May
14
our new garden
Filed Under house, yard work | Leave a Comment
Apparently the ground in this part of Virginia is not naturally conducive to gardening. 
(Certain verses come to mind …) We planted a new garden in our back yard this weekend, and just below the grass is solid clay and rock. After much manual labor, we hope our excavation was of sufficient quality to yield a few different types of tomatoes, some squash, and rhubarb later this summer. The rhubarb came from my Grandma in MI originally, and has moved with us to every house we’ve owned.
Also just below the grass is our cable line. Comcast went all out burying that sucker … underneath a layer of grass seed. We were too far along in the excavating process to put the garden elsewhere, so we now have a couple flags marking the cable through the middle of our garden strip. Reminds me of other cabling they’ve done.
Thus far the plants are looking good, the sod we replanted elsewhere in the yard hasn’t completely died yet, and I’m still a bit sore from hauling all the dirt, clay, and rock. Nothing quite like weekend work to make you thankful for a desk job.
Apr
9
Safety 1st, quality last
Filed Under house | 2 Comments
Saturday morning was spent installing little latches on all our kitchen cupboard doors, in an effort to make them kid-proof. We found this swell latch for the lazy susan, made by a company called Safety 1st. It took three attempts and one gouged knuckle to get it installed, mostly because both screws that came with it snapped in half after being screwed in all the way. Sure, we only paid $2 for it, but annoying nonetheless. Have no fear– Rachel convinced them to ship us some outlet covers to make up for our troubles.
Mar
24
bugs are scary
Filed Under house | 2 Comments
I thought it was going to be a dull Saturday afternoon cleaning out the garage. Instead, I found myself staring death straight in the face. That’s right, my sweeping uncovered a Black Widow spider. Fortunately I was able to summon the courage necessary to remove the threat (think Sam vs. Shelob in The Return of the King). Lest you worry about my well being, I’m fairly certain I was never in too much danger … partially because the spider was already dead.
Not more than two weeks ago a couple of my friends mentioned that they see these venomous beasts on occasion, so I credit them with my mental preparedness. Since learning of the threat, I’ve been sleeping with extra protection next to the bed.
It used to be all we had to worry about were squirrels and mosquitos. Now it’s lizards, poisonous spiders, and copperhead snakes. Something tells me this wasn’t a fair trade.