Waiting....

Up here in the frozen tundra, winter seems unwilling to release her hold on us as we anxiously await warm spring days. It is hard to believe that last year, at this time, we were enjoying warm, balmy days and were hard at work taking down all the trees in the yard. This year, as you can see, no such luck!

This snow is actually fresh...fresh, as in it fell last night and was added to on and off throughout the day today. Which means that we are still working sporadically on interior projects, like scraping the trim in the upstairs hallway. Boy, that's about as exciting as it can get. I am sure you are sorry to have missed post after post about how we have been scraping. And scraping. And scraping. Hours and hours of it. We have killed about four scrapers thus far, with more left to do.

A few years before we bought the house, someone had the brilliant idea of painting all the original trim white. Except that they must not have known about such things as sandpaper or primer because the paint was not sticking too well and could actually be picked at and removed with fingernails. Not that I recommend that method be used!

 

So this is what we started with. Underneath all of that white paint is beautiful trim, most of which was originally installed in the house when it was built. And here is where we are at today.

This hallway has two windows and four doors. Originally, though, the hallway had five doors and one window, but the window pictured above replaced the original door. We are planning on reinstalling the door. Why, you might ask? Because we hope to someday add a two-story greenhouse onto the back of the house. We have been told that at one time, there was a double glassed-in porch on the house, but that it was torn down when it became unsafe due to neglect. 

So, as you can see, not a whole lot is happening that is really exciting to write and read about. Hopefully, this cold spell will go away soon and then we will have more updates. We are planning on painting the house this year! And of course, we are putting in the vegetable garden. We are also planning on adding four more gardens around the house and yard. So, stay tuned for painting and landscaping....eventually!

A Haven for Lilacs

The past few days we have been hard at work landscaping around the house. For the past few months, it seemed as though our yard looked more like an archeological site than a family home. Our first summer here, we had noticed a lot of wood carpenter ants on our porch and in the house. So, we ripped out all the railroad ties that surrounded the house and subsequent flower beds. It was a good thing we did, too, as most of the beams were severely rotted and full of huge larvae. Disgusting to say the least. But since then, we had not done anything to the flower beds other than destroy what plants had remained - mostly hostas and other unknown flowers. That meant that for most of this spring and summer, our house was surrounded by mud and weeds. Not the most attractive site for the neighbors or a very welcoming one for us! However, as of this week, all of that has been vastly improved upon!

As you may know from our last blog post, we implemented a Back to Eden approach to our produce garden. We decided to also implement this approach to our flower beds and the perimeter of the house. I was blessed to see the City of Marion Street Department hauling around the chipper yesterday. I was able to stop them and ask what they did with the wood chips from the cleanup. He asked if I wanted them and said that they would be happy to dump whatever they had around lunch time. This was such a blessing and an answer to prayer as we had used most of our supply of wood chips up while planting our garden! I was so happy to see the half-load of raw wood chips and greenery - exactly what the video had advised we would need. And so, work began.

The previous day, we had borrowed a bird bath from our neigbhor and placed it in one of the bald areas caused by the removal of the trees earlier this spring. We planted some wildflower mixes around it, and fenced it in to keep the kids away from it. So the first thing we did was use some of the wood chips to cover that area. What an improvement!

My very good friend Jamie told me about new lilac growth spurts and that these could be easily transplanted to start new lilac bushes. First thing the next morning, I checked out some training videos on YouTube and found out that these new little growths are pretty hard to kill, so long as you have some of the root on it. The one lilac bush in our yard is going to have to be removed as it is interfering with the placement of our fence, but it has at least 50 to 75 new growths all around it. I learned real quick one thing that the videos forgot to mention - lilac roots are tough as steel and almost impossible to cut through with a shovel! It took me two days, and a lot of wheelbarrow loads of wood chips, but I was able to transplant 21 of the lilac growth spurts around the house.

For the most part, I strategically placed them so that our views from our windows and the front porch would not be blocked. I also used them to try and hide some of the unsightly things around the house, such as the utility boxes.

We have a few odd little corners here and there, too, that I think they will help to soften and make mowing the lawn a bit smoother for my husband. Some of the areas around the house, especially towards the back, were really ripped up and uneven with the rest of the ground. At one time, this whole area was covered with white decorative stone, which we were only to happy to eliminate. We purchased 10 more bags of the organic soil that we had used in the garden. This soil was placed along the side of the house which had the deepest discrepancy and filled it in. Once the wood chips were added, it looked so much better! I can almost see it with the various lilac bushes growing.

Of course, I had to plan it carefully so that once the bushes grew and filled in the space they would not interfere with my laundry line! I can almost smell the fragrant lilac scent as it wafts through our clothes in the next few years....mmmmm. Because I softened the angle to make it easier to mow, I was also able to transplant a lot of the grass into the other bald area by the street caused by the stump we had ground down. Hopefully, the grass will transplant okay and fill in that area nicely.

We also planted some lilacs alongside the part of the house that is adjacent to the driveway. This area is particularly challenging. Previously it was full of tiger lillies (one flower that I do not like at all!) and more hostas. These were taken by a friend and transplanted at her house. In addition to the lilacs, we planted some low ground covering wildflowers. And of course, we covered everything with the raw wood chips.

I hope that all the lilac spurts take root and flourish. It's no big deal if they don't all make it, especially since they were free and all it really cost us was some time and effort. Plus, we have neighbors that also have lilac bushes, so we can always get new cuttings if we need to replace any. However, if they do all take root and grow, we will have small bushes all around our house measuring about 5 feet tall in about 4 years. Just like my asparagus, this is something that I have invested in now with the hope of a blessed return down the road. It's also one project that I am glad to say is done...at least for this year. 

Today's Word Is...Timber!

Today we worked diligently on removing the cedars that were planted on two sides of our property. A word of advice to anyone considering removing trees...count the trunks before you begin! For some reason, we thought we had only 10 to 20 trees; however, when we counted all the stumps when we were done we were shocked to count 30 of them! No wonder we were so tired at the end of the day!

Everyone worked hard on the project - even DJ and Zoya. I have to give them credit for creativity! It was their job to move the firewood to the lean to attached to the shed. Rather than carry each one (which Daddy threw as close as he could), they loaded up DJ's "jeep" and drove the wood to the shed. It was really cute and funny at the same time, especially since there were times when they had to carry the wood further to reach the truck than they would have if they had just carried it to the lean to in the first place. But they were happy to help and felt that they were being "really useful engines" (a Thomas the Train reference, for those that don't recognize the quote).



By the end of the day, we had a really nice stack of firewood to burn in our pit, once we have that incorporated into the new landscaping schemes. Here are some before and after pictures to show what we have accomplished. These first two pictures show the property line that runs alongside our shed.

And here is what the back property line looks like after a full day of work. This side was a little bit more challenging only because the trees were intertwined with some support cables for a power pole and one pair of trees actually looked like they were supporting the pole. Fortunately for us, they were not.

In addition to the firewood, we also now have a rather large pile of branches and skinny poles in our yard. My dear husband and I are having a bit of a debate on what is the next best course of action. He wants to haul all of it to the local compost yard, which is free. I want to rent a chipper and make cedar mulch for my gardens. Who do you think will prevail?

Believe it or not, our house actually has a back deck on it that the pile of cuttings is completely hiding from view! Of course, none of this would have been possible without the hard work of my dear wonderful husband Dave. He worked diligently from about 8:30 in the morning until we called it quits at 6:00. I think his arms were vibrating from the chain saw all night too!

I know that the views of the neighbors' yards is not much to look at, but from inside the house, especially on the second floor, our outside view looks so much bigger and brighter. Unfortunately, while green and beautiful in their own right, the cedars were not sufficient for keeping children in the yard and little critters out of the garden that we would like to have. That being said, we are planning on putting up a fence to replace the trees. (Besides, fences do not require multiple rakings!)





A Garden of Rocks

Because the warm weather is continuing to hold up here in Northern Wisconsin, and because work seems to be really slow for my dear husband, we spent yet another day doing yardwork. We have discovered that someone at sometime thought it would be fun to plant rocks everywhere. We have rocks alongside the shed; we have rocks behind the shed; we have rocks alongside the house. Need I say more?

In addition to the rocks, we seem to have a plethora of black plastic garbage bag-like material underneath all the rocks. Unfortunately, it has been there so long that a layer of dirt and its subsequent plants have grown over the black plastic displacing the rocks and embedding the roots. Thankfully, we have a really large pit (see our post on the outhouse) that we are filling with...you guessed it...rocks! No, we are not planning on having a rock garden. We just decided that we would fill about five feet of the pit and leave the rest for something else, like a sandbox for the little ones.

The work doesn't stop there! We still have to remove the silver maple in the back yard; the cedars that frame two sides of the yard; locate the original well on the property; clean out underneath the porch and deck; and prepare for a really big garden. I am so thankful that Spring came really early this year as it is allowing us the extra time we can really use to kick this yard into shape. I have to confess though, that there are times that I wish our yard were not so big and other times that I am really grateful that my husband did not convince me to buy a place in the country (opposed to our charming, small town) which would obviously have included even more work.

DJ and Zoya have been such a "help" too. DJ allows us to "borrow" his motorized jeep to "drive" our bins of rocks from wherever we are cleaning them up to the old outhouse site. He and his sister also take turns holding one shovel like a dustpan so that Momma can scrape more rocks into it to fill the bins. In between other "helps", they fill empty creamer containers with rocks, earning $1 for each full bucket. See, we are not into slave labor! DJ has so far earned $5 and Zoya earned $15. Unfortunately for Zoya, she is in "debt" to Momma and Daddy for breaking a curtain rod yesterday. (She told me that she was really very sorry for making me so sad - who can stay mad for too long with that sincere of an apology?)

Anyway, we all worked so hard and well together that Daddy decided we deserved an extra special treat and took us out for dinner and dessert at Cruise Inn - a local summer only burger joint and ice cream stand. Boy, did it taste so good...especially since I did not have to cook or clean! I am actually praying for rain tomorrow so that we can get a rest from the yardwork.

A Well That Is Not A Well

Today we discovered that our well, is not a well, and that it is actually the old outhouse collection area. Can everyone just say yuck with me now? My poor husband has spent the last two days digging out the outhouse. It's not all bad news, though. In addition to some highly fertilized soil....

...we found bottles, bottles and more bottles. And some of them may actually be worth some money, which would be nice. We also found some old wood stove components, like the top, the covers, and some of the doors. (Pictured in the background behind the bottles.)

And that is not all...apparently the hole in the ground was filled with more garbage. We actually filled a barrel with old rusted tin cans. Some of them were coffee cans; others were sardine. A majority of them, though, were unidentifiable. There was also a lot of broken glass, old wood and just junk in general.

We were also blessed to find some odds and ends type of things. These were old vacuum tubes, light bulbs, bricks, rusted brackets and more. The interesting items that we thought were cool we placed temporarily on the garage window sill for further analysis. (The coffee mug was not a find; it was my husband's morning sustenance!)

Anyone any good at identifying china patterns? We found a lot of broken pieces, many of which featured gold edging, trim or designs. Our thought is that after we clean up all the pieces, we will mortar them to some wood and make a variety of hot plates for our dining room table. It will make a really interesting conversation piece or two!

Based on the amount of dirt removed and the quantity of trash and treasures discovered, can you guess how big the outhouse was? It was huge! We could probably bury all eight membes of our family in it! It measures approximately 6' x 5' and 8' deep. And my poor, wonderful husband shoveled it all out by hand (I was not allowed to climb in and help too much!). Say hi to Dave!



A Sidewalk to Nowhere

Today we got so much done and not done. I had always heard that when you buy a house and start working on it that you end up with other projects not quite planned for. That was definitely the story of our day at the Fuller house! The plan for today was to clean up the gutters, finish raking the backyard, clean up the brick flower bed, and clean up behind the shed in preparation for our garden. And what did we get done? Well, the gutters for sure.

What a yucky mess. Of course, it was my job to hold the ladder while my wonderful husband scooped and threw and sprayed with the hose. Even though it was not sunny, I had to wear my sunglasses just for eye protection! Then it was on to the next project. While Dave cleaned up from the gutter job, I started by raking the leaves from alongside the garage (the ones dumped from the gutter). And that is when we got detoured.

While raking the leaves, I noticed the rake leaving furrows on the ground. Very clearly defined ones, I might add. So of course, I squatted down to take a look. Hmmm...that is not dirt. Stand back up and scrape with my shoe. Yep, definitely not dirt. Time to get a better tool. I grabbed my son's little snow shovel (give me some credit here...it had a straight edge on it) and scraped along the side of the garage. And guess what we found buried....a sidewalk! Who in their right mind would bury a sidewalk under six inches of dirt and gravel?

By the time we were done digging and scraping and dumping wheelbarrow load after load, we had a sidewalk that started at the garage and ended about four feet short of the house. We also found a lonely little step...to...you guessed it...nowhere. Were these landscaping projects gone wrong? Or what? It doesn't matter, I guess. We love our little sidewalk. We plan on extending it fully to the house and redesign our fence to incorporate it. Of course, we still had some questions, like why did it end at the brick flower bed at the back of the garage? Which brought us to our second detour of the day - the brick flower bed.

Or so, we thought it was a flower bed. The original plan was to clean out the marsh grasses and milkweed from last year. We wanted to smooth it all out so that we could attach a downspout to a rain barrel for watering the garden. Seems simple and easy enough. We figured that the dirt would only go down a few inches, so we started digging. And digging. And digging...three and a half feet down and we still have not hit the bottom. It definitely is not a flower bed as we originally thought! So, what is it?

Unfortunately, we had to stop digging for two reasons...first, Dave got an emergency call and had to go to work; secondly, the middle of the dirt pile is frozen solid, we think, from the gutter dumping rain into it (which is why we thought it would be perfect for a rain barrel to begin with). Our wonderful neighbor came over while Daddy was working and she knew exactly why we had a sidewalk leading to a flower bed that is not a flower bed!

We have a sidewalk leading to the old well for the house! We are so excited. Now, instead of a rain barrel, which is not as pretty as, well, an antique style wrought iron hand pump, we are going to have a pump. First, though, we have to finish digging it out and find out if the original piping for the original well is still in place. And get a well permit from the city. And find buy a hand pump. And the list goes on and on.

So even though today did not go as planned, we are still very happy with our new discoveries. Stay tuned and see what else we may find.

Scraping and Painting Can Wait 'Til Tomorrow

As it was too nice of a day to stay indoors. While we have not been able to do a whole lot with our stair project (my wonderful husband is dragging his feet), today we were able to get a lot of yard clean up work done. All the old railroad ties are finally gone. All the hostas, bushes, and weeds have been pulled out. And, about 90% of the yard has been raked of its fall leaf collection. Whew...are we tired. We spent about four hours outside today with our little helpers. The only part of the yard that remains to be tackled is behind the shed and the lean to. Plus, one of our Amish friends is going to take down the huge silver maple that is in the back yard...which means that this year, we are going to have a huge garden! Daddy also has to take down all the cedar trees that are bordering two sides of our property. Since the unseasonably warm weather is supposed to continue for a few more days, we are hoping to get a lot more work done. We also have to decide on the fence that we want to install. Currently, the debate is over chain link, white picket and privacy. Which do you like and why?