Planting Arbor Day Mail Order Trees

My trees arrived on Thursday which was the last possible day that I wanted them to arrive.  Thursday night was the Bachelor/Bachlorette auctions for WGirls Milwaukee and I was running late for it was due to traffic, and it was going to be a late night of raising money for the Penfield Children’s Center so it wasn’t going to happen Friday morning.  And Friday afternoon I flew to Montana for Rachel’s graduation. (she is my best sister and leaves me most of the comments on here... let’s face it the whole blog is her idea).  I got back late on Sunday, worked Monday and planned to plant the tree and grapevines that evening.  Now, I did check the weather and it was supposed to storm at midnight (or be storming at midnight- that’s the same thing right?)

I followed the instructions fromthe Arbor Day site, which directs you to make a 3ft diameter hole and loosen all of the soil, and deep enough for all the roots to not be squished.  I think this is the first decent-sized hole I ever dug- otherwise I would have realized that all dirt removed should go into the wheelbarrow not on the grass. Next time, next time I’ll remember that.

According to the instructions, the roots have to soak for 3 hours in water, I got them in about 5:30. The I dug the three holes and made a good mess of the yard, it was sprinkling but nothing major.    I did some more planting in the garden, will it ever end? And finally went in to make dinner.  Which is about when it started storming.

At which point, I then had three muddy hole and a pile of what had been dirt on the grass and it was dark- I really need an outdoor light.  I’ve been thinking about one of the solar flood lights, it would be pretty sweet for unlocking the door and grilling and apparently gardening in the dark.

But the trees had to get planted.  So now there is mud everywhere:  the rain barrel, the watering can, the side walk, the garage, my jacket, and my boots. All over the lawn. 

The Arbor Day trees come as little sticks.  I was told by one person that they have gotten two batches of the ten free trees (that is correct you could be the proud owner of ten new trees if you sign up with Arbor Day) and all the trees died.   All 20 innocent little trees, dead.

Another person told me they got a cherry tree and it was dormant the first year and then started to grow.  And don’t fertilize it, and don’t put the mulch to close to the trunk. Be patient, they are alive.

I'm really excited this one has leaves, the other two do not.

A Transition strip for the Full bathroom

Last spring I installed bamboo flooring in the full bathroom, it was only 5/8” taller than the maple floor of the hall way so I planned to buy a pre-fabricated strip. That was a painful moment at the checkout when it rung up at $50, I didn’t see a price listed on the shelf- which was weird, I don’t disagree.  But I stomached it and brought it home to find out that it was the wrong height.

So I brought it back to the lumber yard and instead of getting the other one- I must have picked up a ¾” one at first, I asked for a 2x4 of maple and figured I could make my own, like Bryna had done with the table saw. The salesman looked at me and said “That is a really expensive piece of lumber”

and I said, “ok, well how much?”

“$17!”

I felt puzzled, “but sir, I just returned a $50 item”

“Yes, but that was already cut”

Well my pocket book doesn't care about that.

So I got the maple 2X4. I made a template out of a brown paper bag, I was either feeling very green and wanted to recycle or I was just feeling lazy and that is that was in reach.

I checked the template against the floor and then used it at the saw to try to get the blade lined up where I wanted it.

It wasn’t pretty coming out of the table saw, but nothing that a random orbital sander can’t fix.

Most important it fit. 

Dealing with My Clutter: Mail

I don’t even understand why this is an issue for me, I have been working on the issue and it has gotten better in the last few months where I look through the mail right away and if I don’t want it I recycle it.  But sometimes I just set it down, usually on the sofa because it is the first surface I encounter next to the front door, or it gets placed by the back door.  Or the table, coffee table etc.

There is not an entry way at the front door; you go straight from porch to living room. I haven’t figured out how to move the furniture in such a way to create the illusion of and entry was. I think I would need something other than the sectional.

But I still want to create the functionality of an entry despite the non-defined space. This includes a shoes rack- the one there is temporary, a place for mail and hooks for coats.  I would also like a mirror and two pictures but it seems like I am going to have to decide between the two.

For the mail, I had been looking at standard mail holders but I have not found the ‘right’ one yet. Then I saw the mail holder that was made from a shutter, I loved it.  And I already had an unfinished shutter.  First order of business: paint. I made it match the vent. 

I used two eyebolts for the picture wire and used a second piece of picture wire to hold the lattes in place to hold the mail.

Then it was time for the test run. 

It doesn’t hold magazines, but does fine with standard mail. If nothing else I hope the mail makes it in here because I think it is neat.

Repainting the Rusted Laundry Line Pole

This year the old laundry line pole- which is destine for better things in the future- had to get painted before I planted.  The weather has finally made a turn (maybe) for summer and was warm enough to spray paint outside.

The steel had been painted some point in the past, and was rusted. I did what I could to knock off the loose paint and get rid of the rust. This is a before shot:

Once I had cleaned it up the best I could, I washed it with soap and water as directed.  Then I painted it red.  Because that is the color that Rust-Oleum Protective coat comes in.  Maybe it comes in other colors but I only saw red at the store, they had clear but that seemed difficult to make sure that it could coated evenly. So then it was red.

But not for too long.  I had also picked up a copper colored metallic paint. At first I wasn't too sure about it, but I think I like it.

Vent Frame

At the front door is there a in-floor heat duct.  On the left you can see the vent that was on it and the hole, which is larger.

There had been a frame that held it in place, but it was broken in half.  My dad traded my uncle a rifle in exchange for some help (he had sandblasted the vents to get the paint off of them). because they had looked like this:

then they got painted with the oil rubbed bronze in a can.

My uncle also made a frame for the vent to sit flush in, he has a metal shop which is turning out to be very handy.  I have had the frame for a while but it has been too cold to spray paint outside (and I don't think spray painting is a basement activity) so this week it got painted! So now it matches the vent:

Now the entry way is safer and looks better, 

more entryway projects to come...

Fixing up the Drawers in the Built in (Part 1)

The last part of the built-in to be fixed up is the drawers. They were covered with something that made the ma blotchy red color, the varnish was crackled, and the handles were falling off.

I stripped and refinished the fronts, oiled the sides, am planning on doing something (contact paper or paint) to the bottom of the insides, and got new pulls.  So now the wood grain can be seen again.  It is actually still a bit more red than this picture shows but the dining room is subject to a lot of outdoor light which causes dramatic differences in the color that the pictures show.

As mentioned the old pulls where falling off.  I tried to pick out handles that looked similar to the door pulls. The shape is great but the color is a bit off.

The oldest set of holes in the drawers was three inches apart, which I matched to the new handles, luckily that is a popular size. I had to drill them to be larger for the modern screws.  I used Rachel's tape method to reduce the amount of mess since I didn't realize that the holes had to be re-drilled until the drawers were back upstairs with stuff in them.

The drawers look good now, I could use something on the bottom to make them slide better but I don't think that I have room to add rolling drawer hardware.

And I have three more to go, still in the basement.