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Archive for June, 2009

Portland Blues Festival

Posted in Blues Festival on June 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

blues festival

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grass and lawn problems

Posted in back yard, tagged , , on June 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

lawn at the beginning

lawn at the beginning

The lawn was just patchy grass, we had it removed and turned over a few times then the guy flattened it with a drum and laid new sod over it. The problem was that the soil was too compact and the sod grass started dying the next year.  We then hired another guy to come and pull up the sod, and amend the soil, while eliminating all the weeds and spreading new grass seed.  The process was time consuming and ended up costing $250 plus.

planting new grass seed

planting new grass seed

grass is coming in patchy

grass is coming in patchy

After all that the lawn was taken over by weeds.

some weeds are taking over

some weeds are taking over

He said it was just seeds from the air, landing, every kind in Oregon, actually.  I thought it was in the manure he amended the soil with.  He said no, but I still think it was.  I was stunned, I pulled them slowly by hand.  I also kept adding more grass seed in the patchy spots.  After about 100 pulled weeds I stopped.  Then I started spraying.  I sprayed weed killer on it a few times and finally, now we have grass mostly.  It actually looks like a real lawn.

present day lawn

present day lawn

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Redoing the bedroom

Posted in bedroom renovation, tagged , , , , on June 10, 2009| Leave a Comment »

This room was a mess, it took 3 weeks to redo. First drywall was layed over the old cracking walls, then smooth sanded. New doors and trim were installed and everything painted. Much was learned by me about VOC paint as well as contractors, again.  He said it would take 3-4 days and after 4 days he barely had the drywall sanded, but not finished.  He said he underestimated the length of time it would take and I had already paid him for the 4 days.  He then said he would keep working until it was done and not charge me anymore.  I said fine, not knowing it would take him another 4 days.  He took all day, 8 hours to take out an old door and pout in the new prehung door.  He took all day to lay drywall over old walls.  He took all day to install 46 feet of baseboard trim.  Etc…He then sent a letter after finishing, asking for 36 hours more of paid work, even though he only worked 24 more hours, barely at that and he had said he would not charge me, according to his “principles”, he felt he needed to finish his jobs, no matter what.  I thought to myself, I will see you in court, if need be! According to him, he is a teacher, going through a divorce, laid off from work, and his sister told him to check out Craigslist, where he contacted me through my ad.  I could write a book just about the guys I got through Craigslist!  OMG!

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Garden Slugs and Lettuce

Posted in back garden, tagged , on June 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

 

I definitely wanted an organic garden, planted 10 small lettuce sprouts and watered and tended to them. As they grew they started atracting friendly visitors that put a few holes in each leaf.  I discovered many baby slugs, or snails, and tried the old fashioned beer method.  It did work for a while but the slug fest continued.  I often picked them off by hand, but it continued.  Then I started picking the lettuce and noticed as it sat in bowls, soaking, little slugs and snails started to surface.  They were the ones doing all the damage to my small organic garden.  I think the solution is to keep the lettuce in a large vessel while it’s growing, or a raised bed.  The slugs came from everywhere, I am sure.  Nevertheless it is beautiful and we are enjoying it!small snail in my lettuce

small snail in my lettuce

 

 

Lettuce from my garden

Lettuce from my garden

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