was seeing our garden finished, and it was beautiful. It will likely take years to get there, but having a vision is the first step. And she gave us some first steps - start some fruit trees, and where to plant them, start some vines on our sideyard fence (on wires or trellises) to hide a little more of the neighbors' houses and create a nice private space, and start planning our hardscape - she went farther than we had imagined with a patio area, and also had neat ideas for where to put raised beds... like herb garden along our patio wall, so if we are barbecuing, we'll be able to reach over the wall and grab a handful of rosemary for our steaks, or cilantro, etc. Doesn't that sound great?

Visions of a backyard oasis are dancing in my head!

Great Day for a Mow!

I mowed my first lawn today!!!!

I don't believe I've ever mowed a lawn before in my life, believe it or not. I haven't lived in a house with a lawn since I was a kid, and then it was my dad's job (I helped in other ways). So this is exciting! My first lawn!! awww :)

It wasn't so bad - but it got cold today! Spring is such a tease. This weekend it was balmy and nice, we barbecued, hung out on our patio, and left the sliding door open until 9 at night! Today, brrrrr! Ice in the morning, snow all the way down the mountains again, a brisk wind, making the 45 degrees out feel much colder with wind chill. I kept zipped up and wore wool gloves and a fleece headband.

As far as spring flowers, we seem to be in a pause between daffodils and the rest - our trees are still all bare, though some fruit trees were flowering earlier, and the only color is from dandelions, several of which, sadly, have now been decapitated by the mower :( I've always liked cheery little dandelions and don't understand why people hate them. I like them better than lawns, to be honest.

Beryl (our wonderful 84 year old neighbor who BAKED US AN ORANGE MERINGUE PIE - omg it was good) had her gardener mow both our lawns, which run together like one big lawn, last week, and this week, I borrowed her electric mower and mowed both lawns. The "ridge" between the two has been bothering her since her more recent neighbors haven't wanted to share mowing duty like that. :) I want to keep her very happy that we are her neighbors and keep those pies (and cookies and peanut brittle) coming! hee hee!

Our First Houseguests, Free Building Materials, and Demolition

Our friends Anita and Greg and their two teenage boys, Derek and Jacob, and their two large dogs, Rocky and the black dog they rescued and hope we will adopt when we are ready who doesn't yet have a name since we keep changing it and calling her different things all the time (Etta, Monster, Kirby, Zippy, etc). We had a great time and it was also an awesome way to "test" our new home – to find out how we use the house with guests and what works and what doesn't.

What works:

• It's great having a main bath for guests, and guest rooms, and the RV!


• The living room is a nice space and going to work fine, however we arrange it.


• The kitchen is sort of functional – the peninsula counter was good for setting up buffet style meals.


• The patio was nice for hanging out on and playing with the dogs in the yard.

What doesn't work (or could work better):

• We should really get furniture – like beds, for example, for guests!


• The main bath doesn't have a shower, so they had to use our tiny beat up shower in the master. Of course, these things are already in renovation plans.


• It would be nice to have the RV hooked up so guests could stay there and actually use the sink, shower and toilet as needed.


• More furniture in the living room will help – places to sit, and also a table and chairs for eating!


• I definitely don't like the wall, even though it's only a partial wall, between the living room and kitchen. I made French Toast for Easter Brunch and everyone was in the living room eating and talking and I was in the kitchen alone, "slaving away" (ha).  Being able to see and hear the action in the living room would be much better.


• Having an actual yard, or at least landscaping of some sort, in the back would make it much nicer! And also, nice comfy seating on the patio.

On Saturday, we went for a nice long walk – there are so many great places to walk nearby – I should really walk more. That's why I need a dog. Just 1/2 block away is open land with great views of the Sierra and White mountains, and a path along a canal. We saw ducks and fish and frogs and thoroughly tired the dogs out!

On Sunday, we drove up to a local canyon and checked out some old mines, and collected some free building materials! Nice flat "fieldstone" type rocks for walkways or walls – I am so excited to go back and get more! I laid them out in the front yard like a walkway, and they look great! We would need to set them in sand or something so that they are more even on top, and bigger ones would be better for patio or walkway, but there are LOTS of rocks up there. Very cool.

When our guests left and we walked back into the house, we knew we would miss all the action and it would be TOO quiet. So we started our first demolition project – ha. We successfully pulled out two of the three cabinets on the back patio! It wasn’t that hard, either. The third cabinet has some plumbing that was installed through it after it was built, so we need a Sawzall to get it out, but that shouldn't be hard. We will be giving away the cabinets - they are good quality and we already have lots of takers, so they should be gone soon.

We already like it better on the patio – it feels more open, more light gets into the living room, and when we get the third one out and the plywood off the ends of the patio, the guest room will also be a lot brighter. Apparently, the house used to be green! We like the green better than the ultra boring beige it is painted, so maybe we’ll paint the back of the house green just for fun.

As an added bonus, when we pulled out one of the cabinets, we found hidden treasure! (just like an Easter Egg hunt!) There was ART on the wall behind one of the cabinets! I am pretty sure it is from the 70’s or even late 60’s – it looks like tin can art – they took cans and cut them up, curled the ends, painted and stuck them together – and the colors are totally 70’s: avocado green, and that orange-red color of the washing machine my sister used to have back then... :)

Here are more photos: Cabinet demolition!