Little Delving
Beyond Here There Be Dragons
Out Of Hibernation At Last
Apr 23, 2009 10:00 AM Filed in:
Day To Day
Hello,
Hello! Yes, well, what can I say? It’s been a long time since
I’ve posted a newsie LD update (as a few of you have reminded
me) so I guess now with Spring finally here for real, it’s
time for me to crawl out of my cave, shake off the dust, rub the
sleep from my eyes, and get something to eat. Honestly, I have been
keeping busy this winter, and I have been updating LD from time to
time too, just not in the news section. Those of you who have been
watching may have noticed a lot of activity in Crow Corner over the
past few months, but I’ll leave that for a bit later. This
morning I’m all about the coming seasons and all the work I
have ahead of me to make this new house of mine my real and true
Home.
I’ve lived here now for just over a year, and I’ve seen all the new place had to show me in each of its seasons. I like it here. I feel comfortable, and now I have a really good idea of all the things I want to do to carve out my little niche here and make the new Little Delving into the Home I want.
So
where to start? Well, here’s a Google Earth shot. Very cool!
That’s me encircled in red. It is dated though, the long
driveway you see going back to the second house is now only half as
long stopping at the front corner of my house. My neighbor’s
new driveway runs along the red line at the front (north/east
border) of my lot. Where you see the black X and running along the
front of the house is where I’ll be doing much of my
landscaping efforts this summer.
And
here’s an old shot of the front of the house. This is where
the big action will be this Spring because I’m adding on a
new front porch. I LOVE nice, big, friendly front porches, and
that’s exactly what I’m going to build. The front deck
you see in this picture is about 8x15. The new porch will be 12x20
with a roof that extends out from the existing front gable.
It’s going to be big, heavy, and comfy with 5 foot wide steps
opening off each end so’s a body can sit down and relax in
comfort leaning back against the rails. It will also have a spindle
railing all the way around with a nice comfy 8 inch wide top rail
for more lounging and leaning if desired, the perfect high perch
for Josie and Finn where they can sit in comfort and survey their
Cat Kingdom as far as their shiny eyes can see. Once completed, the
front porch will host a few rocking chairs of course and perhaps a
few small benches. I fully intend to spend many hours out there
messing around with my guitar and mandolin, banjo and concertina.
So many instruments to learn, and so little time! My poor
neighbors. But if they do wander over, I say, “Ice teas all
around!”
The front porch is The Big Project, the corner stone of all the other changes for sure, but far from the end of it. The existing front deck is going to moved to the back of the house and joined to the existing small back porch there to make for a rather large extended back deck. Perfect for cookouts and lounging beside the creek to watch Mother Nature doing her thing. Of course, there is work to be done in the creek bed too. The wild weather we’ve had this past year has left several trees in bad shape, so some judicious clearing of the creek bed will be needed. I’m also giving serious thought to digging out the bed in a few places to see if I can make a nice pool of water, and I want to get a nice stand of cattails established in the creek, actually, several stands if I can. The extra cover for the ducks in the Spring will be good for nesting, and besides, I just love cattails. They remind me so much of the sloughs and water holes where I grew up, and I would be happy if they eventually filled out all up and down the creek.
So that’s the big stuff in front and back, but there’s more still. Basically the whole front yard is going to get a makeover, starting with a nice little berm running across about a third of the front lot line and maybe two-thirds of the way down the south border as well. The berm will form a south/east corner to mark the property line and direct all the rain runoff that comes down the sloping hill out front into the side ditch to run into the creek bed in back instead of soaking the entire front and side yard turning it into a soggy pool of standing water for a day or two as it does now after the big rains. Then between the front berm and the front of the house will be one very large garden where all the lovely roses/bushes/flowering shrubs, etc will go. I have to
figure
all of this out yet though. The garden area will essentially wrap
around the front porch and extend over to the main driveway/parking
area where it will end in the paved walkway up the front steps, but
as to the overall look of it, I just haven’t got that far
along yet. I have vague images in mind of a winding paved garden
path working its way to a center area where stands a small
recreation of the Poulnabrone dolmen. Yeah, that’s me.
Instead of your traditional bird bath, garden fountain, or glowie
ball, I go for the neolithic burial tomb. LOL! Perhaps. Like I
said, I’m still mulling over the whole look and feel of the
front yard. First I need to get that porch built so I can actually
see what I have to work around.
Oh,
and off the south end of the house, that’s where I intend to
plant some fruit trees, four I think, but we’ll see. And
I’m giving serious thought to putting the vegetable garden at
that south/east corner of the yard just inside the new berm.
I’m thinking long and narrow probably running along the front
of the yard parallel to my neighbor’s gravel driveway. This
year though I’m sure I’ll get no further than building
the borders and starting to enrich the soil bed in that area. No
veggies till next year! Oh, this is another Google Earth shot
showing more of the neighborhood. Still lots of open spaces around
and about, and over there on the left you can see where my sister
Cheryl lives. How cool is that?
Ah, Spring! So many projects ahead, but it will be a labour of love. Stay tuned, I promise to add a photo gallery of the work as I actually start to get some of it done! But for now it’s another cup of coffee and more ruminating. Cheers! JB
I’ve lived here now for just over a year, and I’ve seen all the new place had to show me in each of its seasons. I like it here. I feel comfortable, and now I have a really good idea of all the things I want to do to carve out my little niche here and make the new Little Delving into the Home I want.
The front porch is The Big Project, the corner stone of all the other changes for sure, but far from the end of it. The existing front deck is going to moved to the back of the house and joined to the existing small back porch there to make for a rather large extended back deck. Perfect for cookouts and lounging beside the creek to watch Mother Nature doing her thing. Of course, there is work to be done in the creek bed too. The wild weather we’ve had this past year has left several trees in bad shape, so some judicious clearing of the creek bed will be needed. I’m also giving serious thought to digging out the bed in a few places to see if I can make a nice pool of water, and I want to get a nice stand of cattails established in the creek, actually, several stands if I can. The extra cover for the ducks in the Spring will be good for nesting, and besides, I just love cattails. They remind me so much of the sloughs and water holes where I grew up, and I would be happy if they eventually filled out all up and down the creek.
So that’s the big stuff in front and back, but there’s more still. Basically the whole front yard is going to get a makeover, starting with a nice little berm running across about a third of the front lot line and maybe two-thirds of the way down the south border as well. The berm will form a south/east corner to mark the property line and direct all the rain runoff that comes down the sloping hill out front into the side ditch to run into the creek bed in back instead of soaking the entire front and side yard turning it into a soggy pool of standing water for a day or two as it does now after the big rains. Then between the front berm and the front of the house will be one very large garden where all the lovely roses/bushes/flowering shrubs, etc will go. I have to
Ah, Spring! So many projects ahead, but it will be a labour of love. Stay tuned, I promise to add a photo gallery of the work as I actually start to get some of it done! But for now it’s another cup of coffee and more ruminating. Cheers! JB