Old Town Home

Friday, April 19, 2013

Go Meece Lightnin'

Posted by Alex

Comments 18

When living in an urban environment, we've found there are a few things you simply learn to live with. The constant elevated noise level, tight living proximity, tons of foot traffic, more trash than you'd prefer, and the occasional vermin or insect issues.

Mostly, we take these all in stride. You learn to ignore the noise, you deal with the closeness and build a new sense of boundary respect, you work to clean up your messes as well as the messes of others, and you figure out ways to periodically eliminate the pests.

Since we purchased our home we've had intermittent unwanted and uninvited house guests. No, I'm not talking about human ones, I'm referring more to the scurrying and four legged type. I tend to deal with them in a less emotional and slightly more effective manner than Wendy, though I like them no more than she does.

When we mention a mouse or (gasp) rat that we've seen around or in our house, people who live in the city get it and can relate, and people who live in the country see it as a way of life and almost pay it no attention. But people that live in the suburbs are often appalled, disgusted, and often say "that's why I don't live in the city!" But almost everyone says the same thing, "Good thing you have a dog and a cat."

It's true, we have a dog and a cat, and one would assume that having both a dog and a cat may keep our vermin issues at bay, leaving us with a home and surrounding area free of little unwanted pets. Although we take great measures to prevent the undesired pitter patter of little feet in our home, one might not realize that our cat is geriatric and doesn't have a single clawed paw (he came that way), while our dog is equal parts uncoordinated and goofy. These combinations make not the Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal of mouse hunters.

Though Mel and Lulu may not be the most stealthy or accomplished hunters, our little Ollie had an instinctual nose (and tooth) for these things. Whether he was cornering a varmint that was thrashing about under the sink, or honing his skills on squeaky rat toy training devices, he knew his way around pest control.

As I mentioned earlier, Wendy doesn't really like the idea of mice in the house. We may or may not have even had an incident back around 2005 where a mouse made his way into the house and Wendy called me at work screaming about said mouse. The events that transpired will live on in infamy. Due to her somewhat hysterical and incoherent ramblings, she may have blurted the words "GIANT," "OHMYGOD," "ON THE MOVE!" I also may have put her on speaker phone in my office without letting her know. I'm not entirely clear on the details, as it did happen quite some time ago, but this may have happened, just sayin'.

After trying in vain to corner the mouse and get Mel to do his duty, Wendy eventually mustered the courage to throw a box over top of the scurrying mouse while standing on the living room ottoman. I was on the phone while this was happening as well, and at one point she believed she had thrust the box down so hard that she had decapitated the little field mouse. Once the cardboard vermin penitentiary was in place, there it sat, with the potentially decapitated mouse, for several hours, until I got home from work. When I arrived home I slid a folder under the box, determined the mouse was still alive, and I took him outside, well away from our house, and released him back into the world. I'm a lover, not a killer.

After years of disappointment in mouse hunting, Mel finally started to hit his stride in recent years. He started slow, training like the Karate Kid with fly catching, or like Rocky on the speed bag. Just imagine some great montage music playing while Mel swatted away at the hanging door toy.

His endless training continued, his skills improved, and rumor has it that he even sought a teeth sharpening service to maximize his effectiveness in the hunt. He spent one long winter stalking his prey, though he didn't kill them. Mel would corner the mice until we retrieved them (or killed them by running around and screaming like a crazy person), or he'd pick the mouse up in his mouth and come running by and drop the stunned creature at my feet. Like a gentle big cat carrying its baby, the mice were unharmed and able to go on fighting, only in another block in Old Town. But this all changed late last year!

After his emasculating experience of partial tail amputation, Mel ventured out with his courage, pride, and endless reserves of fight, and he bagged his first kill! I wasn't around to see how the whole thing went down, but it was probably not pretty for the mouse. Our guess is the mouse ventured out into the kitchen looking to snack on a little of Mel's food, but he was having none of that. In the most likely dramatic recreation, the events probably unfolded like this.

Mel noticed the mouse making a move on his food and stepped up to the unwanted visitor. "Hey, you! Yeah, you...with the mouse face. What do you think you're doing near my food. That's my food, see?" Then, with a quick swipe of the paw, he let the mouse have it, killing him in one swift shot. At least, that's what I imagine happened. Just look at the proud sense of accomplishment awash over Mel's face, seemingly at the top of the food chain, and unable to be dethroned. Hey, what can I say, we're proud of his accomplishment too.

At this point Mel, and Ollie (before his untimely departure), had proven their prowess (albeit meager) in controlling the pest population in our home, but Lulu, she remained a frustrated, frantic, and fumbling participant in the pest control arena. Sure, she has aspirations for greatness...

...but we fear she'd just be confused and overwhelmed if she somehow cornered a nemesis in the squirrel population.

Well whole confused spectator role that Lulu had previous occupied gave way to a renewed sense of conquering. Yesterday, while on her morning walk with Lulu, Wendy rounded the corner on the way into our backyard. Seemingly without warning, Lulu went from calm and goofy to a lungin' maniac, target unknown. Wendy glanced down, saw what looked like a grey rock in Lulu's mouth, then all hell broke loose.

Given Wendy's always calm demeanor and utmost tolerance for four legged rodents, I have to imagine there were some F-bombs dropped, some frantic squirming, and a little neurotic handwashing to follow, but Wendy knew what had to be done. The "gray stone" that wasn't a stone at all had to be removed from Lulu's mouth before the unthinkable could happen.

At some point during the fray, Lulu must have dropped said rodent stone, listening like a good girl, but Wendy was clearly blinded by the frantic nature of the situation and began sweeping Lulu's mouth for the fur-ball she had so mercilessly expired. I'm going to go out on a limb, once again, and say that this was likely not Wendy's calmest moment in her life as a pet owner, perhaps it may have even shaved time off of her own life expectancy.

Luckily, Lulu was listening, and she remembered her extensive training, or more specifically, her training on what to do when the command of "DROP OMG DROP DROP DROP WHATEVER IS IN YOUR MOUTH FOR THE LOVE PLEASE DROP WHAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR MOUTH OMG!!!!" is given. Laying on the ground in a little bloody mess was Lulu's first official rodent kill. If you are mildly squeamish, you may want to avert your eyes from this next photo.

Yes, Lulu captured and killed what appears either a mouse or baby rat in our back parking area. She has developed her skills over years of hard work and consistent effort, and she is now a contributing member in the Old Town Home rodent task force. In Lulu We Trust.

My favorite part about this whole story is the text message I received from Wendy. The text message had a picture attachment and a simple description:

"Any guesses why your daughter is so happy?"

I knew this was a loaded question, but Wendy was absolutely right. Lulu is beaming in that photo. She's smiling ear to ear and incredibly proud of what she'd just done. I had no idea, I was receiving this as the first text, and event had already taken place, but I knew nothing more than she was happy. It's possible that Lulu had just won the dog lottery, perhaps had been selected for the elusive promotion, or even discovered a bone she had buried long ago. Regardless, I had no idea what she did that could have made her that happy!

I soon learned of Lulu's triumph, and though I have a slight neurotic fear for the potential diseases she may have contracted from having that thing in her mouth, I too am happy for Lulu and her achievement, both in the manner she was able to accomplish a bit of extermination, and for the few moments of comical hysterics I'm sure ensued on the part of Wendy. I only wish I had been there to both witness and record the moment. You all know I would have surely shared that video with you.

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Comments 18

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Planting a Lettuce Garden

Posted by Wendy

Comments 10

I guess it's "Garden Week" here at Old Town Home, as our saga of the backyard transformation continues. Yesterday we covered our little urban square foot garden turned informal veggie/fruit/herb planting area and our process of cleaning up our yard for the year.

One of the keys to this year's garden is the understanding and experience of previous years to know what likely will and will not work when planted in the space. Unfortunately, our location, space, and surrounding vegetation place limitations on what we can plant. For example, regardless of how much Alex may want honeydew melon, there's no reasonable way it's going to grow in our garden. Instead it will likely wilt and die when the temperature gets hot.

The main bummer about these limitations is the fact that lettuce just doesn't seem to grow for us. I think it's a combination of lack of sunlight, as well as the roots of the tree and ivy restricting the lettuce from really taking hold. The past two years the lettuce in the garden has started to grow early, then wilts and disappears as we head towards June. I know the lettuce also doesn't like the heat, so that compounds the problem as well.

This year, rather than trying to force the lettuce to grow somewhere that it won't work, I've opted to plant the various types of lettuce I want in a few containers so that I'm able to create a little lettuce container garden in our backyard.

This way the lettuce won't be choked out by the other roots, can be moved based on the sun (maximizing the sun's effect), and can have its own dedicated and deeper dirt with plenty of water.

I planted several different types of lettuce in two primary large planters. The list of lettuces I hope to be enjoying at the dinner table in a few weeks is:

Romaine Lettuce
Radicchio
Rainbow Chard

To prepare the pots for our lettuce I emptied them of their old plantings. These previously housed many of our herbs, so the soil was in decent shape and just needed to me freed up a bit.

I then topped off each planter with a little extra organic soil to make sure the lettuce has a sufficient and maximum amount of soil to take hold in.

Much like our vegetable garden, I made holes in the dirt for the lettuces and planted them slightly lower than the surrounding dirt, making a bit of a dish around the base of the plant's stem to collect water.

After just a few minutes I was the proud owner of a couple nice little lettuce container gardens.

While I was at it I also planted a few other herbs in other containers in the yard. This year, once again, we have many of our favorites:

Oregano
Rosemary
Thyme
Parsley
Cilantro
Mint

I was also really excited to finally be able to enjoy one of my favorite Christmas gifts from 2012. These sweet ceramic herb markers, made by a local artist in Ohio, were a gift from my Aunt Margie (known to our readers as the master behind Chess Noels) and Uncle Jim. Seriously, does it get any cuter than a polka dot ceramic tag with copper stand? I think not.

Though I was largely planting herbs and veggies, I also made time for a few pretty little plants that add a little happiness to our yard, like these little purple flowers, left over from our urns out front.

We also have several items from last year that are returning very nicely, such as this large hydrangea that will look beautiful in just a few weeks.

In all, I consider this year's garden to be a preliminary success. We'll see how it goes with the bugs, squirrels, and other pests, but I'm cautiously optimistic for what the year will bring. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to share our lettuce bounty with our favorite lettuce hound, Lulu.

Have you ever planted a container garden with lettuce? If so, what were your results and experiences? Any tips on how I can help maximize the output?

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Garden

Comments 10

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Another Go at Our Organic Garden

Posted by Wendy

Comments 6

Two years ago we decided we wanted to test the greenness of our black thumbs by trying our hand at creating an organic square foot garden. Given our small lot and urban landscape, this required us to claim a bit of space from our tiny brick backyard and build a modestly sized raised bed.

It was by no means a difficult project, and we had rather high hopes for the bounty of veggies this urban plot of land could yield, but we were somewhat disappointed. The sunlight for the yard is largely obscured by our large tree for the first half of the day, then the house blocks the sun in the early evening, which leaves us with just about four hours of direct sun for the area. Additionally, the soil seems to be somewhat overtaken by the tree and ivy roots from the surrounding growth, which limits the plants' ability to really thrive.

Both the first and second year we had some veggies that we were able to pick and eat (or feed to Lulu), but the yield was significantly lower than we had hoped due to various failures. I'm pretty sure we could buy the same amount of fruit and veggies from the store using about the same amount of money spent on watering our plants.

This year we decided to take a little bit more of a relaxed approach to our garden and focus on items with which we've had better success. Now that we have a few growing seasons under our belt, we're getting better at knowing which plants work, when they work, and where we should plant them.

Before we could jump into planting we needed to first clear out last year's plants. We had let the cabbage, broccoli, and other remaining vegetables continue to grow over the winter. This left a handful of large plants that were in no shape to produce any edible food. I pulled up these plants, with the exception of the chives and leeks, and discarded them making way for all of the new items we picked up over the weekend.

Before we could place the plants in the soil, Alex had to loosen the dirt by breaking up the roots that had infiltrated the area since last year. This is where the tree and ivy roots come in. He worked at the area for about 30 minutes and twisted up a rather large ball of roots he was able to remove from the soil. Had we left those roots in place and just went ahead with planting, I'm pretty sure all of our plants would have been choked out.

The soil we have in the bed is still a good and rich organic soil. Once it was all turned over and freed up, all that was left to do was determine the placement of the plants, and pop all of the various plants in the ground.

As I mentioned, this year we're doing a less formal square foot garden. Whereas last year we had formal dividers and indicators of where the boundaries of each square foot resides, we had a real problem with the squirrels throwing the dividers around. Since knowing what a rough square foot is in our small garden, we went ahead and scrapped the dividers and just went ahead with planting.

This year I decided to plant things that didn't need quite as much of a root structure and did much of their growing above ground. I also opted for heartier vegetables that seem to thrive in our rather wild temperature fluctuations. There was nothing more demoralizing last year than seeing a promising plant wilt in the 100 degree days, completely unable to recover.

We also decided to plant more herbs in the raised bed this year, rather than solely in containers as we've done in previous years.

This year's selection includes:

Dill
Basil
Chives
Jalapeño Peppers
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Romaine
Radicchio
Cabbage
Broccoli

I placed all of my plants in rough areas where I wanted them to go but didn't put them in the ground right away. I wanted to get everything set up and determine just where each plant should be placed. This way, if I had a change of heart, I'd be able to change the location without needing to dig things back up. This also allowed my outdoor inspector to approve of the locations.

After I had everything in place, I opened up the containers and began placement of the various fruits, veggies, and herbs.

Once all of the plants were in place I used some of the organic gardening soil we picked up at the store to fill in the low spots and build up the area around the plants to create a nice watering bowl around the bases. This will ensure the water goes to the plant rather than rolling away.

I also made sure to place the little tags from the plants in the soil to remind myself of exactly what I had planted and where it was planted. After not doing this the first year, we now make a point of doing this to keep ourselves sane.

After a few hours of effort, some dirt under my fingernails, and quite a bit of inspecting from Lulu, we had ourselves our 2013 garden. I hope it yields some delicious bounty and doesn't fall victim to the squirrels or bugs as it has in years past.

Are you planting a vegetable garden this year? Do you have any tips for us on how to have better results? This is far from our area of expertise, so any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated.

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Comments 6

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Spring Cleaning: The Straight and Narrow

Posted by Wendy

Comments 9

Before we delve into today's post, I want to mention something that is surely weighing on a lot of people's minds. After the horrible events in Boston that occurred yesterday, we'd like to extend our heartfelt sympathy and thoughts to the the marathon runners and spectators, especially those that were injured. We'd also like to express our gratitude to the first responders and officials that are working tirelessly to provide support and safety. I feel saddened and sickened by yesterday's events, but am so grateful my uncle, who was participating in the race, and my aunt, who was cheering him on, are safe and sound.

It's hard to concentrate on other things right now, so we hope our blog post might provide a moment or two of a departure from the events in Boston.

Man oh man, do we have a crazy long to do list in front of us this week. If you read yesterday's post about our recent curb appeal efforts, you know that we realized we had signed up to host a neighborhood party this month. With little time to spare, we took stock of what we needed to accomplish this week before 40 or so people descend on the house.

So where are we, exactly, in our to do list? Here's a quick recap of where we stand. Before Friday's event, we need to:

Trim the topiaries and plant flowers in the front urns
Plant flowers in the front bed, and mulch the area
Clean the front steps and vestibule
Rake up the sticks and debris along the side of the house
Clean out the beds in the back yard
Plants herbs
Plant the vegetable garden
Clean and oil the outdoor furniture
Clean the house
Oil the kitchen counters
Replace the Christmas carol artwork in the sun porch with something less seasonal
Purchase wine, cups, and other party items
Set up an outdoor buffet for the party

Tonight we decided to tackle item number four on the list. Although not a top priority, the area on either side of our alley wall was in desperate need of a little TLC. On the alley side, general debris had collected over the last several months, to include sticks, leaves, trash, and a few indications that we have inconsiderate pet owners that walk our alley. (I'll spare you photographic evidence of the last item.) Here's a look at what we were starting with.

Sure, it wasn't horrible, but it needed a bit of a spruce up. I got to work, quickly raking the base of the wall, pulling old leaves and general junk from the roots of the ivy. I raked the debris into several small piles, and Alex got to work bagging.

Meanwhile I spent a few minutes pulling up clumps of weeds that were growing alongside the front of our house.

After only 20 or so minutes, the area was substantially improved. It's a subtle difference in the photos, but in person it seems more apparent that our home is inhabited by people who weren't raised by wolves.

On a bit of a side note, what we have now is 1,000 times better than what we had when we moved in. Years of neglect left the ivy struggling to survive. Now that we've worked on it for 10 years, trimming and training the ivy along the way, the old images are both shocking and a distant memory.

The next step involved the narrow alley on the inside of our wall. This tight and rather dysfunctional space unfortunately serves as a catch all for yard tools, broken pots, the sky pencils that used to reside in our front urns, half used bags of soil, and other miscellaneous junk. It's a total eyesore, and unfortunately we've yet to crack how to properly organize this narrow space. (Perhaps a little shed build-out is in Alex's future?)

Nevertheless, a cleanup was in order, so I first got to work trimming back the long strands of ivy.

Meanwhile Alex began identifying items for the trash, as well as organizing the items that were staying. Is hiding junk behind the air conditioner really a solution, especially when it's in plain view from the dining room window? Definitely not, but it will have to do for now.

Even Lulu looked at us disapprovingly for that move.

Once we had the majority of the junk cleaned up neatly tucked behind the air conditioner, we swept up the yard waste and neatly wound up the long garden hose.

All in all, the area isn't "organized" by any stretch of the imagination, but it's greatly improved from the hot mess that it was just a few hours ago.

It's all part of a good spring cleaning, and I'm still grateful for the self imposed deadline that's forcing us to tackle the yard work in a timely manner this year.

Do you have areas of your home that you tend to ignore? Maybe a space that seems totally unusable? Do you have any ideas on how we can better organize this area? We'd love to hear your ideas.

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Comments 9

Monday, April 15, 2013

Lighting the Fire: Topiary Hair Cuts, New Flowers, and a Mad Dash

Posted by Wendy

Comments 12

What's one way to pull yourself out of a house project funk? Plan a party! Nothing gets our motivation more supercharged than the notion that we have droves of guests arriving to our home in a short amount of time. After all, the last time we worked our way (albeit frantically) through a project checklist was when we were counting down to the day our home was featured on the Scottish Christmas Walk Designer Tour of Homes. I guess a deadline is sufficient motivation for us to get our butts in gear.

After arriving home last week from an international business trip, I had the cruel realization that Alex and I had volunteered to throw the April neighborhood party. These "TGIF" parties are held by neighbors in and around our block every other month on a Friday. They're a great way to meet new neighbors, and of course we love them because we enjoy the glimpse inside other old homes in our area. Knowing we already have a commitment on the last Friday of April, a quick glance at the calendar indicated that we had less than ten days to create invitations, shop for party essentials, and get our house into shape. Yikes!

With Spring's late arrival, I want to play off the nice weather and host a "garden party," thus encouraging us to enjoy the onset of the warmer weather in the outdoor space (with Mother Nature's cooperation). The problem? Our back yard is a post-winter wasteland, complete with dead plants, shriveled flowers, rotten pumpkins, dog droppings, dry leaves, and various debris. The area doesn't exactly scream "welcome to our home."

This weekend we got to work, and completed a marathon shopping trip on Saturday to pick up the supplies we needed.

After three hours and three stops, we had a car full of loot and we were well on our way. It's shopping trips like these that make us really appreciate owning our SUV, especially after over a decade with a Mustang.

Armed with flowers, mulch, potting soil, a new welcome mat, and a few other odds and ends, we put together a game plan. Before Friday's event, we need to:

Trim the topiaries and plant flowers in the front urns
Plant flowers in the front bed, and mulch the area
Clean the front steps and vestibule
Rake up the sticks and debris along the side of the house
Clean out the beds in the back yard
Plants herbs
Plant the vegetable garden
Clean and oil the outdoor furniture
Clean the house
Oil the kitchen counters
Replace the Christmas carol artwork in the sun porch with something less seasonal
Purchase wine, cups, and other party items
Set up an outdoor buffet for the party

Whew, what a list. Trying not to get too overwhelmed, I decided the first order of business would be to tackle the gardening out front. Luckily we had gotten a jumpstart on the front a few weeks back, when we cut back the grasses, and cleaned out the front beds.

Despite our previous cleanup efforts, what we were starting with looked pretty bleak.

Trying not to get discouraged, I determined this weekend's order of business would be to first focus on items one and two on our list: trim the topiaries and plant flowers in the front urns, as well as plant a few new perennials in the front bed and lay mulch the area.

Since planting our new trees in November, our cute spiral topiaries have been on the move, and had taken on a bit of an unkempt appearance.

I got to work with a sharp pair of scissors, and I was able to whip these guys into shape. I simply followed the spiral lines from bottom to top, snipping off the new growth, otherwise dubbed "crazy guys" in our household.

All it took was ten minutes to restore a crisp, neat appearance, which immediately helped the urns start looking a bit better.

Next up I determined the planting order for the urns' flowers. I arranged the sweet potato vines, purple aster, magenta brachyscome, and white gulliver bacopa, and once I realized I was happy with the order, I planted them in the urns.

To ensure proper coverage I also added in more soil, in this case Miracle Grow's moisture retention potting mix, which helps give the plants a bit of an edge during our long, hot DC summers. After a bit more finessing, I took a step back to admire. I was quite happy with the results.

After giving myself a second to smile at my newly planted urns, I turned my attention to the area around the tree. As I mentioned previously, we had done a bit of work to clean up the bed, so I could jump right in. After a bit of inspection, it appears that most of the plants are returning for another season. However, the jury is still out on the grass plants. I don't see any new growth, but I figured I'd keep them in the ground for a few more weeks just to be sure, and if they don't come back, we'll replant the area with something new.

In order to give the existing plants a bit more time to grow, I played it safe at the store and purchased only three new additions for this area. I laid out the three plants, which I hope will lend a pop of color to the space. Once I was happy with the placement I got to work planting them.

To increase their odds of survival, I dug a larger hole than needed, and filled it in with a few scoops of the potting mix to improve the quality of the dirt.

Alex turned over much of the top layer of soil and removed any garbage or old mulch that had been left hanging around, leaving the front bed ready for the final step of its beautification, new mulch. It's amazing how much a new bag or two of mulch helps the flower bed look like it's ready for spring!

We spread the mulch evenly over the whole bed, allowing our little flowers and new plantings to pop through. We also went ahead and covered the water meter cover, which had been so recklessly disturbed a few weeks back. Now that all of their reading is done wirelessly, this really shouldn't cause an issue, and it looks WAY better.

While we still kick around the idea of getting a black metal fence to surround the area, I've actually come to like it in its more simplistic setup. Granted, it will surely look better once these small plants start to actually grow and fill in, but I look at the current state of the bed and see all of its mid-summer potential.

Between the bed and our new plantings in the urns, the front of our home is once again becoming "respectable." In just a few weeks time the sweet potato vines should be gently cascading towards the ground, and the pops of color throughout the cast iron bases will hopefully be providing a dramatic base for the spirals.

While its full potential is still weeks away, the front of our home has what it takes to eventually become the quaint Old Town row house that we love.

The front of our home is now welcoming enough to greet visitors as they arrive for our garden party. Though we still have a lot of work to do in the back yard, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Did you do any gardening this weekend? I know the weather has been hit or miss depending on the section of the globe you happen to occupy, but I can say for sure, I'm quite happy spring appears to have arrived in our neck of the woods.

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