And another thing done! June 13, 2012

     Rachel has gotten an electric chair which she was using the last few weeks of school.  When school was over, she brought it home, but couldn’t use it at home because there was no gate at the top of the stairs to the basement.  We ordered a gate several weeks ago and it got installed today!

      One of the criteria for the gate was to be high enough for the clear passage of cats.  Any visiting toddlers are on their own.  I had picked up two pieces of railing at the Resource second hand building materials, and Atomic Forge also installed them.

     If we had had this railing in place three weeks ago, the grill would not have blown off the patio.  The glass came off the front, but did not break, however I now have to get replacement brackets to hold the glass back on.  We also have wasps which are bound and determined to build a nest in the grill.  I dissuaded them from building inside the cooking area by jetting the proto nest each time with the hose, but they are now trying to build inside the framework of the grill.  I don’t want to apply pesticide to  the grill since we cook on it, we may have to try one of those wasp traps that I wouldn’t normally use.

     We picked up this 8ish foot section of wrought iron railing from an ad on Craigslist for 10 dollars. Great deal!

 

     Pat has cataract surgery tomorrow on her left eye, and next Thursday on her right eye.  I guess it will be a nice birthday present when it is all done.

Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth.

 

The joy of getting one thing done. June 6, 2012

     A lot of things that get done at my house get done one small piece at a time, dragging the X number of steps out days or weeks.  But today, I got one project finished, at least the last 2/3 of it, in one day.  The bottom layer of a 3 by 6 foot garden terrace was put in early this spring, the used 6 x 6 timbers bought last month, and the second layer installed last week.  Today I loaded plastic tubs in the van, and after dropping Rachel off at Day Camp, loaded 860 pounds of top soil into the van.  When I got home, Greg and my handiman Art carted the dirt to the garden bed.  While they did that, I grocery shopped, including a few  four packs of annuals.  When I got back, I leveled out the bed, wet it down, planted the annuals (including snapdragons that often come back for several years), and some lavender I bought last month.  So, from dirt to planted bed in one day.  For me, a great accomplishment!

Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth.

 

Spring 2012 May 19, 2012

Our lives this spring seem to have been driven by the weather.  We had a dryish January, a cold wet February, an unusuallly dry hot March, and an almost normal April.  If I were more of a gambling woman, I could have put my tomatos in the ground  in Mid April, and have had them survive.  When I was a kid in Boulder, the daring souls put out their tomatos May 20, and the rest waited til June.  We are continuing to work this spring on the structure of the yard, and on putting in some trees, bushes, and perennials that will be part of our landscaping for years.  My father, Peter Robinson, kindly gave me a “parental grant ” to assist in putting in some of the landscaping. 

     I found a craigslisting for about 100 feet of 6 x 8 garden timbers for $25, and have used them to “update” the terracing around the living room patio.  We have planted these 9 Spartan upright Junipers to start growing a vaguely mediterranean looking privacy hedge around the patio.  You can also see iris to the right, the first of my groupings of iris on the berm.  Many people gave me extra iris last year, and I have four groupings of about 12 each.  And did a single one of those iris bloom this spring?  NO!  In the left of the picture, you can see a pile of woodchips.  I got in contact with a local tree trimming service, and that is one of five loads (so far) that have been given to us.  We are covering much of the berm, and the eastern edge of the yard with wood mulch to help slow the weeds down.

     Here is the same patio seen more from the east on May 18th.  The big splash of pink is snapdragons planted last year.  The big bush like thing to the left of them is a grouping of hollyhock growing all around the maple tree I planted last year with a good helping of compost from  our compost pile.  The compost evidently had seeds in it for hollyhocks, parsley, and larkspur, because all of those are right by the tree.  The tree had some die off at the top, and I am leaving the hollyhocks to help shade the tree, and give it a little ease to grow.   We picked up some more timbers to complete the terracing at the lower right, when our cash flow eases.

     Here is Rachel holding the hose, ready to top off the bird bath.  Although built of recycled items, the birds seem to like it, and we have had robins and doves bathing, and the neighborhood feral cat likes to drink from it.  We have another smaller basin in the front yard near the bird feeding station, and it is also getting used.

     We built two more raised beds for the vegetable area, and have been chasing after free topsoil from craigslist.  Greg is also under orders to sift the compost from the older side of the pile so we can add several tubs to each new bed, and Elizabeth is going to a stables next week for composted manure.   You can kind of see the Meteor pie cherry tree we planted last year between the left bed and the compost pile.  Last year we got one cherry, and this year we should have enough for a whole pie.

     Here is a picture of the cherry tree in bloom, in April.  Beautiful!

     I bought three bare root dwarf apple trees, and one bare root dwarf cherry.  They all look like little two foot twigs right now, although 3 out of 4 have some leaves.  They are planted on the south side of the lot, across from the living room patio area.  Our old electric mower is having issues, and I am dithering on whether to spend money getting it fixed,  or whether I should go for the convenience of a gas mower on this large lot.  Meanwhile, my area of grass is getting high and rife with weeds.  Anyone have a thought on that?

     Here is the Abigail the cat memorial cherry tree.  It is a Mesabi tree, a newer type of cherry that is supposed to be in between a sour and sweet cherry.  It should grow to 12 or so feet high.  I planted some wildflower seed under it, and put in some red hens and chickens right by the 6 x 6 timber.

     Last year I planted three little groups of annuals in this area to indicate some attempt at front door landscaping.  Peter had Art, our handyman put in the terracing, and this year I ordered bare root day lilies and have planted 17 of them here.  I also found a good buy in dianthus, which often are perennial here, such as the white flowering plants in the picture.  This area gets the full afternoon sun, and gets very hot with the concrete porch there.  The white sheers do a good job of reflecting the sun and keeping the porch cooler.  I think getting a good layer of plants growing will also help to keep the area cooler.  I have a mixture of yellow, orange,  and red day lilies that I hope will make a 20 inch high border to shield the concrete floor without hiding the nice railing.

Earlier this year:

     Here are Peter and Gregory in February, shoveling snow.  Note typical Colorado teen snow attire.

     Icicles on the east side of the house in February.  The snow would slowly melt on the lower angled roof over the kitchen, and these were the result.  They kept tilting in as each day they melted a little and refroze.

And, oh yeah, the people:

    Pat continues to have a fair amount of discomfort from her back issues and sciatica, but goes twice a week to her stretching class at the rec center.  Pat is scheduled to have cataract surgery in June, both eyes, one week apart. 

    She has been unhappy at the passing of her kitty Abigail, but a friend of ours knew of a nine year old girl kitty who needed a new home, and Mimi has slid right into the ecological niche left empty by Abigail.  All of our kitties are older, but they enjoy outdoor time in the sun.

     Greg has accrued all the credits for high school, but doesn’t want to go to graduation, so he will pick up his diploma next week.  He is going to take a year off before college.  Peter and I are asking him to work a set schedule of home and yard work and he is to do volunteer work unless he can get an actual paid job.  Greg is going tomorrow to work on a voter registration drive.

     Greg in his room with the boy cats.

     Rachel is finishing her junior year of high school.  She has been excited lately because she is getting two new wheelchairs.  She has her manual one, and an electric one at school that will come home at the end of the year, next Thursday.  We have contracted with the metal shop that built our front railings to make us a gate for the interior stairs so that Rachel can safely use her electric chair at home.  She is also looking forward to using her new chair at her summer day camp, which she will go to three days a week.  We have also applied to Easter Seals camp for her this summer for a five night session.

     Peter went to a Science Fiction convention in Fargo North Dakota/ Moorhead Minnesota a couple of weeks ago, because one of his favorite authors was attending.  Peter is now a first reader for S.M. Stirling, and gets sections of unpublished novels sent to him for comments.  He is so tickled when he sees some of his suggestions in the published books.  Peter has three novels and a short story on the internet as fan fiction, which means they take place in Stirling’s Emberverse, a setting for nine + novels.  Peter is now working on an independent novel.  He is also very  busy with his work.  We had some huge debts connected with the building of this house, but are slowly (very slowly) digging out.

   Elizabeth had Bell’s Palsy in February.  This where half the face is suddenly paralyzed, and very slowly recovers.  I would say I am back pretty much where I started. I stopped being concerned about my recovery when I could whistle again.   I am doing projects for the house and a lot in the garden, beading, and needlepoint.  We three girls like to go to the thrift store on Saturdays and get cheap books, elegant clothing, and other interesting stuff. 

     Here is Peter holding the needlepoint I just finished.  It is the first of six canvases for chaircovers.  I have made three designs, and plan two canvases each design.  I found out that the needlepoint yarn manufacturer I had been buying yarn from is going out of business, and so I have had the major trauma of changing suppliers.  Oh!  The Horror!  

  Thats a bit of an update from us all.   Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth and family.

 

 

January 2012 catching up. January 28, 2012

OK, I just realized it has been since September since I posted, and now I am really embarrassed.  We are starting to settle into our house, of course, but we have a huge list of things still to be done, most everything waiting on moolah.  We are paying off several loans we had to take to get into the house, and slowly things are being paid off and going away.  I am going to look through my camera and find some pictures to post and will comment on them. 

Rachel wanted to be Clifford the Big Red Dog for halloween.  We went to our usual thrift store, and found a red wig,  and red graduation gown.  I added ears, collar, and made Clifford size dog tags.  Behind Rachel on the stereo  shelves, you can see some bags of bulbs.  I got most of these planted before heavy freezing.  I also asked around at church, and was given boxes of mostly iris, also a few day lilies from folks.  I also bought 8 or so chrysanthemums on clearance from the grocery store, and they should show up nicely next fall.  I have about 50 clumps of iris planted, although they may need a year or two to get going well. I thought I had taken photos of the yard, but I guess not.  I did set up these plant shelves in the fall, after I had the shelving systems put in the laundry room.  I decided to move several of my patio pots indoors to enjoy the flowers longer.  Also, my two little citrus trees and my bouganvillea had to come inside.  The Christmas cactus seems to be getting too much light, so when we can empty some boxes currently stored by the east window, I think I will try to get another of these steel shelves, and move the cactus to the east.  That will allow me more space to have several trays for the spring to start seeds in.

This seems to be my only Christmas photo this year.  We had room to put up our large old fake tree, which somehow the cats always correctly interpret at least as an attempt towards an outdoors tree, and enjoy playing with.  As long time cat co-inhabitors, the bottom branches are largely empty.  We did a whole lot of giving second hand gifts.  Greg had requested a black trenchcoat, and Rachel and I found a London Fog raincoat with the removable lining at the 50% sale at Saver’s on Veteran’s Day.  Greg was so cute when he realized what it was.  He took the lining out, and put it back in, and then put it on and went to the full length mirror in Pat’s room to look at himself.  He wears it to school with one of Pat’s brightly colored knit hats.

Greg turned 18 on Jan. 6th.  He is in his last semester of high school.  He is planning to go to Front Range Community College next fall, and live at home to be frugal.

Rachel is16, and is doing pretty well, although having issues this last month with having pains around her g-tube, or possibly in her stomach.  We have an appointment with a GI doctor at Children’s hospital, but of course it was more than a month away when we made it.

Rachel and Mom have storytime most evenings before Rachel sleeps, and sometimes Bowie joins us for the company.

We feed birds outside, to the west of the main entrance, and just to the north of Pat’s rooms where she can watch from  her windows.  Usually we get a lot of sparrows, and a few finches and occasional others.  On this day I caught a red tailed hawk (I think) coming to see if he could get fed.  I don’t think birds seed was what he had in mind.  I took two more photos close to the glass, but I couldn’t remember how to turn off my flash and they were glare-y.  Nonetheless, Greg asked immediately if he could post them on his facebook page, so they are there to see.

Pat is doing fairly well, although currently she has a fracture in her upper ulna(?) by her right elbow.  She is knitting  hats, and doing some small beadwork projects now that we have found and unpacked at least some of the bead supplies.

I will try to get some current photos, and make it back in much less than four months, next time.  Thanks for reading.

Elizabeth, and family.

 

 

 

 

 

Oops, been awhile! September 24, 2011

It is now mid September, school has been back in session for a month.  Temperatures are finally cooling down.  For much of the summer, it was hot enough to need to water twice a day, especially the vegies, and newly planted plants which meant virtually everything in the yard. 

Looking at house from across 111th Street.

From this view, almost none of any yard work is visible.  The berm and edge of yard are just green with vaguely trimmed back weeds and grasses.

living room patio.

 

Here are a couple of before pictures in the laundry room, and then after pictures.  I went to the container store, and splurged on Elfa wall shelving.

 

Sorry about  the picture being on the side.  The blog is doing its usual thing about allowing me to only put labels on the first two photos.   This is to the right of the machines. 

This is after.

This is the Pantry wall of the Laundry/Crafts.

And here is the after.

 

 

 

Greg hard at work (or maybe play) at his favorite work station.

Peter in his office today.

Peter’s great wall of legal size file cabinets.

So, we are all still here,  still busier than we would prefer to be.  Our new address is 304 W. Oak Street, Lafayette, 80026 , for those who need to know.  Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth.

Progress in the yard, and a bit inside. July 16, 2011

We signed the papers for our new mortgage on Monday, which allowing for 3 days of possible recission, took effect today, Friday.  Today we sold the Cressida Court house, after one last cleanup  and cherry picking session in the morning.  Now we can concentrate on the new house.

View from far southwest corner of lot towards Pat's patio

The terracing around Pat’s patio is mostly done.  We put in some day lilies, and two leftover Easter lilies.  The cinder blocks in the foreground are at the edge of the compost pile which is rapidly filling up.  The second raised bed is in place, and has volunteer tomato plants transplanted from around the lot that started from the compost from the old yard that we brought over.

 

This year’s cherry harvest.

 

 

 

 

Once again the WordPress demon has struck, and after the first couple of photos, the captions don’t show up, and if I try to attach a caption, the photo isn’t centered.  And each time it takes me 20 minutes to remember this foible. 

 

So this caption should read “Pat’s plantings, cats in the dirt.”  The boy cats especially really enjoy being outside, and seem to naturally stick to the west end, away from the busy street.

 

 

 

This telephoto shot is the boys under the lilac at dusk.

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel’s CNA, and our family friend, Sherry, gave us this fountain.  She hadn’t had it running in a couple of years because of the difficulty of maintaining a power cord to it, so we now have it on our living room patio, just outside Rachel’s door.  I found the bougainvilleae on clearance at Home Depot.  The real challenge will be to see if I can over winter it inside.  I also have a 15″ lemon tree to bring inside.

 

 

 

We used a few leftover timbers to work on the east side of the living room patio.  We bought two full ones, but I need to salvage a few more bits and pieces  to finish, and to make some stairs.

 

Here is the last big outdoor project of the last few weeks.  Peter and Elizabeth hauled a van full of bags of free bark mulch, and Greg’s friend Beau who has been staying with us, built the retaining wall. 

Inside,  it is a matter of trying to fit things in.  I finally found a set of shelves that would fit in the place designated for the stereo, and have assembled that.  We are bringing over a few things at a time from Pat’s storage locker, and we just found this print of hers that matches the colors of the tile entry way very nicely. 

It is now 10:50 at night, Friday Evening, and the siren song of my bed is getting louder and LOUDER!  Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth and family.

 

Summer is here. June 25, 2011

I didn’t realize quite how long it had been since my last post, until I just checked.  Somehow, when  week goes by and it seems that all I have to report is that we unpacked 3 boxes, it doesn’t seem to0 critical to make a post. 

In the last month, I am sad to report that Pat’s beloved cat Abigail started failing fast about three weeks ago, and the decision was made to have her put down to prevent her feeling miserable her last few days.  She had been getting thinner and thinner in the last few weeks of her life, although she enjoyed being outside, and caught her “swan rodent” – a vole which she put in Pat’s bathroom- within her last week.  She is currently in the same corner of the freezer where Paws spent 18 months, and we are going to give her a cherry tree also in a couple of weeks.

Our budget for the outside is limited, so we are doing things as we get landscaping items donated or cheaply acquired.  Here are the two raised beds we have made (Mostly by me, Elizabeth, with some help)  I am hoping to get the second bed’s posts dug into the ground next week, and maybe we can put some late crops into it.  The beds are past the clothesline, one showing on either side of the clothesline pole.  The bed on the left is already covered with tomato plants, and a squash on each end.

Facing Southwes corner of our lot.

The past two Fridays, I took Greg to South Boulder, to a house that had a garden bed full of 6 x 6 timbers that they were giving away to someone who would provide the labor of dismantling them.  I met my handyman Art there, with his tools, and we made quite a hauling of timbers.

Greg, higher, and friend Beau, lower.

 

Here is our pile of salvaged timbers.

 

 

We intend to use these timbers to terrace around Pat’s patio,  shown below as it is currently.

 

 

 

 

Pat’s flower pots are almost hidden behind the weeds that have grown up the last couple of weeks.  Neither our old mower nor old weed whacker is really adequate to the task of all the weeds we have in this large yard.

 

This berm is much of the top soil that was scraped aside for the excavation of the basement, and it has 1 to 2 inches of clay on top, why I’m not sure.  In the cooler spring, I transplanted seven baby lilacs from under the old bushes to on top the berm.  I am also putting in patches of iris I took from the old house, or that have been given to us.  There are also two small donated rose bushes that are so far making it.

 

 

 

Here is the front of the house, by the front porch, where I have tried to plant some flowers.  This area needs terracing so that some drainage can be rerouted to fall in this area, but that will wait for another year.   I’m hoping the gray shelves will not wait for another year, but it is going to take several hours of labor to clear the area in the garage where they are supposed to go, and a path to get them there.

 

I have been doing a lot of work in the spring planting while it was cooler.  Now I am having to spend time each day watering to keep those things alive.  Yes we are also working inside, but most improvements that need money are having to wait.  We have brought over two loads from Pat’s storage locker, and have prioritized the items for a third load when we can schedule it.

 

We had a nice dinner at home  on the 20th to celebrate Pat’s 78th Birthday, and Father’s Day a day late.  We have the outside grill functional, and Pat has her fountain working on her patio.

 

 

Here is the living room patio, and some beginning terracing with an assortment of salvaged timbers.  Also flowers, grill, and birdbath. At right is a small maple that may provide functional shade in – oh, maybe . . . five?- years.

 

Thanks for checking back  with us.  Elizabeth and family.

 

Yet more settling in. May 20, 2011

The old house has been on the market for two weeks, and we have had a contract on it  for about 5 days now.  The sale date is June 16.  We are still trying to get the garage emptied of the last items.  After a long dry spell, we have had a succession of wet fronts over the front range of  Colorado that have given us over 3 inches of rain in 10 days.  Peter wanted to email Seattle that we had found their weather, and we had put it in the yard, and would they please come get it. 

Lake Sartucci one evening last weekend.

Today the sun is shining, but we are expecting it to cloud over and rain more this evening.  The ground is so saturated that Lake Sartucci is still there.  I am going to go out and buy grass seed this morning, and we are going to throw it out by hand, and see if we can get it growing during this wet spell.

View off of L.R. patio towards southeast.

We are going to put in whatever plants we can scrounge this summer, but I am hoping to buy a tree to go roughly where Lake Sartucci is. 

My mother’s cat has decided that reports of her near demise were premature, and is noisely nagging us to let her outside, so that she can explore, including jumping the fences to check out the neighbors. 

Greg and Rachel have one more week of school, on reduced final exam schedule.  Rachel is going to go to day camp three days a week during the summer.  I will have to drive her to Broomfield each morning and pick her up in the late afternoon.  It’s pricey, but it’s necessary for my sanity.  Hopefully this summer I will have time to both work on the yard, the crafts room, and (oh yes) keep up normal housework.  Right.

Peter is working like crazy (like always).  He is doing a number of projects for the IRS, and also some for the state, and for private clients.  The feds and state pay fairly well, but neither pays anything until the project is over, which leaves us gasping for funds.

Pat is looking forward to getting her things out of storage.  We are waiting to hang pictures until we get some of hers to add to the mixture, so right now we have stacks of pictures in various corners.

I know this isn’t much of an update, but I need to go do errands.  We still do not have internet service to the upstairs, because that is waiting for a visit from our computor guru, which is postponed until cash is available, so I am still limited to using the internet when Peter and Rachel are both absent.  Thanks for checking in.  Elizabeth, Just before 8 am, mountain daylight time.

Just starting to settle in. April 27, 2011

     We have finally moved everything from the old house, except items that are left to have a garage sale this weekend.  Unpacking is going slowly partially because Rachel has been sick the last two weeks, spending a whole week at home with some virus. I finally got her to school on Tuesday, and she will have Friday off because there is no school.  Greg is taking his ACT test today.  Rachel’s 16th birthday is next Monday.  On Saturday we will have a little birthday lunch at her cousins, so she can play with Roxie the dog.

Pots and Pans are up.

We are getting the kitchen unpacked.  We have the pans up, although I have another box of decorative stuff that I will need to get the ladder out for to hang up high.

kitchen.

     We couldn’t afford the upper cabinets at this time, so we are making do with some shelves, and we are using the china cabinet for everyday dishes for the time being.  We really like the tool cabinet next to the stove.  It holds a lot of cooking implements, cutting boards, potholders, lids, etc. very compactly.  Mom and I will make curtains to cover the plastic storage shelves at the end of the island, and the corner lover cabinet, but that will have to wait for the unpacking of the craft room.

We have put up a few pictures, but we want to get some of Pat’s art out of storage before we go much further, so we can make some arrangements of pictures that go together.

Pat's Southwest exposure plant corner.

 Mom’s room is getting settled, although we have not gotten much of anything out of her storage locker yet.  Everyone is going to have to make choices about getting rid of some stuff to have things not too crowded.

Abigail.

This is Mom’s beloved kitty Abigail.  Although she is only eight or nine years old, she has kidney disease, and she will not last much longer.  Pat is really sad about that.

Cherry tree.

 We planted a cherry tree, and placed the remains of Paws the kitty in the hole, to the side.  Paws has been waiting in the freezer for us to be able to inter her at the new house.  We will get another tree for Abigail.

Peter's office from hall door.

Peter's office from next to outside door.

Getting Peter’s office organized has been a priority.  He’s got seperate workstations now for himself and for Li, our sister in law and office manager.  When he gets some more boxes dealt with, he will have a third workstation.  He has seven file cabinets, and we need to find at least two off of craigslist or somewhere.

I’m going to sign off, and go get dressed and ready to do some more unpacking or something.  It’s 8:07 or so Wednesday morning here in Colorado.  Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth.

Still trying to put things away. April 15, 2011

Last Saturday and Sunday saw the Cressida Court house emptied  inside, but not the garage or the shed.  The Oak St. house now has a full garage, whick needs to be emptied so the actual garage contents can come over.  I am trying to put away some boxes each day, but the boxes that were packed by other people take a lot more sorting and dealing with. 

Basement hallway library

Books in the basement aren’t really a priority, but they empty quickly, without a lot a decision making.  

Kitchen and boxes

Our new kitchen is bigger, but we had had a lot of catering type equipment stored in the basement, and it is all in boxes in the kitchen.  We are trying to find time to discuss which to keep, and where to put it.  We have more room to do larger cooking, but is that where our interests lie now?  Decisions.

Laundry/Crafts

I am going to leave the laundry crafts room to organize later, but that means that some things destined for this room can’t be put away yet. 

I have decided that I am in favor of cloning.  I want my clone, and I want her Now!

I am also trying to get little bits of work done outside, and they are very little bits compared to what needs to be done.

The old house has been painted on the outside, and is being painted on the inside now.  Carpet will follow next week.

Thanks for reading.  Elizabeth.