My little garden

I've been watching and learning a little about gardening from Erik and Mary Kate over the past few years. I've been a little discouraged because I wanted to have my own garden and chickens and stuff like that but didn't have the yard to do it in. When we first saw our new house I wasn't really thinking much about that. I was just excited by the house and the garage. I quickly realized that I could scratch the itch I had been feeling. It didn't take long to start digging out a spot that looked like it had had a garden sometime in the past. I tilled the soil about 10"-12" deep and mixed in some soil amendments that Erik gave me.

 The area I cleared was roughly 5' x 9' and I took out the first 2-3" of soil/grass

Another view of the same spot

On Tuesday I built the sides. I only had to buy one 10 foot 2" x 10", some screws, and 4 corner reinforcements to build the box. The other three sides and the plywood was already in the garage ready to use. Erik brought over a saw and a screw gun and we made short work of it. We decided to use as much of the existing 2" x 10" as we could and ended up with a 5' x 10' box. I cleared the grass from the extra area and finished tilling the soil to about 10".

On Wednesday, Erik again helped me by hauling 2 loads (1 cu.yd. total) of "4-way" soil mix (topsoil, composted cow manure, composted yard debris, and sand). This filled the bed almost to the top of the sides. I had a little left over for the front of the house and some containers that I will grow some herbs in.

Friday I started planting. So far I've planted 2 rows of onions (white, yellow, and red from bulbs I got from Mary Kate), 2 rows of Imperator carrots (from seed), a row of Olympia spinach (from seed), and a row of mesclun (mix of gourmet greens - from seed). I found a 3 gallon pot and planted chives (from seed) on Sunday. I still plan on planting 1/2 row of radishes, 1/2 row of cilantro, a row of basil (waiting for warmer nights before planting this), and 2 tomato plants (will buy starts in 3 or 4 weeks). I'm probably going to plant a 5 gal. bucket of leeks and one of rosemary also. And maybe potatoes in a 30 gal. plastic garbage can. I'm not sure about that one yet. I think this is plenty for my first garden.

About the only other thing I'm doing is sunflowers in the front of the house. Last Monday I started germinating about 120 seeds that Mary Kate gave me. Saturday I started prepping the soil and trimming back the shrubs. I had to move a lot of fresh bark away from where I wanted to plant. Sunday I finished the prep and put several inches of 4-way soil mix down. I planted about 100 sprouted seeds in front of the house on both sides of the porch. We'll see what happens. Something good I hope.

Planted about 17' on the left of the porch and 10' on the right

Working on bikes already

My Sportster looks horrible. The last 18 months of being kept outside have not been good to it. I did have a pretty nice cover on it, but the months of rain managed to get through. The seat was soaked. Steel parts and hardware are starting to rust. The aluminum parts have a coating of white oxidation. Road grime from driving it in the rain/wet was everywhere. Oil leaks aren't helping things either.

I had to drain the old gas and put in fresh gas. It fired right up. At least the bike is dependable. The day after I brought it over to my new house I started to tear it down so I could clean everything. This may take a while. The oxidation is going to be the worst part. And my aluminum parts will never look all that nice unless I polish them or something.At least I have a place to work and don't have to work out of boxes anymore.

Last week Justin asked me if I would get his bike running and get it from his old place to the new house. It was fairly easy. I pulled the battery and charged it. I also drained the gas and put in a couple of gallons of new gas. That was all it took. I drove it home and rode my bike back over so I could get my car. Justin stopped riding his motorcycle last fall after one of the fork seals starting leaking badly. He usually has very little time off from work and asked me if I would fix his forks and put on a new chain and front sprocket. I pulled the forks that night and took them to a shop on Saturday morning. I would do the seals myself but don't have the necessary seal driver. I probably should have just bought the driver and saved Justin some more money. They should be done tomorrow and I will change the chain and sprocket after I put the forks back on and replace the front wheel bearings and brake pads. I was able to suspend the bike from the joists in the garage with some tie down straps. I love having a garage.

1991 Harley-Davidson XL 883C

2001 Suzuki SV650 

New House

As of March 30 I have a new residence. I now live on NE Simpson near 52nd. The house is almost perfect for us. It has a few faults, but its so much better than where I was living before. The same goes for my housemates (who are long-time friends and former housemates).

The house is a 2-bedroom, 2 bath ranchish-type with an unfinished attic (400 sq.ft.) and a partially finished basement (875 sq.ft. - this is where the 2nd bathroom is). It has the original oak floor on the main level (875 sq.ft.) and the original linoleum, cabinets, and counter top (built in 1954). The house is old, a little worn, but solid and dry. It still has an oil furnace which we plan to not use. There is a functional fireplace that we do plan to use. We believe that the basement was a separate residence at some point, but can't be rented as a 3-bedroom because of inadequate exits in the basement. We have tons of storage space here.

The lot is huge for Portland. Just under a 1/4 acre or 10,550 sq.ft. The front yard is pretty small and the house looks unremarkable from the front. The back yard is a pleasant surprise. It is pretty plain, but there is a small grove of huge evergreens at the rear of the lot that we all really like. And there is a small fire pit and a couple of rose bushes. And some grass and weeds. That's about it. Its my job to do yard work and I get a $50/mo break in rent. The owner of the house supplied a lawn mower and a weed whacker.

And there is a good-sized garage. Finally. I haven't had a garage in years. My Harley currently hates me, but I'm trying to make it better. It didn't like being outside for the last year-and-a-half, even if it was under a cover. Corrosion and rust are taking over.

One of the few things I don't like it the fact that I now have a longer commute, by 15-20 minutes. At least this is my last term at the Sylvania campus.

We are still getting settled in, but I think this is going to work out pretty well.

Here are a bunch of pictures. Click on them to make them big (not recommended for DSL or slow connections). My camera was doing weird things so a few of the three pictures have a pinkish tint.

Stealth housefront/driveway

50's kitchen - the curtains have to go

The stairs down - not as scary as it looks

Front of the garage

Side view. I think this is also the garage.

Back of the house

Backyard view from the house (you can just see the corner 

of what will be a raised bed garden on the lower right).

Backyard view from the edge of the concrete pad.

There is a small hill that slopes down that is not evident.

I couldn't get the full height of the trees in 

the shot from the backyard.

Living room as seen from the dining room. I had just taken up 

the carpet from these two rooms to expose the hardwood floor.

The living room with some furniture in it.

Stair to the attic. It is a really great space that we 

want to finish and turn into work space. Or something.

Dove and Blondie

Again

Erik showing his mastery of two wheels

EXTREME!!!

My crap in the basement

More of my crap in the basement. How exciting!

Lol! I haz interwebs!

After more than a week without it, I just got an internet connection back about an hour ago.

Its been almost a month since my last post. Since then, I've packed my stuff, moved into a new house with new housemates, and started 3 new classes. It had been months since I rode the Harley and I had to drain the old gas and put in fresh fuel. It started right up. It looks horrible. Lots of corrosion on the aluminum and things are starting to rust. I'm glad I have a garage again. Today I'm working on getting J's bike running. I already changed the gas and am charging the battery right now. Hopefully that's all it takes. I've been busy doing a lot of stuff in our new huge yard and built a 10" raised bed (6' x 10') which I hope to grow some food in this year. I trimmed some overgrown trees and took out a bunch of clematis (a horrible invasive vine) and will burn it in the fire pit in the back yard.

I'll try to post more in the next couple of days.