It's Coming Together

OK, Betty's not getting this posted, so I'll do it. We bought new furniture for the living room and like it alot. In addition to this stuff, a matching loveseat was delivered today. Looks great! Comfy, too.


And in the dining room, Betty has been trying to figure out what to do with the wall between the two windows. She had a brilliant idea and here's the result. How cool is that?



And, just for fun, Betty's flower arranging. Beautiful, yes?

And one more thing

While I'm at it, you've all heard stories of the first car I ever actually bought. It was Spring semester, my Freshman year at KU. A 1960 Austin Healy Bug-Eye Sprite. Well, someone in town has decided that one very much like it would make a good planter for wildflowers. So, here you go. Please keep in mind that mine was much shinier, had hubcaps and nerf bars, and was a chick magnet.

What's new at 912?

I know I've been promising you guys pics of the "living fence" and my table, so here 'tis. Fence first. We had a landscape architect over to give us ideas about what to do with the backyard (think patio/deck.) Turns out he had some great ideas, many of which we can't afford, but we're thinking we'd like to implement. Meanwhile, we mention that we'd really like to raise the fence between us and the "crack house" and he asks if we've considered a living fence. We really like the idea and, having found 5 ft arbor vitae at Lowe's for $20, went ahead and put one in the front yard, along the drive between us and "them." Here's how it came out.




The next step will be to plant 10 footers all along the fenceline in back on that side and halfway across the back, to cover the house to the rear. We'll end up taking out some plantings and moving others, but the end result should be pretty amazing, both from a view perspective and privacy. So it's going to be fence first, then deck/patio later. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we've need extra working space in the kitchen and have talked about taking the desk unit out and putting in an island/peninsula in it's place. So, the deck came out and it was put up or shut up time. After shopping various options and not finding anything that was ideal, it turned into an "I can make one" kind of deal. The last thing I actually made was the butcher block now residing in C&C's house, and that was mostly a piece of bowling alley. This one started as raw boards, plywood and moulding. I did buy the legs. And I have to admit I'm pretty proud of the way it came out. (Disclaimer: I haven't repainted the wall yet.) Take a look:





So, there you have it. All adoration gratefully accepted. Mom tells me that there's a full sized farmhouse style dining room table in my future.

Legacy of a Master Gardener

All Spring, Betty and I have been delighting in the work of Barbara Troyer, the former owner of 912 Main. Every few days, something else blooms in the yard. If I could only keep up with the weeds! Anyway, we wanted to share:







The vegetable garden layout, of course, is Barbara's, but everything except the strawberries (just finishing) and a couple of the herbs are our plantings. Mom's got wildflowers in two of the beds and we expect a lot of color. Already have a couple of peppers and there's two small green tomatoes on one of the plants and lots of blooms.






And the small flower bed by the driveway now has a new look. It will take a couple of years to fill in, but we think it's rather pretty.



What follows is the "Dragonfly Garden", formerly known as the Shade Garden. It was terribly overgrown (due to neglect until last week), so I kind of waded in and started pulling everything I thought was a weed. I fear I may have been overzealous, but we won't know until Barbara visits again and asks, "Where's the ...?" In any case, we're pretty pleased. LOW MAINTENANCE! We're just going to add a few more hostas.