Next week we depart on our European cruise. This week the goal is to get the plants, that we have been growing inside, transplanted into the raised beds and get the irrigation system operational. Last week I told John we needed to have Wally to come back and start the irrigation system. This system has never been completely tested due to the previous cold weather. John said he would be talking with Wally as well as Joe (concrete) about acid washing and sealing the walkways. Not too surprisingly, despite come beautiful weather early this week, no further word was received. Yesterday, I sent John another note saying we needed to get Wally to put the irrigation system into service. John responded that he would call Wally and we could expect him to be out yesterday afternoon. He never showed up. If he doesn't show this week, I will put the system into service myself.
I called Kevin, as requested, on Monday to update him on the pond situation. He was here last Thursday and did some investigating around the upper basin area. We refilled the pond and started the circulation on that day. I told Kevin that we still lost water at about the same rate and that I did not believe anything had significantly changed. Kevin said he would be out later in the week to continue his investigation.
Yesterday, I called the Marvin Window dealer concerning the south door, which has a loose handle. I called them to just find out what size of Allen wrench was required to loosen the handle set screws. I tried a 1/8", which was too large, and a 3/32", which was too small. The dealer suggested that he just have his technician (Todd) come out since we are still under warranty. I am glad they did. Todd found the spindle on the south doors to be bent (Todd said it was an installation issue), which resulted in the latch being difficult to operate. I asked him to look at the west door as well because it also is difficult to latch. He did and found the same bent spindle. Todd did what he could, but he said he needed to order some parts. The west door especially is still difficult to latch, much more so than the French doors on the east. Todd said he would discuss this with his team and get back with us. We may have to contact them upon our return.
Update:
Kevin never showed up, but Wednesday afternoon John did appear. He said he would work with Kevin on the pond issue. He said, again, he would get with Wally about the irrigation. He said that when he talked with Wally earlier this week, Wally said he was not anxious to start the water systems because "they" were projecting temperatures down in the 20's. I told John I had just looked at the forecast through mid-April and it is not supposed to even get down to freezing. We also looked at all the plants and trees. John assured me that the Canadian Red Cherry will have dark red leaves. He thought everything else looked pretty good. There is one azalea that looks sick and the maple on the west fence has some dead branches. John said he would come back later and prune it. I also told John that we thought we wanted to go with Red Twig Dogwoods along the north fence, alternating the Arctic Fire (red) with the Arctic Sun (yellow). I also asked him if he thought a weeping Snow Fountain Cherry (Prunus 'Snofozam' Pendula ) would be happy in the spot currently occupied by the Japanese Red Maple next to the east porch. The literature suggests the Snow Fountain needs full sun. This spot will not get full sun. John thought it would do fine. I told him we saw some beautiful Snow Fountains (probably topgrafted which should get only 5' to 6' tall).
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