Beep Boop Bop Beep: Catch up post

It’s been quite a while since we posted anything so here’s a catch up post.

Picking up from where we left off with the back yard. The wall got replaced and is now better, faster, stronger. It’s crazy how much codes have changed over the years. The previous wall used 6” wide empty cinder blocks and went a couple feet beneath the surface. The new wall uses 8” blocks, goes 4 feet down, 3 feet out, and is rebar reinforced and filled with concrete. This thing is immortal.

In other back yard news our stephanotis vines are working out nicely.

We originally wanted to replace the rear chain link fence along our back wall with a solid fence for greater privacy but given that the solid fence catching the wind is what broke the side wall decided against it. Our neighborhood nursery recommended stephanotis vines since they’re shade tolerant and will climb and spread.

I made some planters out of redwood fence panels and the vines have indeed climbed and spread over the last couple of years. Our first winter it dipped below freezing a couple of times and we had quite a bit of die back. Our second winter I covered them with tarps when it got cold and we did a lot better. We actually got a seedpod which, from what we’ve read online, is rather rare. It took about a year for the pod to mature but now we’ve got a bunch of seedlings.

And we now have two more seedpods, so I'll guess we'll have more seedlings in another year.

In even more back yard news we had to cut down a tree which had been placed directly over the trench that the water, power, and sewer lines run through. Its roots had cracked the sewer lines and were causing back-ups. Eww.

To save time and money I cut the tree down myself rather than asking the plumbers to. Even though the tree wasn’t particularly thick I had to do it in stages since it was about three stories tall. I disconnected a handsaw from its handle, rigged up a new 8 foot long handle, climbed on the roof, and got to work.