random updatey update

[rmd]

• i bought a prizm metal detector! besides wanting to run the detector around in my brother's yard, this is also just in time for...


• front porch construction starts next week! woohoo! off with the old! on with the new, taller, smaller-footprinted! see what, if anything, is hidden inside the old concrete porch foundation! see if the house foundation behind it is damaged yet!


• this means i should probably plan to get rid of the fugly shrubs in front of my house soon. probably not great for burning (although anyone local with a fireplace is welcome to them), so i'll likely chop them up and send them off to compost.


• need to figure out what to do with the postage-stamped sized yard after the construction is done. i know for sure i want some english lavender plants along near the front fence, and maybe some morning glories or clematis where the porch lattice will be, and probably some rosemary plants near the foundation so they have a better chance of being hardy in this climate (we're 6b here, iirc).


• i should probably plan to rake the everloving crap out of the yard and re-mulch, too, when construction is done. perhaps i'll have a "work day with brunch bribery" when the porch is done.


• must clear things away in the front room of my apartment so the path to where the new door (to the new second floor of the porch) will be.


• need to make a run to goodwill some time this weekend. maybe take a run sunday over to the morgan memorial store near harrison ave.


• bsg season opener was squeetastic.


• i didn't realize glasgow had an american football team, nevermind that they made a music video in the 80's. the subtlety of lyrics. my god.


• playing bioshock, even briefly, makes me want to redo my house in fabulous art deco.


• didn't make it over to the ENSMB circus fundraiser thursday. i ended up spending the evening with clauclauclaudia (who is doing well, all things considered).

Comments

[quietann.livejournal.com]

/waves hi

Plants: lavender is wonderful -- very hard to kill, needs sunlight and only occasional watering. Cranesbill (hardy geraniums) make lots of pretty flowers, and are easy to care for.

If you need small shrubs, I have loved our andromeda because they are slow-growing, low maintenance, and stay green all winter.

Bulbs are good! Stuff like snowdrops, crocus, scilla, and chionodoxa (sp?) come up very early, just at the point when you're so sick of winter you could scream. They require no care at all except a little bulb fertilizer when they are done flowering.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

Take a look at my most recent entry. It may be something to consider for your house project list.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

except for the fact that the porch project is taking up all the available non-emergency house money i've got.

otoh, some time in the future, when the tech for those is a bit less wet behind the ears and possibly after it's been developed for oil, i'd be all over one of those for furnace replacement.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

I spoke with the product rep a bit. The product may be over designed right now. Since it is based on the car engine, it's designed to take a lot of abuse and to run dirty. Not a big problem inside a house, on a flat surface, and not moving. I project that the product will get trimmed down in a few years, which may help trim down the price.

[smcmullan.livejournal.com]

I had almost forgotten that I always wanted a metal detector. Let me know how you like it; in the last decade I've been pretty spoiled, buying several things that I've always wanted... maybe one of these will bubble closer to the top of the list.

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

have you just started playing bioshock? its gorgeous. I would love to decorate my soon to be new apartment when I find one that way...

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i played thru it last year and hadn't played in a while, but i fired it up to show my brother (who is unfamiliar with video games, pretty much) how awesome it looked.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Green shrubs of any kind are a bad bet to send up a chimney, particularly as they're probably evergreen shrubs.
Chip 'em up and forget 'em.

Also consider French lavender rather than English -- it's hardier.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

is the french hardier than english? i thought it was the other way around. good to know. thanks!

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Definitely French. English is supposedly hardy to zone 6, while French survives up here in zone 4b.