Weed’n and Feed’n with the Whirlybird

Posted on April 26, 2008 | Leave a comment

The front of my house is awash with color! The red tulips and yellow daffodils are starting to bloom, and the purple and pink petunias from last weekend are taking hold. The grass is greening with all the rain, and the brown, dead leaves have been raked away.

There’s a bit of unwanted color, though, too. Dandelions.

Two years ago, when I moved in, half the front yard (the section between front walk and driveway) was a mess of crabgrass, dandelions and these strange purple vines that choked everything else. Mid-way through the summer, I took the nuclear option, liberally applying herbicide that killed everything in just a few days. Following the scorched earth, I put down about 200 lbs of new soil and reseeded the whole thing. The rest of the lawn got a liberal dose of weed and feed.

So in an effort to nip things in the bud, I pulled out the Whirlybird spreader and methodically meandered through the front yard. It’s a tad windy, but hopefully enough of it will stay put to have an effect.

While in the backyard, I found a giant ant colony – heck, nearly an ant continent – that wasn’t there last weekend. It was huge, and had a satellite colony about 15 feet away. Don drowned it, and we were both shocked at how much water it took before the thing collapsed, revealing a deep, deep network of tunnels. Nearby, there were several relatively large stones, each 3-4 inches in size. We conjecture that while building the tunnels, the ants moved these rocks! So I’ve got another thing to monitor over the next couple weeks. If it comes back, we’ll try the chemical route.

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The Outdoors Beckons

Posted on April 21, 2008 | Leave a comment

Wednesday, it got nice out. I was working from home, and by the time I went out to retrieve the garbage cans just before noon, the sun was shining and it was nearly 70 degrees. I stripped the removeable caulk from the porch windows and opened them wide. The stale winter air started to seep out and though cool, it felt great. I opened all the windows I could (bedroom, kitchen), and Collette went to town investigating the fresh air and singing birds.

The rest of the week, I cracked those same windows and watched the green tulip leaves grow taller and taller. I even slept with the windows cracked and was shocked awake by the birds at 4 AM. We went to a Cubs game one night, and grilled another night. It’s really spring!

I was hosting Bunco Friday night, so all week I was in full spring cleaning mode. Airing everything out helped a bunch, though Friday evening wasn’t warm enough to use the porch as I had optimistically hoped when I offered to host months ago. So things were a bit cozy, but went off without a hitch.

Saturday loomed rainy and the day alternated between sun and showers. I went to Kohl’s and bought a springy new welcome mat and kitchen towels. Then, during a sunny period, I took advantage of hooking the hose up for the season to scrub the cat’s box (note to self: must install utility sink before winter!), then vacuumed out the car and found 93 cents. I even opened up the basement windows to air that out and vacuumed up cobwebs and dust. In full spring mode, I stripped my bed and switched out the fuzzy winter blanket for the lighter summer blanket. Then we invited friends over and grilled again.

I spend most of today outside, potting dianthus (red flowers) for my hanging baskets on the porch, cleaning up more leaves and detritus around the yard, and planting snapdragons and petunias in the front flower beds. The latter may come back to bite me, as it’s still a bit early in the season – a last frost could be looming. But it was good to be outside in the sunshine, and the beds look great – still no tulip flowers, but they’re getting close.

This evening, I decided to de-caulk the rest of the windows and play the great screen-window matching game while putting away the storm windows.

Most of the windows went pretty quickly. At first, I used a flat-head screwdriver to pull up the removeable caulk I couldn’t get with my fingers, but quickly realized I was nicking up the windows. So I switched to a putty knife (genius!) and knocked out the rest of the porch, the office and the back hallway.

The living room window proved far, far more difficult though. It’s very old and leaky, and doesn’t even stay in place when it’s not locked – the top window slips an inch when the bottom is open. But since it’s a nice wood window – with beautiful finish that matches all the downstairs woodwork – I know it will be a more expensive replacement. Since it’s so craptastic, I used a ton of caulk that has proved a bit excessive, as I can’t get it up. The gap was sizable, so I really slathered on the goop which has now taken up permanent residence. I was getting closer after a solid two hours of careful, gentle scraping, but my hand is numb, so I’m taking a break. This is further motivation to replace that window – and if I do it at the same time as ripping out the air conditioner and replacing it with a window, they’ll match.

Overall, it was a very productive weekend.

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Happy Housiversary!

Posted on April 14, 2008 | 2 comments

It’s my second housiversary today! After last week’s vacation, I had lots to do around the house today. I did some spackling and framed and hung some pictures. Then I moved out the couch and cleaned behind it. Still in full-cleaning mode, I lifted up the heavy (iron?) heat intake grate in the dining room and vacuumed out the gross cobwebs. I found cat toys and crayons in the vent, so it’s obviously been quite awhile since it was cleaned out! I had to fend off Collette, who was circling curiously. I was afraid she would dart down into the vent, which would have been bad news. I dusted, I vacuumed, I laundered.

I also finally did my first outdoor work of the season! I went out with my rake and yard waste bag and started picking up all the leaves and sticks that have accumulated over the long, long winter. It proved too windy to rake, and after all the rain, yesterday’s snow and this morning’s hail, the flower beds were too soft to spend any real time in. But I filled half a bag with detritus and preened over my growing tulips – no buds yet, but soon enough!

This evening, I ran to Menard’s to price out some of my upcoming projects. I am definitely replacing the back door and screen door in the very near future. I priced out fencing, since mine is looking sorrier and sadder now that I’m home before dark. I have a lot of decisions to make on the fence. I want the same basic structure – a 6 foot tall privacy fence – especially since my back yard abuts the neighboring apartment building’s parking lot. I could replaced the rotting, faded, cracked, splintered wood with new wood – involving painting or staining and periodic maintenance. The new composite fencing looks intriguing, though, especially with the lack of maintenance. But I’m not sure how a white fence would look against my white house. Plus, if I stay in this house another five years, how much maintenance would I really need to do?

I also wandered through the bathroom section to look at the looming big project that I’ll tackle just as soon as I get the cash.

But for now, it’s been a happy housiversary.

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Where ladybugs go to die

Posted on April 4, 2008 | Leave a comment

Last night, in a fit of spring energy mixed with winter disgust, I mopped the floors and pulled down some of the window plastic. Everything seems much brighter. The tile is a much cheerier sandy orange. Though I’ve gotten pretty good at shrinkwrapping my windows so you can’t really tell, the film is indeed a film. Now that it’s gone, the whole room seems brighter.

I was as careful as I could be removing the plastic. Even, so, I accidentally peeled up a couple chunks of windowsill paint in my bedroom. Fortunately, they’re windowsills I painted when I moved in (and removed the baseball wallpaper), so I have plenty of spare paint. It should be a relatively quick touchup some dreary day.

However, I was amazed – shocked, nearly – at the volume of dead ladybugs trapped between the window glass and the film! Most windows had at least three or four beetle bodies, but some – namely the upstairs hallway and bathroom – had a dozen, easy. In the fall, when they start coming in to the house, Collette has a field day chasing them, trapping them under her paws, and crunching them as they try to fly away. She didn’t seem too interested in the long-dead carcases, though.

I wonder how they got there, though. My seals were pretty tight, so they must have wriggled in through both the storm window and the glass. The storm windows wouldn’t surprise me, since they’re old and don’t really fit snugly. The glass itself is a bit concerning, though. Both those windows are on my list to replace sooner rather than later, and they’re exactly the same size and age – big and old.

I can just imagine a whole line of them seeking shelter from the cold October nights, crawling towards the house, hurtling the storm window, and glass before getting trapped by the film.

Unless, of course, I’ve disproved Redi and Pasteur. Maybe there really is spontaneous generation and my house should be a research site!

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Is cleaning women’s work?

Posted on April 2, 2008 | 3 comments

No matter the size of my home, I’ve always been the cleaner. Living alone, if I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. I try to keep things pretty tidy and straighten up periodically, trying to actually clean weekly. I’ve found with the bigger house, though, comes a lot more cleaning! Back in my apartment days, 10 minutes on a Saturday morning was enough to clean the bathroom, and another 10 allowed for a quick Swiffering of the entire apartment. But now, I have to choose – upstairs bathroom or downstairs? Do I really need to do both every weekend? And vacuuming – really, how often do I have to do it? Can I forgo pulling out the couch? After all, I’ll just have to start over again in a week or two, anyway.

As a result, I’ve fallen into laziness. No bones about it, there’s been some sheer, unadulterated sloth lately. Part of it is the futility of winter. I can’t remember the last time I mopped the tile in the back hallway, since the nearly-constant snow, slush and muck have kept it nice and filthy, with gray splotches and splatters galore. Since the windows have been closed since early October, there have been no cleansing breezes to dislodge the ceiling cobwebs, and the air in general is stale with a hint of Febreeze.

But really, whose problem is it? Growing up, my mom spent much of her free time cleaning the house, delegating some of the chores to my sister and me. When company was coming, though, Dad would take the reins and do a good chunk of the vacuuming and dusting.

I wonder, if I were to live with a guy who was willing to clean, would I let him? How committed am I to my role as cleaner? And is it because I’m a girl or because I’m the de facto housekeeper?

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Sprouts

Posted on April 2, 2008 | Leave a comment

On my way home this evening, the air was brisk for the first of April, but warm compared to lately. As I came up the driveway, I slowed to glance at the flower beds, as I have for the last several days. To my surprise, there was not one, not two, but at least half a dozen tulip sprouts! They’re not green, but rather a deep burgundy, so they don’t really stand out against the reddish mulch. I can’t recall what I planted. Last year, I had only red tulips, so I’m assuming (hoping?) they’ll come back, but I think I bought a bag of mixed bulbs in October.

I was so excited, I came inside and stripped down the plastic over the glass of the front door and in the bathroom. I’ll wait for the living room and bedroom until the overnight temperatures are above freezing.

Pictures tomorrow…

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April 1 is just around the corner!

Posted on March 29, 2008 | Leave a comment

For some people, spring starts with the appearance of the first tulips (hasn’t happened yet). Others consider Opening Day (which is Monday). More scientific types say spring starts with the spring equinox, which was March 20.

But for me, spring really starts when I can tear the plastic from my windows and let out the stale winter air. Most years, we’ll have a random 60 degree day in mid-March that makes me start picking at the double-sided tape until common sense prevails and I know we’re past the last snow. I usually tell myself April 1.

This year, we haven’t had any of those really warm days yet, and it snowed on Thursday. Tuesday’s forecast is for “Windy and much cooler with partly sunny skies. Northwest winds 16-32 m.p.h. and gusty.” The high will be 48, with a below-freezing low of 29. Next Friday is forecast to be “Blustery, chilly and raw.” Sigh.

Maybe I’ll wait until after I get back from Florida on the 8th.

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The Fallacy of Rope Caulk

Posted on March 24, 2008 | Leave a comment

Every year, I spend a lot of time trying to weatherproof my leaky windows. This stretches back to the apartment days, when my ancient bedroom windows would rattle back and forth with the slightest breeze.

When I can find it, I like removable caulk. It goes on like normal caulk, but dries to the consistency of rubber cement. Come spring, it’s pretty simple to just peel it off, as long as you have enough patience to take your time and not accidentally remove the varnish or paint around the windows. Even so, it’s relatively pricey – especially when you consider how many old, drafty windows I have! – and can be hard to find. I found some very early in the season at Wal-Mart, but despite hunting, I didn’t find another tube until nearly Christmas at an Ace.

For the best possible weatherproofing, I use removable caulk, let it set, and then shrink wrap the windows. This combination works really well, and I use it in areas that it makes a huge difference – namely the living room and my office. In the very few rooms with new windows, I either don’t bother (kitchen, since the time I spend in there is often over a hot stove), or I only shrink wrap (my bedroom).

However, one of the biggest energy losers in the house is my lovely porch, or three-season room. With eleven windows, all of them old and drafty (and one cracked – on my spring project list), it leaks like a sieve. And the giant window between the porch and the living room allows a ton of this frigid air through, despite sealing that window. But it’s not worth the immense time and effort it would take to shrink wrap the whole room. So this year, I tried rope caulk. I’d used it before to middling success in my old apartment, so I bought a roll and spent a November morning wrangling it into place. It presses into place pretty easily- I used my fingers and a putty knife. But I’ve found it doesn’t stay put. Every time I go onto the porch to get my mail, there seems to be another piece of rope caulk on the ground, having fallen from its home. At first, I’d diligently search for its origin and lovingly replace it. But now, I don’t bother – and it seems fully half of what I originally installed has fallen. The cat is delighted – she sees the pieces, usually at least 6-8 inches long, as toys for her stealthy forays onto the porch.

It may be user error on the part of the installer – was it too cold that morning? – or maybe it’s just an inferior product. Ideally, I’d replace all eleven windows, but my limited window funds will be spent on rooms I spend more time in – namely the living room. But either way, I doubt I’ll use rope caulk again.

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New fun term: Frost Heave

Posted on March 20, 2008 | 2 comments

After a winter of record-nearing (and maybe breaking, if tonight’s forecast of 5-7 inches of “snizzle” comes true) snow, I finally closed the gates across my driveway yesterday. The gates have been ensconced in snow banks since November. Last year, I learned the hard way that keeping them closed during a snow storm made shoveling much more arduous.

So there was much rejoicing when I came up the driveway last night and saw the (almost) clear driveway. Before I even unlocked the back door, I swung the right gate closed, then the left one. But in the center, the latch wouldn’t meet. Puzzled, I looked at the hinges, thinking maybe one had slipped – maybe some oil was in order. Then I noticed that the fence itself was sitting on the driveway, despite the wheels that enable easy swinging.

Apparently, I have discovered (developed?) a frost heave. Essentially, during the numerous freeze/thaw cycles, water permeated a crack, froze (expanded), and pushed the pavement up. I knew I should have patched those asphalt cracks last fall. I bought the goo to do it, but never actually got around to it.

Lesson learned. Now I need to get taller wheels to enable proper gate closing, which probably also means raising the hinges. Fun times.

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Mysterious critters

Posted on March 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

Sometimes, I come into the kitchen and find Collette sitting on the floor, staring up at the exhaust fan/vent with rapt fascination.

The old-fashioned Air King seems to elicit the same response among my friends: “My grandma has that same fan in her kitchen!”

I’ve never used it all that much, since I’ve never previously had an exhaust fan. Really, I only flip it on when the smoke detector (the one too close to the stove) goes off.

But increasingly over the past couple weeks, Collette’s interest has been piqued by rustling and rattling coming from within the fan. My guess is that some critter is trying to build a nest in the vent part that protrudes outside. I went out to investigate it a couple weekends ago, but learned just how high up it is – I didn’t think about my house effectively sitting half a story above ground level. At the time, the ground was much too icy to consider safely using my ladder to climb up and have a look. Now, the ground’s too soft and muddy – I don’t think I could stabilize the ladder sufficiently to be safe.

Too bad I can’t just send Collette up there. I’m sure she’d take care of the uninvited guest, lickity-split.

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