While I haven't been doing much to the house, the plants I planted in February are growing along. This year I decided to have more plants more adapted to my feast/famine climate and (who knew?) have needed less water as a result.
Since I didn't buy new dirt again this year for the vegetable garden frame, the plants doing the best are in pots on the deck. There are at least $10 worth in ripening native blueberries and 10 tomato plants in big plastic pots. Corn and zucchini are struggling along in the infill sand/clay mix in the side yard.
The twin house next door is in pre-foreclosure. It seems the silly asking price resulted from the owners taking a $55,000 home equity loan several years back, to redo something at their current house across the river. Adding that loan to its main mortgage of $124000 gave it a hefty price way more than any sane person would pay. One woman driving by saw the price written on the For-Sale-By-Owner sign and asked us if there was a swimming pool made of gold in the backyard. After 1 and 1/2 years on the market, it was listed by a realtor briefly in January, for $155,000.
The lawn hadn't been cut in months and after several calls to Jacksonville city services, an independent contractor (teens working for their dad) charged up a $500 lien, for 10 minutes with a riding lawnmower. They also mowed over the Sale sign since it was buried in weeds.
