On Sunday, Kyle and I were sitting in our backyard, staring at the ivy. It is Afghanistan Ivy. Some brilliant person planted it back there 20-30 years ago, thinking it would make a reliable, drought-resistant ground cover. And boy is it ever.

See, in California, Afghanistan Ivy is an invasive species. It just loves it here. Nothing eats it. It spreads by root and by vine, both creeping under the soil and up every surface above ground. It winds around other trees like a boa constrictor and chokes them. And, when it gets very old, it grows into a tree and begins to make berries to further propagate itself.

We had two such ivy trees in our backyard, and subsequently, our yard is covered with ivy.

(In this picture, the ivy is choking the tree next to it. I don’t have a picture of the ivy trees themselves, but it gives you an idea of the back fence before.)

I have been dutifully killing it, but it’s coming back already, its shiny new green leaves waving like plastic lily pads at me. So on Sunday, Kyle asked me if I wanted to take down the ivy trees, even though it meant we would have less privacy in our backyard for awhile. I said yes. Or rather, YES. He got out the chainsaw.

I knew that taking down these two large trees meant that I would have less privacy. I didn’t realize how much it would open up the space, or how much sunlight it would let into the backyard. The ivy was dark, heavy, and full of bugs. As the trees came down, my backyard suddenly seemed huge and sunny. For the first time, I liked it back there.

As for privacy, I plan to replace the ivy trees with another tree, maybe an olive or something that flowers. But the truth is, I will probably never get rid of the ivy altogether. Even if I manage to eradicate it from my yard, the house next door has at least two trees of it.

Seeing those hated trees come down limb by sneaky limb was satisfying, let me tell you.

Once I painted the guest room, I began the search for a comforter or duvet for the bed in there. I quickly discovered that comforters are:

a. Expensive
b. Ugly

The ones I liked were, without exception, over $230–a good deal more than I would be willing to spend on an oversized pillowcase. On top of that, the room was yellow, which proved to be a difficult color to match accessories to. If you go yellow on the bed, your room becomes nauseatingly cheerful. If you go away from yellow, you risk clashing or fighting with the color.

Finally, I decided to make the bedspread. After a lot of shopping, I came upon this beautiful French-navy-and-white heavy cotton at Joann Fabrics. It was $30 a yard, though. Apparently my expensive taste doesn’t just extend to bedspreads. However, I happened upon it when it was 50% off, so it ended up being $15 per yard. So, I bought a large panel and framed it in this off-white cotton poly, which was going for $2 per yard.

So overall, I got a darn nice bedspread for $60-$75. It still wasn’t free, but it looks as good as most of the ones I saw in the stores–AND I have enough cotton/poly left for curtains and pillows.

The birds are crazy this year. I hear them all day long. This morning I had a dream that hummingbirds were building nests in my backyard, and then I woke up and realized it was because the birds outside my window were so loud they had invaded my dream. A few minutes ago, a little bird lighted on the screen of my window with a twig in its mouth. Every time I go outside, jays are perching in the branches of my baby fruit trees. Yesterday, a black bird flew into my kitchen window, but didn’t seem seriously hurt.

The neatest part of all this is that a red finch family has built a nest in my garage. Every time I go into the backyard, the female flies away and sits in the branches of the mystery tree in an attempt to distract me from her nest.

The other day I decided to read outside. When I went into the backyard, the female flitted to the tree as usual. As I sat out there for awhile, she grew bolder and flew back to her nest and hopped around the outside of it, looking at me. Right as she was about to get back in it, she flew away again. I looked over my shoulder and realized that my cat Quill had entered the backyard. As he meowed and rubbed against me, the female bird sat in the tree and looked worried. After awhile, the male bird joined her. He was just like her, except he had a bright red neck and face. Together, they flew to the roof about two feet from the nest and looked over at Quill, who was rolling on his back on the cement and chattering at them. They looked so upset that I took pity on them and left the yard, calling Quill with me so that they could have their little bird family in peace.

The down side to all these birds is that I am trying to grow a. raspberries, b. strawberries, and c. cherries. It’s going to be a battle to get any of these for myself. Already, my bean seedlings keep mysteriously disappearing as soon as they sprout. However, there are very few pill bugs this year. It’s a trade-off.

The first fruit of my labor: a radish.

We are still remodeling our house over here. It’s going slowly, but it’s going. The most exciting thing that happened lately is that Kyle put in our dishwasher!! I can’t tell you how wonderful dishwashers are. They are the best invention ever. I had the dishwasher and the Roomba (robot vacuum cleaner) and my clothes washer running all at once yesterday. I felt so luxurious. Go give your dishwasher a hug.

Putting in the dishwasher was an ordeal. Kyle had to cut a hole in the cabinet, wire a new outlet to plug it in, and plumb the whole thing. It was way more involved than I realized, and he did a great job. He probably saved us hundred by installing it himself.

The dishwasher when it was first installed. I will take a final picture of it once he does the cosmetic work and gets it all spiffed up. (It is not purple–this was taken before we removed the plastic shield from the front. It is stainless steel and black.)

Kyle also put in two security cameras. We aren’t worried about being robbed, but they are cool to have.

I, on the other hand, have been concentrating on landscaping. Kyle’s Dad gave us a lawnmower for Christmas, so we gave the yard its first mow a couple of weeks ago. It made a huge difference! I also pulled up the trash and ugly ground cover from the side and front of the house, cut down all the ivy in the backyard, and put in my vegetable garden:

I was pleased with the quality of the soil in my garden. It is swimming with worms, rich and loamy, and high in nutrients. It only needed some nitrogen and organic material, and it was ready to go. (At least as far as I could tell. I’m still a novice at this.) I wanted to use bricks as a border for the garden, but didn’t have the extra cash that would take, so we used the old baseboards from the house instead. This weekend, I planted the early spring crops: peas, beans, spinach, carrots, beets, radishes, and raspberries.

We also planted three fruit trees: a grafted cherry, an apricot, and a pomegranate. They seem to be doing well so far. I plan to plant a dwarf orange tree sometime this month, and that will be the end of the fruit trees for 2008. (In the future, though, I want to put in a fig, kumquat, and possibly an olive tree.)

Blossoms on our baby apricot tree

Still to come in the immediate future: remove some unwanted stumps, plant the citrus bushes, put in an herb garden, remove all signs of ivy from my backyard, and paint the hallway. That’s just me. Kyle is going to put in an irrigation system to save us water and keep me from having to water every day. Then we will focus on tiling the half-bath.

So there’s a remodeling update for you. Eventually the house will be at a place where I can have a house-warming party, but not quite yet.

One good thing about having a house, I can plant perrenials without feeling like a sucker.

Things I am thinking of planting this year:

Kentucky green beans
Snap peas
Brandywine tomatoes
Steak Sandwich tomatoes

Early Girl tomatoes
Bell peppers
A mix of hot peppers
French radishes
Fingerling potatoes
Garlic
Green onion
Endive
Spring lettuce mix
Long thin carrots
Golden beets

Zucchini
Fennel
Artichokes
Sunflowers
Raspberries
Herbs: thyme, oregano, basil, sage, parsley, chamomile, rosemary, lavender
Nasturtium
Peonies

Also:
Two cherry trees
A kumquat
A pomegranate
Rita the fabulous lime tree (already potted)

Haven’t decided on:
Other flowers
Crocus
Another kind of squash
Your suggestion?

To Make The Garden:

Step 1: Rent a rototiller
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Eat things

P.S. Beautiful or weird?

1. For some reason, the people who go to your store are rude. I have noticed it every time I have visited. Maybe you could hand out a booklet or something informing your customers of the existence of other people and encouraging them to say things like “excuse me” while in your store. Thoughts?

2. I don’t understand why the shelves I bought there in the past have doubled from $20 to $40. Is it because they sell well and have a huge profit margin? In any case, they are still black particle board that I have to put together myself.

3. Speaking of that, why does particle board, foam, and cheap fabric = $349? Please explain.

4. All of your sofas look like thrift store finds.

5. Since you are charging five cents for plastic bags now, I helped myself to a liberal amount of the free twine you have out front. I figure it’s only fair.

Thanks,
Joy Lanzendorfer

P.S. Someone…um…”used” one of your display toilets upstairs. Maybe you need to put up a sign, or include a section about that in the booklet I suggested. In any case, ew.

Could someone tell me what this plant is that is in my backyard? It’s a tree about 20 ft tall. It is covered with purple berries. The birds don’t seem to eat the berries, so they may be poisonous. The leaves seem to be turning yellow, so the plant may be deciduous (then again it could just be unhealthy).

I am thinking it might be an elderberry. Does anyone know? I am trying to decide whether to replace it or not.

Berries up close

The leaves

And a shot of the tree (it’s foggy today):

UPDATE: It is probably a Mexican Elder. The berries taste like leaves and have no juice. The plant is ugly, although it does provide a lot of privacy in the backyard.

Long term plan: Remove tree. Replace with an avocado?

This weekend I was sick with the stomach flu. I have never had one before. It’s horrible! I spent two days lying on the couch watching movies and fighting a 102 degree fever. I was so bored. Stupid!

Anyway, before getting sick, we got some things done on the house. For one thing, we installed a stackable washer and dryer.

I love this thing. It is so fast. And after having to carry laundry out to a garage, it’s a luxury to have a washer/dryer in the house.

Also, Kyle and my Dad fixed the trim in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. This was a difficult task because only half of the doorway was an actual framed doorway. The other half was a wall. (I don’t think you can see it in this picture, but it’s a nice “before” shot.)

To fix this problem, we had to build fake framework on the doorway, a complicated process that took a lot of time. The end result is pretty nice though:

(Notice how much wood floors darken in the first two months?)

Finally, I painted the guest room yellow and white. I know a lot of people hate yellow, but I like it. This is a nice buttery yellow that looks clean and fresh. It’s certainly better than the blue bunny wallpaper that was there before.

Are you guys done now, you may ask? Oh no. Not by a long shot. In 2008 comes: remodeling the bathroom. Painting the bedroom and hallway. Painting the outside of the house. Landscaping. Starting on the kitchen remodel. Buying and installing a dishwasher. Yep. There will be house updates for a long time to come. Hope you like them.

News! My dining room is lined with this 1970s wallpaper complete with fluorescent-orange flowers.

It’s a Christmas miracle!

Last week, we had two big projects around here. One was putting in the tankless water heater, thanks to my wonderful father who came down and taught Kyle how to plumb in three days time.

We went from this:

To this:

Why? Well, first of all, we have a tiny laundry room and needed more space. The tankless takes up maybe a quarter of the space that the old water heater took up.

Beyond that, the tankless is extremely efficient. With most water heaters, 40 gallons of water sit in the tank and are heated up again and again when someone uses hot water. With the tankless, the water that is being used is drawn directly through a coil of copper pipes and heated up as needed. So it uses less water and less energy, and therefore, is more environmentally friendly and less expensive to run.

On top of that, if you put one of these suckers in during 2007, you get a $300 tax rebate. That, coupled with the savings we will make on our utility bills, made it a smart move economically. (But oh, what a taxing weekend it was, putting it in. That thing is complicated!)

Then, there is my office, which I painted. It tried taking a picture of my desk to show you what it looks like now. The picture doesn’t exactly get the tone of the green, but you get the idea:

The thing on my screen desktop, by the way, is Keri Smith’s How To Feel Miserable As An Artist list, which I am really feeling this week.

Next projects! Finish the closets, fix the fireplace, and start painting the guest room. Remodeling can feel endless sometimes.