Cleaned out the Gutters

When there is a fully grown tree that drops the helicopter seeds as we like to call them, it becomes a pain trying to keep the gutteres clean. Especially when the gutters are not attached to the house correctly and have warped. There are some places on our gutters where I have a difficult time getting my hand in and out because they have become so narrow.

I get on the roof at least twice each spring and at least twice each fall. I almost can't wait to get new siding because we will get new gutters at the same time and probably the leaf guard so that the gutters won't get all clogged with the helicopters and leaves.

That Lamp Post Has Got to Go!

Well, last Saturday my parents were kind enough to come over and help remove the lamp post that didn't work from the yard. My Dad then took the wire that went to the house and added an outside outlet. Now when the holidays come we can put up lights if we so desire.

It was not easy removing the lamp post. The bottom was so rusted, that when trying to wiggle the post to see if we could get it loose or needed to dig a little deeper, the post just snapped off. Since we are considering planting a tree in that spot, we dug further to remove the concrete the post had been set in. This was the hard part as it was down a ways and the dumb thing weighed a ton. But I'm happy to say that with the help of my Mom, we dug down far enough that she was able to get under it with a shovel and free it. I then hauled the thing out of the hole.

With the lamp post gone, you can see from the photo I'm very happy it is now gone. Disposal of the lamp post was easy too. We stuck it out at the curb, and one of the trash collectors grabbed it like less then an hour after we put it out there. The concrete monster it was stuck in, and part of it still is stuck in, is another story. We've tried bashing it with a hammer, but that is slow going. I think we will invest in a sledge hammer to break it up a little quicker.

Time to Clean Up the Garden

I've been kind of ignoring the garden, and now it's biting me in the butt. I've been avoiding working in the garden because of the roots from the tree on the side of our house for one. The roots are all over the garden and each year, digging holes for plants has been next to impossible. This goes for removing weeds as their roots weave in with the roots from the tree, so they have a good grip and almost never come when pulling the weed. Second, would be I still don't really know what I'm doing. My thumb has not gotten any greener. You may remember I posted about trying to grow some veggies from seed. The Broccoli was the only thing that came up...and then a few days later they were dead.

Putting it off has bitten me in the butt though because the weeds have taken over. Now there are more weeds to pull than plants that are to remain in the garden. I've managed to get through most, but there are still lots left. I'm hoping before this next week is over to have the weeds cleaned out and some plants in the ground so the garden doesn't look so empty. I'm trying to find some plants that aren't done over and over. I want to be different, and I'm tired of looking at the same plants throughout the neighborhood. Basically everyone has an evergreen bush and trimmed to look so perfect and manacured. One, I don't have that kind of time, and two, it makes me sick to see people mold nature to look like that. It reminds me of society and it's expectations for people to look a certain way, act a certain way, and think and believe certain things.