Good Bye February

Good Bye February

I'm sure my friends and family on the east coast will say good riddance to February but it has been MARVELOUS DARRLIN' in the northwest.  I have a whiteboard on my desk that I track important things on.  Since the beginning of the year it has been a countdown to spring but I haven't been very good at keeping up with it.  Probably because it has been spring for the last month.

A few weeks ago I walked toward the front door coming home from work and was hit with the smell of sweet perfume.  I went to investigate and around the corner was my daphne beginning to bloom.  The next day I clipped off a twig and took to our mail room lady; she and I were just discussing it a few days before and she was lamenting that she didn't have one at her new house.  Every morning and afternoon it greets me.  On Monday I snipped off three clumps and took to work.  The smell filled the office and they were still fragrant (but a little brown) when I threw them away yesterday.

A few days ago I posted this photo on my Facebook page.  

I'm sure they had been in bloom for several days before I noticed (how did I miss them!?).

Last week while walking around the yard I noticed that my evergreen Apple Blossom Clematis was ready to bloom.  This was what I saw from my bed this morning

 (of course I had to get up and open the door since I didn't sleep with it open).  

And this is the view from my desk.  Hope I can get some telework days in the next week or two so I can enjoy them while they are blooming.

I put up the cages for my peonies last weekend.  They were starting to peek up.  I am usually late with that and they are all droopy before I get around to it.

Even the lawn care guys think it is spring.  I came home last Friday to a freshly mowed and edged yard.   

  And what a difference a tree makes, well actually the lack 

Taken 4 years ago and
it was much bigger when
cut down in November.

of a tree.  I had a love hate relationship with this tree.  It was a   Giant Sequoia, It was beautiful, it had no business being planted alone in an urban backyard! Looking back at old aerial photos I’m guessing it has been in the ground for less than 15 years.  The house has only been here for 22.  

 I thought about "limbing it up" so you could at least walk under it but realized that it wasn't in its natural habitat and was endangering me and other.

 Giant Sequoias NEED each other.  They have shallow roots and probably even more shallow where it wasn't having to search for water having sprinkler heads surrounding it (and the usual high volume of rain here).  In nature they grow in clumps with their roots intertwining to support each other.  With the winds we have here hardly a big blow goes by that huge trees aren't toppled, even deciduous trees lose large branches or give way.  I planted two new trees in the yard that will provide shade and animal habitat but hopefully won't kill anyone.

 I have a guy coming to cut some "stools" and some rounds for the garden and haul away the rest...then I'll have to tackle the stump or

figure out a way to make it a garden accent! I know have it carved into+ a hedgehog (John) and an owl (Andrew) leaning on each other!

I told John I wasn't going to any more home shows because it makes me want to do things, spend money, etc.  But the Yard, Garden and Patio show is this week and Joyce, working for us temporarily from Walla Walla talked me into it.  That is where I got my Apple Blossom Clematis three years ago..maybe I'll find something else interesting OR a passion flower plant to replace the one I killed last year!  I have learned that daphnes and passion flowers don't like to be moved. Unfortunately for the passion flower it was after I moved it and fortunately a landscaper told me NOT to mess with daphne.

That isn't all I have on my mind right now but it is enough for the moment.

Miss V    

Update on the Barn Door and thoughts on Remodeling shows.

Today I was looking on Houzz and started to notice the wood behind the rail!  Guess that is just one of the steps they always leave out on the remodeling magic shows. 

Like how this one has blocks at the ends of the rail

Speaking of remodeling magic shows.  Last night I was watching The Suze Orman Show and someone wanted to spend $10 to 15k on a kitchen AND bath remodel.  Suze asked if they were using the HGTV method of costing the project saying she couldn't figure out how they can do a project so cheaply when it cost normal people three times that.

I must say I agree with her.  Of course they don't charge for their labor or include it since they are being paid by the advertisers.  They do provide a public service though.

The flipping shows revealed to home buyers that they needed to look below the surface to see what was being covered up.  I loved Holmes on Homes and other Mike Holmes shows where you saw the shoddy work done by flippers and fly-by-night contractors.  

I was always amazed at the people who purchased a home without an inspection because the SELLER didn't want one as part of the purchase contract and were surprised when they discovered major problems.  SURPRISE, why would they care about an inspection unless they are hiding something.  If you aren't going to pay an expert you better be one yourself or not cry when you find out you bought a pig in a poke.  If the seller doesn't want one insist on it or RUN.

Another show I don't quite understand is Fixer Upper.  OK I understand remodeling the house but why is JoJo buying them all new furniture?  Don't these people have furnished homes now?  Where are the photos, Great aunt June's rocker, the bookcase dad built for when you were three?  Someone said it was just staging...but they show the family entertaining with that furniture.  So stupid!  

Drama...what would a remodeling show be without it!  OH, here is a vent in the wall we are removing, it is going to cost $250 to move it...better call the homeowner we didn't see this coming, will they approve it!  OH MY!  Whew, they approved , now everything is done! I guess most viewers expect that.  Remodeling...expect the unexpected, budget 10 to 15% for it.  Maybe if Jo wasn't buying antiques it wouldn't be an issue.  Sorry I want to pick out my own antiques and furniture.

One remodeling show I REALLY like is Rehab Addict, but it isn't really a remodeling show it is a rehab show.  I love how Nicole finds old stuff to put back in the house, including reclaimed old glass in cabinets.  I love that she brings back houses that many would tear down and in neighborhoods that people have given up on.  It makes me want to hurry back to Montana and do the same things to my 110 year old house.  Well as close as I can with the changes made in it about 20 years ago (third bedroom taken out on second floor leaving a two story entry).

Well that's what's on my mind this week.

Miss V    

"Barn Door" for bathroom

 For my Valentine's Day present I asked John, my oldest son, for four hours of his time to get some things done.
The first thing was to FINALLY get around to working on the bathroom door. This project has been going on FOREVER.  But I think that I am putting off finishing it because then what will I have to do?  (HUMMM lets see...caulk and paint the baseboards, finish installing baseboards, touch up paint everywhere, repaint the front door, etc.)

Once again they make it look so EASY on TV.  We started by putting the door my sister and I picked up at the Rebuilding Center here in Portland up to the opening.  Good it covers the door opening.  Then we read the instructions for the door hardware.   He made a mark on the molding where the rail would run...humm.  Then we took the molding down.  The nails in it barely attached to the drywall there was such a large gap between it and the door frame.  Read the instructions, rail needs to be two inches above the opening in the drywall, good thing we took the molding down or we would have been attaching to nothing!  That means the door is going to be too short!

Can you see the next hole at the 16" mark?
Didn't think so.

We decide to go ahead and install the rail then worry about the door.  John starts marking the wall studs then I notice that the holes in the rail are NOT 16 inches on center!

Now back to the instructions...It shows a strip installed horizontally in the framing or attached to the drywall.  Out to the garage and scrap pile to see if we need to make a trip to the store.  Glory be there is a perfect piece, same width as the rail and about 6 inches longer.  Chop, predrill, countersink, level and attach to studs.  (ugly brown wood on the wall now)

Strip required to attach to wall
since you can't hit the studs.

Then put the rail up, mark, level, drill, attach, level, drill, attach, etc.





Then I said even if the door needs work lets hang it then we know how much we will need to add to the bottom to get the right height.

Two + a smidge inches at the bottom for
a perfect fit.

The kit came with bolts in the hanger for a thicker door and a set for the thickness I have.  Measure, mark, remeasure, remark, drill and attach.  Lift the door up and put it on the rails.


TA DA.  It needs about two inches added so we are going to create a tongue and grove in the bottom and on a 2x4 to get the extra length. I think someone cut it down because the bottom wasn't even...it rocked when you stood it up.  And the graffiti needs to be cleaned off the glass.  And it needs to be painted.

Left side too high or right side too low?

It is a little wonky.  One of the hangers is slightly off.  I think that if we loosen the bolts and let the door hang we will be able to correct it since there is a little play in the holes.



I have some glass paint, and some glass film that I can use to obscure some of the panes.  I had some art on the wall that will be behind the door and I think I am going to hang that on the door so it can be seen open and closed.

Oil painting on right by my wonderful
 DIL and  John's wife Cara.

Then he moved on to the second project of getting my security camera to connect wirelessly and set up to record the package and flower pot thieves we have in the neighborhood...which actually turned out to be tougher than the door!  (My large Mexican clay pot was stolen a few weeks ago...the neighbor saw but couldn't get description or license plate.)

Part of a project down and more to go...

Miss V