Our side patio – overlooked by living area, office and master bedroom – is where we spend most of our outdoor time. And it was probably the neatest outside area to begin with. So much so, we haven’t really done anything to it…apart from battle the leaf problem. Until now. Remember those couple of shrubs …
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patio planting
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the claw
As you may have noticed, we’ve cut down a few trees and shrubs. We’ve also collected the odd leaf. Lucky for us, Sacramento City operates a winter street collection for leaves and trimmings, in addition to weekly pick-up of our (always full) yard waste container. And this is the pile we assembled. We were a …
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on the roof
It’s only rained twice in the (almost) three months we’ve been here, and winter seems miles off. But it’s coming. And there will be rain. So, we decided to check on the roof, for leaf build-up, standing water and downspout clogging. Ours is a foam roof –the accepted #1 choice for Eichler Homes. They’re a …
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front plant
Quick follow-up from my front yard update. Nothing to boast about here –we’re just trying to make good before winter. As I mentioned, we marked-off this area with string, then jointly tackled this project with Karen’s dad, while he was visiting. We dug the earth over and removed the roots of two shrubs I culled. …
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curb appeal
Our place was rented out for a few years before we bought it, and the occupants added some interesting personal touches. This painted curb, for example, which looks like a red-blue-white national flag…for some fictional country. We planned to add a curb number anyhow, so obscuring this little number would be a bonus. The painted …
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letter plate
This gold letter plate really stands out. And not in a good way. We wanted a simple, flat, silver replacement. Turns out, that’s not so simple. There are some okay(ish) options around, but the only one we really like is this one. But we’re not spending $225 on a letter plate. So we didn’t. We …
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spiky plants
We don’t have much spare cash, so we’re doing as much we can ourselves. This includes ‘landscaping’ (this isn’t real landscaping, hence the inverted commas). So far, most of what we’ve done involves removing stuff. The time has come to start giving back. We’re fairly comfortable with choosing plants, though our tastes are undoubtedly narrower …
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front yard
Feels like we’re spending all our time in the yard, with not much to show for it. We’re tidying before the winter, and removing way more than we’re adding. This means plenty of action for my new toy –a reciprocating saw. There used to be a bush here… …but I got rid. And we stringed-off …
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the bush
This bush (or whatever it is) spans a 40-foot section of our rear exterior wall, and hugs it too tightly for our liking. With termites and other pests posing a big threat to homes like ours, this sucker could potentially conceal any problems. It had to go. So I ripped it out. It took some …
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