Streak is over
Used chicken wire instead of hog - both animals!! Used store bought compost and potting soil mix. Turns out this wasn't such a great strategy.
Problem number one: lots of little cuts from chicken wire. I now officially hate that stuff.
Problem number two: compost/soil mix kept falling out of holes. So then I had to line the chicken wire with burlap, AFTER I'd already put the first bag of compost in. Difficult.
Problem number three: compost/soil mix is pretty heavy so my tower is saggy (like many other things in my life) and generally unattractive.
Problem number four: given that I can't see through the burlap very well, if the taters sprout and miss the hole, I may not know, so won't be able to cut a new hole for them.
Boo hoo.
Am considering scrapping and starting over...
Cheap Screens
I'm trying the cheap version. Bought a roll of screen material at the Moraga Hardware Store 36 inches by 8 feet or so. Trimmed it to fit the door (32 inches), then staple gunned it, and ties, to the frame at the top. It works like a see through curtain.
May not be perfect, but I'm hoping it'll reduce intruders by 90% if and/or when it stops raining and gets warm.
Total cost: about $30.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Rolled up
Rolled down
All digits accounted for
Sparks will fly - not alarming, unless you were standing in dry grass
Sheet metal is sharp - four little bitty cuts on my hand - wear gloves
Some circular saws are not supposed to be used to cut metal. Oops. Read the directions carefully.
Part three in this was drilling holes for the screws to keep the ends together - POC (Piece o' cake). A regular drill bit can get the job done.
I also pounded the top edges down some hoping that it might dull the edges a little bit.
All in all, I am very proud of myself.
Picture will be here once it stops raining.
More Planter Boxes!!
So bought 50 feet of galvanized sheet metal (14 inches tall) for $60. Bought some short, blunt screws and nuts (43 cents each). Figured out how long a piece of sheet metal I need (Circumference = radius x pi x 2) (and you thought high school math was useless) for the sizes I want to make.
Tomorrow, all things being equal is circular saw day!! Fingers crossed that I'll still have fingers to cross.
Planter Boxes are Done
Now check out that side of the yard! You can barely see the dead tree on the far-side of the planter box - would have blocked the sun anyway. I'm going to replace it with an artichoke plant.
We found that face under the ivy in the backyard! He keeps all the bugs away.
Towel Hangers Extraordinaire!
I turned them into towel hangers for the hot tub. Perf Smerf.
Alan of the genius hanging the headboard fame, put them up for me. Check the pictures.
A thing of beauty
Check those babies out! Kinda hate to put a towel over them.
Ask first, do later
He also told me that putting primer on now, would probably be a waste of time - won't stick given existing varnish.
Rule number one: ask for help. Really I know this. I just don't like it. Help doesn't have to mean someone else doing it. Help can just be someone telling you the best way to go about something. I remember reading a tongue in cheek horoscope one time, that said Aries (me) don't like telling anyone anything, like what time it is. I haven't found that to be true - I like telling people things, I just don't like asking people things. Nuts.
What I did for my house today
Applied the second coat of paint to the courtyard door where the old paint was starting to bubble up. Really it should have no paint on it. Not sure I'm up to the task of stripping the entire door.
Applied stain, some first coat, some second to the boards for the raised veggie beds. Check out the brackets from M Brace. REALLY cool. As a passing neighbor said - 'they look like art'!
Took the dogs and the husband for a walk.
Phew.
This is the tricky part
I’d guess each piece weighs about 40 pounds and measures roughly 20 inches high by 40 inches long, so heavy and awkward. My friend Alan is handy man extraordinaire! I had no idea how to hang it, but I figured he would. Alan came by to look the situation over, then came back with it solved! The man’s a genius.
It took both of us and probably a third person would have been helpful (or a second one who’s not a 98 pound weakling).
Check out the finished product!
Cost: $300.
No that isn't a little baby robot thing on the bottom. It's a magnetized level (aka new fun toy).
I take back everything nice I said about my camera phone.
Alan's not going to like this picture of the back of his head.
Those of you who are particularly astute will notice the two sides are not identical. Such is the world with re-using things.
That is a damn fine looking headboard and kitty-cat.
C'EST FINI!
My inner tagger
Step four:
Spray paint day – little to no wind, MUST be outside, newspapers down so I don’t paint the mulch. Regarding MUST be outside: I met this guy who almost died from paint fumes. He was refinishing his boat in his garage in the winter. He had the garage door open, fans blowing and still was overcome from the fumes. I forget all the details, but someone found him passed out on the boat and called 911. Note to self: paint outside only.
Two things I learned today: 1) do the back first. I did one each way (just by accident) and when the pretty side was face down post painting (even though it had been over 24 hours) little bits of newspaper stuck to a few parts. Also this lets you get your technique down on the side that won’t be seen. 2) Do not even think of being in a hurry. To avoid re-creating the situation with globs of paint stuck in all of the little awesome details, you must put the paint on very lightly; even if that means going over an area multiple times. The paint instructions specify either do the next coat within a few minutes or wait 24 hours. Sometimes I couldn’t tell within a few minutes where I needed more paint – the wet shine sort of hides the finished look. So this is a multiple day project.
Cost: a few brain cells
Guess I shoulda left the newspaper in the background - really hard to see. oops.
So maybe like me, camera phone doesn't do up-close focus so well.
