31 bags of leaves...or...tasting my trees

Google image of our lot. House has the star.
You can see the tree line to the north.

One of the things that attracted us to the house that became our home was the triple lot. Our house sits on the far right or south end of the lot, with the 2 car, 2 story garage in the back. To the north, we own two more lots. On the other side of that, is a small city park. So, we have a large side yard next to a park which gives a beautiful open feel, unusual in a city that typically has about 10 - 20 feet between the homes. All this land comes at a price, and I don't mean taxes which are actually reasonable. The price is in maintenance, especially the initial work that needs to be done after years of little or none. One of the first things we did, within days of closing, was to remove the massive bushes in front of the porch and remove the vines from the house (documented here).  Other initial maintenance was started in the Fall included removing weeds and small bushes from the old flower beds next to the house. Weather, and more pressing work inside suspended the outside work until last week when Cindy and I decided to get at the outside mess again.

Cindy at work with her new rake.

31 bags of leaves

Branches at the curb.

We had just one leaf rake so after breakfast I brought Cindy to Home Depot and bought her a smaller sized metal rake. She was thrilled. Really. After a bit more shopping we headed home and began our attack on the lawn. For no other reason than it was the section that needed the most work, we went after the "North Forty" along the fence that separates us from the park. Medium to large maples, ash, and cherry trees line the fence and had been dropping leaves for years. I quickly raked the area in front of the house and along the utility strip between the sidewalk and the street. When I joined Cindy along the fence line, she had made little progress against the layers of leaves. Working together, we raked and piled leaves. I occasionally stopped to remove low hanging branches which were low enough to make me duck. When we were all done, several hours later, we had 31 large bags of leaves at the curb, along with a significant pile of branches. We were bushed (ha ha) so instead of a nice dinner on the grill we ordered pizza and crashed on the couch.

Cindy trying out her latest gift, 

The city took the leaves Monday but the branches and sticks needed to be bundled and would have to wait. So this past weekend I went after the branches and sticks. I pulled some of the larger ones for firewood and kindling but cut and bundled the rest with a hand pruning saw (I desperately need a chain saw) and dragged them to the curb. While I did this, Cindy cleaned up the rest of the old flower beds around the house and swept up the sidewalks and driveway with her new broom. The broom was her gift this week from her hopelessly romantic husband. I sure know how to treat a girl right.

We have a very interesting neighborhood filled with interesting neighbors. Once again, we attracted plenty of attention as we worked in our yard. Several of our neighbors stopped to tell us how nice the place looks, and how hard we are working. A small crowd gathered last weekend as we neared the end of our day discussing our progress and giving insight on the history of the property. One neighbor has lived across the street for over 50 years and said that the lot has always been empty, ending my speculation of a recent fire. Another neighbor remembered that the lot used to contain long, brick lined flower gardens. This explains the brick in various sections of the yard. This also brings us to tree tasting.

This same neighbor (a retired state forester) complimented my trimming work on the trees explaining how the trees healed themselves. He also pointed to the various trees saying what type they were (mostly maples) and whether they were desirable. Sugar maple = good, Norway maple  = bad. Then he got to a tree that he identified as an ash. I thought it was a cherry. This prompted him to break off a small branch and stick it in his mouth. This apparently yielded no result, so he grabbed another. And another. He then announced that he had a cold and was having trouble tasting the sap. Apparently, cherry tree sap tastes like cherries. The tree remains unidentified.

Wallpaper

This represents one afternoon's work. 

I hate wallpaper. Really hate it. Over the years, we stripped wallpaper off the ceiling and walls of four different rooms at our Helen street house. I remember vowing to never do it again. Now, at our new place, I'm at it again. We could just paint over it, as the previous owners had, but I'm kind of a perfectionist on certain things and really prefer to do things the right way, which means removing the wallpaper. I always start the same way, Brute force. I go after it with a putty knife, partially in anger, and partially because the soak and peel method makes such a mess. But after a couple hours I've blown off some steam and reality sets in. I set up my trusty water bottle and have a new go at it. The problems remains though because I have never taken off wallpaper that hasn't been painted over. So, rather than soaking into the wallpaper, the sprayed on water simply runs down the wall and soaks the paper I've taped down to protect the hardwood  After a full day of this, I headed off to Home Depot for help and advice. There HAS to be a better way.

My new scraper. Note the painted
but scored paper.

There isn't. At the Home Depot paint counter I got sympathetic looks from both the salesman and a customer that told me it took her WEEKS to strip the wallpaper off a half bath. The salesman, after suggesting I set fire to the place, did suggest I use pure vinegar in my spray bottle, and score the wallpaper to help the vinegar penetrate the paint. I found a heavy duty scraper in the tool section as well as a little device purposely designed to score the paper. I purchased the items and headed to Sharkey's to contemplate life and consider my next move.

My next move came on the very next day after encouragement from Cindy, I once again attacked the paper. I spent the next 6 hours in full attack mode scoring, spraying vinegar, and scraping like a maniac. I really think the vinegar is an evil joke played on people scraping wallpaper because the smell in that small foyer was overwhelming. Luckily I was able to open the door to the outside and shut the door to the living room to limit the smell to the rest of the house.

Making progress. Note the
wallpaper salad on the floor. 

At the end of the day (really, not that overused cliche), I had all walls scraped clean (except over the closet), and had piles of gooey vinegar smelling paper at my feet. Cindy actually told me I could clean up the next day but the thought of our house smelling like a huge salad bowl encouraged me to clean up the remnants.

Considering my experience with wallpaper over the years, I now think that wallpaper should be Federally regulated. Why not? The government has set the precedent in many other areas, protecting us from our selves, and I think wallpaper should be recognized for the hazard that it is. I'm not saying it should be illegal, just regulated. So here's my proposal: 1) All wallpaper must be registered. You're responsible for it and cannot leave it behind. 2) It is a violation of Federal Law to paint over wallpaper. Kind of like putting a silencer on a gun. People may not recognize the danger and we don't want you hiding your crime. 3) You must show valid identification upon the purchase of wallpaper. Don't worry, the feds aren't coming to confiscate your wallpaper, we just need to know where it is. (see rule #1) 4) Full disclosure on the location and amount of wallpaper in any house upon closing. Failure to do will result in a fine paid directly to the new owners.

I really hate wallpaper. Oh...and if you come and visit us, we're not making a huge salad. that's just our foyer.

Next blog: 31 bags of leaves on the curb...31 bags of leaves...

The Winter that Wasn't

Most people in upstate New York have strong opinions about winter. They either love it or hate it; there is no middle ground. For me, I do enjoy winter, especially the first half, with the holidays and newness of it. Once you get into January and February especially, it begins to drag on and becomes a bit of an endurance test, Even most winter lovers around here don't mind the first signs of Spring. To enjoy winter, you must meet it and embrace it, and find it's pleasures. For some, it's about outdoor activities: skiing, snowmobiles, and ice fishing. I enjoy the more subtle pleasures; fireplaces, warm meals, the silence and isolation of a big snowstorm.

Bonus photo of First Brother-In-Law Randy doing my work
for me. You can see the chilly crawl space under the bath. 

The Winter of 2015-2016, dominated by a powerful El Niño, was erratic and managed to leave our slice of the world nearly snowless and generally mild. There were exceptions, like the morning of February 14, where we came within 2 degrees of the all time record low here, and was probably the coldest morning I've ever experienced. Many areas were -20F or colder. Luckily, I was smart enough to see it coming and shut down the water to the half bath and sure enough the pipes froze. Since then, I've wrapped those pipes in insulation and will be looking into better insulating or possibly even heating the area under the half bath.

Our long sidewalk. 

The lack of snow has kept me from getting out my snow blower (snow thrower for some - I don't understand the changing name). I purchased it many years ago after taking over the maintenance tasks over at Helen St. The few times it has snowed, I managed with a shovel but considering the long sidewalk, I have no doubt that the snow blower will be used in future winters.

Beautiful walking weather.

The mild weather has allowed Cindy and I to get out and walk. One of the big advantages of living on Binghamton's west side is the opportunity to use your feet. Wide sidewalks line all streets in the generally flat terrain. There's plenty to look at with a wide variety of homes. Binghamton was apparently built with lax housing codes allowing apartments and two families built next to quaint cape cod's and mansions. This diversity in housing has led to a diversity in residents with college students and low income homes next to doctors, lawyers and professionals. Our block includes a large Queen Ann Bed and Breakfast, a Victorian Mansion, several two families and a small apartment building. Around the corner is a stone mansion with gold lions guarding the front steps.

Cindy and I often have a destination in mind for our walks, and that destination normally offers liquid refreshments. Pick a compass point from our front porch and you can find a friendly neighborhood pub at the turn around point of a reasonable walk. Lately we've been heading southeast a lot and stopping at Abel's Pub. The place is tiny but warm and friendly with free popcorn and cold drinks. Next door is Pizza Nia's a nice little pizza joint that sells slices for $2 and has delicious wings. They also sell spaghetti and meatballs by the bucket, reminding me of the lost and lamented Pancho's Pit.

The continued mild weather has me thinking about detailing our much neglected cars. I normally am meticulous with my car care but the move and house improvements and repairs have dominated my time. I look forward to using our broad driveway and large garage to detail our dirty vehicles getting the winter grime and the dirt and dust of our move out of them.