Browsing Tag: our house

    Miscellany

    Four Years and $800 Later…

    April 3, 2009

    For the past four years, I’ve been telling myself that this is the summer I’ll get around to cleaning up the corner of our property. The trees and bushes (and weeds) have grown out of control, and it was nothing short of ugly. Worse, it was the first thing people would see of our property if they were coming our way from the south or west.

    And for four years it never got done. Whether it was writing a book for two summers, or going through major career turmoil (last summer), I never got around to it. And it just got worse and worse.

    About five weeks ago, we went to the Pasco Home & Garden Show, and I used that as my opportunity to scout out some local landscapers. I put my name on a contact list for A-1 Landscaping and picked up a coupon for their services. They came out and gave me a quote, and today was the big day:

    Landscaping #1

    Here’s a side view, and another side view.

    Possibly the best $800 I’ve ever spent. We love it. Should’ve done it four years ago!

    Miscellany

    Haircuts & Lawn Care

    March 29, 2009

    Those are two things I really can’t stand doing, but love when they’re done. I love my hair super-short, and I love my lawn looking freshly cut. It’s just the actual haircut and the lawn mowing that I don’t like much.

    In any case, despite predictions of a weekend full of rain and high winds, today was almost perfect … and plenty good for the first lawn cutting of the year.

    front yard

    Maybe best of all, the lawn mower started right up with a new tank of gas and last year’s oil. Gotta go get some new oil, though. After the lawn, I fixed two sprinkler heads that needed to be capped, and ran out to Home Depot to buy some much-needed tools.

    Spring is most certainly here.

    Only downside is that I’m dead tired and sore from head to toe. I’m gonna pay the price tomorrow for this sudden burst of energy. Good thing Sean’s just about old enough to start cutting the lawn. One more summer and then it’s all his….

    Tri-Cities, WA

    West Richland, WA: The other windy city

    February 9, 2008

    I know Chicago is the official “windy city,” but I doubt Chicago has very much on West Richland, Washington. We just finished a string of three days straight with winds ranging from 15-50 mph — just non-stop, no breaks, rocks-in-your-pockets wind.

    I hate wind.

    Our house is on a corner, and the open side of the house faces west. That, of course, is where the wind usually comes from. So when it’s windy, our house gets pounded. Here are three photos I took in 2006 of the wind damage we suffer whenever West Richland turns into the really windy city:

    January 2006

    January 11, 2006: Famous last words

    November 2006

    November 13, 2006: Mother Nature 2, Fence 0

    December 2006

    December 19, 2006: Here we go again...

    At the risk of completely jinxing us, I’ll admit this: We haven’t had any fences knocked out so far this winter. But there’s still plenty of time. And plenty of wind, no doubt.

    [where:99353]

    Tri-Cities, WA

    Corner life

    January 8, 2005

    I’ve lived on a corner my whole life.

    I grew up on a corner — on the corner of Forsythia Drive South and Flagstone Place, to be exact. I liked living on a corner. The yard was a pretty good size. We only had two houses adjacent to ours — one behind us and one to the right. And I didn’t mind the extra traffic. In fact, Flagstone was a little cul-de-sac, so it didn’t bring much traffic at all. I lived in that house my entire childhood.

    Today, living in the first house Cari and I have bought, we’re also on a corner. I don’t like living on a corner. The yard is a pretty good size — that means more grass to cut in the summer. We only have two houses adjacent to ours — that means the sidewalk that extends from the SW corner of our lot all the way around to the NE corner is ALL ours. And it’s the law that homeowners have to shovel their own sidewalks when it snows. We got 3-4 inches overnight last night. I end up shoveling about 2x as much snow as the neighbors. I can’t stand shoveling snow.

    I think our next house will be in the middle of a street somewhere.

    Somewhere that it doesn’t snow.

    Miscellany

    Happy Day

    October 23, 2004

    Today was the final lawn-cutting of 2004.

    This is a Good Thing.