Being at one with nature

Here is something interesting. For me, at least. Looking online for an older map of my neighborhood, one from around the time the house was built, I found this USGS one from 1918, pre-development. Holy cow, we're a swamp! Thus, the 12" of water to our front step is meant to be there and who are we to stop it?

X marks the spot.

Incidentally, the Florida Military Academy moved across the river into a hotel the year our house was built.

More photos of Door from a Dumpster

Here's the door, primed and hung. The deadbolt is a fake deadbolt. It fit the old hole.
















Here is a before-and-after. Notice how dark and cramped the little back-porch/laundry room is (that has nothing to do with all the stuff we've crammed in it) and then I open the steel back door (it opens all the way, there's just too much Stuff Meant to Live in a Shed behind it) . Voila! sunlight yet the animals and the AC can't escape. Dreamy fall afternoons here we come! It's like those 20's ads where the housewife is living in bliss because of the gloriousness of her kitchen.


















As awkwardly as that washer and dryer are positioned, this 7-years-long apartment renter does think they are the best thing ever. When we come in from a hard day under the house or bailing water from our car, we can strip at the back door and pop the clothing into the washer.

Someday we'll get an on-demand, wall-mount water heater, move the electric panel, re-do the walls because patching cheap paneling is ugly, and can then move washer/dryer to the left. Half of the wall behind the washer/dryer is a large window opening that's been closed over with concrete board. One of our fantasies is to knock out this wall as well as the adjoining bedroom wall and make one big room. We wouldn't be able to finance this before we become an historic area next year, though. Add some more months-long steps with reviewing comittees and application fees.

I was encouraging Pepper to try out the new door!

Today on Fine Woodworking: Make a plank doorknob!

Wednesday night we got lots of rain here. It seemed normal, like it rains sometimes and you don't think much of it. I went across the river to feed my mom's cat whilst she was away getting nursing continuing certification credits in Las Vegas (yeah, right, educational stuff in Vegas!). Fed the cat, got mom some groceries, came back and suddenly couldn't leave for the rain and lightning. I decided to stay and watch movies, and J called to say the yard was starting to flood so I might as well stay overnight with the cat. We've had some issues with our storm drain, so a little flooding wasn't unexpected. Two hours later he called to say water was up to the steps:
















and that the car had flooded, he couldn't start it, and a neighbor had to pull him away from the drain. Why let the car stay there when the street started to flood I don't know. Actors....So realizing he'd need a car Thursday morning to get to work, I came home and we toweled and mopped out his car until 1:30 AM. Its warning lights are on now, and four buckets of Damp Rid are on the floor. grrrrr..rrr













Here's a photo of one of the funnel clouds on the river that day, about 1 1/2 miles from mom. The structure just behind it is our longest cable bridge:










However, everything is nice and green now. I'm very proud of hanging the square door in the unsquare doorway this afternoon! It's this door. Check out the plank doorknob! It'll suffice until I can find something short and vintagy that won't hit the real knob when the two doors are closed. A stile was starting to crack parallel to the bottom hinge, causing it to bounce instead of close, so I used long deck screws to clamp it to the door. It's not like it's our real door.

When I grow up, I'm getting a shed

This is what I did this Labor Day weekend. I made my first dowel-assembly project, to see what I'd need to learn to build kitchen cabinets. I learned that I will need to build a guide for the circular saw. These shelves in the window of the laundry area/back porch are holding gardening stuff; the things that go in the future shed - lawnmower, power tools, paint, etc. are in the dining room, mostly on a shelf unit donated by my mom. Thank you, mom!


Here is the new retaining wall around the vegetable bed; the side closest to the house has a slight hill and I've been meaning to fix that for months. Now there is a two-brick high wall on two sides and I've been filling it with dirt taken from the leveled path. When I pull out this season's plants I'll add lots of compost and purchased dirt because our sandy soil isn't much good for vegetables. We're almost done with the mulch path, two more bags and it's done. I laid the mulch over weed cloth because without it the whole area would be weedy green again in two months. The path end will eventually connect with the driveway/deck concrete area.

This week's note in Florida wildlife (last week there was a 1/8" frog living below the bathroom) is a little white squooshy bead found in the path dirt. I thought it was leftover construction material or a large piece of vermiculite. I squooshed it for a bit and then it popped open and a baby lizard head flew out! I was traumatized enough and stopped the path for the day. It's really too hot to work outside anyway, and it will probably be so until October; it's the southern equivalent of our long winter months in Syracuse.

Despite the sunstroke, the garden's making great progress. The next garden plot, the weedy area closest to the camera, will be the same brick area but divided in half by a slight path, the half closest to the house probably becoming the compost pile. I'll take out the pathway bricks and use them for the bed, and try aluminum flashing bent in half for the path edging. Commercial aluminum is too expensive and plastic edging might not survive regular lawnmowing.

Way down at the end of the fence is our new back gate; we thought it would be a good idea to finish since we're babysitting my mom's dog this week, and the 5 next-door kids (most are old enough to know better) frequently come knocking at the back door... -WARNING! Rant!- At 8 in the morning asking to borrow DVDs...(we have maybe 10 total)...One even came by yesterday when I was working on the path and asked if I would buy him a movie. I wouldn't even buy movies for my own kids! They should be reading or playing outside. I suggested he go to the library. I wish the nurseries would put out the cypress trees so we could finish boxing in our "back" yard. We don't pester other people in their backyards! Just because you can see us outside, using dangerous power tools, doesn't mean we want to talk to you! Please stop breaking down our fence boards and kidnapping our cat!