Wind!

We had what thankfully turned out to be a much smaller version of last December’s windstorm last night. I haven’t seen any downed trees but some people around Pasadena and Altadena lost power. For us, it was just a falling palm frond bonanza. At one point, one fell out of the tree and got stuck in our Christmas lights.

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It was really hooked on there but when the stronger winds picked up later in the evening, it fell off. Here’s what we had in the morning.

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Driving to school this morning was like an obstacle course dodging all the fronds in the road. But my favorite part is that the neighbor’s useless pecan tree that tortures me by constantly dropping leaves, nuts and, worst of all, parrot droppings when they come to eat the pecans, is finally torturing the neighbors as well. The winds blew all of the leaves right off my car onto their lawn!

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Too bad no one lives there.

Christmas Little Free Library

Ever since our Little Free Library got its Halloween facelift, we’ve been thinking about what we could do for Christmas. Finn wanted to make it into an acorn, which is cute but doesn’t exactly say Christmas. We also thought about a Christmas tree or Santa, but settled on an ornament. Yesterday Bruce set about making it happen.

Cutting and drilling

Primer

Red

Hot glue gun

We put the first pass up yesterday evening and it just seemed like it wasn’t quite right.

First pass ... not quite right

It didn’t have as much pop as we were hoping for, the cap looked too small and the wire hook, while cute, was obscured by the trees.

So, we Googled ornament images to come up with some type of embellishment. We settled on snowflakes.

Snowflakes

Bruce then made the cap bigger and ditched the wire for wood covered in silver tape.

New cap

A little glitter on the snowflakes was the finishing touch.

Snowflakes and new cap

This morning Take 2 was up.

Take 2

Much, much cuter!

Long shot

Merry Christmas!

Voila!

Now That’s a Big Spider Web!

A while back Bruce had the idea that we could use the palm trees in the front yard for something more fun than squirrel and woodpecker havens. That idea came to fruition today after a few weeks of planning, trials and adjustments. Here’s the story.

Last weekend we bought 300 feet of rope and sent Bruce up a tree to install the first version of the wires and pulleys.

Bruce, up a tree

We knew in the final version the wires would have to be higher, but we wanted to test out the process. This is about as far up as I’m comfortable with him going. Luckily, he feels the same way so we didn’t have to have that fight.

Up the other tree

Once the wires and pulleys were secured, we headed to the backyard to make the web. The boys “helped.”

Ezra takes a rest

Rope

From humble beginnings …

Humble beginnings

… a web was woven.

Making the web

Making the web

Looking good!

Next we carried it out front and hooked the top ends onto the pulleys.

Trial run

And up it went.

Trial run

Not bad for the prototype!

Needs to be higher, but it works!

But down it came because, well, people need to walk up the path and the last thing we need is some kid [Ezra] trying to climb it.

Down for round 2

So, back to the backyard it went while we called in the big guns: Finch Tree Service.

Calling in the pros

Yikes

That's really high

Pro install

Some things are just better left to the professionals. Who rope themselves to the tree.

Meanwhile, we made some more adjustments to the web, tightening the joints.

Tightening up the joints

And adding the spider. Finn chose the placement.

Finn places the spider

Pretty soon we were ready for Spider Web v. 2. Finn was in position to help with the pulley.

Going up, part 2

It went up just fine and the top ropes were secured.

Secure at the top

Then we needed to tighten the middle ropes. Only one problem: we couldn’t reach one of them. Oops.

Trying to reach the middle

Yeah, that’s going to have to come down.

Um, can't get to that one

Soon enough, it was back up and Bruce tied the middle ropes tight.

Got it!

Looking pretty good — almost there!

Middle secured

Finally, we got the bottom ropes tight and there it is!

Voila!

Of course, we weren’t quite done. We needed lighting!

Nighttime web

While this feat of engineering was definitely a family project, it was only finished because of Bruce’s talent and incredibly stubborn persistence. I, for one, do not have the patience to see something like this through. Lucky for us, we have Bruce!

LFL Update

We’ve had lots of activity with the Little Free Library and it’s time for an update. First, the bad news. Someone stole the Lego R2D2 we used as a door handle. It’s pretty lame, but luckily they didn’t damage the door in the process and the little platform he was sitting on was intact as well. So we looked around in the Lego boxes and talked with Ezra about what to use to replace it. Ezra wanted to use Ninjago Jay, but we really liked the Star Wars idea better because it’s more universally known. We tried a Storm Trooper but it just didn’t have the same effect. Finally, we realized that we still had two R2D2s so we asked Ezra if we could use another one. He agreed.

Bruce pulled out the big guns to affix it this time and R2 is back up.

R2 v2

So far, so good.

Before we realized we had extra R2s, Bruce and Ezra made missing posters (Ezra’s idea) and taped them to the library.

Missing R2

He hasn’t been turned in, and we’ve taken down the posters, but I think it was a good idea anyway.

Now, for the good news. We got our sign and we’re officially Little Free Library number 2397.

Sign closeup

We took a few more pictures in order to register on the LFL site, so I’ll share those here as well. They want a picture of the location.

Context

A closeup.

LFL

One with people.

LFL Family

And we sent them one of R2D2 as a unique feature.

I also took some at night.

Lit

Lit

Hattifatteners!

Bruce and I went shopping at the local antique mall a few weeks ago and came across a box of hands. Yes, hands.

Can I get a hand?

I walked right by, but Bruce had a vision! Hattifatteners!

So he set about making a couple to put in the garden. He cut out long pieces of wood and had the boys help him paint them.

Painting the Hattifatteners

Finn paints up high

We even enlisted Riley, an old Cottage friend who had come with his mom and brother to see the library.

Painting the Hattifatteners

Once the paint was dry, he attached the hands and got ready to put them in the ground.

Working on the Hattifattener

Ezra was a lot of help.

Ever sit in a bucket of rocks?

And so was Finn.

Finn takes a rest

Ezra had a good time pretending he was a Hattifattener, even going so far as to get in the hole.

Ezra pretends to be a Hattifattener

Finally, in the ground it went. (And the boys really were helpful at this point.)

Putting it in the ground

Oh, did I forget to mention it’s a bird bath?

The bird bath

Pretty fun.

Done!

The second one isn’t a bird bath yet, but it will be. It’s in the back yard.

Backyard Hattifattener

Our Little Free Library

A couple of weeks ago there was a story in the L.A. Times about a “nationwide movement” called Little Free Library. Basically, people put up a small structure in their yard somewhere, fill it with books, and welcome neighbors to take a book, bring a book, or both. We were hooked right away and got started planning our own little free library. We mostly used materials we already had, and it came together incredibly fast — less than three weeks. We put it up yesterday evening. Already, people have come by to use it; several books are gone and new ones have appeared.

Of course, I documented the process.

Day one, making the box.

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We used some of the boys’ old wooden blocks as cladding for the sides.

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Next were some embellishments and a roof.

Left side view

For the front, Bruce used some pieces of mahogany that he got from Janice’s dad’s workshop.

Putting on the front cladding

The metal roof was left over from the playhouse Bruce built for the boys way back when we lived over by the Rose Bowl.

A roof

Next it got a couple of coats of finish.

Putting on a coat of finish

And a red door.

The door

It also got a light inside.

The light

Then we needed a door knob. We didn’t have any laying around and didn’t really want to buy one, so I asked Ezra if he wouldn’t mind making one out of his Lego. I explained he’d be sacrificing the pieces because they’d have to be permanently glued together. He was very excited and came up with this.

Ezra's contribution - R2D2 door handle

So they glued R2D2 together with this platform.

Gluing R2

It looks great!

R2 the door handle

Bruce built a stand for the box, dug a trench to wire in the light with the timed lights in the garden, and dug a big hole.

The base

Once he’d attached the box to the stand, we were almost ready to go.

Securing

My contribution was the sign.

The sign

The boys were pretty excited about our little project.

Yay!

Done!

And here it is on the first night, all lit up.

All lit up!

There are more pictures here. We’re waiting to hear back from the Little Free Library people to get our official sign and number and get added to their map of libraries.

This has been a super fun experience!

Plant Progress

It’s five months since our baby plants went into the ground and most of them are thriving. We’ve lost a few (monkey flower, in particular, seems to be very unhappy), but we have a variety of blooms and tons of growth. Here are a few shots of the front yard.

Plants after 5 months

Plants after 5 months

Plants after 5 months

Plants after 5 months

Signs of Spring

Our new garden is off to a roaring start with blooms in so many colors I felt compelled to take some pictures today. I’m encouraged by the early growth of these baby plants that have only been in the ground a couple of months, and I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring us!

Rain!

It’s a pretty soggy here today, which is good because a) we need it and b) there’s water in our new stream! Fun!

Water in the river!

Backyard Progress

After a couple of weeks of not a lot happening, we had some major progress in the backyard today. In fact, we’re all done except for a tiny patch of missing mulch.

Finally a lawn!

Finally a lawn!

Planter around lawn

Rock seating area

We also got this lovely camellia (“Nuccio’s Gem”) to go in the newly empty corner planter area in the patio.

A home for a Nuccio's Gem

Here’s a close-up.

"Nuccio's Gem"

Finished!

The kitchen is officially finished and I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Just a reminder of what we started with:

Cleaned out

And now …

Finished!

Finished!

Finished!

Finished!

Finished!

Finished!

More photos of the whole process are here.

OK, gotta run. I’ve got cooking to do!

Projects, Week 7

Lots of progress on the kitchen this week. We’re getting so close that it’s hard to be patient. This week, we got electricity and lights, as well as final cabinet fixes, knobs and drawer pulls.

Lights, knobs, drawer pulls, and glass

Then on Thursday I oiled the soapstone to bring it to a lovely black with green highlights.

Oiled soapstone

Oiled soapstone

Oiled soapstone

The painters came today and while they didn’t finish, they did get the ceiling done and they worked on the outside.

Outside gets some paint

The walls look finished, but the window definitely needs another coat. Next up: appliances and plumbing fixtures should be installed on Monday.

In the yards, there wasn’t a ton of progress. We got mulch in the front yard which really gives it a nice, finished look.

Mulched

Mulched

We’re only waiting for the palo verde tree now; everything else is done in the front yard. The back yard is close too — Laramee brought plants this week and once he and Bruce confer they will be planted and we’ll get our lawn.

Helping Out

After two rained-out days, Finn was thrilled that the landscapers were back today. He’s been outside every second they’ve been here, except for the half-hour I forced him to come inside so they could have their lunch break.

They’re putting down mulch in the front yard and for a while he was just following them around, chatting away. But then he decided to get out his Batman bucket and help. They moved a small pile of mulch onto the end of the truck where he can reach it and he makes trips back and forth. He should be done in no time.

Giant truck o' mulch

Batman bucket

Mulching

Mulching

Projects, Week 6

Big change in the kitchen this week! Three days of tile installation yielded this:

Finished tile

Finished tile

Finished tile

We went back and forth about whether to tile all the way up the wall on the window side. I’m so happy we decided to go for it.

Finished tile

Today, the floors got the first of many coats in the refinishing process.

Floor refinishing

In the front yard, we got plants! First, Laramee laid them out so we could see where they would go and make any changes we wanted.

Plant placement

Today, the guys put them all in the ground.

Front yard planting

Front yard planting

Front yard planting

Front yard planting

We’re choosing not to over-plant so it looks a little sparse right now. But all of the plants are either native or drought tolerant and many are fast growing, so it should be a lovely, water wise garden in no time.

Laramee planted these guys in the shape of the Big Dipper. I wonder if anyone will notice. (I didn’t, but I love that he did it!)

The big dipper

We also have lights which right now look a little too shiny for our liking. But they will soon oxidize and have plants growing around them, so they’ll be less prominent. There are also two lights up-lighting the oaks and another that will up-light the yet-to-be-planted Palo Verde tree. The effect is lovely.

Lights!

The backyard is moving along, too. They installed a broken concrete stepping stone path.

Backyard path

And a small pond for rain collection.

Small pond for rain collection

The border for the lawn is in place and the soil is amended and ready for sod. Hopefully they’ll do the planting and sodding next week.

We decided to put off the demolition of the wall for a couple of months until things settle down at work for Bruce. We want the fence to be built before demolition, and it’ll probably be March or April before he has time to build it.

Projects, Week 5

This week saw the kitchen go from an empty room to this:

Soapstone is in; next up tile backsplash

Here are some shots of the process. The soapstone guy, Tom, cut and fabricated the stone in our driveway.

Soapstone, day 1 -- driveway fabricating

Soapstone, day 1

Next week Tom will be back to drill holes for the plumbing fixtures and oil the soapstone which will turn it black and bring out the green striations.

The yards are coming along nicely as well. They finished the last of the rock pathways.

Rocks and bridge in place

Then they put down landscape fabric.

Ready for DG

And finally the decomposed granite.

DG, day 1

The compaction took most of the day Friday.

Compacting the DG

They put bumps in two places just for added bike riding fun.

DG path with bump #1

And we are now ready for planting, which should happen this week since we walked through Laramee’s nursery and picked out plants this morning.

Right side

From the corner

In the backyard, they finished the trenching and laid down the new sprinkler system. Friday it looked like this.

Trench world in the backyard

But by the time they left on Saturday, it looked like this.

Trench world is gone!

Next up back here is a little grading, hardscape (boulders, stepping stones, etc.) and lawn.