Wall

 My backyard is quite steep, the soil is poor, thin, and rocky, and there are lots of mature oak and walnut trees. Erosion is a problem and I’ve been experimenting with different ways to manage it. I don’t want to put down sod because I don’t want to waste water on it or deal with the tons of chemicals it would need to remain alive on the aforementioned shitty soil. Clover does okay in some spots. It dies back in the summer but the roots remain and they help hold things in place. Throwing clover seed around isn’t going to solve the erosion issue however.

The biggest drainage problems are in the two farthest corners of my yard. After watching dirt pile up against the fence in those corners, I needed to get serious about fixing the problem this year.

I decided to build a retaining wall using those 22 lb paver blocks. Going into the project, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Conceptually, building a retaining wall with pavers isn’t hard. But there were complicating factors for this particular wall.

This was my first attempt at such a project, and of course I chose an area where I had to step up the bottom course FIVE TIMES to accommodate the natural change in elevation. It also took more blocks and paver base than I expected. 

 

 

 

Since I wasn’t ready to commit to an entire pallet of blocks, I got 18 blocks at a time from Home Depot. Because they are heavy, I could only move 4 at a time in the wheelbarrow. And because my yard is so steep and there are other barriers in place, I had to navigate half a dozen switchbacks for each trip. It took me an hour to move 18 blocks from driveway to the job site.

I teach dog classes on Sundays, so I could only work on the wall on Saturdays. Like most normal people, I have other stuff I also need to do on the weekends so I really could only work on the wall for a few hours each Saturday morning. It took 5 weeks to build it, including 6 hours to dig the initial trench. 

 

Is it perfect? Of course not. It’s not even all the same color because Home Depot ran out of grey blocks and I had to finish the wall with tan ones. But it’s reasonably level. I managed to work out the step-up process after a couple of false starts. And I did it all myself. 

 

 

Home Improvement--Making Progress

 Installing the new blinds has turned out to be quite a chore. I'm taking my time to make sure I don't damage the walls or the blinds. Drilling holes makes a mess that has to be cleaned up. I could have paid someone to put the blinds up but decided to do it myself. Of the 11 windows with blinds, I still have 4 to go.

 I got one of the big double sets done yesterday. These windows are on the front of the house and get strong afternoon sun so they also have curtains. 

 

Here's the upstairs bathroom.

 

My house sits on a high spot and the backyard slopes down away from the house so the upstairs windows, all of which are on the sides or back of the house, look out on trees. I think the blinds add warmth and color. The faux wood has a bit of texture which complements the trees. 

Tree pollen season is winding down and the rain predicted for later next week should finish that off. Once all the blinds are up, I will go back and clean all of the windows one more time. Then it's on to the next job!

 

Home Improvement

Despite the traveling I do to attend agility trials, and all of the teaching I do on the weekends, I'm basically a house mouse. I prefer the food that I cook myself and I rarely eat out (1 or 2 times a year). I don't like leaving the house once I'm home for the day. I work on lists of supplies and food that I need, usually only going out once or twice a month to restock or get things for home projects. I feed my sock and shoe fetish entirely online (Darn Tough Vermont and Altra are the only socks and shoes that I wear both to work and to agility, and I have way more pairs of them than I am going to admit to here). 

My job is stressful on many levels--physical, intellectual, emotional. Agility is a passion and is fraught with emotional and physical investment too. My house is the place where I can hang out and recharge. Where I can do what I want when I want. 

The house I'm in now was refurbed by flippers, and not very well. They made cosmetic upgrades but left a lot of important infrastructure untouched. I knew the house was horribly inefficient with its 30-year-old water heater, HVAC, blinds, windows, etc. The flippers put in cheap laminate flooring downstairs and cheap carpet upstairs, and cheap doors to the front of the house and from kitchen to garage. I decided to just live in the space for a while before I made any big changes. That "awhile" turned into years but at last the need for changes was forced on me.

I had the deck replaced two winters ago. It had become a bit of a crisis as I was falling through the rotting boards when I walked out there. As a large section of it is 15 feet off the ground, this was a serious safety issue that needed to be fixed quickly.

The water heater developed a leak this fall. Not a surprise. It worked for decades beyond its original expiration date. I had it replaced. I called an HVAC company out to do a winter check on my unit. They found some serious damage due to ... failed past repairs? Animals? Gremlins? I had it replaced.

And I finally got tired of looking at the hideous aluminum-framed windows that couldn't be opened, with trails of mold around the edges that no caulk could hide, and condensation between the panes due to long-failed seals. I had every window in the house replaced. Sounds so simple to type it out but it was a massive job.

Not that I replaced the windows myself. Hell no. I got three bids, did my research. I paid someone to do it. It took two and a half days, which is really fast from one perspective but an eternity when I had to take time off from work and be here all of that time. 

I also had them replace the stupid fucking French doors from the kitchen to the deck. French doors look nice until you actually have to live in a house with them. Can't put a screen on the darned things. The locking mechanism of one was broken and I could only open one of the doors. They leaked water around the bottom. They never sealed well and cold air whistled in around them, despite the Frankenstein monster layers of sticky-backed rubber seals I kept adding around them. And when I had the window company come out to measure for the windows and the new sliding glass door, they pulled off the trim and we discovered there was literally 3 inches of open, unfilled space on either side of the doors. Just air and a thin layer of siding between that trim and the outdoor world. No wonder the kitchen was so hot in summer and cold in winter. There was no insulation at all around the damned things.

I went with vinyl windows, of course. Not double hung because that's a marketing gimmick. The lower panes in the single hung windows still rotate into the room and can even be removed if needed. The basic functionality is still there. The difference in price between single hung and double hung windows was the cost of my lovely new sliding glass door. 

After the installers were gone, I spent hours (my entire Saturday) cleaning the floors and putting the furniture and carpets back in place. I still need to clean up the window frames here and there. There's still plenty of dust and vinyl curls to wipe up inside and nails and pieces of caulk and glass to pick up outside. 

But the windows are so nice. I came home today after 7 hours outside teaching and training at the club to a cool, quiet den. Ahh.

But these projects never really end, do they? As they were installing the new windows, I realized that I couldn't put the horrible 30-year-old blinds back up. I just couldn't do it. So I measured everything and ran to Home Depot to order nice faux wood blinds in a warm maple color. Too bad I didn't realize this two weeks ago. But I can limp along with temporary window coverings until the new blinds come in. Deliver to the store for free? Why yes, I can pick them up. I'm still debating whether I will put the blinds up myself or pay someone else to do it. I took all the old blinds to Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

I'm fortunate that I can afford to replace these important parts of my home when I need to. The dogs and I will benefit from a cleaner, quieter, more comfortable living space. 

 

Woes of the New Homeowner 2

Well, one of the PODS arrived. Not entirely sure where the other one is (the one with all of the furniture). And yes, I'm quite annoyed. I posted a very unhappy one-star review on google. PODS quickly tried to get me to contact them but I'll let them stew for another day. The unpacking will help to refocus my ire.

And it seems like I am going to take a million photos like this:

Archie is a delicate flower and having reactions to his mosquito bites. The other dogs don't seem to be having the same problems although the mosquitoes are astonishingly numerous. I'm looking into having the yard and house regularly serviced for insects. I've never seen so many fucking insects in my life. Most are benign, I'm sure. I just don't want them anywhere around me or the dogs.

Woes of the Homeowner

Holiday coming up! That means a house or animal crisis is sure to happen!

Oh, look, there's now a big, ragged hole in the ceiling of my laundry closet. The ceiling started sagging and water started dripping from two small holes sometime yesterday morning. Of course, I immediately turned off the water to the two sinks that are directly above this spot. Then I frantically called the home warranty company. Just like a health insurance provider, you need to use a contractor that they have approved, not just any old plumber that can, you know, show up and fix the fucking problem. So I won't be seeing the approved plumber until next Tuesday...a week from the day I called.

I was worried about water pooling in the ceiling and causing a much larger area of damage, so this morning I climbed up on to the washing machine and poked the ceiling with a screwdriver. Most of the mess went into my handy bucket but it was rather splashy for 30 seconds or so. I widened the hole to take a look--the sheetrock is saturated and is going to have to come out anyway.

When I carried the bucket outside to dump it, to my horror I saw a hornet floating in the water. Was it alive? Is there a nest up there? Will those horrible insects now have access to the inside of my house? I jumped in the car and headed to Lowe's for some industrial-strength wasp killer. I haven't seen any of those vicious bastards but I remain vigilant.

The dripping seems to have stopped now, which means I successfully drained the pooled water, and the leak was probably coming from one of the upstairs sinks. I've moved my daily ablutions to the downstairs sink, which I hope is not similarly leaking into the crawlspace.

And the dogs have plenty of time to get into trouble before the holiday is over.