Moonflower

Among the new plants in the ground at my house now is Moonflower - aptly named as they bloom at night and close back up during the day. They spread and spill out over the area where they're planted and fill an awful lot of space..which is nice for me right now because I have a good amount of space to fill! They also have great foliage, so they're pretty even when they're not blooming...as all of my plants are in the process of doing at the moment.
As you can probably tell, I took this picture when I pulled into the driveway last night...headlights and camera flash: ON!

SO much respect for landscapers!

This is where we started: dirt mounded up from re-pouring the sidewalk, dead grass, rocks all over the yard..and the random nail here and there left over from roofing and siding projects.
Pretty much a mess!

Cleared the river rock from around the house, laid my landscaping fabric, and trenched in the stones for a nice border.

Added wood mulch inside the rock border, raked up the dead grass, rocks, and junk with a steel rake, and smoothed everything out.
This picture shows the before (foreground) and after. Now the yard is a nice clean slate - hopefully the grass seed I threw down yesterday will start taking off over the next couple weeks!

So..I got myself into another project. I read about a method of organic fertilizing called compost tea - it's all of the benefits of spreading a layer of compost, but it's liquefied so it reaches the roots faster.
I bought a fish tank bubbler to aerate the water so helpful bacteria would grow during the "brewing" process. 

Ideally, you'd use a rain barrel, but I don't have one - I just used City water from the hose and let the bubbler work at it for a while.
Compost tea in practice at Haaaavaad Yaaaad ;)

Make a giant tea bag filled with compost and suspend it from the lid of the can into the bubbling water. Add molasses to feed the bacteria, and a little organic fish fertilizer if you can get it. All in all, it's a great shot of nitrogen to the soil, it helps the root system of the grass reach deeper and increases the lawns drought resistance. And it's organic - even if it doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to, there's nothing in it that's going to hurt anything. Pretty cool process!
Compost Tea

Tying up loose ends

Well folks, the weather is turning colder and we’re running short on daylight most days after I get off work. That means we’re having to take better advantage of our weekends..before the snow starts flying!

Finished up some of the trim pieces around the bay window that hadn't been done. Looking pretty good up front!

This past weekend was a long one, thanks to Veteran’s Day. Saturday was a busy day for a number of reasons (more on that below) and my office was closed Monday, so we were able to get quite a lot accomplished in a fairly short amount of time.

Story time: Friday night was spent doing a little grocery shopping and getting ready for my mom’s surprise party the following night. She specifically requested no party, but it was her 50^th – we HAD to! So, Friday night was prep night. Saturday, it was my job to keep her distracted from my dad and sister while they put the pieces together and got everybody rounded up. I find the best way to distract anybody is to have them haul stones for most of the day..

Get to work.

Anyway, the party was a success and the birthday girl was REALLY surprised, so that was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad have both helped me out a lot over the last year and half (..or 25, but who’s counting) so it was nice to be able to do a little something for her.

The day after the party was pretty much a lost cause. I did do a little laundry and a couple dishes, but it was mostly a day of recovery from Saturday’s festivities. I hadn’t over-indulged as much as some, but I had hauled enough of that rock to have difficulty climbing stairs! Basically anything from my butt cheeks down was feeling the burn from all of our landscaping.

This was the process: string line, spade for trenching, gloves for moving stones. woof..

I rolled the stones back out of the trench and lined it with landscaping fabric to (hopefully) keep weeds from popping through.

I'll fill this with mulch - it's going to look so good! :)

I couldn't believe how far the stone went! I thought for sure I'd run out before we got everything done, but we actually had a few little pieces left over. That's good living.

Monday saw more work inside as the temperature dropped – that meant finishing up some of the baseboard and random trim pieces that hadn’t been done before, filling holes, and touch-up painting. This detail work takes a little longer, but makes such a big difference when it’s done!

I had to have my (new) drywall patched to account for the new windows being slightly smaller than the old ones.

I also put in a special order for these grilles to give the look of divided panes - I think it makes the house look better AND is more in keeping with the details in the old pictures I was given. 

Testing out my grilles....ignore the painters tape :)

We also trimmed out the front door and finished up the baseboard in the solarium. I'm always amazed how FINISHED that baseboard makes everything look!

Classin' up the joint

Remember this?

Keep an eye on that pile of bricks.

Originally, there were two steps - now there will only be one.

All formed up and ready to pour!

One step here, one step at the City sidewalk, and a slightly steeper pitch in between.

Apparently it took a lot of cement..

Ta-da!

Here's my dilemma, gang: which pattern do you like the best? I'll be bricking the treads on both steps and the entire sidewalk in between. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks :)
A basic basket weave?

Basket weave with a thin edge?

..with a thick edge?

Herringbone? (I like all three patterns, but I felt like the border gave everything a more finished look. Thoughts?)

..with a thin edge? This was one of my favorites.

..with a thick border? (I don't care for the thick edging on the basket weave or the herringbone patterns. I would like it more if the walk were wider..maybe.)

This was the ONE time I liked the thick border. A basic running bond going the length of the walkway.

A horizontal running bond with a thin edge. I liked this one a lot. Plus, with the long grout lines running across the sidewalk, you won't see imperfections in the lines like you would if it ran lengthwise. OCD..

Quick lunch yesterday: pesto pasta with a sliced heirloom tomato. If you think I've only eaten pasta and tomatoes this summer........you'd be absolutely correct :)

Work, work, work!

Over the course of the last week, the fam and I have been working to tear all the old siding off and wrap the front of the house to get it ready for the new stuff I had delivered about a week and a half ago (yeah..we’re THAT close!)

Not only that, we had to hurry up and tear everything off so that I could get a contractor in there to work on the flashing around the foundation and the soffit area. He was on a pretty strict timeline due to other jobs he had lined up before and after mine, so the heat was on!

Not only that, but I was helping the Chamber of Commerce organize a big tailgate party downtown to celebrate the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game – we wanted to make it a big one because Channel 13 from Des Moines was coming down to celebrate with us!

Not only THAT, but the last part of last week was particularly busy at work! When it rains, it pours.

The siding came off relatively easily; though, it did take more time than I anticipated. And because I was being pulled in so many directions last week, I couldn’t just sit and finish one project at a time like I wanted to. The family rallied, though, and we got everything we could reach taken down. My contractor and his tall ladders ended up helping us with the very highest pieces of siding – and he did a great job on everything else, too. Good work, good price, good guy!

Before

So glad to see some of the old details still there - definitely keeping this one!

And the opening for my little window!

Siding removed, holes patched, ready for wrapping.

This weekend, we also worked to get all the remaining rock out from in front of the house. Not just because I’d like mulch there, but because the rocks were all full of nails, old shingles, pieces of siding, paint, etc. That was a job I wasn’t looking forward to, but my sister and I got it knocked out – BIG thanks to her!

Rock removed from the front - whew!

Wrapped, rockless, and looking like a million bucks!

The tailgate party was a HUGE success as well! We had worked in a small committee for the last couple weeks to get everything lined up, and we nailed it. Everyone talked about what a great time they had, ALL the vendors sold out of EVERYTHING they had for sale, and Channel 13 was blown away at the response J In fact, they said it was the best organized event with the largest turnout they’ve had anywhere they’ve done their Cy/Hawk Showdown event. Way to go Knoxville!

As if there wasn't enough to do, in the week leading up to the tailgate party, the owner of the local art gallery/studio and I built two golf carts that we then raced down the side of the courthouse lawn. Cy/Hawk meets Knoxvville Raceway :)
http://www.art101knoxville.com/

The end results were pretty bad-ass, if I do say..



The sports teams from Channel 13 enjoyed them!





The local newspaper estimated thousands of people came out!



The 1917 Dunbar Popcorn Wagon on loan from the Marion County Historical Society. One of only about 15 left in the country - this cart used to sit on the Courthouse lawn!



We had the cheerleaders, high school mascot, and even the marching band - it was great!

 A couple links to our features on WHO – Channel 13 last week – enjoy!

http://whotv.com/2012/09/05/rvtv-knoxville-rvtv-rolls-in/ - featuring our golf carts!
http://whotv.com/2012/09/06/knoxville-party-rvtv-celebrates-in-knoxville/
http://whotv.com/2012/09/06/well-known-knoxville-boasts-more-than-just-racing/ - Peace Tree Brewing Company and Dixie Gebhardt, designer of the Iowa Flag
http://whotv.com/2012/09/06/knoxville-stadium-the-story-behind-the-name/ - Ken Locke Stadium, historic landmark..best place ever to watch high school football!

Home Sweet Home :S

Destruction at the homestead again, gang.

This is what we started with..

We’re at the point, now, where everything has lined up just right for the siding project to continue on the front of the house. I’ve spoken with a couple contractors who are going to help us out in a few areas (namely, flashing around the foundation and the soffit) and we are off and running..again.

When I say “things have lined up,” I really mean it. Everything is kind of happening all at once..AGAIN. My cement contractor came and tore out the rest of the sidewalk and lower steps so we can replace those, the lumber yard delivered my siding, lumber, and house wrap, and we’ve started tearing into the old siding.

The neighbors have had a major roofing project on their hands. Meanwhile, I had a contractor measuring the siding..

..and working on concrete. The City was also there mowing the lot next door. Lots of noise all at once!

Needless to say, the house is looking…really nice from the street.

No mo' sidewalk!

While my favorite cement guy was there, I asked him to scrape the rocks out from around the front of the house for me.
..I hate shoveling rock..

My contractor should be coming by in the next couple days to take care of the flashing and soffit, then we can start looking into framing the new windows and trimming them out. Then it’s just siding, siding, and more siding..with a little gray paint thrown in for good measure.

....pretty..

Stay tuned!