Unpacking at the Bamboo Lagoon

After organizing

So, we had two big shipments of our stuff...the stuff that was in long term storage was packed in 2007 and mostly contained stuff that we would not need living overseas...the second shipment was the items that we did take with us but still sat in storage for a period of time.

Most of our yard stuff did not make the trip because we didn't know what kind of housing we would end up with and we were limited on weight so anything too heavy and not absolutely necessary did not make the cut.

These four big boxes along with all the stuff that is sitting around them was stuff that didn't make the cut and still didn't have a home in our yard quite yet so I was content to leave it packed up.

Before starting...trashcans, tarps, coolers, and boxes

This week, we had a big storm coming our way, and I needed to get the gutter in the back of the house cleaned out. This gutter is actually under the covered area of the back porch so it can't be accessed from the roof and has to be cleaned out using a ladder on the back porch. I couldn't get to that section due to these boxes and extra stuff, so I was motivated to tackle the boxes.

Midway through gutter and cleanup

While doing this, I found a little hidey-hole that a neighborhood rodent has been using...lots of droppings and half eaten acorns, but that little spot no longer exists. Found a half eaten ant trap too...didn't realize those were a delicacy.

Nasty little hidey-hole

It took me a while to get it all unpacked and ended up finding a few surprises (the movers always put a few things in the boxes that don't really make sense), but for the most part, it was all yard stuff.

Some of the yard art will go up on the walls of the house rather quickly (once the storm has passed), but the number of pots we have is pretty immense and most of that was stacked back up near the house in prep for the storm and will be sorted out later.

So while it doesn't look like a lot of accomplished as far as moving things out, in reality it was....everything is cleaned up, organized, and accounted for.

Fence Post Repair

Gap in fence with old post and a couple boards missing

So the fence that borders my neighbors in the back has started to sag in a couple of spots. My neighbor decided that he was willing and able to do the work if I was willing and able to buy the materials....having removed a post or two before, I knew immediately that I was getting the better end of the deal.

So unfastening the boards near the post and the cross boards to the post was the easy part....it was manhandling the 100+ pound of cement out of the deep hole in the ground that really got all of us working.

We ended up having to use a chain with a ratchet on it around a nearby tree to finally get the chuck out. My neighbor disposed of all the broken parts from the fence.

Once he had the old posts out, we mixed new cement and poured it into the hole with the new post in it. The cement sets pretty quickly but he came out several times to recheck level to make sure that the posts weren't shifting much.

The chuck of old cement with the broken post end in it

New post in place

New cement in place

Once the new posts set up overnight, the new brackets for the cross support boards and the new fence boards could be put on.

Cement cured and boards refastened

Second new post in

And set

Finished fence posts, nice straight fence

I think he did a great job and I still ended up with the better end of the deal. I have a post on the other side that needs fixing too but probably will have to hire someone as the slope of the yard near it might make it very hard to deal with.

Spring Cleanup At The Bamboo Lagoon

Lamb's Ear before the cleanup

Beds all needed some cleanup...and the weather was right, so I jumped right in. I cut back all the Lamb's Ear, cleaned up the weeds in the main front bed.

Upper bed before cleanup

Lower bed before cleanup

Little bed near the road before cleanup

Bed along front of house before cleanup

After cleanup

Upper bed after cleanup

Bed along house after cleanup

The main beds after cleanup

It didn't take too long, but definitely made the whole area look so much better....now need to focus on the rapid growth that is going already all over the yard...

Plum Tree Pruning

So I have been wanting to get out and trim the tree in front before too late. Weather and time hasn't cooperated and the tree is full bloom and is starting to leaf out. I knew it would be easier to do before it completely leafs out because it is much easier to see the branches when there are no leaves.

There was a lot of cross over inside the tree and I am sure it will feel a lot better this spring and summer. One thing I have been noticing is that there haven't been many bees on the tree because of the weird weather since it bloomed so hopefully that means not as many plums as last year.

The tree still has a decent shape and I am sure once the leaves come out, it will look great. Once I got all the branches cut or sawed off the tree, I had to quickly get them cut into smaller pieces so I could get them in the bin in between waves of rain storm. I filled the trashcan in the foreground twice with the cut pieces.

It was a good workout and felt like I really accomplished something.

Fall Is Here At The Bamboo Lagoon

Landing and rocks before

Just got back from a short trip to the midwest to see much loved family and had to buckle down the today to get some yardwork knocked out. Fall is here again and if it is anything like last year was, it will be a ton of work. Getting any of it taken care of before it piles up is the way to go.

We needed to fill up the yard bin and there was just enough pinestraw on the solar panels and landing to do the job.

Solar panels and roof before

Had to bring out the ladder and climb up on to the deck cover with a deck broom to get the pinestraw off. The broom only reaches about half way across the solar panels so I did what I could from that end, and then moved the ladder to another location so I could climb up onto the house roof itself. I took up a bucket with some gloves since it seemed logical while up there to clean the gutters as well.

Landing and rocks after

Rolled the pinestraw off the roof since there was a lot on the ground that needed to be dealt with anyhow and headed down. Cleaned up three trashcans full of needles, and then moved on to the sideyard stairs.

The stairs are under an oak tree that has started dropping acorns and a few leaves. I wanted to get the stairs cleaned up of acorns because they make the stairs kind of scary. This

Solar panels and roof after

only took a bit of raking and ended up being two 5 gallon buckets full to top off the yardwaste bins.

Felt good to knock out some tasks on the first full day of Autumn this year.

Leaf Net Trial Season

With the net on

Last year, the leaf drop from all the trees planted near the pool was pretty massive. Even with my preventative trimming to limit the amount that branches reach over the deck, there was still a lot that was carried on the wind. At one point, there were so many oak leaves on the pool, the leaves came up to the edge of the deck. It took me almost two hours to skim them all off.

This year, I decided to see if a leaf net would be a better option (at least for keeping the leaves from dropping to the bottom of the pool). I got it on sale and in the mail a few days before my annual trip to the midwest this year and decided to put it over the pool before leaving just in case the leaf drop came early.

It covers the pool pretty well, but pretty much used up every bungee strap we own...LOL. The other option was to buy the water weights but those are expensive and I am only trying this out and want to try to do it as inexpensively as possible.

Pruning Continues At The Bamboo Lagoon

Happy pruned Japanese maple

We are in the midst of some heavy smoke from local wildfires, and this has limited how much outdoor activity can occur. A couple of days before our most recent yardwaste pickup, I was able to get out and prune the little Japanese maple we have in front. It had a lot of growth sprouting from the top, throwing the shape off and then the branches were getting too long at the bottom so that it was touching the ground, which is not healthy for these little guys. So I took to it with the clippers and I am sure the pruning has made it feel so much better.

Broken branch

As you know from other posts, we have two Purple Plum trees in the yard. One in back and one in front. This year, for some reason, there is an abundance of plums on the front one, to the point that the branches are very heavily weighed down. I have been picking the plums as fast as I can and continue to be surprised that the birds haven't beaten me to them. I have been worried for a while that we would lose a branch or two (we actually lost one while I was out of town in June, and the plums weren't even ripe yet). The image to the left is what I saw when I came around the house this morning while working on some other things in the yard. At some point during the night, we lost a relatively large branch on one side of the tree. I was pretty sure it was due to four legged critters during the night, and this was confirmed by fur evidence on the tree trunk and the on the branch.

We really needed to mow while we had a small reprieve from the smoke for a few days, but obviously that wasn't going to happen with the branch hanging down, and I didn't want to the branch completely off the tree until I had salvaged what I could plum-wise. So I went indoors to get a colander and a bowl for picking, and proceeded to pick and pick and pick from both the tree and the broken branch until I felt that the waste had been reduced. I then proceeded to prune the branch off, cutting it into small bits while I went so as to not make a huge mess, and get it all into the yardwaste bin for the next pickup. While I had all the tools out, I pruned some of the rest of the tree to hopefully avoid more breakage, and tackled a few other spots in the yard where suckers were coming up.

Thank goodness these are yard shorts

After all the pruning was done, I got the mower out and started the fun task of mowing our very hilly front yard. I should mention that it was about 97 degrees out, and I hadn't eaten in 5 hours. I was only a few mins into the mowing when I could feel that I desperately needed to eat but I was determined to knock it out first. The way our yard is, I have figured out that it is easiest to start at the top, do all of it, and then mow in downward strokes over the edge of the hill to get the steepest parts done from the top. This requires letting the mower go as far as I can reach while still standing firmly at the top of the yard, and then using lots of upper body strength to pull the mower back up towards me to start over again a few inches over. While doing this, part of the time, I am under the plum tree. There were a lot of plums on the ground. On this wonderful occasion, my feet slipped on the plums right when the mower was at the farthest point away from me...and down I went onto my butt in a pile of overripe plums. The mower pulled me down the hill a bit, but I was able to get up, find sturdy ground, pull it back up towards me, all without letting go of the handle so it stayed on. I had to mow the rest of the yard with my butt looking like this but that is okay.

Once I was done, even though I was shaking with hunger, I felt a great sense of accomplishment because I knocked out everything I planned to do and the yard looked so much better. You can see in this pick that the plum tree looks kind of funny at the top, but that is because the heavy branches are still leaning to the sides. I was only able to prune off some of the lower stuff. Once the upper plums are eaten or drop on their own, the nice round shape will return.

Sprinkler Issues

Old diaphragm

Well, it seems I spoke too quick.

While over 700 miles away, I get a text from our neighbor that our sprinklers are shooting water straight into the air in the middle of the day, which is not on the schedule. She let it run for a bit thinking the timer would turn it off and when it didn't, she thankfully came over and turned off the valve to the front yard system and spigot. Of course it was about 800 degrees here while we were gone too...

I am sure that the old diaphragm died...thought we would get one more week out of it, and we didn't. So I looked up the sprinkler people online, and called their supplier to order three diaphragms thinking we might as well replace all of them at once. They haven't come yet and I am starting to get worried since we can't water in the front at all unless by watering can.

Oh, and while the gushers were going, which of course I can't determine anything about yet, a lot of bark in one of the beds got washed out...more fun work to do...LOL. I am hoping that there is not another leak in the system somewhere else...

Update: Now that I think about it, we do have a spigot in the garage, I might see if it is still functioning with the front turned off, because I could put in a rotating sprinkler for the front in a few spots. Especially if the delivery doesn't come today. Have to wait until it gets shady in front though...

Just The Beginning

The snow at the Bamboo Lagoon finally hit and it is only the beginning of what we are forecasted to get this week. It was really only about 1 1/2 inches but it was still lovely to see. It will be nice to see more later this week.

Above you can see how pretty the pool looked with all the snow around, however, I would not want to take a dip in it.

I thought the snow on the garland for Christmas was just too pretty to pass up. It was below freezing and I am sure with the little bit of snow and the below freezing temps, the roads were icy. I did all my running around yesterday so I was free to hunker down and just enjoy the snow.

This is a beautiful look down the street during a moment of freezing fog we experienced. You can't even see the inkling of the mountains that normally would be within this view. By the afternoon, most of it had melted off but we supposed to get even more later in the week so I am sure there are more pictures to come.

Sprinkling Instead

Well, we didn't get the full snow this week that we thought we might get but we still got a sprinkling for two mornings at the Bamboo Lagoon.

Looking out the front balcony across the street

Looking down the street

Looking up the street

Up on the pool deck

As you can see, it was just a powered sugar sprinkling that melted off quite fast, was the same way yesterday morning, but it was still pretty to see. Definitely looking forward to more snow later this season if it is in the cards.

Snow At The Bamboo Lagoon

From a few years ago

It is forecasted to maybe happen. I don't have my fingers crossed but it would be a nice change if it did happen.

I managed to knock out some tasks over the last few days, in the errand running department, the Christmas department, the yard department, the garage department, the decor department and the writing department.

I found a small potted tree and am in the process of decorating it so I am thinking I will be done decorating for Christmas in the next day or so.

I cleaned up some serious leave debris in the backyard, and started on the daunting garage organization. Managed to get some blog posts done and birthday cards for December sent out. On top of it all, started two new books that I hope to have done in the next few days...have actually almost reached my reading goal for the year.

Still need to work on the electrical projects that I have all the stuff for and have just been putting off, and need to get up and check on the pool. We are mostly out of leaves at this point (they are all on the ground or have been composted) but there are some at the bottom of the pool that need to be cleaned up and I am sure both skimmers are ready to be emptied. I guess if we have snow tomorrow, that will help decide how much if anything gets done outside or in the garage.

I have a race coming up this week that I have not prepared for (it was supposed to be motivational to schedule it) but I am determined to do it anyhow. Will try to walk it in the next day or so and then run it before or during the weekend.

Preventative Maintenance

 There are a few trees up around the pool deck and one of them, while not planted in our yard, hangs over the pool deck. It happens to be a oak tree and I knew that when it started to drop leaves, the pool would be a mess to deal with.

I was getting ready to go on a trip so I needed to be proactive on keeping things to a minimum that could go wrong while I was gone. I had no idea if it would get cold enough while we were gone to drop all those leaves but I knew I wouldn't be here to take them out of the skimmer basket and I didn't want to spend the entire trip worrying.

I got out the long tree pruner we have and headed for the deck. I was able to cut back all but one (that was out of my reach) of the branches that was hanging over the deck.

I have to say I was very happy that I wore safety glasses because that tree dropped so much down on me, my contacts would have been a mess. I was able to fill up two trashcans of branches and leaves off that oak.

You can't really see in this photo how much I took off that oak but it was substantial. I was afraid that there would be a hole left in the tree but in the end it didn't really show too much.

More Winterizing At The Bamboo Lagoon

So figured out that I could turn off the front spigot and sprinkler system from a valve right up against the house, so that cuts ten feet of insulation out of my requirements. I checked the valve control boxes for the sprinkler system today and both are totally dried...so it is not ground water as one person at a DIY tried to tell me it was...there is definitely a leak in the line somewhere, but at least for now, I don't need to worry about it until we turn it back on in the spring.

Strapped down all the chairs on the pool deck, and brought in the cushions from the two loungers. Filled the pool up a bit, set the timer on the lightbulb in the pump house and brushed/skimmed the pool.

I am thinking I might get some yard fencing so I can create a couple of bins for keeping leaves in since they will help with the soil in the spring rather than sending them all to compost. I am sure we will have more than enough leaves to do both...LOL.

Knocking them out...feels good!

Winterizing At The Bamboo Lagoon

Knocked out a few things today towards winterizing things. Shut off the sprinkler system after fixing the end of the Zone 1 dripline. Used a syphon to empty water out of both valve boxes and hopefully they won't fill up again now that the water to the sprinkler system is off. Coiled up the hose in front and disconnected it from the spigot...which is already insulated. Bug bombed the area under the front porch so I can winterize the pipes that run under the front porch.

Set the pool timer so that the pumps run at night, and put the lightbulb in there. Will put a timer in there for the lightbulb too so it doesn't have to be on during the day. Also put a small netted bag of mothballs in there to discourage our little furry friend from hanging out in there. Might need to strategically place a few more under other decks and porches.

Still have bunches more to do before it gets cold but at least a dent was made in the list today.

Cooling Down? I Don't Think So

Things have gone down in temp over the last week or so....not so much during the day but at night, which makes the days much more tolerable. We are not in the 100's anymore, which means that the pool has cooled down as well, since I still do not have the solar heating system up and running yet. When I was cleaning the pool yesterday, it was down to 68 degrees from the 75+ it was last week when we were over 100.

I have been thinking for the last couple of days that I really need to finish the repairs on the solar heating system since it will add at least a month to the time that the pool will be comfortable to swim in. I decided today to just give the weather page a gander and found that we are going to be in the high 80s/low 90s with the exception of Tuesday which is supposed to be almost 100...perhaps that will warm things up until I can get the system fixed.

The drop in the temp has made it easier to keep things alive outside.

Blind Out The Heat

The only window on the back of the house that gets direct sunlight in the afternoon is the masterbath. The other windows are covered by the back patio cover. This means that the masterbath gets really warm in the afternoon and the only way to get ventilation is the little tiny louver window at the bottom. I decided the best fix for this would be to just buy a bamboo blind to cover it from the outside that would still allow ventilation when needed.

I found this cute blind in the clearance rack at Home Depot and it was a perfect fit. Now the bathroom stays nice and cool and the filtered light is pretty awesome from the inside as well.