Cue the Etta James

At last . . .

I have privacy!  I have a fence!  Two different kinds!  

Why?  It's sort of a long story.  

Basically, I never noticed that there's a dramatic elevation change as you move from the yard on the left to the yard on the right.  It drops about two feet along the length of my yard.  So when the ten foot posts went in, down in the neighbors yards, they were really sort of short on the right.  So short that if I put in the horizontal boards up like I planned, the fence would be under five feet at the right side.  So we put a vertical board fence on the right (it matches that neighbor's other fences) and a horizontal board fence on the left.  

My friend David, he of the arbor vitae removal, lent his expertise and helped me build this.  I have the most amazing friends.    

I can't tell you how heavily this project was weighing on my mind--there was an issue with the corner post that I'll write about later and it seemed like weird things kept coming up.  For an entire year I've had this stupid fence hovering over me and it's like a giant weight has lifted.  Did I stress about this fence more than was necessary?  Absolutely.  But, you know, this is me we're talking about.  Being tightly wound is my thing.

My friend T remarked that the vertical boards make the patio look cozy, like an outdoor room.  That's officially the new reason we did it this way!

I'm hoping to sweet talk my Twitter friend Lelo to help me pick out some shrubs to fill in the gaps around the perimeter of the yard so that someday I won't even see the fence.  Hooray for getting back to obsessive plant ogling!

Fence posts are IN

Oh man, I can't tell you how much this fence has been stressing me out.  But the posts!  The posts are in!

There's a whole new issue because of the dramatic elevation change that takes place as you move toward the far neighbor's house but I'm not going to talk about that now.  I'm going to vacuum my basement and go to my happy place.  

What, you don't vacuum your basement when you need to clear your mind?  Weirdos.

They don't call us puddletown for nothing

It's raining.  It's hailing. It's pouring. I feel like I should have moss growing in between my toes.

Today it rained so furiously that my gutters were overflowing. Please, someone sacrifice a virgin to the weather gods already!

Thwarted by fences

Remember this fence?  The one that defines the boundary between our properties but provides no privacy?

It was patched with chicken wire and chain link, I'm guessing to stop a dog from burrowing underneath it.

So in, oh, eleven thousand spots someone had attached the chain link with twisted bits of wire wrapped around screws in the fence.

This is a stupid way to secure a fence.

So I had to climb behind the shrubs (like the rhododendron) that had been planted *right next to the fence* and find all the places it was attached and untwist the wire so it would release.  I had this brilliant idea to cover this fence in bamboo screens to provide more privacy.  I bought one section and labored to squeeze it past the rhododendron and the bamboo.

Isn't it so private now?  I'm going to try adding a second layer of bamboo to see if that helps, but I'm not very confident it will.  WHY CAN NOTHING BE EASY?

Vegetables . . . finally!

Last summer was the first time in three years I didn't grow vegetables. It broke my heart.  I'm rebounding by planting my starts way too close together.  Pickling cucumber, tomatillo, brussels sprouts, parsley, sage, (rosemary will go in a pot), thyme, cilantro, basil, kale, and marigolds.

My roommate's classmate gave me this box.  It originally had a window on top so it could be used as a seedling greenhouse.  He neglected to mention that the window was missing so I decided to turn it into a wee planter box.

I put a double layer of window screening in the bottom . . .

I filled it with soil . . .

And I planted my lettuce. 

There was an article a couple years back, I swear it was in the NY Times though I can't find it now, that said lettuce only needs a few inches of soil.  I usually grow ten times as much lettuce as this; I love a big salad and homegrown lettuce tastes soooo much better than store-bought. If this plot thrives in the shade of the garage I may build another bed. And another one for arugula. And another one for radicchio!  Yum.

Birdbath!

When I moved into the house there was this red thing in the backyard.

People speculated that it was a giant candlestick or an ashtray.  Then someone guessed it was the base of a birdbath.  That makes more sense, no?

I grabbed a terracotta saucer from the hardware store and put it on top. 

It doesn't match exactly but! the night I put it out two hummingbirds came into my yard. They didn't visit the bath but hopefully they were doing a little recon, realizing that I'm putting in plants that will provide habitat and nectar, as well as some creature comforts for them.  I love hummingbirds and that funny brrrrrrrrrptttttttpth noise they make when they cruise through the yard.  The large black birds that eat pizza on my roof (I am not making this up--I found two of them fighting over a full piece of cheese pizza a few weeks back)?  Not so much.  

I've yet to meet a maple I don't like

Seemingly overnight the vine maple has decided to bloom.

I swoon every time I see it.  Maples: is there nothing they can't do?