We decided to cut down a Sycamore tree that I planted 25 years ago… after we finished the reno on our storage shed by the garden. It was one of those expensive purchases of a landscape tree costing a wopping $60 in 1995. That is a lot to a single mom’s budget. I really loved this shade tree cooling our mobile home over the years. A Sycamore is actually a gorgeous hardwood tree that grows quite large, with lots of big green leaves and is perfect for shade in yards and parks. However, if you have even a slight allergy to it’s pollen it can make life quite miserable. It became a real chore to mow the lawn under it. You would start coughing as soon as you started mowing and then experience a sore throat with swollen eyes, and coughing for a couple of days after, even if you used a mask and eye coverings. I could not figure it out.
I had an art show in a downtown garden show where the booth next to me had a professional tree trimmer. I happened to mention to him how irritating the mowing under our Sycamore had become, and the guy laughed. He said that whenever people wanted Sycamore’s trimmed the price went up and his crew was required to wear a full suit to prevent respiratory and skin irritation associated with them. That was shocking but reassuring at the same time. Finding that out 2 years ago, has had me thinking that tree maybe wasn’t such a good idea. When I looked up at the buds on the tree limbs this spring I told Pete that I had enough of the allergy stuff. So, we decided to go ahead and take it down.
Check out the massive root system. Taking this tree down as a project had a comedy show of I N T E R E S T I N G events attached…. really. Honestly, I’d tell you about them but then I’d have to kill you. Internet BS is not allowed for this top secret event, so, you’ll have to come see in-person to get the story on the rest of this adventure.
Here is a link to more information about Sycamore trees if you are interested. Pay attention to the problems paragraph a few paragraphs down.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/sycamore/sycamore-tree-care.htm
This Store House is the latest in fashionable, “Vintage Farmhouse” decor in Spokane county. To achieve this look requires that you save materials from other demolished structures over-the-year in the hopes of being able to re-use them on a reno like this. In other words, you have to be a penny-pincher that saves-everything and you have to know how to make products work in different situations. Easy enough.
Most of the re-used metal was from two storage sheds we took down over the years, after that year of real heavy snow that caved-in their roofs. The flashing that you see Pete installing under the roofing metal and over the metal siding is the final part of the waterproofing on the wall that needed to be closed in.
Since the T-1-11 was in good shape on the other three sides we only had to do the grade to bottom enclosure and corners in metal to finish weatherproofing the structure.
In preparation for the zombie apocalypse, Pete and I are renovating my old studio into a more secure storage shed. It is the white building next to the garden down the hill from our house.
Just to make things more interesting, spring conditions are in full effect requiring the use of mud boots for walking outside. You can be walking along real normal and suddenly sink into clay up to your ankle. There is a real art to coaxing your boot back up out of the mud without loosing your balance.
This structure was a 16′ x 8′ addition that sat against the old mobile home back door. When we moved into our new home and took the old mobile down, this structure was left missing a wall. So, as a temporary measure we covered the stud frame with plastic to protect it from the weather. You know how temporary measures go, well that was half a decade ago. Poor thing.
First day was spent preparing it to move about 9 inches over to correctly allow for the electrical panel feed line. While doing this, we made sure it was level in it’s new location. It is amazing how much it had settled over the years.
Then we got busy removing loose boards at the eaves which revealed a host of varmits living in that space.
Check out how many wasp and bird nests!
We have left over wood and a small window from construction that we used to close the wall. There was just enough wood to be able to close the eaves.
We plan on using metal for the final siding, from a storage shed we took down a couple of years ago. The existing T1-11 is still good on the other three walls so we won’t have to re-side them. All that is left after that is closing in base to ground area and caulking around the corners and windows. Maybe a quick coat of paint on the exterior to seal it. Wa La! Sturdy storage shed.
Brrrr! At 8º Fahrenheit we bundled up and went outside to the fire to enjoy hot dogs and smores. Grandparents and Grandkids were on a mission to enjoy this country day together.
Notice our handy dandy extendible camping forks. Only Grandparents have stuff like this! First, we brown our hotdogs in the fire, then eat them with ketchup. Grandpa was our ketchup dispenser. Yummm. The dogs stood on the side watching. They were certain that we were doing it wrong because, they were not getting any. Especially, the hot dogs.
Next, we switch to the fine art of making smores. Putting perfectly browned marshmellows between graham crackers with chocolate is so yummy. Smores! So, now we have sticky cold fingers but we continue to make more marshmellows.
Unfortunately, with the temp so doggone low our fun time is cut-short. Which, is probably a good thing. It saved us from a terrible sugar overdose. It is just a fact of life that you gotta stop, when your finger tips go numb.
Into Garden Mode
Last fall I saved what seeds I could, drying them and putting them in plain brown and white little envelopes. See the tomato and spaghetti squash envelopes in this picture. Notice that these saved seeds were also “picture-less”.
Since I still had the catalog that I ordered the seeds from, I was able to look through and cut-out pictures for almost all of our seeds.
After glueing them onto the envelopes we have a much cooler set of identifiable seeds for this spring’s planting.
#NotMyPresident
This is a photograph of one of our blossoming beauties named, “Minerva Amaryllis”, that I will be painting in watercolor. It’s petals range in color from salmon to pink with white tiger stripes extending out from the center. My husband grows this one, and many others in our kitchen window. When they quickly spring-up with their bright blossoms it can literally take-your-breath-away. Amaryllis always cheer-up the house in the winter.
The approach for the second, third (behind), and fourth petals are pretty much the same except for the lighting changes as they stack.
Following this, I apply a light wash in the background petals that is more muted in value to exaggerate distance.
We had a great model for portraiture last week. I did a quick sketch of her from a picture I got of her between poses. Her face is so expressive.