I tend to think about home ownership, as a state of being, a stage of life, and so on, quite frequently, and think that I have written several blog posts over the last two years regarding some of those experiences associated with home ownership, from dealing with water leaking problems in the lower level of our tri - level home, from coming home and seeing our mailbox hanging at a 90 degree angle after being hit, to getting bags upon bags upon bags of mulch each spring to re-mulch all the landscaping put in by the previous owners. As much I enjoy having my own place to live, and not having to move, and especially not having to share walls with anyone, I have been slow to "happily" accept some of the duties of home ownership, primarily on duties regarding the yard and garage.
I can't stand mowing the yard . . . and yet its something that obviously needs to be done on a a regular basis. And while I can't stand mowing it, I don't want it to look brown, to be full of weeds, to have moles running underneath it, and so on. So the last two summers, I have just kind of meddled through with it, just mowing, not paying attention to any other details. Then, at the end of last summer, I noticed some problems at one of the back corners indicating mole issues, and I noticed how many different sections of the yard had a growing weed problem, and how lopsided the rate of growth of the grass was in various lawn sections. I really didn't like the idea of having to put a lot of work into the yard, again, not really my thing. But, I think I disliked the idea of having a bad yard even more. My whole neurotic side coming out, I just can't accept that something I work on isn't up to my defined expectations.
Thus, a trip to Lowe's this morning. Picked up Scott's turf builder with crabgrass preventer (crabgrass is all over the place in the yard last fall) for use in early spring, along with weed control that gets used later in the spring, more in the May and June area. Picked up some grub killer to help move any remaining moles from the winter away from the property. All stuff I never thought I would get into. I was planning on putting down the grub killer and scott's turf builder (they go on different parts of the property - where the moles are, grows twice as fast as the front yard and the primary side yard - faces the main street in the subdivision, which means everyone sees that the grass doesn't grow as fast as it should, or just that I think everyone sees it and only I do); but it looks like the weather will be a bit cold much of today for it, including some rain, which I can't have this soon for the grub killer. So hopefully sometime this coming week.
In other news, while at Lowe's I also picked up some channel tracks to try and help solve our growing storage problem in the garage. The growing problem - its getting more and more crowded, and we insist on always being able to park two cars in the two car garage. The previous owners left some nice storage lockers the fit nicely, but the channel locks should allow to use the vertical space in the garage better. This is a task that I will hopefully get accomplished later this afternoon...maybe not the hanging of storage on the channel tracks, but at least get the first set of tracks up securely on the garage back wall. I hear many people tell me that at some point, we won't be able to park two cars in there, that with lawn equipment and other power equipment, and everything you accumulate over the years of home ownership, that its just not possible. Well, my in laws have successfully done it so far...and I really enjoy not having to wipe a bunch of snow off my car, or to have to defrost it every morning during northern Indiana winters, or having the inside so hot that the seats stick to you when you get in. Its a really nice thing to have, and something I never had with my car until we bought the house, so I am determined to keep it that way.
Anyway, hopefully it will be a productive day in the garage for me. I have to pick up Ellie from her grooming appointment shortly, and then plan to get the work done before the basketball games start today. A relaxing day to watch games after MSU's squeaker last night. Ahhhhs Saturdays.
I can't stand mowing the yard . . . and yet its something that obviously needs to be done on a a regular basis. And while I can't stand mowing it, I don't want it to look brown, to be full of weeds, to have moles running underneath it, and so on. So the last two summers, I have just kind of meddled through with it, just mowing, not paying attention to any other details. Then, at the end of last summer, I noticed some problems at one of the back corners indicating mole issues, and I noticed how many different sections of the yard had a growing weed problem, and how lopsided the rate of growth of the grass was in various lawn sections. I really didn't like the idea of having to put a lot of work into the yard, again, not really my thing. But, I think I disliked the idea of having a bad yard even more. My whole neurotic side coming out, I just can't accept that something I work on isn't up to my defined expectations.
Thus, a trip to Lowe's this morning. Picked up Scott's turf builder with crabgrass preventer (crabgrass is all over the place in the yard last fall) for use in early spring, along with weed control that gets used later in the spring, more in the May and June area. Picked up some grub killer to help move any remaining moles from the winter away from the property. All stuff I never thought I would get into. I was planning on putting down the grub killer and scott's turf builder (they go on different parts of the property - where the moles are, grows twice as fast as the front yard and the primary side yard - faces the main street in the subdivision, which means everyone sees that the grass doesn't grow as fast as it should, or just that I think everyone sees it and only I do); but it looks like the weather will be a bit cold much of today for it, including some rain, which I can't have this soon for the grub killer. So hopefully sometime this coming week.
In other news, while at Lowe's I also picked up some channel tracks to try and help solve our growing storage problem in the garage. The growing problem - its getting more and more crowded, and we insist on always being able to park two cars in the two car garage. The previous owners left some nice storage lockers the fit nicely, but the channel locks should allow to use the vertical space in the garage better. This is a task that I will hopefully get accomplished later this afternoon...maybe not the hanging of storage on the channel tracks, but at least get the first set of tracks up securely on the garage back wall. I hear many people tell me that at some point, we won't be able to park two cars in there, that with lawn equipment and other power equipment, and everything you accumulate over the years of home ownership, that its just not possible. Well, my in laws have successfully done it so far...and I really enjoy not having to wipe a bunch of snow off my car, or to have to defrost it every morning during northern Indiana winters, or having the inside so hot that the seats stick to you when you get in. Its a really nice thing to have, and something I never had with my car until we bought the house, so I am determined to keep it that way.
Anyway, hopefully it will be a productive day in the garage for me. I have to pick up Ellie from her grooming appointment shortly, and then plan to get the work done before the basketball games start today. A relaxing day to watch games after MSU's squeaker last night. Ahhhhs Saturdays.
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