zinnias

Good morning! Thanks for all the kind words about the children's bath reveal. I loved reading your sweet comments. Made me smile :)

It was absolutely gorgeous here last week. The weather was truly perfect. There was not a cloud in the sky on several days, and the temps hovered around 75 to 80 degrees. We got outside as soon as we finished lessons each day. Boosting our Vitamin D and beginning to take care of some of the fall garden maintenance.

It was so pretty out, though, and so mild that I didn't want to remove too many of the annuals just yet. I did take out a few to make room for some flowering shrubs I got for super low fall prices.

The zinnias, though? No. Not the zinnias. I left them alone to grace us with their cheerful, semi-tackiness a little while longer.

They're a little loud, but I love them.



This front bed will most likely be shrubs next year, but with the cost of the soil and blocks to raise the bed a bit, we had to go the economy route for this year. Zinnias give you so much bang for your buck. A pack of seeds for a dollar and some change.





The first frost is usually expected around mid-October in our part of Ohio. Right on cue, tomorrow night is forecasted to drop down to 31 degrees. So, instead of losing all these pretties to the frost, I think I'll cut them this afternoon and bring them inside. A bouquet on the kitchen table will give us a few days more to enjoy the last drops of warm, sunny goodness.





And today is so beautiful. It's a good excuse to be out, anyway.







These beds don't really look like much at this point. It all peaked in late August, right when we brought Baby home. There were "Teddy Bear" sunflowers and some gorgeous (but massive) cosmos giving plenty of height and color then. Now, everything's getting ready for a long winter's rest. I think today may be the last day I water the whole bed. I love watering. So relaxing. I'll miss it.



There had been a spot here for the kids to dig in all summer long, but now that the parsley and basil are out of the way, there's a little more room. Our neighbor accidentally mowed over one of these guys the other day.



And then there's the woods. We're actually beginning to see some return for all the labor down there. Sam camped with the kids down by the creek at the end of the summer. They even made their dinner in the firepit. One or two more good burn days and I think next summer it will start to really shape up.

This week's a busy one. Punkin turns 7 on the 26th, and she's having two parties this year because none of the weekends worked for all the family. Sam's parents and his sister and her family are coming this weekend for party #1. Lots of prep stuff to do... and cleaning. I'll share a few of the birthday related projects later this week. Oh, and the progress on Bedroom 4. I'll get you up to speed asap.

Have a great day, everybody!

the woods - early spring 2011

Today, the high is supposed to reach all of 40 degrees. Hard to take when last weekend it was well into the 60s. But, such is life in the spring around here. It's a contant volley between the end of one season and the beginning of the next.

Last weekend was gorgeous, though. Saturday, especially, was just so lovely. It was just a tiny bit wet from recent rains, but not sopping. The perfect day to burn all of the bramble that had been drying out since Sam cut it down last fall.



And, happily, we've finally gotten to the point with this property that the children can play back here without fear of being impaled on rebarb or getting tangled in the masses and masses of age of old huneysuckle. (ooooooh, that honeysuckle!)



As an added bonus, the recent rain had left a decent amount of water in the "creek". So, it was a work day, but it was a play day, too. That's nice :)

I've tried to give you all an idea of our cuh-razy topography before, but it's sort of difficult to explain in words. Well, unless you use words like, "precipice", "hazardous", and "perilous".

Just kidding. It's not really that bad. It does have some pretty serious inclines and declines, though. Do you like my little drawing? On the left you have my depiction of the picture before this drawing - the cliff that leads from the backyard to the flat portion of the woods. The flat part is pretty big, really, but the kids think the incline going back up into the woods, after the "creek" (which is only there when we've had precipitation), is the best part.

These two squirrels are on the flat part of the woods in this photo. The creek is directly behind them and you can see the bottom of the trunk of the large tree I drew (Cottonwood) in the background. Yes, it's surrounded by honeysuckle. Does that help you orient yourself? Well, if you went up the incline that begins just after the creek and just to the right of that honeysuckle, you'd wind up gaining height rather quickly. After a short walk...

... you'd get to SweetP's lookout/house.

Here's the view from the edge of her little home. This gives a good idea of how up and down everything is. On a side note, our kids are relatively used to being outdoors and have a good sense of what is and is not dangerous. They (generally) aren't ones to try to jump from a height like this or anything too risky. That being said, this photo also makes it look a bit steeper than it actually is. If they jumped or fell, they could potentially break an arm or something, but the most injury they'd likely encounter would be some bruises & cuts. A little danger isn't always a bad thing. It can help kids develop good judgement and a clearer understanding of consequences. So far so good, though.


From the same location at SweetP's lookout/house, you can see that our neighbors to the south have their lots almost completely cleared and turned to lawn. I think this must have been the way their homes were graded when they were built (?). At any rate, ours is one of the wildest lots ;)


But, it's coming along. It's coming along. We aren't planning on clearing it into a lawn or anything. We just want it cleaned up a bit so the space can be used and enjoyed to the fullest :) When we first moved in, you couldn't even see down here from the house. Or get down here without a machete.

Okay, no one used a machete, but the undergrowth was thick.

We've got to stay on it all spring to keep it from taking over, again, though. It's really a good thing that we got this headstart. Two points for us. Maybe even more.

Have a great weekend, y'all. I think I might just have to make the most of the cold and make one last batch of hot cocoa. Maybe if we start to embrace Old Man Winter, his cantankerous old self will try to spite us and leave.

About That Burn Pile

Welp, I started a new photo folder - the photos I uploaded tonight are now designated as "homeforthebetter 2". The second year is underway :) And it's starting with... fire.



The weather has been beautiful and surprisingly dry for April in Ohio. Sam and I decided to try to get a little of the burn pile (mostly invasive underbrush) taken care of last night. He dug a firepit last summer, but none of the brush dried out enough to burn before winter set in. Now, those piles that have been sitting in the woods are good and dry. And there is a lot to burn for just one little suburban firepit. A whole lot.



We might be burning the entire summer.



Honestly, we need a second pit. And, judging from the amount of smoke that was pouring over into our neighbor's yard, we also need a pit farther from the backyard. Our little yard pit is legal (3' x 3' within city limits), but it's also got to be pretty annoying for our neighbors. We decided Sam needs to dig one in the woods, too, so he got started on that tonight.



I've never had a firepit or a "burn pile" before. It's kind of cool.

Sam and Jacci - 3; Woods - 52

Do you remember last January when we payed some guys to cut & haul all of the honeysuckle off of the slope in the backyard? Since it was their off-season, they did the work in the cold and snowy mud for less than they would normally charge. Good deal for us. Getting rid of all that honeysuckle made us feel like we had won a small victory over our wild, overgrown woods.



We were right on both counts there. It was a victory, and it was small.

What would you imagine might happen to a long-neglected woodland edge that was finally freed from the brambly honeysuckle that covered it for... oh, I don't know... at least 20 years? Here's a hint: the slope was getting sunlight all spring long.

You got it! It was weed heaven.

Actually it was weed and thorny wild raspberry and sumac and grapevine heaven. We had moved in last December, so when things began to leaf out in the warm weather it was a real eye-opener. Not only was our slope totally over run with some serious vegetation, but we got a clear picture of exactly how densely our understory was jam packed full of honeysuckle. You couldn't see a thing down there all summer.

Finally, the honeysuckle and sumac leaves started to fall, and we could begin to devise a plan for our next stage of attack. One afternoon while the children played in the backyard, I took loppers to most of the sumac on the yard's edge. The pile seemed so little compared to the work I hade done, but it did at least make a difference in knocking out some of the vegetation that was slowly creeping closer to the back of the house.



Sam's mom and dad (Susan and David) were here last weekend, and he and David got out there and took care of some more of the slopey wildness. Sadly, that also meant taking down one of the little trees we had been hoping to save - one of my favorites, an American Sycamore. It's obvious that we're going to have to do some re-grading of that slope, though, and there was just no way to get around the small trees that have grown up there. Besides, I really want a clear view of the woods from the backdoor, so that (when our children can finally walk around down there) I'll be able to see them clearly from the house. The Sycamore was smack dab in the line of vision. Sam had been itchin' to fire up the chainsaw, anyway :)







So, then there was a felled tree in the backyard. Sam and I kind of looked at each other and said, "Now what?". Nice. Good planning, guys.



But, on Tuesday evening, Sam hacked away at the tree, combined the pieces with my sumac, and made smaller piles all over the yard. Then, he bundled 'em up and put them out front. I think next time we have a decent amount of wood, we'll try to advertise on freecyle - the wood isn't aged enough to burn this year and it's mostly too sizeable for kindling, but maybe someone could use it. Now that Sam has the 3' by 3' firepit dug (the largest city laws will allow in town), we can at least burn some of the smaller things Sam cut down earlier in the year. They've been down for a few months - wonder if they're still too green to burn well? Anyway - tree down. Another point for us :)

The woods are still whoopin' our tails, though. There's a whole lotta work that needs done. Good thing the trees have been so thoroughly enjoyable to look at this fall... it's beginning to feel like it's worth it.

Love and Hate

I have a "love-hate" relationship with the woods behind our house.

Today... it's love.

So Long, Honey... suckle

When we first bought this house, I posted the "back view" photo (below) that the realtor had used in the MLA listing. The pic had been taken in the springtime, and the honeysuckle was in full force, to say the least. We knew right away, if we were going to have this woods and not let the woods have us, we were going to have to take care of that honeysuckley pest.



I think we had lived in the house all of six weeks before we started getting estimates for clearing some of the underbrush. Sure, we're DIYers (in theory - it hasn't really been applied, yet), but there are some jobs that are very much worth the money it takes to hire professionals. Like, cutting and hauling extremely thick and tangly honeysuckle off of a 60 degree slope - in the snow. Even if we had cut and cleared it, we had no way to burn or haul it. What would we do with it? Estimates to have it hauled out were around the same price as the amount we paid to have the whole thing taken care of. No brainer. We were able to score a great deal with the tree guys because the weather was so crummy; there just wasn't a lot of work around. Although our little project was less than desirable (we actually had one guy tell us he didn't want the job), we eventually found a willing and capable tree service. Then, we talked them down to the price we were willing to pay. Hiring out exterior work in the winter certainly has its benefits.





The top photo is looking straight back at our property (facing east). You can see our nearest neighbor to the east - their house is through the trees there. The second photo is a shot of the left side of the woods and much of the north bordering neighbor's backyard. The third shot is to the right of our woods, showing some of our property and most of the south bordering neighbor's lot.

We have a little less than an acre total, and much of that is wooded. It feels like far more woods, though, because our property is adjacent to lots of other properties that share the same woods. Sam and I tried to estimate it, and our best guess is that our little woods is part of about 100 continuous wooded acres. The woods are, of course, bordered on one side by our street. On the other side they eventually skirt along a highway that we can hear when the trees are not leafed out, but cannot see at all. The photos above are taken from our back patio, while the ones below are taken from the second story - our master bedroom. It was very cold the day that I took the pictures, and you can see how my warmth made steam on the window as I tried to take the shot. I think they cleared the honeysuckle around January 21st.





When the tree guys were done with all their chainsawing, they tied rope around the bundles of honeysuckle and pulled them up the hill with a pick-up truck. They were very smart about their work - often using pulleys to route the brush into the path they wanted. They also did a great job of being mindful of our neighbors' yards... ours too, but there's only so much they could do to keep our yard looking nicely when they were basically piling large mounds of honeysuckle brush right in the front yard. This pic gives a general idea, but it was taken fairly early on. The piles got much bigger!



It took four to five men a total of two full days to take care of the honeysuckle on the slope. We're no where near rid of the pesky varmint, but the work they did that day gave us a head start. Now, Sam has a place cleared where he will be able to hopefully burn the remaining honeysuckle after cutting it. We're maybe a tenth of the way through it. Besides needing to clear the rest, we have to diligently keep the already cut stumps topheaded. Honeysuckle grows back. We really want to try to take care of it without chemicals if at all possible, so herbicides are out for now. There are highly recommended "Honeysuckle Pullers" on the market that are supposed to get the stump and lots of roots out, but we were getting rid of the honeysuckle on a steep slope very close to our home. In other words, we didn't want to loosen any of the soil and potentially make our slope a huge candidate for erosion issues. We have plans to excavate next summer and replant on a more gradual, (less frightening for a mother of small children) slope.

So, that's our first bit of real progress on the woods! It was money well spent, and having a clear view of the rest of the property nearest the house gives us a chance to visualize what we'd like to do with it down the road. The redbud trees are getting ready to bloom in our part of Ohio... love them. I'm thinking two or three would look right at home down under our larger trees :)

Can ya see any actual TREES in there?

Although we are truly thankful that the house has been well-maintained and we don't have to do much of anything before moving in (we don't want to undervalue that blessing!), it will take a little work to make it a home. The wooded backyard, in particular, will take a lot of work. One thing is certain, after a year or two in the new house, we'll be on intimate terms with both bush honeysuckle and multiflora rose ;) (Please notice that I did not say those terms would be friendly).

I predict the forthcoming acquisition of a chainsaw.

So, in term of the house's physical homeness, the "better" part will be an ongoing process. But...

We're even excited about that!