Tag Archives: Yardwork

I thought I was done with tar…

Posted on September 22, 2008 | Leave a comment

I spent nearly three hours this afternoon sitting on the driveway by the back door, trying to remove the tar that had splattered up onto the new storm door during our paving project. We had realized – too late, obviously – that we should drape a tarp over the door to ensure the splatter didn’t mar the pretty new door.

Since then, I’ve repainted the foundation to cover the splatters along the driveway. We tried a couple different products to remove the tar from the siding and back door, gingerly testing inconspicuous areas. One removed the finish from the aluminum siding entirely, exposing shiny metal!

Today, I finally decided to give it some real elbow grease. I grabbed the one that didn’t hurt the siding – a Turtle Wax bug and tar remover – and doused a couple square inches of the bottom of the door, then waited 10 minutes instead of the suggested one. Sponge in hand and fingers crossed, I rubbed until the tar bubbles began to give way. Hooray! It was a slow and tedious process, but I’ve done all that I believe is possible. A couple places now sport small yellow spots, but the paint will camouflage that. (We were planning to paint as part of the door project – once EVERYTHING was done – but didn’t want to just paint over the tar bumps.)

I also discovered late in the game that a toothbrush was much more effective than a sponge, which could have saved some thumb strain. But the effort was well worth it.

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Project week!

Posted on August 19, 2008 | 1 comment

I’m taking a week off before I pull my commuter shoes back out of the closet (long story to be detailed soon). Taking advantage of the time off in the waning days of summer, I developed quite a list of projects I want to tackle. Some of them are ambitious – like sealing the driveway and “figuring out” (and hopefully ordering) my new fence and a pair of living room windows. I’ve also got some softballs padding the list to fuel a sense of accomplishment, like getting my oil changed and updating my IPASS account information.

This morning, I set off on my first big task: filling the driveway cracks so I can seal it tomorrow. Luckily, this week is blessed by good weather, so I can knock this one out early. But first, I realized I needed to do something about the pretty, wild grasses (read: weeds) along the edge of the driveway where it meets the fence. While I try to quash the dandelions as they rear their ugly heads, I’ve been more lax about the grasses, as they actually don’t look bad and add a bit of color. However, they do some damage to the driveway edge, where their roots try to break through the surface, so they had to go so I could seal the cracks. In the blazing sunshine (pretty! I thought as I headed outside), I donned my gardening gloves, grabbed a yardwaste bag, and set to it.

Ninety minutes later, sweaty, itchy and covered by burrs, I had to call it quits for awhile to run some errands and escape the growing heat. I discovered that the nice, tranquil grasses were actually topped by prickly burrs that clung to my gloves, clothes and hair. And apparently I was allergic to one of the plants, as red and pink bumps erupted along my arms, though cold water stopped the itching and calmed the bumps.

A couple hours later – when the sun had dipped behind the house – I returned and dug out a couple remaining dandelion roots and swept out the cracks due to be filled. I had bought a jug of crack filler last summer but never actually got around to using it (witness the frost heave). LESSON LEARNED: crack filler does not keep through numerous Chicago freeze-thaw cycles. I shook the jug for several minutes (great workout!), it was still completely separated into liquid and solid. I tried pouring it into the cracks, but only the liquid actually left the jug, but I figured it was better than nothing, so I kept pouring as much as I could. Eventually, however, I realized it wasn’t worth doing a half-assed job, so I went back in the house and pulled out some nasty asphalt-in-a-tube I had leftover from the door project. It definitely did the goopy, stinky trick.

LESSON LEARNED: on a driveway that slopes (hey, that’s mine!), there are more cracks at the bottom of the slope. Start there when filling cracks to ensure you don’t run out of goop on the big, long, deep cracks. The smaller hairline cracks should be fine with the liquid leftovers.

I also discovered that even though I missed my bike ride today, weeding and driveway work are quite effective workouts.

Tomorrow, to seal! And replace the broken beadboard in the porch. And, and, and…

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Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

Posted on July 15, 2008 | 1 comment

Common sense would have dictated that I mow the lawn tonight. I’ve got more clovers than a Lucky Charms box and the edges are looking pretty shaggy. It didn’t quite need to be mowed over the beautiful, perfect weekend, and besides, it was busy. By this morning, though, I knew my days were numbered before Code Enforcement comes a-knocking.

But did I get home, change into my grubby yard clothes and mow the lawn in the 75 degree sunshine? No… instead, I whined about my super-sore legs (who knew staining and gardening could be such a lethal combination?) and lounged in the backyard with a book. And now I learn that the rest of the week will be hot and humid. Serves me right, I suppose.

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Mower Wars: The Finale

Posted on June 11, 2008 | 1 comment

After months and months of frustration with my reel mower, I finally caved and bought a real mower. Mind you, I didn’t go the full-fledged gas guzzling route. Rather, I went with my alterna-yuppie tendencies and bought an electric mower. My yard is small enough that even the far edges are reachable with a 100 foot extension cord. Plus, an electric engine is far more environmentally friendly and doesn’t entail the sparkplugs, flooding threat and other hassles of a more traditional gas mower.

I started my research a couple weeks ago with a stop at Lowes. I had nearly made up my mind that I wanted to go the electric route, but I wanted to actually see an example. While there, I snagged a brochure, jotted my notes and weighed the relative merits of each. The kindly Lowes employee – an older gentleman – came by to offer his sage advice: “Women usually prefer the self-propelled. They’re less work.” Now, there would have been plenty of other ways to suggest that upsell without inserting the gender aspect. He could have mentioned a number of features that may merit the higher cost. Instead, when I explained that I was interested in an electric and asked for the difference between the two models on display, he tried again: “You know, electric means you have to mess with a cord. You should really consider a self-propelled.” I smiled, thanked him and walked out.

Later that week, I again mowed with my reel mower. Even after cross-cutting the lawn, it was still uneven and looked ragged. Over the next ten days, it grew and grew and grew as unrelenting rain prevented me from cutting. So Saturday morning, I set off to (a different) Lowes and its neighboring Home Depot, notepad in hand, and compared the scarce few models available at each. I came home and discovered that my leading front runner was $30 cheaper on Amazon, with no sales tax and free shipping! Nearly ready to Add to Cart, I stopped by Menards while I was out running other errands. Success! They had a very comparable model on sale for even less money. I snagged it and brought it home.

Sunday morning, I donned my grubby yard clothes, did the small amount of necessary assembly and sat down to unravel the extension cord. With it sufficiently untangled, I ran into the screened porch to plug it in. Suddenly, for the eleventh day in a row, the skies opened. Within the next two minutes, as I frantically pulled everything back to the garage, thunder rumbled and lightning brought torrents of hail. I sighed and went about my day. By the time I got home from a Cougars game, the sun had been out long enough to make things nice and steamy, while drying out the lawn. I mowed my lawn with the words of reviewers in my head. It did look like I was vacuuming my lawn! But in a relatively quick span, the lawn was nice and even and looked better than it has since I’ve lived in this house.

I’m sad to give up my defiant reel mower. But the resulting lush suburban grass makes it worth it.

And besides, I can keep using the reel mower on the slower-growing, shaded backyard – just to keep it real.

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Failure

Posted on May 26, 2008 | 3 comments

The great sharpening experiment has failed. Saturday, I excitedly mowed my lawn. Yep, the blades are sharper, but the cut is still horribly uneven. My lawn looks like (shorter) crap. I’m weighing my options for next steps.

In happier news, I planted a tomato plant in one of my big clay pots that line the driveway, as well as numerous herbs – basil, oregano, cilantro and dill. I plan to add a bell pepper plant in the next few days, once I find a worthy candidate.

It’s been another beautiful day that triggers my allergies, but that didn’t stop me from my inaugural 5 mile bike ride through the my and neighboring neighborhoods.

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Sharpening My Skills – and Mower

Posted on May 23, 2008 | 1 comment

My lawn looks like crap. There, I’ve said it. Spring is always tough, with frequent rain and ideal growing conditions that make the grass grow quickly, while keeping it too wet to actually mow with my old friend the reel mower.

This spring, it has been especially brutal. I nearly reached my limit with the reel mower and considered investing part of my “stimulus check” in what some (Don) call a “real” mower, complete with engine! But sanity prevailed as I realized that I had never sharpened the blades on my reel mower, and I’m now in my third grass-cutting season.

Last summer, I had idly realized that sharpening might be a good idea. I made a couple calls, and learned that there’s only one place locally that does it, and even Ace farms out the work to them. Hence, the wait would be about three weeks! If I had planned ahead and sharpened in winter, three weeks would be no problem. However, in the height of summer, the neighbors – and city – might complain if I didn’t mow my lawn for three weeks. I meant to send it off last winter, but alas – sloth prevailed.

Instead, I decided to investigate the sharpening kits that can be used spruce up the blades at home. Today, I stopped by my local Ace (I had checked Lowe’s and Home Depot for the kit while I was on my door sojourn) and picked one up for $20. I brought it home and eagerly set up living room space for my project, spreading out a grubby old towel. I followed the directions and the whole process was pretty simple. From start to finish, it took maybe 30 minutes, 45 if you count the time to run to the Citgo for WD-40. (I can’t believe I’ve been a homeowner for two years and didn’t have WD-40!)

Basically, you take apart the wheel assembly, which is remarkably simple, and then paint goo onto the blades. The goo spreads on a deep blue with flecks of sparkle, reminiscent of the bad blue-glitter nail polish high school girls wear. Then, you insert a crank into the wheel and turn it counter-clockwise at a relatively high rate of speed for ten minutes. In the process, there’s a horrific grinding noise, and the goo turns dark midnight blue. When you’re done, wipe off the blades, reassemble the wheels, and WD-40 the whole thing. I did a test drive on a small strip of front lawn and cut it in a single pass, rather than the three cross-cuts that still left maddening uneven spots throughout the yard. Dandelions are still somewhat resilient, but they’re the cockroaches of lawn care.

A huge sense of accomplishment and money saved – a very good project. Now I can keep my nice, quiet lawnmowing tradition and get some great exercise, too.

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Fresh cut grass

Posted on May 5, 2008 | 1 comment

I woke up to a beautiful day. A bit chilly, but finally – it was sunny and clear enough for my inaugural lawn mow!

The grass had mostly dried out by the time I got to it, but it was so long that my manual mower (no engine or emissions for me!) definitely struggled. I had forgotten what great exercise lawnmowing is – I felt it in my legs and shoulders.

Once I finished the mowing part, I realized just how long the grass had gotten when I saw how much longer the remaining edges appeared! We’re talking code-violation length – six inches, easy.

I pulled out my evil weedwhacker/trimmer and crossed my fingers. Last spring, the ten-year-old model I had stolen from my dad died, so I went to Lowe’s and bought the cheapest model I could get – an electric powered string trimmer similar to the one I had killed. It worked well for a couple months, but by August, it had evolved into a petulant brat – constantly ripping through string, randomly unspooling, and essentially being a pain in the ass. Today was awful – I’d get no more than ten feet before it needed to be respooled. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or if it would have been worth it to pay a bit more. Or maybe it just needs a new spool?

Either way, the yard looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself – much neater and cleaner than when I woke up this morning. With the rows of tulips, daffodils, and petunias, the flag, and the green-green grass, all set against the white house, it looks like summer.

Then I moved to the backyard to visit my anthills. I sprinkled my death powder liberally, then watered them down as instructed. A couple hours later, I inspected them again – no movement could be perceived. I will keep a cautiously optimistic eye on the hills this week. Hopefully the nuclear option will be successful.

I also spent a couple hours washing windows and continuing the screen-storm window swap. I have learned the very hard way that my infatuation with removable caulk was slightly misplaced. While it worked well as far as insulating against wind, it has proved very, very difficult to remove without damaging the windows. The living room window, already in poor shape, took some real abuse while trying to remove it following at least two solid hours of work. The other wooden windows – back hallway and upstairs hall – were slow-going. I did find that the guest room – with its relatively freshly (semi-glass) paint was a tad easier, where as the older, matte paint on other windows was more stubborn. Mostly down, just one to go – the bathroom. And that window has no remaining sash cords or pulleys anyway, so it’s pretty much moot.

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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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Posted in Weather, weatherproofing, Yard & Garden

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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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