Spring is allegedly here, although we are still going to have some chilly weather in the next few weeks, but the daffodils are having none of it:
The tulips will be next. Last fall was my first bulb planting at the new house, and now that I have seen how it looks, I am going to triple my planting this fall.
Dean (the guy who did most of the work on the house) was in town this week, and we spent some time stabilizing the first floor. Remember, when I purchased the house, the idiots before me had cut a joist in the ceiling, which had put all the load bearing on the beams in the basement and created a five inch sag on the main floor, so we had to jack it all up and put 8×8’s in, etc. That, and the addition of the 3/4 inch interlocking hardwood floors firmed things up, but there was still some give. After a year and some of letting the house expand, contract, and settle, it was time to head back to the basement and make a few adjustments. We added some more supports and what now, and I can now report that even my fat ass can do jumping jacks in the living room and none of the china in the corner cupboard so much as jiggles.
The backyard is the next project- the raised bed gardens are going in (I salvaged two from the old house, and am putting in three new ones), and we are hauling all my soil and compost from the old place. Those will all go in the area of my yard that will get the most sun, while on the other half of the yard, where there is shade from pines and I put in the two apple and the chestnut tree, the butterfly and bee pollinator garden will be going in with a bird/butterfly pool. Tht’s also where the compost pile is (in the back corner). Last year I put in a dozen blueberry and blackberry bushes under the pines, so we’ll see if those produce anything. I’m going to throw some mushroom logs back there too and see what happens.
In June, we are cutting the deck in half because it’s too damned big, and I want to reposition where the stairs are and add some support beams as well as some 4×4’s so I have a place to tie off a large retractable tarp for some shade.
As far as actual plants, the babies are doing well:
I’ve got a new run of seedlings in, this time, mainly herbs, some late blooming tomatoes, and my cold weather run of broccoli and cauliflower. So that’s how things are going here.
Brian and Tammy are coming up tomorrow, and we are going to cook an Easter feast for my folks and some locals.
*** Update ***
OMG- I completely forgot the total overshare portion of this post. I bought a bidet attachment for my toilet and from Tushy and I am embarrassingly excited.
Omnes Omnibus
Why don’t you just say, “Fuck you! I hate you all,” like you usually do?
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
The ’90s > the ’80s, discuss
Nicole
Bidets are the best. We first encountered them on our honeymoon, in Buenos Aires, and there was a bit of grieving when we checked out of the hotel.
seaboogie
Your home looks wonderful and I love all of your gardening efforts.
I hope you’ve added a framed photo or two of Walter – my favorites were the one you took of Walter from behind from one of your last walks, and the one that debit took of him with antlers and smiling with his “summer” teeth, along with his new bestie.
Mary G
The daffodils should spread and multiply if they are happy. Don’t cut the greenery back after they finish blooming, they need the nutrients and photosynthesis products to build up bulbs for next year. Since you seem like a bit of a neat freak, you can camouflage them with annuals.
Your house looks like a home, John, and I am happy for you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Why?
Schlemazel
Are you feeling OK, John? You forgot to call us all name & tell us to bugger off. Hope everything is good with you and you not getting soft in your old age
Although we are all grateful that your efforts so far have not ended with a trip to the ER!
satby
Bidets are wonderful! I miss them when I get home from Asia.
JCJ
In Thailand most toilets have a spray attachment like a lot of kitchen sinks have. Those are very useful.
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemazel: He talked about his love of his ass-washing device. It is the same sort of thing.
MoxieM
I think the bidet attachments sound groovy, but neither toilet is next the sink in my place. I need honest testimony from someone who lives in a northern region before I commit. (As in: what’s up with nearly-freezing water sprayed on one’s nethers?) “Room temp” water is seriously cold here in the winter, so no, nope, nuh-uh. Although I do think bidets are wonderful. A friend has one of those swanky Japanese ones with the warm breezes and so on, and loves it very much. Plus, it lights up!
Jager
Our house was built in 1922, it is always something. We’ve got a retaining wall project going on right now on the back and the north side. The trench looks like a Vietnam era defensive perimeter, I told the foreman of the project I wanted an M60 on each end of the line with interlocking fields of fire, claymores in front of each fighting position, I also told him that the fat kid he’s got working for him was on listening post duty tonight. and no smoking after dark. He looked at me like I was crazy. The Iraq vet on the job laughed his ass off. For what this is costing us, I should get to say whatever I want, I think?
Mary G
I have one of those, it’s not a Tushy, but it’s great when your joints don’t like to work. The Japanese make some that have hot water and blow drying.
hitchhiker
I hope your blackberries behave themselves. At our last place those mofos stepped out of their place and took right over … climbing all over fences and nearby tree trunks and draping themselves over the azaleas. When I finally got to digging them up, it was like there was one giant plant with a network of interconnected roots just underground.
At every open space here in Seattle, they take over.
rikyrah
Everything looks great, Cole ??
Omnes Omnibus
@Jager: Make sure the Claymores are far enough forward. Also consider taping a CS canister to the front side of each Claymore.
efgoldman
@Jager:
Our was 1962. Has a cesspool, originally with orangeburg effluent pipe (paper wrapped concrete, common at the time) which we had to replace about ten years ago. Now the cesspool is well beyond its useful life, which means we can’t sell the house as is. We have to pay for a new septic system and it has to pass town code. (The town master plan shows sewers up our street, but granddaughter will be a grandmother before they vote a bond issue).
Arghh
RandomMonster
Shouldn’t you issue a trigger warning before posting about your bidet?
satby
Damn, and I followed the link to the Tushy website and now I have to buy one.
Gin & Tonic
@hitchhiker: Blackberries always take over. They are annoying as fuck.
StringOnAStick
Beware the spread if blackberry and raspberry vines, they want to rule the world and I don’t know if there is an edging deep enough to contain them.
Also, deer love tulips like candy, so plant accordingly. Daffodils are inedible to deer and there’s a huge range in time of bloom, size ,and exotic shapes. Occasionally a deer or elk will bite off a bunch of daffodil leaves but they immediately spit them out and move on.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: But they are yummy.
Major Major Major Major
Something from that Tushy site I was not expecting to read today: “sign up for Poop Hacks and get $5 off!”
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah, don’t you love us any more?
satby
@Mary G: Mary G is right John, the daffodils will multiply nicely, especially if you give them a bit of compost side dressing or fertilizer. And the best place for bulbs is here. I love daffodils and have multiple variations in different beds.
mainmata
Since you’re doing raised beds in the back, one thing you may want to consider (depending on how good/bad your soil is and that’s purchasing mushroom composed bedding. Basically, mushroom farmers have to replace their old bedding periodically and it is essentially a super rich natural organic fertilizer and soil amendment. We were able get a huge load for our farm (not that far from you) for a relatively low price and our veggies went crazy on it. Real cost effective investment.
BTW, what tree did you plant out front?
Karen Potter
@hitchhiker: I have even tried the buried stock tank that was suggested by farmer down road at last place I lived, didn’t work since where branches touch ground they take root.
mainmata
@JCJ: Also Indonesia. Some of the fancy hotels have those weird as hell Japanese toilets.
SiubhanDuinne
Your house is wonderful, John! What a great life you have created/are creating for yourself. Happy Easter!
satby
@hitchhiker: @Gin & Tonic: I read that to keep them from taking over you have to plant them in a large pot sunk into the ground, leaving the top couple of inches as an edging. Never tried that, but I ordered a raspberry bush so I’ll report back in a 2020 garden thread on how successful it is.
Karen Potter
I love Asiatic lilies, which are an all time favorite of rodents; but if you plant them with your daffodils they are left alone since daffodils are poisonous to rodents. And best part lilies are blooming when daffodils are dying.
jl
Thanks for oversharing. Cole owes us a bucket load of petpix for that.
I, for one, do not want to hear about the ‘bidet attachment’ again. At least until the inevitable and unimaginable Cole ‘bidet attachment’ disaster occurs and we need to.
Edit: though a video of Cole pushing the button and seeing how it squirts would be interesting. And might as well get the ‘bidet attachment’ disaster over with asap. I think that would probably be an opportune time.
Evap
We experienced Japanese toilets last year on our trip to SE Asia and I so want one. Hot water plus a dryer and a heated seat.
We were on a Japanese airline for the flights between Tokyo and Bangkok and flew Business class on the way and Economy on the way back. The Business class airplane toilet was one of the fancy ones with a washer and dryer, but the Economy toilet was just an ordinary one. I was so disappointed when I used the toilet on the way back.
satby
@Karen Potter: hmm…keep branches elevated, got it!
Jager
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you sir, got it covered. Now fly back and have a cold one at the officers club, we have work to do.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jager: I got you fuckers breakfast at 4:00 a.m. i AM NOT A MORNING PERSON. Just saying.
ETA: I never bunked away from my soldiers.
John Cole
@mainmata: Two oaks (STRONG LIKE BULL) and a maple in front. Two apple trees and a chestnut in back. Redbud along the side. Going to put some paw paws in around back on the other side of the fence.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I get some kind of weird mouth reaction with blackberries and do not enjoy them.
Amir Khalid
@mainmata:
Business visitors from Japan need to feel at home. Tourists, too.
Jager
@efgoldman: City sewer stopped about 250 yards from our little road up the canyon, blocked by an old cranky couple. Our next project is a full blown mound system. The septic system we have was built when the house was 1 bedroom, one bath, now it’s 3 bedrooms 3 baths. In CA septic size is determined by the number of bedrooms. The bids for the system are insanely expensive, plus I have do a pump to get the shit to the mound which is 175 feet from the house and we have to avoid screwing with a natural wash that runs through our lot. And we have to protect the California oaks, which means we have to zig zag around their root systems….
Gin & Tonic
@John Cole: Oaks are brittle and will be losing branches all the time. Also, acorns.
Jager
@Omnes Omnibus: Company grade then?
hitchhiker
@satby:
Yeah, I just decided to be ruthless and vigilant, meaning rip them out when they rooted in places I didn’t want them. It just happens SO FAST. I always smile when I see them for sale in little tubs at the grocery store … literally every trail I walk with the dog is lined with 8-foot blackberry bushes. In the late summer you can stand in one place and eat them for an hour.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jager: Left as a 1LT.
efgoldman
Been watching original CSI reruns b’cseL&O has been running the same episodes for a week.
Current one is season six. This appears to be the time when producers were trying to see if they could make it Ewww enough to get people to turn it off
jl
@John Cole: rip everything out and just plant pawpaws. Sell them on balloon-juice. Then the blog will pay for itself.
Jager
@Omnes Omnibus: Only two jobs in the Army have leader in their title, squad and platoon. Did you like sleeping back to back with your RTO?
MomSense
@Evap:
My 1%er friends I stay with in Massachusetts have them. I don’t know how they leave their house.
Kid’s band is playing a gig in Boston tonight and I so wanted to be a stalker mom and hide in the back of the venue to hear them but I decided against it. I’m certain this was the right decision for him but I’m dying.
Jay
@hitchhiker:
There’s a bunch of different blackberries. The “common” ones in the PNW are an invasive species from England, courtesy of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Of course, three handfull’s added to the top of a plain apple pie, ( no spices), is the best thing ever.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jager: I don’t care to have an officer vs. enlisted fight. Want to play Leg vs. Airborne? That is a fun game too.
lamh36
Amir Khalid
If there hasn’t been one already, maybe we could have a post on how the Harry Potter series has become a manifesto for the March For Our Lives kids. (I’ll say this: it’s a better choice than The Fountainhead in so many ways.) There’s been some discussion of it already in the political media. I found the defensive and vaguely resentful tone of this piece in National Review Online amusing.
MomSense
@lamh36:
Good.
Jay
@efgoldman:
Explore peat. Our septic has peat lined trenches, ( put in 30 years ago), run’s like the day it was installed. The peat creates the perfect environment for the waste eaters, a ground water test conducted 5 feet away from the last line, found that the water was perfectly drinkable and uncontaminated by effluent.
debbie
@lamh36:
Good. May she never return.
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid: I have a very low tolerance for eisegesis, and got through two paragraphs.
John Revolta
@lamh36: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yarrow
@lamh36: Good. Also:
StringOnAStick
I had planned to do some serious garden prep this weekend but Instead I’m perusing our collection of cold meds to see what might help. Voice gone, energy too. Next weekend I guess. We can’t plant even the cold weather stuff for another 2-3 weeks anyway though it is going to be so warm Monday that the garden centers will have people demanding tomatoes NOW. That suggests one more sloppy snowstorm is due.
Gretchen
@Mary G: Agreed. Those single daffodils will be lovely bunches in a few years. A friend gave me one bunch that wasn’t making flowers in her yard any more. I divided the 80 pea-sized bulbs in the clump and planted each separately. I now have literally hundreds of daffodils in my yard. I need to dig up all the bunches and split them, but now there are so many it’s going to be a lot of work. But so worth it in the spring.
I want to see pictures of the raised beds. I’m totally unhandy myself. some friends made me two raised beds for my birthday. I wish I had lots more, but don’t have the means to make that happen.
efgoldman
@debbie:
She’d just be replaced by some other mouth breathing knuckle dragging lying sack of shit
jl
@lamh36:
I give a ‘good’ too.
Except, some say, Hogg is the real bully in all this, and what if these dang kids these days start running our lives? Are we not men!?
“David Hogg’s attempt to end Laura Ingraham’s career sets dangerous precedent” http://hill.cm/x0qopWl
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/979864369382281217
Edit: found via Josh Marshall’s twitter. The pic in The Hill’s tweet is so nasty and ridiculous. I wonder whether the hack Solomon edited it himself.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Greatest. Final4. Evah.
Both games go into overtime on impossible last second shots.
Mike J
@efgoldman: And then we go after his advertisers.
efgoldman
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Related to Red?
Major Major Major Major
So how long until they replace Ingraham with Roseanne? She can cook David Hogg cookies in the oven for the lulz.
Mnemosyne
I need to get my hair cut and colored tomorrow since my roots are out of control. They squeezed me in but warned me that the hairdresser might not have time to blow-dry my hair afterwards. I said, “That’s fine, she knows that I never blow-dry my hair at home anyway.”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@efgoldman: good question. I do remember her covering the Sox for the Globe. So maybe.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@Omnes Omnibus:
What does that do? Does the detonation puncture the canister and spread smoke/gas everywhere?
scav
@lamh36: Suddenly corporations expressing moral views are unfair, indefensible and totally un-‘merkan etc. etc. etc.m
Well, go figure.
And Ha! Daffs well enbloomed here, some overanxious tulips may follow in days, so it’s a race between them and the apple tree. As for bulbs, I want more tons more squill, fritillaria and glory of the snow (the daffs are very well established). Better still? The red current is actually growing new shoots from the base and may convince mom not to dig it up.
Jay
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
Yup
joel hanes
A fine porch like that needs at least two hardwood tallback rocking chairs. cushioned to suit, and an endless supply of iced tea.
Aleta
@lamh36: Mean will only get you so far. It makes a person dependent on her targets.
NotMax
RE: the bidet
No pictures, please!
;)
Just short of criminal, IMHO. Also could decrease the resale value.
Tarps will become moldy/mildewy (aside from looking Tobacco Road-y). Might consider some of those outdoor roll up shades (bamboo or other types).
smike
@joel hanes: You know, I was kind of wondering about that porch. How do you cut a porch in half? Converting part of it into a greenhouse I could understand. And with existing sidewalk, I don’t understand repositioning the stairs thing.
Also, too, brown wicker rockers would work for me. Less upkeep than with wooden outdoor furniture and easier to move.
NotMax
Example (vinyl netting type) of shades mentioned above.
Aleta
-NYT
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
@lamh36: Ted Nugent, maybe.
rachel
@MoxieM:We live in Korea, and our bathroom is totally unheated, like most in this country. I’m very happy with my bidet. The water spray has 3 heat settings (4 if you count ‘off’) and so does the seat. It is so nice to get up in the middle of the night in winter and not freeze any part of your ass. It also has a blow-dry attachment, but I never use it because it takes forever. Distance from the sink not an issue because it is plumbed into the line to the toilet tank.
If you buy a bidet seat, get an electric one with a hand-held remote control like mine!
Sab
@smike: I am waiting with baited (spelling probably wrong) breath about the porch reconfigure,
Sab
@Sab: ETA got same big porch problem.
Amir Khalid
@Sab:
Spelling is indeed wrong. It should be “bated breath”.
Pete Downunder
@Sab: It’s bated, as in abated. Shakespeare is said to have coined it in the Merchant of Venice.
Shylock (to Antonio):
Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;
“Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn’d me such a day; another time
You call’d me dog; and for these courtesies
I’ll lend you thus much moneys”?
EBT
I am slowly growing an audience for my smut!
Today’s story got 17 likes so far.
Mandalay
@Aleta:
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, (in the most remarkable story I’ve read this year)….
EBT
@Mandalay: Last year was a bad year for us, about 45 killed in the US, over 350 worldwide identified.
Amir Khalid
@EBT:
Congratulations! May there be many more.
scav
He said it was a deck he was cutting in half — isn’t that in the back (which is the next project) and what he fell through? There thus could very well be an element of revenge involved in lopping it down to size. But if it’s war, we’ll just have to stay tuned for the deck’s counter-attack.
EBT
@Amir Khalid: Thanks! 17 out of my 126 followers is a decent enough engagement.
opiejeanne
@Nicole: The first time I saw one was in Milan 4 years ago, and they were in almost every place we stayed in Italy and I love them. Never saw one in France which strikes me as kind of funny because I think of them as a French thing.
Some of the women on the Rick Steves 10-day tour of Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome) were horrified by the bidets in their rooms, refused to use them in case they weren’t cleaned well. I’m not sure they understood the concept.
Ninedragonspot
Re: bidet. Became emotionally dependent on my Japanese toilet during a series of short-term visits to Taipei. Finally had one installed here last December. Husband was skeptical at first, but after 36 hours he was won over. It was the hit of last year’s Christmas party.
Unfortunately, my model is lacking a few key features, such as Karaoke attachment and cocktail maker.
Juice Box
Bidets ownership makes travel difficult. The nether bits become deconditioned to toilet paper and the first few days spent without a bidet are excruciating. Bidet-dependence develops fast.
opiejeanne
@Jay: We are fighting them on our one acre property just east of Seattle. I used up the last of the berries we picked last year in a pie last week. The wild ones are seedier than the cultivars but I have no interest in planting any kind of berry vines since we are so overrun with them now.
EBT
In more safe for work news, I have done about 400 backgrounds for my interactive fiction in the last three weeks,
https://twitter.com/norintha/status/979956551866761216
different-church-lady
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Any point in history other than the 70s > 80s.
Dan B
Landscape pro here. All blackberries are invasive. Horticultural varieties are less prone to tip rooting but are aggressive underground. They can appear 5 feet from the closest stem. Mowing can slow them….. We were able to contain them with a 30 inch wide heavy gauge plastic – 6 inches above ground, 24 under. 6 feet of overlap at the end. Good luck. There are some fantastically delicious cultivars.
satby
@Dan B: now I think I’ll just grow mine in a big pot on the patio. I think the one I ordered was developed for that.
raven
I thought you were only supposed to jack a floor a half an inch a day? Ozark?
NotMax
BTW, Mr. Cole, may as well pick up an extra set of closet bumpers now (only a few bucks at ye olde hardware outlet) to provide added support to the toilet seat after the bidet is installed. As the seat after the installation will be re-positioned somewhat above the rim of the bowl, it may be subject to cracking from stress unless given extra support.
Msb
What a lovely home you’re making. Good luck with the tulips. The one time my dad planted them, he carefully spaced the bulbs about 10 feet apart along the driveway. They looked pretty strange when they came up, each waving solemnly back and forth on its own. We never let him forget it.
You do know that spider plants are related to catnip, right? If you come home and find holes in the leaves and Steve looking blissed out, you’ll know the reason why.
MikeifromArlington
Went to the wrong tushy website!
batguano
Now I’m replacing the knob and tube for my second floor lighting. Last summer I completely gutted and updated the kitchen. Just this week I finished a minor renovation of my main bathroom; replaced tub and surround, updated plumbing, updated wiring going all the way back to the main panel, removed a soffit, repaired walls as needed. By now, I mean right now. As in, I am about to pull some 12/3 from my main panel in the garage up to the attic and over to a bedroom. The goal is to be able to add insulation in the attic, which I cannot do until all the knob and tube in the attic is replaced.
Barry
@Omnes Omnibus: And glow in the dark tap to the back of each Claymore.
Barry
@StringOnAStick: “Beware the spread if blackberry and raspberry vines, they want to rule the world and I don’t know if there is an edging deep enough to contain them.”
At my old house (my parents’ house, built in the early 60’s), the grape vines were able to bridge a 10′ gap at 6′ up and hook into the neighbor’s hedge.
Barry
@John Cole: “…and a maple in front. ”
Again, at my parents’ old house, we had a lot of maples. We started with some, and they seeded like crazy. Their shade is incredible, but so is the leaf volume.
Karen Potter
@Dan B: me too, best “fun?” was the year tractor was broke down and neighbor plowed garden for me when he did his field. He manage to go through horseradish bed and spread into garden.
Steeplejack
@MikeifromArlington:
[Takei] Oh, dear.
Barry
@efgoldman: “She’d just be replaced by some other mouth breathing knuckle dragging lying sack of shit”
1) The next one might be more restrained. Laura was hit in the vital$$$.
2) Fox (and the advertisers) might keep the replacement on a leash.
And if not, whack the next one in the vital$$$…
Central Planning
@Barry: And don’t get the syrup potential
cmorenc
@John Cole:
But if it could, it might giggle at your fat-ass antics. :=)
father pusbucket
“I’m an asshole.”
kindness
Those bidets are a lot less expensive than what I had seen before. Go paperless buddy. Looking over the seedlings I kept thinking some of the small tomato plants were pot but I know you don’t roll that way any more. And good for you.
Heidi Mom
That’s a very handsome house, John. If I were driving past it, I’d say “the new owner did a really nice job with that.”
Gretchen
@Karen Potter: thank you! I love lilies and had given up on being able to grow them.
Karen Potter
@Gretchen: you are welcome; I would plant them around a tree by putting in circle of tulips and daffodils, circle of lilies and then outside circle of daffodils. Every year for about 15 years I kept adding another couple of circles; one year it was lilies and bearded irises, what ever was poisonous to rodents on outside so that they never got the idea I was planting them lunches
Greg Ferguson
My two cents from cold (enuf) climate gardening:
a) daffs/narcissus take care of themselves once in – get better, actually – PLUS, there are so many kinds,colors and forms – great to have a mix! Hit the catalogs.
b) Tulips are beautiful, but the bulbs don’t last as long, and you need to tie the spent leaves after bloom.
c) Try hyacinths!! Awesomely beautiful, smell great, stay where you put them. Tough, too.
I live in the desert now and can’t grow any of this shit, but I envy you the prospect of seasons to come, and winters that are just precursors to glorious springs.
WhatsMyNym
@opiejeanne:
Time to bring in the goats. A great time saver for clearing land around the NW.