Saturday, October 1

I got a call from John last Tuesday. He asked what I thought still needed to be done. I told him that I sent him an email with a list on it on earlier in the day. I also reminded him that he left here two weeks ago with his own list. He apologized and said he would be out later in the week. Not a surprise, but we did not see or hear from John later in the week.

On Wednesday, we received the single chamber bat house kit I ordered from Habitat For Bats. On Friday, I assembled it and today I put on the first coat of paint. We have tentatively decided to mount the house on the south face of the main house. The guidelines for where to mount included a minimum of four hours of direct sunlight, 15 feet off the ground, more than 20 feet from any trees, close to water and not mounted over windows or walkways.

The kit

The house is intended to house 50 to 100 bats, depending on the size of the bats. Doing a bit of research, while there are nine species of bats common to Missouri, there are only three bat in our area that normally roost in buildings. The three types are:

• the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
• a large bat, perhaps twice the size of the little brown bat, but still weighs only half an ounce. This species lives throughout Missouri and roosts by itself or in small groups in caves. Big brown bats commonly roost in buildings, where they sometimes hibernate
• the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)
• a brown, mouse-sized bat that occurs throughout Missouri. It hibernates in small numbers in Ozark caves during winter. In summer, it sometimes takes up residence in attics and buildings, where it rarely causes damage.
• the evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis)
• present in Missouri during the spring, summer and early fall. It migrates south in winter. It roosts in buildings in summer

There is no doubt we have bats in the area. I see them hunting overhead almost every evening. One of our neighbors (behind us and which we have never met) also has bat houses. We don't know if they have any residents. I notified Morgan (east neighbor) that we were putting up the house just in case they might have any objection. He did not and offered to help mount it on the side of the house.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Garage Apron Sealant, Landscaping

Beautiful autumn day.

I got up, moved the car out front and applied the third coat of sealant to the garage apron.

I got a response from John (landscaper) this morning. He said he would be back in town today and said he would call or I could "text me what else you're thinking we need to do". This is really irritating. Two weeks ago yesterday, John came out (he needed more money) and made a list of what else needs to be done. He also promised the work would be finished THAT week. Of course that did not happen. Last Friday, his crew did show up and straightened the zelkova, trimmed the junipers and replaced three of the boxwood. I responded back to John that other items on HIS list were:

• There are two junipers that need to be replaced
• There is one more boxwood that needs to be replaced
• You were going to work with the fence guy on these gates
• You were going to advise us on what we might do about these "growths" coming out of the Canadian Cherry root ball (I have cut them back numerous time now)
• You said you might have some more of the polymeric sand you used on the chessboard paver joints
• You said you would get with Wally regarding showing us how to winterize the irrigation system AND regarding changes to some of the irrigation heads

John has several times mentioned that he has already replaced the junipers twice. Again, while this is not relevant, I mentioned to John that the original junipers (and boxwoods) were installed on October 30, 2015. On March 8, 2016, he replaced three of the five junipers. The two that he did not replace are the ones that now need to be replaced.

The landscaping saga continues.

Monday, September 26

I talked with our east neighbor this morning. He said that John's crew showed up early last Friday morning. They stayed only about 45 minutes and trimmed the east junipers, replaced some (I believe three, #3, #4 and #7 from north) of the west boxwood and straightened the zelkova. I believe another boxwood still needs to be replaced (#9 from north). Our neighbor told me that he mentioned to the crew that two of the east junipers probably needed to be replaced due to the amount of dead material on them. He said the response he got was that they were only told to trim them. I called John today to find out what to expect next. Of course I only got his voice mail and I left a message. We will see if he responds.

Today feels like fall. After a weekend around 90F, the high today is supposed to be 74F. It is supposed to stay in the 70's throughout the week.

This morning I spread some more Snapshot (germination inhibitor), did some more pleaching on the hornbeams, pulled some weeds, took cuttings of the coleus' along the east fence line (Campfire" and on the south patio pot (Fish Net), harvested some more okra and cut out all the growths coming out of the Canadian Cherry root ball. I still need to apply the third and final coat of sealant to the garage apron aggregate, but decided to do that tomorrow morning. Also still need to apply sealant to the Tiger wood on the west steps and the MIL balcony railings.

More pleaching of the hornbeams, crossing some branches.

More pleaching of the hornbeams, crossing some branches.

 Potted 'Fish Net' coleus

East fence line 'Campfire' coleus

Spike on patrol

Hollyhocks doing very well in their pots

Juniper (second from north) showing lots of dead branches

Juniper (southern most) showing lots of dead branches

#9 (from north) boxwood with dead branches

Saturday, September 24

On Monday, September 12, John the landscaper finally came by and agreed to the remaining items to be completed and the final cost. He promised he would have everything finished that week. While experience has shown us time and time again, that we could not rely upon John following through, I went ahead and paid him everything owed. Guess what, they did not show up Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Friday it rained and, of course, that was the day he wanted to do the work but could not since it was raining. While disappointed, we were not surprised.

We spent this past week at the Montauk State Park. Some time during our absence, John apparently came by and replaced three of the boxwood along the west fence and straightened the Zelkova. There is a fourth boxwood on the west fence that still needs to be replaced and nothing was done about the dying junipers along the east fence. John claimed that he has already replaced these junipers twice. While immaterial, my records show that they replace three of the five back on March 8, 2016. Those three still look relatively good. The other two (second from the north and southern most) have a lot of dead branches on them.

Junipers

Looks like three new boxwood have been planted

Boxwood in the center is dying

Zelkova looks better

There are still several other items yet to be accomplished. Not holding my breath.

The zucchini has pretty much succumbed to the squash bug infestation. Those plants in the west raised bed are completely dead. Too bad, we got a lot of nice fruit off of them. The bugs now have moved over to the butternut squash and cantaloupe in the east raised bed. We got two squash off them before the plants died. We tried to be nice and encourage them to leave, but they will not.

Dead Zucchini

On the bright side, the okra has really gone to town and the tomatoes, which T had all but given up on due to the squirrels, are fruiting rapidly. Shooting that one squirrel seemed to make all the difference. We even got some help from our neighbor's cat on discouraging the squirrels. And the peppers are still going strong. We even found a fruiting peppadew plant in among the tomatoes. We were given seeds for these by Mike, our carpenter.

Okra "trees"

Today's harvest

Spike (neighbor's cat) and his squirrel catch of the day

On a sad note, when we arrived home Friday, we discovered another gold fish had died. This one was one of T's favorites, Dorothy. Her corpse was in the skimmer. Not sure if she died and then floated into the skimmer or if she got trapped in the skimmer and died.

First Phase of Pleaching Completed

Today I finished the four tiers of pleaching of the east fence hornbeams. After inspection, T suggested we might also want to crisscross some branches between adjacent trees. I think this is a good idea. Without doubt, if this attempt is successful, it will take several seasons for the hedge to develop.

September 14, Pleaching

Started trying a couple of approaches to training the hornbeams along the east fence to create a hedge. For this first try, I ended up running a line of culinary twine between the trees and then bending and tying branches from each to the line. I completed the lowest line yesterday evening and plan to have a total of four or five tiers, with the top one 12-15 feet above the ground.

Three levels on the southern most pair of trees

Don't know how durable the cotton culinary twine will be. If needed, I will go to wire. All the literature sources I've seen so far recommend installation of a formal framework consisting of bamboo or cane and wires.

Our hornbeams are a little more mature than shown, but working with the supple branches, we are hopeful we can meld them together.

By the end of the day, I had about 50% of the first three tiers done. Still plan to put another one or two higher tiers. That will be ladder work.

We took the Audi in for its 55,000 mile maintenance. While that was happening, we had lunch and visited our favorite West County pond shop. T described to them the green stuff that has been growing in our pond. They took us out to their pond and, sure enough, they had it also. The lady said it was string (or hair) algae and said it was hard to prevent. She suggested an algaecide that supposedly works fast, is selective to algae and will not harm the fish. We bought a bottle. Doing a little research, it seems that it can be effective IF it is done correctly. If not, it can kill the fish.

September 12, 2016...John needs money

We got a call from John (landscaping) this morning saying he wanted to come out to see what else needs to be done. He arrived (late of course) and we toured the backyard. He made a list of items that needed to be accomplished including:

• Advise on how to deal with the growths from up from the root ball of the Canadian Cherry
• Replacement boxwoods along the west fence
• Replacement Junipers along the east fence
• Straighten the Zelkova
• More investigating into the fence and gates

I pointed out that I had already filled the cracks in the garage apron and sealed the aggregate. I also had installed a Watkins water valve in the skimmer of the pond.

John also brought with him a statement that he would make any necessary repairs should the pond cave in due to poor installation for the next 15 years. This was satisfactory.

We discussed the hornbeams along the east fence. I mentioned I would like to have these ultimately meld into a hedge. John suggested looking into a technique called pleaching. Turns out that hornbeams are often selected for this purpose. While the initial research I did mostly calls for building frames to train the tree, John said a common technique he has seen is to just use string to pull branches of adjacent trees together so that they weave into each other. We will try this.

John also brought along with him the most current invoice. It was actually a couple hundred dollars less than the previous one. He asked for some sort of payment. I jokingly accused him of only showing up when he needs money and I hesitated making any more payments until the job was finished. I reminded John that the landscaping work of his was started over one year ago. As many times before, John promised prompt action on the remaining items (by the end of THIS week). I told John that, other than the time it took, we have enjoyed working with him. He apologized (again) for the delays, and offered to knock $1,500 off the balance due in consideration of the delays and the work I had already done. I was hoping to have him knock of much less, so I quickly accepted his offer. I paid him the net balance due.

September 11, 2016 Update

Four weeks ago (August 15), we left on a three week road trip through western U.S. Around 2:00 am the morning that we left, we were awakened to a strange "popping" or "dripping" sound. I got up and found that we had water dripping out of the electrical box in the ceiling of our master bedroom to which the ceiling fan hangs. To make a tediously long story short, we had a massive leak in the eave above our bedroom. Water was running across the ceiling, between the 2nd and 3rd floors, and exiting through the electrical box in our bedroom ceiling. We spent the next several hours with buckets and towels trying to minimize the damage. Around 5:00 am, we had the situation, more or less, under control but the leak continued. I caught a couple of hours of sleep while T monitored the situation, with the aid of some Champagne. What made this very discomforting was the fact that we just spent $25,000 to have a new roof put on the main house so that we would not have to worry about this kind of thing happening for the remainder of our lives.

At 8:00 am, I called our insurance agent (Devin). He advised me to contact the roofer and have him cover the area and then determine whether the leak was due to poor installation or weather damage. Based upon my previous experience with the roofer, I was a bit doubtful I would even be able to contact him. However, the stars were aligned for us and Bret's (the roofer) wife not only answered their phone, but promised Bret would get back with me shortly. He did and arrived around 9:30 am. I showed him the leakage on the interior. Exterior, nothing was obviously wrong. Bret assured me he would find the problem and correct it and I should go ahead and leave town. He said he would call when he found the problem. He got four new shingles out of the garage in case they needed them.

We did leave town on our trip (http://summerfall2017.blogspot.com/). We did get a call from Bret the following day saying he believed the problem was with the flashing around the southeast dormer and that they would fix the problem. When we got back from our trip last Tuesday (September 6), I noticed the four new shingles were still right where we put them before we left. I talked with our neighbor and he said he did see them up working on the roof. Since our return, we have had over four inches of rain without any indication of leakage in the eave. However, the storm we had the night of August 14/15 was torrential with high winds. I hop the problem has been resolved.

Today is the first day that the weather conditions have been favorable for sealing the garage apron aggregate. The temperature is below 80F and above 50F. There is not supposed to be any rain for the next 24 hours. This morning I got up and swept the apron well and applied the first of two coats. This was supposed to have been done by John, the landscaper, but never was. I used a Black Diamond product and applied it with a roller. Previously, I had filled the cracks in the apron with concrete filler. This was another issue that John was to have addressed, but did not. In fact, John had mentioned to me that he was having trouble getting getting the attention of the concrete guy to implement the fix suggested.

 Before we left on our road trip, I bought and installed a Watkins water level controller in the skimmer of the pond. This device is commonly used in livestock water tanks. It is a simple device which I was able to mount to a bulk head fitting on the side of the skimmer. I hooked up the garden hose before we left. It appears to have done the job well. Our neighbor said he periodically checked the pond level and it was holding.

While the hose stretched across the chessboard is not very good looking, we only need it while we are away. This will also not be used during freezing weather.

The fish are all well and, overall, the garden has done very well while we were gone. The tomatoes are numerous as are the peppers. We planted okra a couple of weeks before we left and it the plants are now 4 feet tall and producing fruit.

We have a few boxwood along the west fence line that do not look too healthy. Not completely dead yet, but heading that way.

Raised Bed Expansion

We decided we needed more raised bed garden space. On the east bed, we had a demarcation line of stones separating the garden from the adjoining mulched landscape. On the mulched east side of the stones, the soil was essentially clay and John had not put in any compost, as he did on the west side. We decided to reroute the separation line to not quite double the size of the east bed (probably added about 100-120 sq ft). We left every other stone from the original demarcation line (as stepping stones) and I rerouted the wire anti-bunny fence. Today, we rented a mini-tiller (Mantis 7262 from Home Depot) and purchased six cubic feet of a Scotts humus and manure mixture.

I was not surprised to find the little tiller did not have the capability to bust through the clay soil surface. I got out the spade and loosened the surface which gave the tiller a fighting chance. It did well after that in turning up the clay. After I dispersed the humus/manure, I used the tiller to blend it all together. Turned out better than I expected and I did not hurt myself too badly.

Before

After

After

Now we should have plenty of room for the asparagus, globe artichoke and celeriac. T also found a Wormwood, Silver Mound (Artemisia schmidtiana) which she planted on the east side of the pond.

Not surprisingly, John (landscaping) never showed up this week as he had promised he would and we have not heard from him since he called on June 30.

Fishy

A week ago today, we introduced six goldfish into the pond. Happily, we have seemingly six happy goldfish today.
 

John (landscaping) called last Thursday saying he would be stopping by to review the status of the backyard landscaping this week.