Beautiful Outside!

The weather has finally turned "autumny"....sunny, 75 and low humidity.....NOW we can turn off the ac for good until next spring...which is good, since I just received my electric bill - $412 LEVELIZED.....$318 non levelized....this house SUCKS UP ELECTRICITY. I wish we could get some solar panels to supplement the electricity. I don't know anyone else with bills this high. We peaked at $595 non levelized in August. Who pays that much?? Dumbasses who buy big old uninsulated houses with horrible windows and no subfloors, that's who.  (Ones who lost their shirt in investment property and cannot afford to reside, insulate and rebuilt in order to make the house more efficient).
This is the time of year our yard starts looking poor, because the weeds die down and it is revealed that we have no actual grass in the front yard....and I will start trying to "fill" in more yard with more of those purple things (oyster plants?) or aspire to put in some kind of hedgey plant to take up more space and lessen the dead weed area. Maybe it's happen, maybe not; maybe I'll just lose my mind and order up a new lawn one of these days...but I hate Florida lawns..they are "crunchy" and you need to know more about science than gardening in order to sustain one. Oyster plants, I can do.

Slow Times

Not much posting lately; some personal commitments, minor surgery and inability to charge my camera have prevented me from posting anything monumental. I am feeling better, but still I have little to update.
The rotted side we have been working on is almost done.....some finish work and paint and it will be history, and the last of any outside work until fall...too darn hot! We will forever and ever have siding replacement to do, one section at a time, the most rotted and nasty looking gets first priority. Due to the scourge of time and weather, this will never be completed. This particular job was really overdue.
I do think I will push forward on the backyard project......it's mainly free, so that fits right in with the budget. I hope to have the entire back mulched this summer so we can stat planting stuff this fall. I'm not sure on when the walkways will go in, I figure the mulch and plantings will form some pathways to some extent. Probably within a week or two, the mulch piles will reappear on our driveway.
I am really frustrated with the front yard; just as we get the "bad" side sodded, the "good" side goes and dies......I think we may have some sort of infestation.....even the new sod we put in the corners died, and the plugs we put in last season which were doing great are dead now too....only the weeds prevail. Pretty unbalanced yard....starting to think strongly of doing the mulch thing in front too......why waste time, money & water on an impossible task? A couple of my neighbors have very nice front lawns, but I think that is not the norm in Seminole Heights. Plus these lawns are so small, I could afford to re sod them every season, which is probably what they do..(I'm not bitter). I'll think on that for awhile....maybe draw up some plans, look at some pictures of glassless front yards.......it's got to be pretty!

GRASS!!!

This morning; DIRT











This afternoon; GRASS


Thanks to my dear husband Mike for working his butt off. I like it......it's so.....green! Much better than dirt......I just hope we can keep it going. Mike also installed irrigation, as there was only one sprinkler head on that side of the lawn, and it didn't work. We also have some antique & David Austin roses planted along the brick wall and side of the house, with some lavender thrown in for good measure. We struggled with the possibility of putting in some sort of patio off the side door stairs, but we just couldn't find a concept we liked, so we went ahead and did all grass...maybe sometime in the future we will add something to that spot.

What's Happening at My House Right Now

Well, after being in the house just over a year, we have done a few things (new roof, repainted front porch, added a few plants, ripped up most of the remaining carpet upstairs and replaced some of the tons of rotted siding (the house was a boarding/halfway house and the termite situation was neglected for years).
At this time, we have killed off the predominantly crabgrass front yard (the side abutting Hillsborough) and installed some irrigation; we will now back fill that, measure and order sod. The other side of the front lawn is still mostly grass, so we are trying to save it...weeding, plugging and watering.
We are also getting ready to replace some majorly rotted siding around the side door facing Hillsborough, complete with it's own squirrel sized hole. We have listened to this squirrel (or rat, but I don't want to think about that possibility) grow up in our walls, from a little pitter-patter to some disturbing shuffling about, and perhaps we will feel a little bad about wrecking the habitat, but I pay taxes, the squirrel/rat does not, so I win.
I had the pleasure of consulting with Nikki Couture regarding my back yard, which, besides the bamboo, banana trees, giant bird of paradise and the big wrap around deck, is a bit pitiful right now.....full of overgrown weeds (the kind with sticky seed pods that follow you and your dogs all through the house), and lots of nothingness. Nikki has designed an easy to implement, self sustaining plan for the backyard which will be interesting, pretty and full of birds & butterflies. We will start working on a few things shortly...Thanks Nikki!