Rental House Update

Work on the batten boards is almost completed and that will be the end of work for this year. We are looking forward to refocusing on projects at our own place. I think the boards give the old house some textural interest especially with the contrasting shingled elements. Today we'll try to finish the boards if the rain holds off long enough. Anyway, we've been getting compliments on the improvements from people walking by and are pretty pleased with the results ourselves, considering there were no structural changes made.

A Short Walk Around

Cool, gray and wet fall weather arrived early. It makes for flat pictures but good walking conditions. I brought the camera today to get pictures of the mini goats perched atop the stumps but they were too busy eating to be sociable.

The mini horses had fewer distractions and trotted right over.

A nosy greeting for me.

 But the other boy isn't allowed.

Back in the yard, everything has greened up fast.

It's siesta time for the boys, saving their energy for when it's time to eat again.

 

 

An open milkweed pod releasing its seed to be carried off in the wind.

 

Clay! These are a few things I've been working on for Jason. Someday I'll get enough to do a bisque firing and glaze. Blame it on the humidity, drying is slow, but I am trying.

Rain!

Not much water, but enough to see the rain chain at work.

It looks like I lost (ahem... forgot to save) a blog post showing the finished product on the new roof, not that a roof is exciting, but here are a couple of pictures anyway. Along with the stained shingles on the dormer and bay window it really improved the looks of the house. The metal footing still needs to be finished but it will have to wait for cooler weather as working on the south side of the house gets awfully hot on a sunny day. And the battens. I guess there's still a lot to do. *sigh*

Is there anything cuter than a mini horse?

A mini goat! They are just beginning to get comfortable in their new home and come round to visit when we walk by so I will try to get better pictures.

With new roof and gutters on the rental we had to put up a rain chain. Now waiting for a big rain to see how they do. Next week we go to town putting the batten up on the siding. Well, there's a lot of measuring and cutting and priming and painting before it actually goes up so it goes pretty slowly even if we are going to town on it.

Sheep Walk

An evening walk with the sheep is so much better than stewing in front of the TV over the latest newscast.

 

The boys eat as they go and Hattie gets to be boss.

 

Today we can stroll with the horses. They run to the corner of their pasture to greet us at first sight.

 

The mini thinks the sheep are great friends.

 

But the big horse presents his back side with hoof ready to give a swift kick.

 I suppose he's disappointed when no one is impressed and decides to join the parade instead.

It's nice to take a few bites together before saying good bye.

 

Time to head back home.

 

With a final stop to help trim the oaks.

 

And get some special attention.

Waiting out the heat wave

 The roofing is done on the rental house and now we are prepping for installation of new gutters. The house was built without an overhang so gutters are essential. But of course the fascia under the old gutters is rotten so it needs to be replaced and painted, and this heat is making for miserable working conditions. How did we ever accomplish anything when we lived in the desert?

 

I have no pictures of the house today but here is one of my garden. All the flowers look washed out from the heat and bright sun, just like me.

 

Roofing Time

Big changes at the rental house. The roofers started work Wednesday. The crew foreman went up to start removing material and broke through the roof first thing. We soon learned the north side was still the old shiplap siding that was quite rotten and parts of the roof had no insulation. All of the rotten stuff was replaced and insulation was added where missing. Then Bob discovered a rotten panel on one wall that turned out to be more than expected and that needed replacing. So it's been a busy few days. Job should be completed Monday with a four man crew working on it.

Keeping fingers crossed the roof holds all these bodies!

 

Old shiplap siding and rotten area on north side of house. Picture below it shows the patch. Another plywood panel goes over the top and will be painted matching gray and eventually we'll add battens to give it a coastal look. That's a real opening porthole in the bay wall.

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Cedar shakes go on the bays. This is the north bay which is hard to picture because it is inside the fenced area. 

 

Front of house with new black roofing. The south side bay up there on the roof will be covered with cedar shakes, too. Should add some interest to our little box.

 

That's it for now.

New look

Made some changes to the style of the blog.

RIP Chaser

Chaser, the border collie famous for knowing a thousand words, died of natural causes this week. She was 15.  😢

 World Famous Dog

The Summer Garden

 I know flower pictures are boring but it helps to create a record I can look back on to see what was growing and when, so bear with me.

This deep red coneflower was planted several years ago, comes back faithfully every year and is always stunning. Not all the hybrid coneflowers are keepers, growing only one season or just never quite living up to their potential. Unfortunately this one is in the wrong place to be appreciated. It is growing along a path but hidden by taller plants and I don't dare try to move it. They don't like transplanting. Sadly, I haven't seen this variety being offered at the nurseries again so it will stay where it is.

The purple coneflowers are wonderful this year.

This newly planted oriental poppy surprised me with a flower. It looks more salmon than pink but is quite pretty.

How about a white coneflower? It returns but hasn't spread like the purple ones.

Crocosmia are attracting hummingbirds this year.

I'm not sure what to do about this lavender. It is huge. I have to cut off one side to use the walkway. But it is lovely and bees and butterflies find it useful.

It's a bit past it's prime now but this climbing rose was a showstopper a few weeks ago.

We put in a new section of garden where it had been grass (weeds) and awkward to mow. So I've started with rhododendron, burning bush, serviceberry, miscanthus, a hybrid coneflower, a pale yellow daisy, rubeckia and more crosocmia. We'll see how this looks in a year or two.

One of several verbenas I'm trying out. They are doing well in my soil.  A purple verbena grew wild sparsely around Oatman and was always a treat to find.

Love the asters too. They remind me of the Mohave asters that bloomed in the desert.

More purple coneflowers!

This is a gaudy dahlia that I neglect in hopes it will go away. This year it's beginning to grow on me though. There are orange butterfly weeds that work with it and the orange and purple flowers are attractive together.

Here is a bee balm I've mistakenly pulled as a weed for the last few years. Because of its persistence I let it grow to find out what it is. Turns out to be a nice addition to the garden.