Friday, October 21

Three weeks ago, John said he would be out to address the items on our list, including the dead boxwood, the two dying junipers and the azaleas. On Monday, I sent him an email asking for an update. With no response, I called and left a message on his phone asking him to call. He has not. My patience is about gone. May go to filing complaints with the BBB next.

Dead boxwood

Two dying junipers (they are easy to pick out)

Early this week I decided it was time to plant the hollyhocks we grew from seed this summer. We had eleven. Five went along the west fence, two on the south face of the main house, two along the east porch of the main house (very shady), one on the southeast corner of the sunroom and one just south of the Canadian cherry.

Two hollyhocks and two dying azaleas

Today, I decided it was time to finish the staining and sealing of the Tigerwood decking. There were the boards that Mike replaced in front of the hot tub, the railing and steps on the west porch and the railing on the 2nd floor balcony.

This week we also received the Garage Gator I ordered. It is a motorized lift system which I intend to use primarily as a lift between the garage and its attic. We also received a hoist that we will install in the garage to store the car top carrier above the center bay.

One of the items on the list that John was supposed to attend to was to have Wally (irrigation) show me how to winterize the irrigation system. Today, I surveyed the system and could not find any point where I could hook up my air compressor to blow the water out of the water lines. The only thing I could guess was that the answer must be around the Wilkins back flow preventer. Sure enough, Wilkins sells a module that can be installed in place of the check valve component with two ports to which one can install a purge fitting. I ordered one today. Wally never mentioned this to us.