What design wall????
If you are expecting to read a quilting post here, now is the time to move on to another blog. I haven't been in the hobby / quilting room for about 2 weeks. I'm writing this posting to "journal" about the work we've been doing mainly on property that doesn't belong to us.
Our Back Yard
This is the view of our back yard looking west from near the east edge of our property. We have been here about 4 years; we were the first house on the cul-de-sac. The back "yard" was awash with mud and the hillside oozing down on us. We've put in all this "landscaping" for water control, and because I like flowers. The two retaining walls have flowerbeds that are my arm's length wide, so I can play with flowers while standing up, since I can't reach the ground anymore.
This was the west side of our property during a rain storm, after we put in our landscaping. The developer did a lot of grading after this picture was taken, but the "gully" of water still remained whenever it rained hard. About six months ago, several of the owners of houses on the far side of this mess decided to stop the flow on their side, by digging a ditch on our side and running plastic pipe from their sump pumps across the walking path, and dumping it on our property. We ended up with a ditch about a foot wide and a foot deep between our yard and the path (asphalt). After a lot of hubbub, the city getting involved, a possible lawsuit for loss of a real estate sale, etc, we had a meeting, and discussed what to do. I ended up asking if anyone had a problem if we cleaned up the common area on our side, and made it part of our yard for the time being. Did I mention that the development was foreclosed on, the builder bankrupt and such about a month before the neighbor did all the bobcat work?
The new gully
This is now the new "gully". My DS brought his tractor and did two days or grading and filling the ditch, also recreating a swale at the back of the property to keep the hillside water from washing out. Throughout this past week I have been digging out along the asphalt, removing dirt and weeds so that we could lay sod yesterday. Some of the sod was older, hence the yellowness, but they assure me with water it will do fine. This is 68 rolls of sod, black dirt to fill the seams, and seeding on all the areas that still are bare. My son also made me four iris beds along the back - you can see one in the left pictur
e. For two weeks DGS and I have been digging up iris fro
m the two raised beds, and preparing them for planting in the new beds. I still have one more iris bed to dig up. Two of the new beds are now planted, two to go, and the bed on the side of the house needs digging and replanting. We also have to do some sprinkler work so we can water the sod and seedings on the area we fixed that doesn't belong to us. If another developer ever buys this, all our work will probably be bulldozed to make room for more houses. I hope it is a long time coming.
The Great Panda Heist
This panda had been in our front yard for 4 years. A few weeks ago, a huge moving truck filled our cul-de-sac, and a van-load of movers parked right next to our yard - all of them were parked weird. When they left, my panda was missing. My DGDs both love the panda. This one likes to run outside and kiss the panda. Last Halloween she was seen feeding it. I had that panda for about 15 years, and gave it a new paint job for the move to the new house. It was light weight, as it was hollow. Everyone asks what happened to it.
While I was buying sod, I took time to check out all the statuary at the nursery. This is an old nursery, run by an old man who never gets rid of things. In the very back of the place I found this panda - in bad shape - and asked for a price. I bought it, and it now resides on my workbench, waiting for repair and repainting. It took 3 strong 12 year olds to lift it out of the truck and onto the workbench. I bet no one will steal THIS panda.
I hope when I finish all this, I can resume quilting. I keep dreaming about it, missing it. Christmas is coming, and I have a lot of things to finish. I scheduled my next total knee replacement for late December, so I need to put together some handwork I can do while recuperating.
Happy Quilting,
Becky
Email me
Our Back Yard
This is the view of our back yard looking west from near the east edge of our property. We have been here about 4 years; we were the first house on the cul-de-sac. The back "yard" was awash with mud and the hillside oozing down on us. We've put in all this "landscaping" for water control, and because I like flowers. The two retaining walls have flowerbeds that are my arm's length wide, so I can play with flowers while standing up, since I can't reach the ground anymore.
This was the west side of our property during a rain storm, after we put in our landscaping. The developer did a lot of grading after this picture was taken, but the "gully" of water still remained whenever it rained hard. About six months ago, several of the owners of houses on the far side of this mess decided to stop the flow on their side, by digging a ditch on our side and running plastic pipe from their sump pumps across the walking path, and dumping it on our property. We ended up with a ditch about a foot wide and a foot deep between our yard and the path (asphalt). After a lot of hubbub, the city getting involved, a possible lawsuit for loss of a real estate sale, etc, we had a meeting, and discussed what to do. I ended up asking if anyone had a problem if we cleaned up the common area on our side, and made it part of our yard for the time being. Did I mention that the development was foreclosed on, the builder bankrupt and such about a month before the neighbor did all the bobcat work?The new gully
This is now the new "gully". My DS brought his tractor and did two days or grading and filling the ditch, also recreating a swale at the back of the property to keep the hillside water from washing out. Throughout this past week I have been digging out along the asphalt, removing dirt and weeds so that we could lay sod yesterday. Some of the sod was older, hence the yellowness, but they assure me with water it will do fine. This is 68 rolls of sod, black dirt to fill the seams, and seeding on all the areas that still are bare. My son also made me four iris beds along the back - you can see one in the left pictur
e. For two weeks DGS and I have been digging up iris fro
m the two raised beds, and preparing them for planting in the new beds. I still have one more iris bed to dig up. Two of the new beds are now planted, two to go, and the bed on the side of the house needs digging and replanting. We also have to do some sprinkler work so we can water the sod and seedings on the area we fixed that doesn't belong to us. If another developer ever buys this, all our work will probably be bulldozed to make room for more houses. I hope it is a long time coming.The Great Panda Heist
This panda had been in our front yard for 4 years. A few weeks ago, a huge moving truck filled our cul-de-sac, and a van-load of movers parked right next to our yard - all of them were parked weird. When they left, my panda was missing. My DGDs both love the panda. This one likes to run outside and kiss the panda. Last Halloween she was seen feeding it. I had that panda for about 15 years, and gave it a new paint job for the move to the new house. It was light weight, as it was hollow. Everyone asks what happened to it.
While I was buying sod, I took time to check out all the statuary at the nursery. This is an old nursery, run by an old man who never gets rid of things. In the very back of the place I found this panda - in bad shape - and asked for a price. I bought it, and it now resides on my workbench, waiting for repair and repainting. It took 3 strong 12 year olds to lift it out of the truck and onto the workbench. I bet no one will steal THIS panda.
I hope when I finish all this, I can resume quilting. I keep dreaming about it, missing it. Christmas is coming, and I have a lot of things to finish. I scheduled my next total knee replacement for late December, so I need to put together some handwork I can do while recuperating.
Happy Quilting,
Becky
Email me
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