The Tea House and The Yard

Behind the Brick

Brick awaiting repointing on my back porch after being raked. Behind the fine mortar finish was a variety of small rocks which had me wondering about the mechanics of hand selection in 1912.

Front Yard

Last year I decided maintaining a lawn was comprising my precious time so I laid down layers of wet newspaper and mulched. Several plants were transferred from the back garden. No more mowing.


Peony and lariope beds:


The tree lawn has been planted with lariope and mulched.



Beau waited on the steps while I did photos and didn't budge. He's an surprisingly obedient dog.

Back Yard

I do a yard share with the vegetable garden in the back of the yard. Nine neighbors invest 35.00 and get to share the bounty. This year I've planted snow peas, beets, various broccoli (including Violet, Cheddar, and plain old white), peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers. The zucchini is growing in the front yard to prevent cross pollination with the cucumbers.

Hosta and fern bed

South view of The Veranda

Hosta, iris, and a potted elephant ear

Another hosta bed. I'm waiting on the calidiums, elephants ears, and canna.

Hosta, iris and peppers.

Part of the vegetable garden:

Snow peas and beets. These were elevated because of losing crops to the rabbits. They are on top of cinder blocks on a piece of left over concrete board and the pea pods look quite healthy thanks to the rain and contributions from the floor of my neighbor's chicken coop.

This is a tomato arbor that I made a couple of months ago. There's 18 Early Girl tomato plants on either side. Not pictured is the rest of the vegetable garden which includes 24 pepper plants and even more tomatoes. BTW, I draped and secure netting around the tomato plants. Buy it it a fabric store: 72 inches width and it can be bought for less than a dollar a yard on sale.

One of three Japanese maples in my yard. I raised this one from a seedling.




Stone steps through the iris and hosta beds.
This area used to be all bed but when Beau's friend visited they didn't have leg room so I opened the area. Now Beau and his freinds run around the veranda in large circles.

The Veranda.
Tim calls it the Tea House. I don't drink tea, it makes me hurl.






Back porch

Candlelight Vigil for a downspout

Every year during a thaw my downspout freezes. It's on the north side of the building so it's shaded during the day and presently frozen solid. The thawing snow on the 1,400 square foot graded roof melts and rushes to the gutter where it drops into the downspout.

Five years ago this wasn't a problem since my original copper downspout looked like this:

The above is a photo of my neighbors down spout.

Four years ago I had contracted to have the gutter and only the gutter replaced. The price was 100.00.
Wilken's crew arrived, I left for the morning, and when I returned home I found two men on the roof and the copper downspout in the yard. They replaced it with an aluminum downspout with an elbow that catches thawing snow and causes it to freeze at the joint creating a dam. They also neglected to replace the gutter on the side of my building and did not install fascia under the 20 foot gutter. Idjets.

Less than a year later I was in small claims court with the owner Paul Wilken of Wilken Seamless Guttering and his two 'witnesses' -- his employees who stole my downspout and sold it for scrap. My beautiful and historic original downspout! They told the judge they scraped it for 140.00.

Paul argued he couldn't attach aluminum to copper. I agreed and mentioned I was aware of galvanic action but that a piece could have been used to prevent the metals from meeting and removing the downspout had never been discussed.

I won the case but only the 100.00 I originally paid. The original downspout had been anchored into the brick. These chumps drilled into the mortar and the freezing water is popping out mortar joints. Oh yeah, I also have gaping holes in brick.

Yep, that's a lit candle under the joint. Talk about hooiser rehabbing!
I took this photo yesterday and the ice was gone within an hour.
What worked best was pots of boiling water slowly poured onto the metal from both floors.

The ice along the outside of the downspout is a result of thawing snow dripping from the above gutter. Had I not found a way to melt the ice on the inside and outside there would have been more water damage inside the house. Yes, it did cause damage to an interior wall.


Mortar joint popping out from ice:

The steps in my house

Check out the trends on the stairs that leads to my basement.
Each one is different and was cut with a hand saw 95 years ago to fit snugly against the foundation stones. I get it enjoy this craftsmanship daily.
I know I need to sweep the stairs.

My tea house

Sometimes I refer to it as The Veranda when I'm feeling southern goth.
I designed the tea house and had it built 5 years ago and stained the whole contraption the color of brick.

Every late Spring I invite choice neighbors over for an evening soiree. This year the deck boards are being freshly stained. This means cleaning the deck (14 x 6 feet) to a pristine surface before applying the stain.

3964 McDonald Ave

This is a reprint of my first blog post.
Shortly after taking this photo the house sold to a hooiser (or red neck if you're not native to St. Louis) contractor who removed the beveled glass because it 'looks old'.
It was a very bad day for me.
I took a brief tour of the house when he was remodeling. He removed the original quarter saw oak door and replace it with a door from home depot. Can you freaking believe that? He also ripped out the entire basement saying it was outdated. My dad and mom had built three rooms in the basement (loads of kids in that one bedroom bungalow) with plenty of storage space: built in closets, a book case and two drop down desk tops. Two toy chest were built into one wall with cushions on the top. The other side of the basement was the laundry, the scary furnace and a wall of closets with my parents clothing. It was there I found the suit my mother wore when she married in 1948 and my first introduction to vintage clothing.

Monday, July 10, 2006
3964 McDonald Ave
This is where it all began, 3964 McDonald Ave in the Tower Grove South area of St. Louis. My childhood home! I now live less than a mile from the one bedroom Craftsman bungalow.

I love the brass mailbox and beveled glass address plate. I used to polish it when I was a kid. It expands into a box inside the wall with an interior flap door. I would run my fingers over the surrounding brick, fascinated with the crevices and various values of color. Original black mortar.
I loves me some brick.

PLASTER - A FIELD IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

Due to a recent crack in the roof the interior plaster abdicated (exit stage south) allowing me to snatch this prize. And it's the only prize, tell you what.
New roof: 2,900.00.
Plaster repair: 200.00.
And then I get to repaint it. Oh boy.

Pebbles in the mix:

Click on the photo to enlarge. Can you see the horse hair? It was used to help bind the plaster to the lathe

FLOWERS FROM DALE SWEET

Dale came to dinner and bought this bouquet.
Anyone out there know what the purple-back leaves are? The color is truly that intense.