The Fenceside Perennial Bed, Part 2

So, more and later pics when it was in its prime...

First, I have to say that I am bad at remembering names.  If I see a flower name, I can usually see the image in my mind.  But seeing an image doesn't get me the name all that well.  I envy those who can do both.

Stoke's Aster.  It may be my favorite perennial.  It lasts darn near forever (I think these are 20+ years old), blooms dependently, and never seems to have a weed problem.

Not sure.  Lobelia?  Salvia?

I love Purple Coneflowers!

Rose Of Sharon?  They didn't last long.

Moonbeam Coreopsis, I think...  They didn't like the garden competion much, so I moved the survivors to a large deck pot where they have resided happily ever since.

'Autumn Joy' Sedum in final color... 

A domesticated hybrid Goldenrod.  It died after several years, but I sure liked it.

Some Aster?

LC's burial spot, surrounded by lovely flowers...

And Skeeter's...

I finally gave up on edging flowers and planted species daffodils.  They still come up, but there are fewer each year.  Grass gets in and gives them some problems.  I planted crocuses among them.  The voles got at those pretty fast.  I'll have to redo that.

So that was the perennial bed in the early years.  Nothing lasts forever, though.  Spring will be the time to fix problems.

 

Answering Questions

I get many more questions on Mark's Mews, but sometimes I get some here.  And Megan asked a bunch!  She was on a roll...  And since they were posted on the blog (sometimes they are email), I'll answer them on the blog.

Comment:  "You'll laugh when I say it - your experience is exactly what Australia has all over the country! Our polls are always conducted on Saturdays and many of the polling stations are school assembly halls or church halls etc. Drive, park right outside, walk in, get your name checked off, vote, put the paper in the box and leave. Done in 10 minutes. And ... voting is compulsory, which I know is always of some amusement to Americans."

Answer:  I was pleased to read that Australia has my positive experience with voting.  It should be like that everywhere.  I do note that voting is compulsory.  That probably wouldn't work here, but I like the idea of getting more people to vote.  In invests them in the results.

Saturday is a good choice of days to vote.  As I understand it, Tuesday was chosen in the US for religious reasons (though practical ones).  The US was so rural once that it took a day to get to a place to vote.  So, since so many were church-goers, they needed Monday to travel in order to vote, so Tuesday it was!

Comment:  "I'm voting for no daylight savings where I am - it means that in summer, it can still be quite hot at 9pm or 10pm." 

Answer:  Many people want a single time system (and most seem to like Standard over Daylight Saving).  But there are good arguments for both or just one.  Most in favor of Standard mention schoolchildren or farmers.  Most in favor of Daylight Saving mention commuting conditions or being retired (and appreciating the later daylight).  For myself, early morning daylight is wasted daylight.  I haven't gotten up at 7 am in 16 years!  And around here schoolbus pickups would be in daylight even if Daylight Saving was year-round.

Comment:  "Could you not poison the invasive stuff?"

Answer:  The invasive vines are intermixed with my flowers in many places, so I can't just spray them (and I try to stay organic).  But also, this particular invasive wine is resistant to herbicides (waxy leaves) and have very deep roots which survive and regrow.  Among the flowers, I would have to cut them out or dig individually.  Among the solid areas of it, smothering them with black plastic for a year is really the only solution and I should do that!

Comment:  "I lurve the way you just slip into the conversation that you've been holding onto leftover timber for 30 bloody years, Mark! What a hoot!!!

Answer:  While I am not exactly a "hoarder" (the living areas are fine), I do keep stuff that seems potentially useful.  I have a weakness for identical glass jars (for refrigerator stuff), large plastic shelled nut containers (to keep cat kibble, distilled/rainwater water for the Venus Fly Traps, and goldfinch thistle seed in).  The black oil sunflower seeds for the rest of the birds are kept in a metal trash barrel.

So, when I built the 6' high fence

 

around the backyard (to keep large straying dogs away from The Mews and deer out) with 8' boards, I ended up with a lot of 18"-24" pieces.  My yard slopes.  It was a step-down fence, which meant every board had to be cut to exact height.  Which means the leftovers are all slightly different in length.

But since I had LOTS of those pieces, it seemed useful to keep them.  I have used some over the years for various projects.  All The Mews Memorials were built from some of the pieces, I have used some short ones vertically to anchor framed landscaping bed boards horizontally, and some have been part of 1"-4" platforms for my Spring seed-starting.

The small bits on top are double left-overs.  But I have plans for them.

But you have a point.  The first board I brought to the new house in 1986 was a 2"x12"x12' board I brought from the previous (rented) house.  It is still where I put it in the garage on Moving Day, LOL!  But every wood-worker has "stuff" they keep around.  It sometimes is useful.

Hope you all enjoyed all that.

But is it just me, or are you seeing reverse black/white text scatterred all over?  I have no idea why that happens sometimes...

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Blown Out Fence

I was wrong about my neighbor's fence being blown out in the windstorm of the past 3 days.  An 18-24" diameter tree fell over on it.  No fence panel is going to stand up to THAT. 

But I saw other fence panels blown out all around the neighborhood without trees fallen on them, so my original assessment of my fence construction quality stands. 

Most neighbors went cheap accepting commercial builders fences with 1x4" boards between the posts (and some posts just set in dirt because the owners didn't understand anchoring).  And the upright fence boards are just air-pinned nails.

I used 2x4" horizontal boards and used exterior screws instead of nails.  1x4" horizontal boards are cheaper and air-punched nails are faster. 

But they don't last...  Nails are good for about 5-10 years.  Screws are good for 10-30.  My fence is about 25 years old.  I've had to re-screw a few boards, but not many.  There will come a day when I have to rebuild the fence.  Even ground-contact pressure-treated wood doesn't last forever.  But not yet...

One of my windward side neighbor's huge trees are going to fall down and crush one of my 8' fence sections one of these days.  I can't stop that.  But it won't be a weakness of my fence, LOL!

March Comes In Like A Lion

And other problems...

We have had some of the strongest winds here the past 2 days and it is forecast to last another.  Well "strongest" except for hurricanes and those don't last as long.  There have been gusts up to 62 mph, and it seems constant around 40+.  The wind howled so loudly around the house I could barely sleep, and I was very tired from staying up all night on the computer til 8 am the day before and only getting 5 hours sleep before I was SO hungry I couldn't lay in bed anymore.

I've mentioned before that I keep weird hours, but maybe not have explained in much detail.

I stayed up late Tuesday night and got 5 hours sleep.  I stayed up late Wed night in spite of having a dental appointment Thursday at 2 pm.   Partly, it was stress from the dental visit, but partly because I got emails from almost everyone I know and wanted to respond.  And I had just started an online chess game and kept getting replies from my opponent.

I also had about 100 pictures to process, a Dr Seuss poem to write, some software downloading problems, and Amazon seemed to have taken over my search engine choices (anything I searched online was sending me straight to Amazon's page).

I can't sleep worth a damn when I have stuff floating around in my head like that, and the only solution is to stay up until I solve most of the problems. 

So I did most of that stuff, and went to the dentist about as tired as possible.  That is generally good, as I have some problems with dental work.  I have a small jaw and holding it open while they do their work is hard.  Plus, let's just say I have to swallow a lot when my jaw is stretched wide and leave it at that. 

So I got home Thursday and the winds hit!  I needed sleep and got little.  The crashing sounds outside didn't help.  I was "IN" bed 12 hours, but maybe got 8 hours sleep.  Which, averaging the past several nights came out to about 4 hours per night for 4 nights each.

My local meat market was having some specials this week of exactly the stuff I wanted.  Del Monico Steak at $8 per lb, pork boston butt at $2, deli roast beef at $5/lb, and other stuff.  I HAD to get up to shop today to shop (Saturday is a madhouse there).  And I was out of fresh fruit.  I love fruit. 

I slept Thursday night til noon.  Got up and left the house at 1 pm.  But that would have put me at the meat market just when the local school lets out and a dozen students hit the store deli counter for subs.  So I stopped to get a haircut. 

I obviously don't worry about my appearance too much, LOL!

The cats aren't very critical and it is not like I'm trying to win a "handsome contest". 

Driving to the barber and the grocery stores was interesting.  The car kept rocking in the wind just sitting at a traffic light.  While actually driving, I kept getting hit with cross-winds and wanted to "change lanes" for me.  Local bridges were all closed.  One bridge, after having 3 tractor-trailers just plain knocked over. 

The dentist said none of my teeth are any good.  Which is really annoying because I don't eat candy and sweet stuff and brush twice a day.

Well, Dad have no teeth left by my age, so I guess I will not thank him for THOSE genes. 

The neighborhood have fence panels blown out all over the place and I've never seen THAT even when Hurricanes blew through.  None of mine though!  Friends tell me I "overbuild" things.  But I know those neighbor's fences and they are newer than mine and build by professionals.  I built my own. 

Companies use 1x4s and I use 2x4s.  They use nails and I use screws.  And that is why it is still standing!  My fence is 30 years old now, and not one board loose...

Not Painting The Fence

And FINALLY, I get around to explaining why I don't want the neighbor to paint my fence on hos side...

I have a personal image of my property.  Let's start by imagining I only lived inside my house.  I don't see the outside of it.  But my neighbors do.  They may or may not like the color of my house, but they agree it is mine and all the sides of my house match in color.  As it occurs, my house siding is dark green and fits into the landscape.  There is no Homeowner Association here to complain, but it is not like I painted it hot pink and added lime green shutters.

So the neighbor can't decide he thinks the side of my house that he sees should be painted beige and could just go ahead and do that while I was on vacation.  I care about my house looking rather consistent in color all the way around.  OK so far?

Now, I think of my fence in the same way.  The entire fence is on my property and and I want it to look the same all the way around.  It, in its own way, partly defining my choice of how my property is viewed by outsides just as my house is.

Having the neighbors view my fence in a consistent color makes a difference to me.  One side being one bold different color from the others just destroys my vision of my yard. 

I understand that my neighbor has a view of his internal yard.  But he should have thought to ask who owned the fences around him before he just had people paint them.  I am probably the only person who knows that all the fences around this new neighbor's property are owned by others.  The only fence he owns is those small parts from the sides of his house connecting to the sides.

And I may be the only person who cares.  But I do care.  I specifically like the look of greyish aged pressure-treated wood.  And I don't want people looking at my property from the outside seeing it of different colors.

I hope that all made sense...

More New Neighbor, Part 2

I have to laugh.  When the contractors arrived at 8 am, I went over and greeted them a "good morning" and asked if the owner was around.  They said "no" but would arrive in about 20 minutes.    So I waited, and when a guy in a pickup truck arrived in 20 minutes, I went over to introduce myself.

He wasn't the owner.  The workers considered him the "owner" perhgaps because he is their boss. He wasn't actually the owner, LOL! The workers are not native-english speakers (just a fact), so I can understand that "boss" and owner" may seem very similar.

But I talked to him (the boss) and we discussed the fence, the trees shading my garden,  and where the property line actually was.  He agreed that they would not paint my fence, and that he would give the card I had made with the my name, address, phone number and email to the actual owner (but he feared giving me the same information would get him in trouble).  I understand contractors can be cautious about that.

The main thing is that he seemed to understand the fence was not their's to paint and he would have the actual owner contact me by email or phone.  Hopefully, that will start a discussion.  I understand the new owner wants a particular look on the inside of his yard.  But I equally want an exterior view of the outside of mine.  A besides, it IS my fence. 

But until I get some assurance from the actual owner that he won't just tell his contractor to paint the fence anyway, I won't be sure.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.  I want the new owner to contact me be email so that it is all on the record.  If he calls on the telephone, I will insist on a followup email about what we discuss.

More New Neighbor

I stepped out on the deck this morning, and noticed the contractors were spray-painting the inside surfaces of all the fences around the yard.  Fortunately, they started on the far side from me.

The new owner doesn't actually own any of those fences.  They were all built by neighbors.  The only fence the new owner owns is the small amount from the side of the house to the other fences.

I might be the only person who knows that.  AFAIK, I am the only person residing here who knows who built the fences.  All the neighbors are newer than me.  So maybe they don't care.  But I do.

I deliberately set my fence 1' inside the property line.   I did that partially because my Dad said it would give me the right to repair the outside of my fence if I had a difficult neighbor.  But it also occurred to me that the neighbors could mess with my fence claiming a shared ownership.

Which means they couldn't damage it with trellises, hooks for planting vines that would dig into it, huge hooks from the fence to a tree for hammocks (one tried), or paint it.  That 1' beyond the fence is still MINE, for access for repairs and not damaging the fence.

So I walked into the neighbor yard and asked the contractor if he intended to paint the MY fence.  He said that was his instructions.  I  asked for the telephone number of the owner. He claimed not to have it or be able to get it.  I advised him that the fence between the properties was ENTIRELY on my property and they were not allowed to paint, replace boards, or do anything connecting to my fence.

He repeated that he had instructions.  I declared I would have the police here promptly if they touched my fence in any way.  That stopped him.  I told him to have the owner visit or contact me to discuss the matter.

I have a few ideas and facts respecting property here and in general.

1.  There is no neighborhood association here.  That is a MAJOR reason I stay.  I want the freedom to do as I please.

2.  I have lived here 30 years and neighbors come and go every 5 years or so.  I pay little attention to them so long as they don't throw loud late-night parties or get into screaming domestic violence fights at 3 am.  Both have happened with some neighbors frequently.

3.  You can't touch my property.  Including the fence,

4.  My view of my property from the outside (street and from the neighbors' views) are mine to control.  I control what people view from the street about my house.  I equally control how they see the OUTSIDE of my fence (and mentioning again the fence is all set in 1' from the property line, so the fence is ALL MINE)!

That also means the neighbors have to see my fence (on my property) as I choose to present it. They don't get to paint it to suit them.

5.  I like natural wood and earthen tones.   I can enforce that on my OWN fence.

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

I've tried to identify the new owner, to nor success.  The County tax assessment site show the owner as the the guy who abandoned the house a year ago.  A bank owned it after him and it sold the property to an individual.  I can't identify the actual owner at this point.  County records seem to be almost a year out of date.

I might be open to some negotiations.  There are some junk trees that shade my garden that could be removed if the roots are grinded out and not allowed to grow back.  There is a specific mulberry tree (that they pruned heavily but will grow out more branches in respose) that I would like to see removed entirely (roots ground out for thorough killing) that shades another part of my yard.. 

If the new owner agrees to do that, I might allow the painting of the outside of my fence. 

 

Cat Fence Enclosure Idea

Well, Ayla getting over the fence is difficult enough.  Today I saw Marley descending into the yard.  Unfortunately, I couldn't tell if he had tried and failed or was returning to the yard.  But it makes the requirement to keep them in the yard more urgent.

I've seen systems of nets attached to fences at angles, but the cost is high per foot and I have about 450 feet of 6' high backyard fence.  And I have seen where smooth hard plastic sheeting is attached to the upper 2' of fencing (which I suspect works well).  But that is also expensive.

So I have been pondering other, less expensive, designs.  I think I have one and want opinions on it.  It seems simple enough, but I haven't seen it on any "cat containment" sites.  I know I can construct it (it is uncomplicated but tedious).  My concerns are first, will it work, and second, is it safe.

I would provide a sketch, but my Mac doesn't seem to have a simple drawing program that can be saved in the formats demanded by Blogger.  I can't figure out how to do something so simple in Photoshop, and I can't save in the required formats from Word Art, Excel Draw, or Google Layout.  And Photoshop won't open those to change the format.

But it isn't complicated.  There is a 6' high alternate board wood fence.  I can buy vinyl coated wire mesh fence in 2'x50' rolls.  I will cut the rolls into 8' lengths and bend them 90 degrees the long way.  That gives an "L".  One part of the "L" gets attached to the fence, the other part makes a 1' wide "ceiling".  In case I'm describing it poorly, it would look something like this:

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I could bend the wire at 45 degrees upward if that improved anything.  The vinyl coated wire mesh costs only $27 for 2'x50' roll, is easy for a person to bend, but pretty stiff to a cat.  I've been using the stuff as plant supports and cages for years.  The vinyl couating makes it quite weatherproof.  I'm thinking 8' sections because that is the distance between fence posts, plus I have a couple of 8', 4"x4" posts I can use to bend it.  I can attach it with a heavy duty electric staple gun.

So, I'm looking for errors, and PLEASE don't hold back.  Tell me ANYTHING you think might cause a problem in construction, in safety for the cats, or safety of wildlife.  Or anything else.  I spent a career as a project manager where negative ideas where often the most important contributions from the team.

So, thoughts?