One Year Later
It's been about a year since we moved in and we've settled in to a weekly routine where we spend 4 days in the new house and 3 days in the Bay Area. This schedule has worked pretty well since I can't work at home all the time and we both have various ongoing activities in the Bay Area.
Summer/Fall
Shortly after moving in, we were lying in bed listening to a series of incredible lighting storms but no rain. In California, summer lightning is rare and when it does occur, the first thought that comes to mind is "Fire!". The next morning Susan said, "Oh, well. We might get 2 weeks in the house before it burns down." Over the next couple days, the extent of the problem became apparent; in Mendocino county alone, there were about 125 separate fires. Although the closest the fires came to us was about 6 miles, we had a couple weeks of very low visibility and very poor air quality. The were so many fires across the state that almost every fire line was undermanned until the governor called out the National Guard. Locally, they camped out in the county fairgrounds and you could still see convoys travelling to the fire lines for mopping up operations for weeks afterwards.
Our typical weekend has Susan working in the garden while I'm in the shop. For the first several months, I spent my shop time installing the dust collection system and building shop cabinets. It wasn't until winter that I actually built the first piece of furniture for the house: a small table for the living room. Several weeks ago, I finished the first of 5 beds I have to make (3 for the house, 1 for Holly, and 1 for Adam). I've made several beds before but I now have the space and equipment to tackle much more ambitious designs.
We found that we use the covered patio when we have larger groups but when it is just Susan and me or a a small group, we hang out around the pool. On a warm evening, after a hard day's work, it is wonderful to sit by the pool and gaze out across the pool, lavender, and the valley while sipping a cold glass of local rosé wine.
Last summer the vegetable garden provided a bumper crop of excellent tomatoes along with beans, peppers, tomatillos, melons, cucumbers, and even some corn. The asparagus started producing over the winter and usually provided enough for a weekly dinner or 2. Along with the asparagus, we also had broccoli, artichokes, and chard as winter vegetables.
One of the most fun aspects of living away from the city is the variety of wildlife. Deer are common enough that we take them for granted. Occasionally, we also see foxes, skunks, jackrabbits, and a wide variety of birds. We had a nesting pair of kites this spring and are now watching their baby learn to hunt. We still haven't seen either a mountain lion or coyote but did see the remains of a deer taken by some large predator.
Winter
We noticed in the fall that our water usage was much higher than we expected and over the course of a couple weeks, I ran some experiments and determined we had a sizable leak in the water system. Our water comes from a well above the house which pumps it to 2 large tanks far up the hill over a 1000' feet from the house. (The tanks were placed when we thought the house would be higher up on the land.) Somewhere in this system we were losing about 1500 gallons a day, roughly equivalent to a garden hose left on 24 hours a day. Fortunately, the system has lots of valves that allow isolating various portions of the system so our contractor and I tried various experiments to pinpoint the location of the leak. Unfortunately, we kept coming up with inconsistent data. I finally decided the only way to find the problem was to bring in a leak specialist. They pressurize the system with an argon/methane mix then use a natural gas sniffer to locate the leak. It is expensive but it can detect tiny leaks.
When the leak specialist showed up, he took about an hour to set up his equipment and just a minute or so to find the leak since it was right near where he set up. Interestingly, there wasn't a trace of the leak on the surface in spite of losing so much water. Our contractor fixed the problem over the next couple days and, as per our agreement, sent me a bill for the leak specialist and repair. Immediately after getting the bill, our contractor contacted me and told me to ignore it. He had mentioned the location of the leak to his crew foreman who told him that his crew put the failed joint in. Since the leak was his fault, he said he'd cover all costs. It's so nice to work with someone who not only takes real pride in the quality of his work but also has incredibly high standards of honesty and integrity.
Both Adam and our landscape contractor mentioned several times that we needed to remove the small to medium sized (1-6" trunk) Douglas firs since they were starting to choke the oaks. Susan and I talked about it but what finally made us start the work was the local land trust telling us the same thing. After Susan and I cut and chipped about 200 firs, it was clear we needed help. Over the next couple weeks we paid a 2 man crew to cut a couple thousand firs. I didn't want the liability of giving them my chain saw, so they were limited to cutting what they could handle with heavy duty loppers and a bow saw.
After all this cutting, the road to the house was lined with big piles of cut trees waiting to be chipped. Our friends, Joan and Neil, came up one weekend and after seeing the pile volunteered to come back up and help us chip. Unfortunately, the chipper broke down after 1 hour and we had to quit. The next weekend, we located another chipper and Susan and I and 2 helpers chipped all the trees in 7 hours in the pouring rain. It took over a week for my boots to dry.
Speaking of rain, although we got more this year than last, we still aren't up to normal. Hikes after a rain, even a small one, were a real treat since there are lots of streams, some with small cascades. This year we also finally found a path to a 30' waterfall at the head of one stream. Unfortunately, the waterfall only runs after a storm and the path isn't safe when muddy. If I get real ambitious, I might build a real trail but I'd also have to remove a bunch of poison oak.
Spring
This spring, Susan expanded the vegetable garden with an additional large in ground bed. We now have 18 tomato plants, lots more cucumbers (for pickles), peppers, tomatillos, lots more corn, and a variety of other crops.
The flower garden near the house really took off this spring. At one point, the colors were incredibly intense with a mixture of blues, purples, and orange. Susan says it has been a "learning experience" with some plants doing much better than expected and others that everyone thought would thrive not surviving. She has been making adjustments, trying new plants and adding more of the most successful ones.
In spite of a low rain year, the grass was over head high by early June. We could hike but it wasn't that pleasant and it was easy to lose sight of the dogs. I solved this by cutting trails with a string trimmer. Unfortunately, using the trimmer requires long sleeves, long pants, a face shield and hearing protectors so I could only work in the cool of the mornings and evenings. In spite of the limited time I could work, I cut a variety of trails to various spots on the land.
Summer
We are back to enjoying evenings by the pool with a glass of rosé. Susan is back to the garden and I'm working on a another bed. One of these days, we've got to start cutting more Douglas firs.
Living Room (couches covered for the dogs)
Summer/Fall
Shortly after moving in, we were lying in bed listening to a series of incredible lighting storms but no rain. In California, summer lightning is rare and when it does occur, the first thought that comes to mind is "Fire!". The next morning Susan said, "Oh, well. We might get 2 weeks in the house before it burns down." Over the next couple days, the extent of the problem became apparent; in Mendocino county alone, there were about 125 separate fires. Although the closest the fires came to us was about 6 miles, we had a couple weeks of very low visibility and very poor air quality. The were so many fires across the state that almost every fire line was undermanned until the governor called out the National Guard. Locally, they camped out in the county fairgrounds and you could still see convoys travelling to the fire lines for mopping up operations for weeks afterwards.
Our typical weekend has Susan working in the garden while I'm in the shop. For the first several months, I spent my shop time installing the dust collection system and building shop cabinets. It wasn't until winter that I actually built the first piece of furniture for the house: a small table for the living room. Several weeks ago, I finished the first of 5 beds I have to make (3 for the house, 1 for Holly, and 1 for Adam). I've made several beds before but I now have the space and equipment to tackle much more ambitious designs.
Shop looking west
Shop looking east
First Bed
We found that we use the covered patio when we have larger groups but when it is just Susan and me or a a small group, we hang out around the pool. On a warm evening, after a hard day's work, it is wonderful to sit by the pool and gaze out across the pool, lavender, and the valley while sipping a cold glass of local rosé wine.
Pool
Last summer the vegetable garden provided a bumper crop of excellent tomatoes along with beans, peppers, tomatillos, melons, cucumbers, and even some corn. The asparagus started producing over the winter and usually provided enough for a weekly dinner or 2. Along with the asparagus, we also had broccoli, artichokes, and chard as winter vegetables.
Vegetable Garden
Artichokes past their prime
Pear Tree
One of the most fun aspects of living away from the city is the variety of wildlife. Deer are common enough that we take them for granted. Occasionally, we also see foxes, skunks, jackrabbits, and a wide variety of birds. We had a nesting pair of kites this spring and are now watching their baby learn to hunt. We still haven't seen either a mountain lion or coyote but did see the remains of a deer taken by some large predator.
White Tailed Kite
Winter
We noticed in the fall that our water usage was much higher than we expected and over the course of a couple weeks, I ran some experiments and determined we had a sizable leak in the water system. Our water comes from a well above the house which pumps it to 2 large tanks far up the hill over a 1000' feet from the house. (The tanks were placed when we thought the house would be higher up on the land.) Somewhere in this system we were losing about 1500 gallons a day, roughly equivalent to a garden hose left on 24 hours a day. Fortunately, the system has lots of valves that allow isolating various portions of the system so our contractor and I tried various experiments to pinpoint the location of the leak. Unfortunately, we kept coming up with inconsistent data. I finally decided the only way to find the problem was to bring in a leak specialist. They pressurize the system with an argon/methane mix then use a natural gas sniffer to locate the leak. It is expensive but it can detect tiny leaks.
When the leak specialist showed up, he took about an hour to set up his equipment and just a minute or so to find the leak since it was right near where he set up. Interestingly, there wasn't a trace of the leak on the surface in spite of losing so much water. Our contractor fixed the problem over the next couple days and, as per our agreement, sent me a bill for the leak specialist and repair. Immediately after getting the bill, our contractor contacted me and told me to ignore it. He had mentioned the location of the leak to his crew foreman who told him that his crew put the failed joint in. Since the leak was his fault, he said he'd cover all costs. It's so nice to work with someone who not only takes real pride in the quality of his work but also has incredibly high standards of honesty and integrity.
Both Adam and our landscape contractor mentioned several times that we needed to remove the small to medium sized (1-6" trunk) Douglas firs since they were starting to choke the oaks. Susan and I talked about it but what finally made us start the work was the local land trust telling us the same thing. After Susan and I cut and chipped about 200 firs, it was clear we needed help. Over the next couple weeks we paid a 2 man crew to cut a couple thousand firs. I didn't want the liability of giving them my chain saw, so they were limited to cutting what they could handle with heavy duty loppers and a bow saw.
After all this cutting, the road to the house was lined with big piles of cut trees waiting to be chipped. Our friends, Joan and Neil, came up one weekend and after seeing the pile volunteered to come back up and help us chip. Unfortunately, the chipper broke down after 1 hour and we had to quit. The next weekend, we located another chipper and Susan and I and 2 helpers chipped all the trees in 7 hours in the pouring rain. It took over a week for my boots to dry.
Speaking of rain, although we got more this year than last, we still aren't up to normal. Hikes after a rain, even a small one, were a real treat since there are lots of streams, some with small cascades. This year we also finally found a path to a 30' waterfall at the head of one stream. Unfortunately, the waterfall only runs after a storm and the path isn't safe when muddy. If I get real ambitious, I might build a real trail but I'd also have to remove a bunch of poison oak.
Spring
This spring, Susan expanded the vegetable garden with an additional large in ground bed. We now have 18 tomato plants, lots more cucumbers (for pickles), peppers, tomatillos, lots more corn, and a variety of other crops.
The flower garden near the house really took off this spring. At one point, the colors were incredibly intense with a mixture of blues, purples, and orange. Susan says it has been a "learning experience" with some plants doing much better than expected and others that everyone thought would thrive not surviving. She has been making adjustments, trying new plants and adding more of the most successful ones.
Courtyard Garden
Driveway
Lavender by the pool
Courtyard Garden
In spite of a low rain year, the grass was over head high by early June. We could hike but it wasn't that pleasant and it was easy to lose sight of the dogs. I solved this by cutting trails with a string trimmer. Unfortunately, using the trimmer requires long sleeves, long pants, a face shield and hearing protectors so I could only work in the cool of the mornings and evenings. In spite of the limited time I could work, I cut a variety of trails to various spots on the land.
Trail from the lower garden
Summer
We are back to enjoying evenings by the pool with a glass of rosé. Susan is back to the garden and I'm working on a another bed. One of these days, we've got to start cutting more Douglas firs.
posted by Jim Barstow at
10:41 PM
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