...: Marsh Chatter
Spring 2013 - St Patrick's Day - Green Begins
The Spring "greening" started a few weeks ago with those early arrivals - Crocus and Daffodils breaking ground. Today, with a bit o' Sun, yet very chilly wind chill... I thought I would do a walk around the yard and capture a few moments...
These Daffodils jumped out and shouted...
Mythbuster Bamboo Episode
A bit of the new (budding) and the old (straggler berries)
Daffodils under the street fence
A patch of snow drops under Dawn Redwood (memory tree)
Shapes of Nature - Ziva in far background
Ziva on Rest Break
My first construction project, 18 yrs ago (bridge)...
...with cast iron birdbath - iced over
Get out and take a peek... as nature pulls the winter covers off, starting up Spring and the march (pun intended) into Summer.
Remodel - WIP continues
To K & M remodeling - what do you think of this change?
BEFORE
AFTER
Remodel 2013 - More WIP
We are continuing with the remodel of the closet and bedroom. Work is slow during the week, because we both work. Besides our 'day jobs'... I teach 2 nights a week, and wife is taking care of her 80+ yr old mother here at home for the next month.
Progress so far? Ripped out 20+ year old carpet, along with the 3/8" plywood they laid over the original floorboards of this very old house (see pics). Ripped out molding & drywalling around closet door. Ripped out hanging pole (along with 2x4 end supports). Patching, cleaning, painting walls & ceiling. Initial patching of door (some work to do there, yet).
A few more photos of WIP (aka work-in-progress).
Old Closet View
The vertical "tables" were purely "functional" - yes they held stuff - but they ate up a huge amount of space.
New hanging wire shelf - more useful space above
The wire shelving will "breathe" and put stuff up out of the way. The closet already looks bigger. It's not a high dollar closet organizer system - but for us, we are satisfied.
The light in the closet has always been a sore point with me. Pure glaring light at the end. So a couple of weeks ago - we found a new sconce that will be a lot nicer looking than "a bulb"!
If you can't live in a 'wreck' - Do not start!!!
Yes - it's a drag to find things. It's a drag to walk around things. Remodeling at any level - even just painting... disturbs the eco-system which everyone has grown accustom. People ask a lot of questions like "where's this or that" and pets already curious in their being, have kicked it up a notch. The phrase "just deal with it" is never more apparent than in situations like this.
Hopefully the next post will be completion - because Spring is springing!
March 2013 - Spring is springing
Weather forecast is Sunny (well... partly cloudy, but that also means partly Sunny) for next week or so. Still cold, but this March is opening up like a lamb.
Does this mean it goes out big at the end of the month? Well, the winter so far - the part in January and February anyway - has been snowy! Which is good. The part in November and December - mostly rainy. Which is also good... with the idea that it is still moisture and like many areas we need a recovery on that front.
Regardless the state of the current calendar - it's days like today and the upcoming that really start to make Michiganders stir from the restless embrace of winter and start to think of Spring!
For me, at the Marsh --- the greenhouse that I buy my plants from called yesterday asking about tomato varieties. That's nice personalization for a business! I suspect that by planting over 200 tomato plants for the last several years does put me in a different category than the "common" patio gardener (not that those are bad... just a different production level).
I think I've reached the limit for one person though. I can see how much work farming is and why farming moves into mechanization. Gardening at any level - one pot, 10 pots, a bed, a row, or 5 rows... is something everyone should do! It brings you back to our roots (no pun intended), is calming, and enables you to view our world in a different light.
Happy Spring!