Friday, October 26, 2007

The Price we pay to drill

So the other day I decided to let the girls in on my house fixing adventures. This time i was working on the landscaping timber for the front yard. If your wondering where i am in the process let me tell you.
I began with Looking at and determining that the wood was rotten and needed to be replaced.
Next I bought the new landscaping timber (only 3 logs the first time, cuz i mis-estimated) it turned out to need 9 logs.
Next i tore out the old logs.
Then i measured the garden and determined how long i needed to trim the logs to in order for them to fit.
Next i measured where the re-bar was and marked on the landscaping timber where to put the holes.
HERE WE ARE IN THE PROCESS.
I was going to allow the girls to drill some of the holes in the timber so i put my 12V drill cordless drill on one of the holes and told the girl to go at it. Well she made it about 1/2 through the timber and the drill died. I figured out my cordless rechargeable drill was not going to survive the 27 holes that needed to be drilled if it could not survive through 1.

To Make a long story short i decided i needed a corded drill. I went next door to the hardware store and told them the size i needed and they were anything but helpful. So i decided to walk to the Ace Hardware down the street. I thought it was about 9 blocks down so i decided to get some excersie and walk. I invited the girls to come with me, told Sarah, and off we went. 2 miles and about 30 blocks later we were at ACE (3535 Magazine). 4 miles total walked and not enough time left in the day to drill the holes. But don't worry i did it on the rain day we had 2 days later. Next step putting the timbers on the re-bar and planting new plants :c).

Monday, October 22, 2007

My New Project..AN ARK

So for some odd reason while the rest of the country is having rabid forest fires (south California), droughts, and back in SC water restrictions, We here in New Orleans are taking on water. I checked the weather last night to see if it was going to rain because i was going to finish my landscaping timber project today on my day off. Well it said something like "scattered showers". They lied....It began raining this morning and has not stopped since, Urban Flooding is so bad by our house that i had to walk through 1/2 ft. of water on the sidewalk going to the Circle K just down the street. Lucky for me I have my Crocs (i used to hate them when people would wear them, but they are just SOO useful). Poor Bella the dog had to go potty on the cement because all the grass had at least 3in of water on it. When i find my camera PC cord i will post a video of my walk to the circle K....Pray for the people in the city because Sarah and I live in one the highest parts of the city. Most of the girls schools have been canceled because of flooding, i guess part of the "charm of the city" is all the water we get to experience. I should get my Kayak from the storage unit and go for a "paddle"...Ahhh the joys of New Orleans.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Landscaping the yard

I didn't feel the need to talk about mowing the lawn anymore because it was not a challenge anymore...Ive got it down to about 35 min...including blowing the grass off the sidewalk..However i did do something new...I "trimmed" the tree in the front yard...Turns out i have a Japanese Yew...I found this out as i was trimming it and our paster walked by (isn't New Orleans Great!) He told me that he is lucky enough to have the largest one in our neighborhood. Too bad for him i have the largest live Oak...which are much cooler. Anyways..he told me the name and i forgot it of course..so i took a trimming and fruit sample inside and looked it up...He was right, Japanese Yew. Well the trimming didn't turn out so good for the tree...but they grow back i hear :c). Sorry Mike!

I Began the process of replacing the landscaping timber in the front garden. I began by pulling off the old rotten pieces and i met lots of new friends, Worms, Skinks, and lots of slugs (the girls call them leaches and run away from them). It was a bigger job than anticipated...as always. Sarah came home so i got a decent stopping point and cleaned up the yard (i had pieces of wood EVERYWHERE....