Garden: Plumbing Problems Wreck the Garden

The garden is looking bad.  Not just because it is winter and most of the plants have turned to brown mush, but because it is currently besieged by plumbers. And I have a mini-rant about this:  I know that these guys are going to be a bit rough around the edges--they are blue collar workers, not management professionals--but this particular group of guys are the WORST communicators with whom I have worked.  They grunt and snort.  They make grandiose, apocalyptic statements.  They seem unable, even when pressed, to use language precisely or descriptively.  They are loutish and (clearly) they are not gardeners.  And they are trampling around, digging big holes in my garden, and standing around (in the garden) to talk and just to stooge around. One guy assured me that they would do their best to minimize damage to the garden while standing IN the garden with the heel of his boot directly on top of an ornamental grass.  Aaaaaarrrgh!

Excavated soil.  Did they put it on the driveway on a tarp?  No, they just threw it up on top of nearby plants.

So, all this began on the 23rd when I went out, first thing in the morning, to empty the recycling bin and I saw "contaminated" water bubbling up out of the ground in the middle of the small garden to the north of the driveway.  We called a couple of plumbing companies and got the one that was able to come out in less than three days.  The source of the damage seemed, from the beginning, to be suspiciously close to the location where a soil-sampling company had taken samples to check for leakage from our neighbor's decommissioned heating-oil tank.  (It has since been confirmed to our satisfaction that the soil-sampling company did drill through and collapse our main sewer pipe.    We have yet to know whether or not we can expect financial aid from the soil-sampling company.) The repair contract is about $27K.

Excavations to the north of the driveway.

At present, the worker-men are still on-site and will be through Thursday, they say.  They have dug at least four enormous holes in the garden--one of them in the back patio.  This one caused me the most angst because the guy stood in the middle of the patio, looked around, and said something like, "Well, this doesn't look like any big deal--we'll just dig all this up."  I freaked out about that!  Because it was a HUGE amount of work to install the patio.  (Not to mention the gratuitously offered pejorative assessment!) After some discussion, an alternate plan came to light which necessitated some expensive hardware pieces, but eliminated quite a bit of digging and so was a fairly even trade-off from a costs perspective.  They still wound up digging out about 12 of the concrete slabs from the patio.  And I know that I will need to do the repair/restoration work because I do not think that they intend to do it and neither do I want them to do it!

I numbered the slabs with a china marker and took photos to aid in reinstalling the pieces.

A pretty big/deep hole in the patio.

The path along the side of the house with two holes and removed concrete slabs.

I've been hiding from them--doing the ostrich thing.  I went flying out of the house yesterday to confront them after I heard/felt two huge thumps against the side of the house (still don't know what that was) and, again, when I heard what turned out to be them roughly dragging my patio bench, by one corner, across the uneven cement.  Who does that?  Neanderthals!    I am so disappointed and angry.

Casualties of the excavation.

ETA:  This experience has given me a new appreciation of the importance of conveying at least the appearance of respect for a customer's property :-( !

Travelogue: San Francisco, 2016

Hi, Everybody!  Not much gardening going on, here.  I get envious of the Fall garden pictures posted around the web--our Fall begins with rain and everything soon turns to brown mush.  And, no, I am not going to memorialize the brown mush in blog photos.  Instead, here are some cell phone snaps from our recent, Thanksgiving trip to the Bay Area.

Obaid loves In-N-Out (headquartered in Los Angeles, where we used to live, but unavailable in the Pacific Northwest) and I suspect he chose our hotel based on the fact that In-N-Out was our immediate neighbor.  This important criterion aside, our hotel was well-located--just a block or so from Fisherman's Wharf. 

Zachary is giving us the stink-eye.

This was Zachary's first trip to the Bay Area, so we planned the sorts of sight-seeing adventures that would appeal to an almost-ten-year-old.

A colorful restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf.

Tall ships at Hyde St. Pier.

We chose not to buy tickets to tour the ships, but there were plenty of interactive displays available on the pier.

We'd previously watched a TV Food Network show about the Boudin Sourdough bakery, so we made a special effort to see it "in real life".  We ate lunch there, toured the bakery, and bought a couple of breads to take away.

A tiled entry mat at Boudin Bakery--Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.

The bakery makes specialty breads in a variety of decorative shapes--turtle, alligator, fish, crab, teddy bear, lobster, turkey, etc.  We bought a couple of crabs to take with us to Thanksgiving dinner.

Shaped breads displayed at the factory tour.

Bakery workers viewed from the tour catwalk.

Zachary really wanted to go on the open-topped, double-decker bus tour.  It was a good way to see the city and, had we planned differently, we could have bought two-day passes and hopped on and off at each destination around the city.

I enjoyed seeing the city from the slightly different perspective of the open-topped double-decker bus.

Zachary's favorite part about the tour was that the lower-hanging street trees came inside the coach and would whack you if you weren't ready to duck.  

This tree amused us--it was hung with over-large pine air fresheners.  A local resident told us this was a neighborhood protest against the cooking smells (heavy, icky, fried food and super-yummy bbq smoke) issuing from several nearby restaurants.

Air-freshener tree.

The tour crossed the golden gate bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge from the bus top.

This utility vehicle (called a "Road Zipper") was the neatest thing!  It picked-up and then replaced the road median to create two alternate-travel lanes.  It was able to achieve this without interrupting traffic.

Road Zipper at work!

On our last full day in the city, we went to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  It is a good natural history museum.    We had lunch at a restaurant located just outside the park and Obaid and Zachary took photos at a small magic store.

Zachary and Obaid.  The disco-y magician is funny, right?  The rabbit's got some serious 'tude.

At SFO (the San Francisco Airport), there was a display of flight attendant fashion through the years. This Pucci outfit was kinda eye-popping.  Frankly, I think it's hideous and I wonder why they chose to go SO trendy?  

Emilio Pucci uniform for Braniff International Airways.

And now, safely back home in Seattle.  Happy Holidays, everyone!

Garden: Today's Photo(s)

This garden is planted in the small strip of land located to the north of our driveway.  Fall is undoubtedly its best season.

Cut-leaf Sumac and Aster "Wood's Blue" (I think) looking down our sloped driveway to the sidewalk.

Reverse view of the same Sumac and Asters.

Similar view--looking towards the house with the carport in the background.

Sumac with Calamagrostis "Karl Foerster" and my neighbor's oak tree in the background.  A beautiful, sunny moment.

Bugs.  Once I spotted one, I started seeing them everywhere.

Enjoying the intermittent, bright, sunshine.

Garden: What I've Been Up To...

I don't know if you remember my last garden-related post? (It was a while ago.)  I was whining about the front garden--specifically the big "Autumn Joy" Sedums.  I wrote that I wanted to replace them with something "visually lighter and tonally darker".  And, after careful consideration, I did make some changes that I hoped would do the job.  But I remained unsatisfied with the result of those edits and I've gone and dug it all up and now it looks really awful.  Again.

This time around, I removed the three big "Autumn Joy" sedums which survived the Spring remodel and I replaced them with three new, baby sedum "Thunderhead".  "Thunderhead" has darker foliage and dark, rosy-pink bloom.  It is supposed to stay a bit more compact than "Autumn joy".  I winged it with this choice and have my fingers crossed for good garden performance.  Dark-leaved sedums haven't done very well in my garden--they tend to grow half-heartedly, are weak and floppy, and are chewed to death by snails (and that's weird because I never see snail damage on the "Autumn Joy"--maybe it is proof that pests tend to target the weakest or struggling plants).  

I also removed a couple of plants (a dwarf purple-leaved barberry and a couple of Sanguisorba "tanna") with the goal of streamlining the planting.   

And I moved one of the Calamagrostis brachytricha a bit more to the front to get it out from under the marauding hardy geranium.  

Here's the result:

Carnage of the day. The entire right-hand looks kind moth-eaten due to loss of the big sedums and general thinning-out of the rest of the plants.

Too early in the game to comment, really, but I think the flow and rhythm of the planting is improved.  The old arrangement had become noticeably static to my eye.

Another view--picture taken from the front walkway.  You can appreciate what the darker flowers of the Sedum "Thunderhead" add to the composition--flower heads of "Autumn Joy" would have been frosty green to palest pink. There are a lot of pale, nondescript colors in the garden at this time of year including the green/buff/rosy hydrangea blooms, the parchment color of the spent allium flowers, and the gray/mauve of the Calamagrostis.  I have high hopes for the bolder contrast provided by the new sedums' floral display.

Remodeled front bed as seen from the entry path.

And from the street:

Front garden as seen from the street.

As part of this remodel, I doubled-down on some of the successful combinations from the Spring revamp.  I like the combination of Geranium "Samobor" mingling with grass Melica uniflora and with dark leaved Ajuga and Salvia lyrata "Purple Volcano" so I moved and redistributed more Melica across the front of the planting bed.  Two garden spots remain and I'll fill them with either seedlings of Geranium "Samobor" or creeping seasonal annuals.

Geranium "Samobor" with melica and salvia lyrata "Purple Volcano".

Small plants mixing it up along the front of the border.

I'll leave you with one last garden picture, this time from the other side of the driveway--Guara backed by Calamagrostis  "Karl Foerster".  From these photos, you may be able to see that the seasons are changing around here!  It's a full month early, but rains and cool, overcast days have returned to Seattle and it definitely feels like Fall.

Arts & Crafts: Media Cabinet Re-Do

Hey, all...I took some time away from the garden (it's frustrating me, anyway, right now) for a different sort of project.  Our media cabinet needed an upgrade and I finally pulled the trigger and bought a new one.  The new piece wasn't quite right the way it came, however, so the project also included faux finishing.

This is what we had, originally.  These photos were taken back in 2012 before we started using this dresser as a media cabinet / TV stand.

Memphis and the original dressser.

More Memphis

I liked the old piece.  I've always thought that it is OK to mix modern furniture with Shaker-style because both share a similar no-nonsense simplicity.  Anyway.  You probably wouldn't have guessed that the old piece is IKEA.  Yup.  It was a "Hemnes" dresser in medium fruitwood finish before I went to town on it with all my "antiquing" skills.  I sanded it, distressed it, replaced the original metal knobs with wooden knobs, painted it, sanded it some more, and (when I was all done) finished it with furniture wax.  

Here's how the "Hemnes" dresser originally looked in the IKEA catalog photo:

IKEA "Hemnes" dresser.  (Picture from the IKEA website )

As I said, I liked this dresser.  But a recent visitor made me feel bad about my decorating style by saying that it is "kinda all over the place." I don't agree--I think I have a pretty cohesive vision!  But that comment got me to thinking about the most efficient way to reduce the number of style influences in my home,  and I decided that the Shaker-style dresser had to be replaced by something more unequivocally modern.

Fast forward to more recent times...

After ages and ages spent looking for the right piece, I finally spied something I loved on the Anthropologie website but it cost much, much more than I was willing to pay.  I kept cycling back to the website, though, reassured that it was still available.  Until, one day, it wasn't.  It was discontinued and I was bereft--only realizing how much I'd wanted it once it became unavailable. So I kept looking and eventually found the same cabinet BACK IN STOCK at Anthropologie, AND on sale for 20% off, AND in a cheaper color as well ($500 cheaper!).  I decided I HAD to have it this time and congratulated myself on receiving both the sales discount and the cheaper price.  I purchased the cabinet, but never received a confirmation, only later discovering that the cheaper color that I'd ordered was no longer available and the order was in no-man's land.  So, with minutes left (literally, minutes) until the expiration of the 20% discount, I felt compelled purchase the more expensive cabinet at the previously unacceptable price.  Dumb, huh?  At least I got to take advantage of the 20% off sale.  At LEAST!  What can I say except that I was driven nearly mad by the need to own this thing.

SO, this is the Anthropologie "Boro Star" cabinet as it is in their catalog:

Anthropologie "Boro Star" media cabinet.  (Picture from the Anthropologie website )

 It's cute.  I like it as it is.  I especially like the raw-looking metal legs, which wrap around the top of the cabinet, and the rustic wood cabinet box.  But the front doors look very boho-chic and I wanted something more modern.  So, I painted the doors.  (And that's why I was so bummed to have to pay more for the specific paint selection.)  Here's how that went down:

First, I taped-out the cabinet box and the metal legs with painter's tape.  I removed the cabinet knobs.  Then I sanded the doors, primed them with a flat, gray primer, and gave them a coat of aluminum/silver colored paint.  I wanted the final finish to give the effect of a slightly-weathered, painted metal finish. 

 Then I boldly began to put on the first layers of color...

I kind of like the very bold effect of the initial layers, but I realized that it would overwhelm our small room, so I toned it down significantly as I worked.  

More color layers with sanding in-between...(Gotta love power-sanding in the middle of the main living area ;-)  but I tried my hardest to keep the dust wrangled.)

After many layers of paint and sanding in-between.

 Eventually, I decided to call it "done" and applied a waxed finish.

And here is the finished chest, in place in the living room.  

(If you look around, you can see that there is plenty of IKEA remaining:  The candle holders, the black and white pillow cover, and the sheep skin throw...)  I source items from everywhere!

I still need to tweak it a little bit, but I think this project was a success.  I feel like I achieved my goal, which was to make a unique furniture piece of indefinable age/origin.