It was another weekend of working in the yard. We filled a dumpster and finally got the last garbage pile off the front lawn. We have been focusing on the south gable also known as Tom's side. He's our neighbor and if he only knew how much we care about what he cares about, he would be very honored. Our house needs some work, OK it needs a lot of work and we think our neighbors know we are doing our best to fix it up and not be such an eyesore. And some simple yard work helps a big long way. This is Tom's side after some raking and cleaning. The star magnolia is in full bloom and this pic was taken right at sunset and the house doesn't look half bad.
I had a little too much time on my hands and drew up the changes to come in Photoshop.
There will be a new door, one window will go away because that is where the tub will go and we are replacing the little rounded attic vents for windows. We are also painting the house and finishing the trim. All in good time. All in good time.
So this guy lives in our laundry room. We are going to get a have-a-heart trap and evict him pretty soon cause he makes a bit of a racket in there, but I've been alright with him so far. But the other day we caught him in the act just being a little too greedy. Or he's got his calender all wrong and is stocking up for winter.
I mean can you stuff more seed in there buddy! Relax and leave some for BIRDS. Being that it's BIRD SEED. Cheeky bugger. Plenty of pun intended.
A new favorite sparrow - the chipper! He's a tiny little fella.
This pretty little lady is a female cowbird. You wouldn't know she's the Medea of birds by looking at her.
When it comes to Grackles we are making it up as we go along. Like is this guy a gal? Why is your head green all of a sudden?
Aaaahhhh, what a nice surprise! A red azalea growing right next to our patio.
Oh my lord and word. This knot weed sh*t is giving a whole new meaning to "grow like a weed."
It's a full on alien take over in our back yard. These suckers have grown a foot and a half in 4 days. Grrrrrrr....
We have no way of killing them, the root system is so crazy intricate that napalm seems to be the only solution.
For now we kick them. Clip them. Stomp them. Spray them and hoe them. Just so we don't have to look at them.
Lovely spring colors in Blue Jay land.
Hi Linda. You're a neighbor of mine. So nice to see another Clintondale house being worked on. Got your blog from fellow neighbor Dirk and E over at the soon to be open Gunk Haus. Hope to meet you in person soon!
ReplyDeleteKnot weed - can you pull it out by the root? The sumacs have an amazingly complex and wide-spread root system, but I've been having good luck pulling them out by the root. Then we mow to keep the new shoots from getting enough sun to spawn. Jody thinks (and I hope he's right!) that the root system will eventually die off. It's just a thought...
ReplyDeleteAnn! Nice to meet you. We feel like the luckiest people in the world to have found our house and Clintondale!
ReplyDeleteJ! I'm pulling when I can but they've been around for sooooo long (I think the previous owner thought they were nice an left them to grow wild) so the roots go on for miles. We are approaching it in the way you are describing though trying to distress and keep them from coming up as much as possible and then we'll sow grass and mow mow mow. Also just found out goats love this sh*t so we're gonna borrow Florence's furry mowers.
Hope you're well!
HEEEEEJ! Chipper är pilfink på ditt modersmål. Äntligen en fågel vi har gemensamt. Vi har köpt ett objektiv! Du kan sluta leta (om du ens hade börjat). Du skickade ju ett förslag till oss och vi insåg att det inte blir ett dugg billigare att handla over there. Det blev ett 55-250 med auto focus och stabalizer eller vad det heter. Jätteroligt! Azalean ser underbar ut. Så även magnolian. Lucky you. Har just fotat några små krokusar och snödroppar. Ingenting mot era blommor men för att vara Sverige och Getingedalen så är det rart. Nu vet vi när G är ledig i sommar! 12 juli-8 augusti. Vi hoppas att vi kan åka i början av hans ledighet. Räkna med oss! Vi ska leta biljetter ikväll. Om vi inte "dör" efter middagen vill säga. Här är det fantastiskt vårväder och vi har byggt byggt byggt nästan hela helgen. Alltså lite trötta. Det går med snigelfart men det blir väldigt bra. Så är det när man är bara är två vuxna och inte har några värstingmaskiner. Fast man blir väldigt nöjd på det här sättet. När varje spik slås i för hand och varje bräda sågas dito. Allt är bara bra för övrigt och jag läser alla dina inlägg med iver och glädje. Väldigt kul med bilder. Jag hoppas Tom är värd allt arbete för det ser mycket prydligt och fiiiiiint ut... Kram!
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