the view has FINALLY changed

So, the landscapers FINALLY made their much anticipated appearance, and it was worth waiting for.
The back went from this.....

 

 

 

 

 

to this....

I know, still a lot of work to do here, but it's OK. The yellow area just off the deck is where they seeded the grass. It's been getting a LOT of water this week.

The front went from this......

 

to this.,........

 

Today is planting day (if it EVER stops raining long enough), and we're also going to finish moving the rest of the "art" and placing it. Tomorrow, we'll clean up and tuesday, we'll get another 15 yards of dirt to start working on the back.
It's a bit overwhelming, and a ton of work, but also a whole bunch of fun. I can hardly WAIT to ge started......stay tuned......

 

It's hard to believe a year ago the house looked like this.....

 

They poured the slab the tuesday after memorial day. Come a long way, huh????

In old house news, the inspection went well yesterday, the financing is secured and all that's left is an appraisal, heading to a mid-june closing. Fingers crossed.

 

KERPLUNK!!!

Did anyone hear that big, giant belly flop last week??? It was the sound of the old house sale falling through. Seems our intrepid buyer intended to live there with grandma. She didn't really bother to tell grandma until mother's day, when she surprised her with the fact that she was moving. That didn't go well at all, resulting in our buyer backing out of the deal. Now, there are things in place to keep this from happening, mostly monetary penalties, so we were refunded her escrow money. (that's what it's for).

The good news is, the house was back on the market ONE DAY! You heard me right ONE DAY! and we had another offer from someone who thinks it's "weird" and "perfect", and interesting combination, but, hey, her money's as good as anyone's. So, back to the drawing board, another inspection, another appraisal, more paperwork to sign. Hopefully this one will stick. We'll know by the end of june.

In other good news, the landscapers FINALLY showed up. The view is changing, and it's awesome.
They started in the back with the soil for the grass area....

The next step back here will be to plant a couple of large maples someone gifted us and put in the rest of the paths. I get to do the flower bed dirt back here, my summer project.

Then they went to the front and started painting for the planting spaces, paths, and labyrinth and filling it in with soil and gravel.

 

 

 

The front is almost done, they just need to finish filling in a bit, stomp the paths down, spread gravel in the strip between the sidewalk and the street and finish the dry stream bed.

They'll probably be here all, if not most, of next week.

 

The labyrinth gal will be here the end of june to set that up. In the mean time, I'll be planting those beds like crazy and putting the art, benches, and misc things out.

 

I've been planning and thinking about this for nearly 2 years. It's fun, cool, and a bit overwhelming to see it finally come about.

 

 

The view never changes.....

unless you're the lead dog.
Hopefully, this week will be THE week. The landscapers are SUPPOSED to FINALLY be here tomorrow, and the view will FINALLY change!
Here's the before.....front yard

back yard - complete with escaped mole from the neighbor's yard.

 

It's hard to believe that this will finally be changing. We'll see if they show up. They're not answering their email again, so......

 

On the old house front, we're holding our breath waiting for the results of the appraisal. Once that's done and approved, we'll set the appointment to close. That will be a load off too.

 

The garden has been loving the unseasonal warm weather, and now a bit of rain.

Spinach, anyone?

 

inspection, check!

Last week, we had the inspection for the old house. It mostly turned up a bunch of little stuff we needed to do. Most of it's already been done, with the exception of servicing the furnace. I'll be calling the furnace guy tomorrow....
The next step is the appraisal. There may be more things to do after that - possibly a little paint touch up outside and some more chopping of branches, but we'll cross that bridge.......
So, the sale is progressing nicely, and (fingers crossed) should be all said  and done around May 30th or so.

On the landscaping front, the countdown has begin.....landscapers are due in one week, and we can hardly wait. The view of the dirt pile is getting old, and the weather is getting hot. Making it very hard to keep my new potted plants alive. I've been watering nearly every day, but they need to get into the ground.

The garden is loving the warm weather.....
check out all the new green.

 

 

The tree peonies are in bloom too....

 

and.... one last goodbye from the wisteria at the other house.

Took nearly 20 years for this sucker to bloom....

It was worth the wait. Too bad I can't take it with me.

 

next week, more old house progress, another plant sale (can you say "chilean fire tree?"), and some more gardening progress.

 

 

SOLD!!!

Well, almost........
We were very excited last week to get an offer on the old house. It wasn't QUITE what we were wanting, but, after a bit of negotiating, it was closer.....
THEN, on friday of this week, we got a second, full price, backup offer! Where were YOU three months ago!?! So, now we have 2, and we're feeling like we're in a pretty good position to be done here. The first inspection will be tomorrow, fingers crossed, and the next step is appraisal. Then we just wait for the paperwork to be prepared to close. Those are 2 big steps, and we'll be holding our breath until it's all done.

I've been over there weeding (dividing plants), and cleaning up the yard a bit. Almost done except the evil fennel, which will probably get chopped out today.

On the new house front......
I've been working on an idea for a zen garden in the bamboo.....

 

I have a little concrete bench to put there and also some shade plants I've rescued..... I think it would be cool with a little wind chime too. I'm going to finish cleaning it up, and put the bench there soon.

 

The landscapers have been delayed (made lame excuses), and now won't be here until may 14th. ARGH!!! The hard part is keeping everything in pots alive until they finish. There's a rapidly growing collection out there. (it IS plant sale season), and I don't want to lose it. I'd fire them, but at this point, it'd be extremely difficult to find anyone else, they'd probably be on a later schedule, and it's hard to be mean when someone tells you they had a death in the family...(there were more excuses that were lame, that one I believe) So, we're not so patiently waiting!

 

The garden is doing great.....

 

 

 

Those little green sprouts are carrots, beets, spinach, and a whole mess of lettuce and greens. Today, we're going to plant our apple and asian pear tree and also the blueberries you see there. In the garbage cans, the potatoes are about 10" tall. The warm weather this week made everything take off.

 

Next week, more old house news, another plant sale, and who knows WHAT else.

onward!

 

ok, right now, it's HAILING!!!

The last couple of weeks have been kinda slow around here garden-wise. Right now, it's hailing pea sized chunks, and about as wet as it can get withought having to build a boat.
We did get a few things done in between storms, though.....The greenhouse is complete, shelves and all and I planted some hanging baskets this morning, before the hail.

We also finished the beds in the garden and planted some starts.....(they're out there getting pounded to death right now)

The seeds are planted too, and there's already some little sweet peas poking out of the ground.
The next step with the garden will be to trellis the raspberries, put in the supports for the espeliered trees and plant them. (if the weather ever cooperates)

I've not heard anything from the landscapers, in spite of emailing and calling them last week. Doesn't inspire a bunch of confidence.....They're SUPPOSED to start either tomorrow (not likely), or next monday. You'd thing they'd at least let me know??  It WOULD be nice.......

In house news, we've had a lot of lookers, but no takers on the other house. Seems everyone who comes to look realizes that it's OLD. REALLY?? It was built in 1959, HOT NEWS FLASH, it's old.

We're also realizing some issues with the deck on the new house. Seems "the boys" didn't gap the boards when they built it. See that credit card stuck in it? Not supposed to happen. You should be able to stick a 8 penny nail in the gap there. What this does is cause the deck to hold water. Around here, that's a problem. The boards rot sooner and right now, they're a lovely shade of slime green, and slippery as as all getout.
We've contacted the contractor (opening a can of worms, I'm sure). but they're out of business, so I'm not even sure they'll email back.

We'll  probably have to fix it ourselves, which will mean removing ALL of the boards and repositioning them. It's a HUGE deck.....

On a happy note, spring is sprung, and the plant sale season officially starts next weekend.
Now I just need a place to plant them!

Take that! Damned deer~!

The weather has finally turned here. It's been 60+ degrees or so, and that makes for some fine yardworking time.
On thursday, my buddy, George, delivered 8 yards of cedar chips for the garden paths.
I worked on them friday, shovel and wheelbarrow, and covered all of the path area, with some to spare.

Over the weekend, we put up the deer fence. It's almost done, with the exception of the gates. I think this'll work.......

Those critters can jump 6 feet straight up, and will eat ANYTHING. Even things they're not supposed to like. They especially like human food, and can devistate a garden in no time. Hopefully, this will work, and they'll go eat someone else's........

Next up.....We have a bunch of little things to finish next weekend. The gates here, the shelves in the greenhouse, tops on the boxes, and the strawberry tower.

One thing at a time......
Countdown to landscapers........15 days (maybe)