After The Fire

I wrote last Friday about the house fire down the street from us. When it burned, the house was painted a medium blue that was faded and peeling. 

 

Here's what she looks like today:

The asbestos abatement folks came and stripped her of her last shred of decency yesterday:  those old "cement" shingles that we see so often on these old houses were made with asbestos and have to come off before the final demolition.  The original wood siding is actually in decent shape, which makes you wonder why someone would cover it up.  But, you see, lazy people that don't want to work on their house existed in the early 1900's as well.  Rather than spend their summer scraping and painting, they covered it up with cement siding (the "vinyl siding of their day").

 

The house had been abandoned for a number of years and we had actually been trying to get it torn down to improve the neighborhood.  The taxes hadn't been paid for years and the city eventually took possession.  They had just listed it for sale for a whopping $19,472!!  Who on Earth would pay that for a house with no services and questionable structure is beyond me. 

 

I always feel melancholy when I look at pictures of old houses in this sad state.  The house could have been saved at some point if multiple someones had just made good decisions.  Unfortunately, for this one, it's too late.  We'll watch a steady stream of contractors perform their jobs over the next couple of weeks, like ants carrying away their picnic prize.  And then the final day will come where there will be nothing left but a straw-covered lot.

 

But some good will come of this.  The neighbors are repurposing what they can:  bricks for patios, salvagable wood for decks or other projects.  There are plans afoot for a community orchard or garden on the lot and the vacant one that sits next to it.  As with everything in nature, all is replenished and new comes from old. 

Rolling With the Homies

I'm hangin' in the air conditioning with my gang of little furry playas.  And we all get ice cream because.....

It's National Dog Day!

Foster and I on the Internets, circa 1999

Have you smooched your pooch today?

No?

Well, what are you waiting for?!

What a Crazy Day

Crap.  

I just realized that it's been a week since I posted. Sorry!  I have not been ignoring everyone - I've just been crazy busy and it's been an up-and-down roller coaster for me.  I was supposed to close on the new project Victorian on Friday but it's been delayed due to some title issues that are being worked through on the vacant lot.  We're now supposed to close next Friday.  *crossing fingers*

Plus it's stinkin' hot here again and I haven't felt like doing much.  I was really hoping that Mother Nature would forget that it's August and let us keep the nice, cooler temps in the 80's.  Drat!  Foiled again!

So J. and I spent yesterday morning at another auction where he was stalking one of those walk-behind skidsteers.  I went along because they had a 4 foot John Deere tractor tiller that was practically brand new.  I didn't win it, as it went for more than the 8 foot Land Pride one!  I guess you do pay more for labels (or, in this case, a certain shade of green paint.)  Heh.

Anyways....you have to got to see what else they had at this auction.  

He's a magnificent, sexy beast, isn't he?

My friends, that's Leghorn, the 5 foot metal rooster.  And he was glorious, let me tell ya!  Had he not sold for close to $600, I might have brought him home with us and declared him neighborhood art.   If we're all going to be urban farmers with chickens here in the Lykins neighborhood, then we need a mascot, right?

J. ended up winning the Dingo, which came with several attachments and it's very own custom trailer, at a really good price.  The guy bidding against us came up later and introduced himself as a union carpenter that does desk and landscaping work on the side.  Hmmmm....I told him that we would probably give him a call on this next project.  He even asked if we would call him if we decided to sell the equipment in the future.  Cool....if we decide to sell, we have a buyer already lined up.

After the auction, we headed to Menards in St. Joseph, which is about 45 minutes north of KC. It was the first time we'd ever been to what should actually be called Mecca for DIYers.  As we drove up, I commented to Jim that we should have brought our roller skates along, as that place is HUGE!

I have a VERY strict budget on this new house reno, so I'm looking to cut money anywhere I can.  Menards may be the best friend I need:  I picked up new entry door locks\handles for 1/2 price, house wrap at about 35% of regular cost, and vinyl siding for the addition for 20% of regular cost.  Yippee!

By the time we were done there, J. and I were exhausted and parched.  Lemonade chillers from DQ perked us up for the long drive home and then we collapsed on the sofa to watch a movie.  And then we hear sirens.  And they get closer.  And closer.  And then they seem to stop outside our house.

I open the front door and step out on the front porch to see this.

Fire!  

The crappy blue house 5 doors down from us that's been abandoned for at least 6 or 7  years was on fire.  And I mean serious fire....the flames were shooting up over the roof of the house next door, which is perilously close.  We've all been trying to get Kansas City to tear that thing down for years so I can't say I'm not happy that this happened, as long as no one gets hurt.  My plan is to head down and get some "after" pictures for you later today.

Hope everyone has been well!  I am staying out of the heat today and sewing some new seat covers for our RV couch, so I should have time to make the blog rounds today.  Talk to ya soon!

Let the Canning Begin!

With the tomatoes and jalapenos outpacing us in terms of what we can possibly eat at one time, I figured it was time to drag out the canner and get to work.  Up on the docket first?  Salsa made from our Early Girl slicing tomatoes.  The recipe we use is always a big hit and I posted it here last year if you'd like to try it on your own.

First the peeling of tomatoes and chopping of the jalapenos.  We didn't have enough jalapenos, we had to use some of those banana peppers that we got from the Farmer's Market last weekend.  As it turns out, we had EXACTLY 4 cups of tomatoes which is what the recipe calls for.  How often does that happen?

Everything goes into a big pot with some chopped onion, garlic, salt, lime juice and oregano.  Then stir it all up and let it come to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

Finally, fill the jars (leaving 1/2 inch headspace) and process them in the water-bath canner for 15 minutes.

I've talked to several folks who have said "I could never do that.  I don't know how to can!"  If you want to get started canning, this is one of the easiest things you can make.  Oh, and salsa or other canned goods make great gifts.  Not that I would know, because our salsa seems to disappear around here.  Ahem....

In other news, I won an online auction for several huge tempered low-e glass window panels that J. and I are going to make into a glass greenhouse.  I'm not sure what hotel they were originally intended for, but these are definitely hotel panels, as they have the venting at the bottom where the air conditioner would suck in air.  Perfect for a greenhouse! 

Yums From the Farmers Market

This weekend, J. and I hit the big Farmer's Market in downtown Kansas City and came home with some yummy, great-looking veggies.  Chipotle was there handing our free $10 tokens that could be spent at one vendor in the market, so everything in the picture was free.  We had the carrots Tuesday night, and the Yukon gold potatoes mashed last night.  The banana peppers went into some of the salsa we made on Monday evening.

I won't say who ate them, but I'm pretty sure those peaches are no longer present in my kitchen either.  And, shortly, those beets and cucumbers will find themselves pickled.  Sometime (hopefully soon!), I'm going to show my sis-in-law how to can salsa.  That should be great fun.

Ya know, looking at that picture, I'm thinking there's really nothing better than fresh produce from the market, unless it's walking out of your house to pluck it right out of your backyard garden.  Who needs a bowl when you can eat blackberries right off the vine while sitting on your patio?

I suspect everyone is in the middle of canning, freezing, preserving and, well....EATING!  What have you been up to?

Don't Mess With the Livestock

Vicious attack sheep says "None shall pass!"

  I want one of these.

Finally, An Answer

After 8 weeks of waiting to hear back from the bank on my offer on the old Victorian short sale, they counter-offered at just over $4,000 over my offer.  I attempted to counter, but the negotiator said there was no room to move because their investor said that's the number they needed to get from the property.

I had less than 48 hours to accept the offer and it expired yesterday at noon.  Flurried phone calls and discussions with J. and the real estate agent, and much hmmmming and hawing.  I couldn't even sleep Wednesday night because of the situation. $4k is just over 25% of my initial offer, so it's a huge increase.  Comparable sold houses and active listings are all over the place, but I'm sure that's true for everywhere because of all the bank-owned foreclosures and short sales.  What finally convinced me to go for it is the fact that properties in that price range go fast, because they're snapped up by investors who want to flip them into rental properties.  There's a big probability that someone else would snap it up at that price since it would now be an "approved" short sale, and they wouldn't have to go through the waiting period that I did. 

Given that the property was last financed back in 2005 for $105,500 and the owners still owe close to $80,000, the bank is taking a huge loss selling it at a price of $19,400. I'll have to squeeze the rehab budget to make up the extra purchase cost, but I'm pretty sure I can get close.

I signed the papers last night and we close on the 23rd.  I'm so excited!!!!

In a Tight Place

This is why you should check your garden every day.  (Bad gardener, bad gardener!)

I turned my back for a couple of days while I was busy with something else and one of my Sugar Baby watermelons got itself stuck between the tines of the goat panel that they're growing on.  Now I can't get it out!

This one just happened to be growing on the part of the panel where the tines are really close together.  I briefly thought about it cutting the tine, but I've got a ton of watermelons growing, so I decided to wait and see what happens with this one.  Do you think it will keep trying to grow around it?  I guess I'm going to have to cut it off there if it ever ripens.

I checked the other melons and they're in no danger of getting in this same predicament.

Weird, huh?  Keep an eye on those veggies, guys and gals....

A Good Harvest

Sorry for the graininess of the pics!  It was starting to get dark and I guess the cell phone camera couldn't focus perfectly for these pics.  But I wanted to show that good things do come to those who wait - and I mean 90 to 100+ days.  :-)

We pulled close to 20 pounds of tomatoes out of the garden this weekend.  Those are Romas in the basket above and they are HUGE!  Guess who's going to be making sauce this week?

And the Early Girls were not to be outdone.  The majority of these will go into some salsa.  J.'s brother thinks it's pretty yummy, so I may see if his wife can come over and I'll show her how we make it.  She's never canned before so this would be a fun, easy way to learn how.

In other news...

• J. and I had fun at the local gun range yesterday where we shot a .50 cal rifle and a fully automatic Tommy Gun.  Talk about fun!  Whoo, boy!

• I heard back from the realtor on the other house and there's finally some movement.  It's been 7 weeks since we put in the offer on the short sale and the bank has finally assigned a negotiator and is looking at the offer.  Should be interesting to see what happens since the house sold for $105,000 in 2005 and my offer is for $15K.

• I've been busy working on our old RV.  We bought a late 80's 27' trailer that was in great shape except the upholstery was ugly with a capital U.  We're talking salmon and baby blue paired with faux wood grain cabinets.  I should have taken some before pictures but I was in such a hurry to get started that I just jumped right in.  We put in new laminate flooring and I'm painting those ugly cabinets a nice off-white.  Then it will be time to reupholster the "furniture".  I'll take some pics next time I'm out there.

And, finally, I've got a watermelon quandry that I need everyone's advice on.  But I need to take a picture of it first, so I'll be back with that tomorrow.

Have a fun Monday!

These Arches are Green, Not Golden

Happy Fast Food Worker Strike Day, everyone! 
I'm waiting with baited breath to see if they get their demands to be paid $15.00 an hour.  If it works, I think I may stage a sit down strike at work and demand $100,000.  Somehow I think that won't work very well and it may actually end in someone calling security.  ;-)

Speaking of the golden arches, we here at CrankyPuppy are home to the GREEN arches and here's why:  last year, my watermelons took over the entire backyard as their vines trailed out of the raised garden beds and over the lawn.  (Did you know one watermelon plant can sprawl out over 24 sq feet?  Me neither.)  It was virtually impossible to mow around them, which means they also encouraged a big stand of weeds. 

Common sense dictates that we not repeat that experiment, so I decided to try and grown them up an arch this year.  So far, it's been a HUGE success!

You're looking at a 14 foot long goat panel that I bent over last year and grew squash on (click to see pics).  That experiment didn't end well but it was more due to the heat and squash bugs than failure on my part.  But the watermelons are doing much better.  In the picture, this is the outside of the trellis where the plants were planted.  You can see all the leaves are sticking out the back.

Then, if you look on the inside of the trellis, that's where all the good stuff is.  It almost looks like a constellation of planets made out of watermelons.  I am going to be rolling in watermelons in a month or so!

I just realized I got chicken bombed in this photo!

Little Sugar Baby watermelons just hanging out.  I estimate the larger ones are around 2 to 3 pounds.  One thing I was worried about was whether the fruits would get so large that they'd fall off the vine, but they seem to be holding just fine.  I may go out soon and make some hammocks for them out of some old panty hose so that they have some support from the bottom.  From what I've been reading, you need to do this when they reach the size of a baseball and some of these are definitely that size or a little larger.

Aren't the little baby ones adorable?  I just had to snap a closeup of one.  It's not much larger than a grape. 

Those are green beans under the arch. They like the shade that the watermelon vines are providing.

The one thing about growing watermelons (or squash or cucumbers) on a trellis is this:  you have to stay on top of the vines every single day because they grow so fast.  You have to "train" the vines onto the trellis or they'll just flop back down toward the ground and then you'll have a mess on your hands.  As they grow, they'll throw out tendrils that wrap around the trellis wire.  Mine are over the top of the arch and starting their way back down the other side.

Anybody up for a seed spitting contest?

Saturday Stills

Hi, I'm back! 
After a week of hiding because of the blistering heat, I've found that I'm still alive and desperately needing to put a post on here. 

It's very rare that you don't end up cooking in your own juices within 5 minutes of setting foot outside here at the end of the July.  But we are being blessed this weekend with 79 degree weather and a beautiful sunny day.  We spent a fun time this evening talking with the neighbors and I ventured out to pull some weeds and check on the garden. 

I guess the world does go on without my constant attention, because here's what I found:

This just in!  Chickens still like the bug buffet in our yard....

Looking good, ladies.  Looking good!

The Roma tomato plants have definitely been busy.  I see some sauce making in our future!

And here's one of the peppers to go with it.  

Please ignore the weeds - they were exiled soon after I took these pics.

The much-awaited Honeycrisp apple trees are literally bending under the weight of the apples now.  J. and I may have to rig up something to help them bear the weight.  I can't wait to sink my teeth into one of these!

And the blackberries are starting to ripen...

We've been getting one or two here and there, but not enough for a big bowl of ice cream or pie.  They're coming though! That is,  if we can keep the birds out of them.  I've been convinced that the darn neighborhood birds have been eating them before we can pick the ripe ones and I now have proof.  While were sitting on the patio with the neighbors, we heard an uproar from the blackberry bush where a blackbird was trying to make off with one of our berries.  It may be air rifle time.  :-)

Finally, I discovered that we're not the only ones engaged in some renovation activity. It looks like a spider has been busy building a funnel trap underneath one of my Roma tomato plants.

 
I waited to see if the creepy little homeowner would show his face, but to no avail.  He must be shy.  Or maybe he's out at Home Depot getting some more building supplies.  Seems like it always takes us about 184 trips to that place for whatever project we're working on.

Hope everyone is doing well!  I'm off to make the bloggie rounds now to see what you guys are up to.

Giving the Old Deck a Facelift

Have you ever heard someone say "an old house is never finished"? Well, it's true.  Having owned and loved several of them, I can say from experience that it's undeniable.  Our current house is no different.  But that's ok, as I like to putter around and I suppose doing DIY projects keeps me off the street and out of trouble.  ;-)

 

The thing is...I hate staining decks.  We chose a black stain to go with our house colors and it just won't stay looking good for more than 2 years.  I bet I've stained this thing 5 or 6 times.  Who wants to spend their Saturday afternoon in the summer putting down messy stain? 

We've got two decks - one on the 2nd story off of our "office" that's about 8 feet by 12 feet, and a smaller one off our back door that's about 5 feet square.  As you can see in the pic above, it needs some TLB and the trim needs to be painted again.  By far, this poor thing gets the most weather.

Over at the 1893 Victorian, we had used a new product by Rustoleum called Deck Restore to great success and it made that old deck look like it was brand new.  It comes in 40 different colors (including black!) with a limited lifetime warranty but, since it's a fairly new product, the question still exists as to how it will stand up over the years.  But, hey, I'm game as long as it lasts longer than 2 years.

The only bad thing is that a gallon of this stuff only covers 50 sq ft with 2 coats, so it's pricey.  We ended up using two 2-gallon packs at a cost of $39.98 each.  Given that stain is $25 per gallon, I don't think the price is too bad if it lasts a lot longer.

This stuff comes with a special roller that has air pockets in it to hold the Restore, which is about as thick as Skippy peanut butter.  You don't so much as paint it on with the roller - it's more like you squeegee it on.  The instructions say to roll in one direction but, in our experience, it doesn't make a difference if you go over it.  Because it's so thick, it fills in any cracks or splinters up to 1/4 inch thick on old boards so it will literally make an old deck look brand new.  Fortunately, our boards were in great shape.

 

As you can see, we taped everything off before we started because this stuff can be quite messy.  If you've got an elevated deck (our air conditioner sits under our larger deck), then you're going to want to put a tarp under there, as this stuff WILL squeeze through the cracks.  We also put cardboard all around on the patio just in case this stuff squirted, got slung, etc.   It's basically stain with grit in it so it will stain anything it lands on, including you.  Trust me, I know this from experience.

 

What J. and I found that works the best is to use a brush to shove the Restore color in the cracks first.  Otherwise, if you just use the roller, you'll end up with the sides of the boards not being covered.  Just use a brush that you don't love, as it will be so gunked with Restore when you're done that it won't be usable for anything else.  One other option would be to use their matching stain to do the cracks with a paint brush.  Since all our handrails are painted rather than stained, it didn't make sense to buy a gallon of stain just to do the cracks, so we had to make due with the thick stuff.

And there's the finished project.  This actually didn't take too long with me painting the cracks and J. doing the rolling. It dries and can be walked on in 24 hours.  So far, I really like it because the old deck was slicker than snot in the winter time when it was icy.  This is much more non-skid and it seems impervious to doggie toenails so far.  It certainly looks better than before.

Cleanup is with soap and water, so very easy.

Now I have to give the trim a fresh cost of paint and touch up the back door. 
Like I said:  an old house is never done!

DISCLAIMER:  I didn't receive this product for free (Darnit!) and this isn't a paid advertisement.  Just a DIYer
here that really likes this product.

A Day for Firsts

I'm so upset about the situation with the house that I just really don't want to talk about it right now.  Maybe in a couple of days.

In the meantime, how about some positive news?  We got our first tomatoes!

The fat tomato in the upper right hand corner is our first Cherokee Purple that we pulled (and J. promptly ate it on a hamburger last night, so I'm glad I took the pic fast!).  The 3 red tomatoes in the middle of the picture from top to bottom are our first Roma, followed by our first 2 Early Girls.

Then a straggler strawberry sitting next to our first blackberry!

On Saturday, J. and I attended Tomato Fest at one of the local farmer's market and they didn't have many tomatoes.  Seems odd, doesn't it, being tomato fest and all?  But we did find a few.  One gentleman had some Cherokee Purple tomatoes that were terribly eaten up with cutworms.  Only the small one on the right side of the picture was decent, so we bought it thinking it would tide J. over until ours ripen.

In addition to the nice bunch of carrots, we also found some purple potatoes.  I've always wanted to try those since seeing them on a episode of Chopped.  If you roast them, they keep their purple color throughout.  When we make them, I'll post some pics.

Apparently I missed some garlic when I harvested last year, because it came up again as volunteer.  I went ahead and pulled them and dried them.  The bulbs are smaller, but I'll be able to use them this fall to start another crop.  A first - volunteer garlic!

And, finally, on Saturday, Christine and Dave from The Deadly Nightshade (our new neighbors!) threw a really fun soiree.  We spent a lot of time talking to a couple who moved from Colorado and bought a huge Victorian house about 3 streets over from us.  I love how you can meet new people and just instantly know you're going to be great friends.

Anyway, it was a potluck so J. and I tried another couple of firsts..... 

Cheesecake tarts topped with fresh raspberries

and....

Mini apple and cherry pies made in a muffin tin.  So easy and cute!

How do they look?  They were scrumptious and must have been a big hit, since we came home with an empty plate.  If anyone wants the recipe or directions on how we made these, let me know and I'll post it.

By the way, I'm sharing this post with this week's Homestead Barn Hop. Go check out what other folks are up to!

Late Night Stakeout

Not me.

 Besides me ABC's and 123's, the one thing I remember from kindergarten was that good boys and girls keep their hands to themselves.  Being an INTJ, I strongly believe in the rule or law and good vs. bad.  That J = "judging" and trust me...I find myself doing it all the time. And I love that the INTJ personality is sometimes referred to as the "mastermind".  Bwwaahhaaaaahaaaa!  (That's an evil laugh, folks.)

Anyways...as you know, I've got an accepted offer on the house around the corner from us and we're waiting on the bank to approve the short sale.  The owners moved out months ago, so I've been keeping a close eye on it.  J. and I went to a private screening of "Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire" last night (excellent movie, BTW) so I decided to stop by and just walk around the outside of the house because I'd noticed the storm windows on the upper floor were opened sometime during the day.  Maybe it was just the sellers getting the last of their stuff out.

As I approached the back door, I could see that the blinds in the window near the back door had been torn down.  Peeking in, I could see one of the clawfoot tubs on its side and I knew there was a problem.  I tried the door and it opened easily.  So I went inside with J. right behind me. 

Crap. 

That clawfoot tub used to be in the 2nd floor bathroom.  And I'm sure the kitchen sink was in the kitchen.  In the bathroom, the vanity top was missing as well as the toilet.  They were no where to be found.  Then I made it to where there used to be a really nice beveled glass front door.  As in past tense.  As in THE FRONT DOOR WAS COMPLETELY MISSING.  Thank goodness they hadn't tried to take off with the hand-painted cast iron fireplaces.

*sigh*

INTJ's really hate thieves.  Why can't they just keep their hands to themselves (a.k.a. off other people's stuff?)

We needed to make it to the movie, so we didn't go upstairs.  I have no idea what kind of damage may have been done while they tried to get that clawfoot tub down the narrow, curved staircase.  On the way, we called my agent whose response was similar to mine.  Crap.  She said she would call the listing agent (who would call the sellers) and then the bank in the morning to see what could be done and then call me back.  I didn't have much confidence that anyone would take any action to secure the property last night, so I decided to stake it out.

Yep, me in my Jeep with a long-range telephoto lens, binoculars, cell phone at the ready.  It was a nice, balmy night so I was comfortable sitting there just watching.  Actually, the neighborhood was quiet (except for a raccoon that came barreling down the street like his *ss was on fire), so it was nice to feel like I could hear myself think for once.

What did I see?

Nothing.  I finally went to bed at a little after 2 because I've got to go to work today and needed some sleep.  I'll check the house again on my way to work and we'll see what comes of this when I talk to the realtor. 

We Can Move Mountains

I hope you had a fun 4th of July weekend and still have all your fingers and toes!  It usually sounds like a ground war is going on outside our windows over the 4th, but this year was different.  Not alot of neighbors shooting off any fireworks - is that an indicator of how bad the economy is?  Maybe..

We were busy little bees over the weekend with some house projects.  I don't know if I've mentioned it here or not, but I am an avid Craigslist shopper and love me a good deal.  I spotted a granite island top that someone had listed for just $150 and the wheels in my head immediately started spinning. This would be a cheap island top for the "new" Victorian that I've got a contract on.  By the way, we're still waiting for approval from the bank for the short sale.  But, if that deal falls through,, we'll just take it out to our farm and use it when we build our house.  Heck!  It's so cheap, we could use it as picnic table!  LOL.

Did I mention that this thing measured out at 7 feet by 4.5 feet and weighs somewhere around 650 pounds?

So J. and I were happy to have a building project, as we gathered the materials to make an 7-foot-long A-frame to transport the granite.  For some who don't know, even though granite is extremely hard and durable as a countertop, it has to be transported standing up on end or it can potentially crack.  The really pretty granites that have veining in them like marble are more prone to this, but it's still a good idea to move it correctly by leaning it at 10 degrees and giving it full support.  We put the whole thing on 350 lb casters with brakes so that we could roll it around easily and get it in the trailer.  When all was said an done, the A-frame cost almost as much to build as the granite.  But all the materials are re-purposable when we're done with it.  Or I suppose we could go into the granite-hauling business.

It's called an A-frame because of it's shape.

The hard part?  Getting the slab up onto the A-frame.  With the casters on, we had to lift it over 8 inches.  And granite is sliicccccckkkkk.  There's literally nothing to hold onto. We had J.'s brother help us because I've got the upper body strength of an 8-year-old Boy Scout.  These guys are strong and they thought they could just get under the slab and lift it up while I stood on the other side of the A-frame as a counterweight. Nope!  Together, they could lift one end up, but there was no deadlifting the entire thing.

At this point, I said "We're 3 really smart people.  I know we can beat this rock!"

After some thinking, we tried to winch it up with a come-along.  The metal was biting into the 2x4 and threatening to snap it so that didn't work.  The granite wasn't budging.  Someone threw out the idea of running to Home Depot for a 4x4.  But we had the granite pulled out from the wall where it had been leaning and we would have had to stand there and hold it while someone ran to the store.

More thinking ensued.  And then it hit me.  Why don't we slowly lift each end with a series of pieces of 2x4's.  Pick up one end, put a 2x4 under it.  Pick up the other end and put a 2x4 under it.  Then repeat until the whole thing was up about 6 inches.  Then one end onto the A-frame and then the other.  Thank goodness....it worked.  Granite was safely on the A-frame, we easily got it into the trailer, and no one was missing any fingers or toes.

Just goes to show you....if you put your mind to it, you can literally move mountains!

You Don't Look a Day Over 237

It's our birthday!

 

 

This is perhaps my most favorite picture from our D.C. trip back in 2002.  It was a cold evening, with snow on the ground - so cold we couldn't feel our legs as we walked around the National Mall.  The sunset, as you can see, was gorgeous.  I fell in love with this statue of Thomas Jefferson and, in particular, the quote from one of his letters that rings the rotunda right above it:

"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

 

On this Fourth of July, please take some time from the fireworks, tasty barbecue, and fun to gather your friends and family and remember why we celebrate this holiday.  It isn't about all that.  Today is all about the birth of this great nation and the freedom that we hold so dear.  We shouldn't take it for granted because it can slip away when we're not looking.  It's already happening.

I hope all of you have a safe and happy 4th!

 

Urban Farm Tour: Take 2

Continuing on from Urban Farm Tour: Part I, our next stop is to the local favorites, The Urban Farming Guys.  These folks are in our neighborhood and are very active in our neighborhood association.  What they're doing for the community is great, so I'm proud to introduce them to you.
 
The Urban Farming Guys “Myrtle Plot”(1121 Myrtle Ave., Kansas City, MO 64127)

Oh, my goodness!  So much to see here including an aquaponics fish farm, vertical gardening, worm farming and heugelculture!  They even rent plots to the community, including the apartment building next door.

I was, of course, in love with this old Victorian that they have been restoring.

Shortly after I arrived, this little guy started following me around.  At one point, he even perched on my arm.  Quite the ham, he stopped to pose for several pictures as well.

He was particularly enjoying the onion flowers.  (Anybody know what kind of onions these are?  They were close to 4 feet tall!)

And, of course, the duckweed.  Duckweed is a plant that grows on the surface of the water.  The intern that was giving us the tour explained that they use window screens to harvest it and then lay them in the sun to dry.  They then feed the dry duckweed to the fish in the aquaponics tanks.

While we were talking , a constant stream of bees from their hives were stopping by to take a rest on the surface of the duckweed and get a sip of water.

Right after this, we toured their bunny cages and were told that they take the bunny poo and reuse it in the garden.  They had several baby bunnies out for petting and how the heck I managed to NOT get a picture of a baby bunny is beyond me.  It was at this point that we lost the niece and nephew to cuteness.  We didn't see them again until we were ready to leave.

I think I was distracted by their stand of bamboo.  Now that's not something you see in KC everyday.

Our guide explained that the bamboo served several purposes: they use the stalks in the garden as trellises, the leaves are fed to the bunnies, and the whole stand provides shade and a natural screen from the neighbor's house.  Behind the bamboo are their beehives, so the bees are tucked away in a shady, protected spot where they won't be disturbed.

This is a neat place.  They welcome visitors at any time so, if you get a chance, stop by and see Jason @ the Urban Farming Guys.  Next stop....


HoopDog Studio Garden  (3314 Troost Ave., Kansas City, MO 64109)

HoopDog is a jewel shining in the deep "hood" in Kansas City.  This isn't a place you would want to be after dark by yourself, let's put it this way.  And that's coming from someone that lives in the highest crime rate zipcode in KC.

Love their logo!

The garden covers 2 city lots and, in conjunction with the chickens that are allowed to fly around unfettered, it feeds 10 people all year round.  Not only that, but it's chock full of stuff to look at - much of it repurposed materials.  For example, they use commercial muffin tins to act as lily pads in their ponds!

Here's a picture of their quonset-hut looking chicken coop.  Even though the day was hot, it was nice and cool in there.  But, alas, no chickens!  I found them hiding in various shady spots in the garden.

Those concrete pieces make an interesting kind of "wall" for the entrance.  I'm pretty sure those are concrete cores that they got from the city or the highway department.

Next to the  garden on a separate lot are the house that is home to several artists, a separate studio and this "greenhouse" in the backyard. 

The greenhouse had been converted into a lovely shady spot - I LOVE this idea.  I think the material they used to cover this is the same thing as webbing off of lawn chairs, but it was hard to tell.  They just weaved it through the openings in a goat panel that had been bent over into a U shape.

While I was there, I fell in love with a piece of art:

It's a little hard to tell, but that's a fly (or a bee - there was a slight disagreement on this point) and it's made out of a hand grenade.

Leaving HoopDog, I couldn't NOT take a picture of this dumpster adorned with images of chickens before we left to go grab some lunch.  By this point, it was well past 1 p.m. and tummies were growling and we were getting a little grumpy.  A quick stop for Minsky's pizza and calzones and then we were on our way to Independence to see ...


St. Paul Community Garden (11200 E. 36th St., Independence, MO, 64052)

This community garden was started in 2007 by 8 gardeners and it's now expanded to include 26 plots that are rented out, a fairly decent fruit orchard and strawberry beds. Of all the cool things I saw on the tour, St. Paul's had the coolest.  Check out this arched entrance to the garden!

The gardeners in attendance explained that the arch was built by the local Boy Scout Eagle troop as one of their badge projects.  It's very well built and gave lots of room for people to walk through and sit (this came in handy later!)  I took lots of pictures of how it was put together, because I'd love to reproduce this in our neighborhood.  Basically it's just a wood arch with chainlink fence bent over the top.

Can you imagine this as a shady hideaway with vines growing over it in the summer?  Beautiful!  They had started some native passion flower vine and gourds, but they weren't very far along.  I may drive by later this summer and see what it looks like.

The gardeners here were so incredibly informative and helpful...and nice.  They explained that they try to grow food in harmony with nature, so many of the plants are native to Missouri.

While they have a city water spigot on site, they are working on rain catchment systems for the gardeners to use as well.

They had a huge compost facility setup.  With no mortar between those blocks, I'd be a little afraid it might fall over.

A Monarch Waystation welcomes butterflies, and the site is a National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat. This is where I took those beautiful pictures of milkweed, sunflowers, and coneflowers that I posted earlier this week. 

The paths through this garden were clearly defined by chain link (without the chain) and they were using these to support some of the plants as well.  Along most of these were various kinds of sunflowers that were about 2 to 3 feet tall.  Again, I can't wait to come back in a month or so and see how things have progressed.

 

One other thing that I found really interesting about St. Paul's was their garden shed.  Instead of the traditional barn doors, they had put in a garage door.  Now why the heck didn't I think of that?!  We have problems getting our equipment out of ours right now because the doors are too small, and we've been thinking about making it bigger.  Since you can pick up used garage doors pretty cheaply on Craigslist, this is a great idea!

Well, that pretty much does it for this year's Urban Farm tour.  There were 60+ sites, but we only made it to 9 of them in one day.  We had too much work to do to go out for another day, plus...did I mention it was really stinkin' hot??!!

I hope you enjoyed going on the tour with us.  I know we had a ton of fun and will definitely be going on the next tour in 2015.