Handyman?

Now for a small shift on the "to do" things. My wife and I have wanted to try a garden for quite some time. I use to have a garden for my 4H project and many people in my family have had great gardens. We tried to grow some in our previous residence but we wanted just to try a few tomato plants and they grew to a whopping size of a foot and a half and put out maybe three tomato's. When we moved to our current house, the first summer we decided to see if we could plant any thing in Oklahoma.

I was always told 3-4 feet apart is how you were suppose t plant your Tomato's, well, since we couldn't grow them up large enough in Sunray I figured we would be just as miserable of a failure as before so I planted them 2 1/2 feet apart.

Well that was fun! I didn't realize that tomato's were able to grow 5 feet high. and get 3 feet across (which explains the planting directions.) We had several good tomatoes but, it just wasn't plentiful. Talk to a few locals and they told me that the next time I planted, I should follow the directions and if the Tomatoes bloom a lot but dont product it is normally cause they a getting lazy and so stress time slightly by hitting it with a broom, shake them, let them know that they could die any moment now cause an elephant is going to come running through the garden.

So, with the aforementioned advice and the knowledge, we were going to do it again. Well, life got out from under us, again, and I was just busy trying to make ends meet, let alone try to focus on the garden.

That is till this year, though I am working long hours but I can relax now and enjoy the free time that I have so that I can be in the garden. So, four weeks ago we broke ground on a more normal sized garden.


I went to the local equipment rental store Troy Jones Equipment and got a tiller and set to work.
The tiller was $70 a day, but after having to return a few times cause I had a bad pull cord and half the day was gone I was able to get it for only half day discount. I mapped out where I was going to have our garden and with a discussion from the wife, who thought it was too big till her friend a a few other neighbors commented that it is actually on the small side I set to work.

I forgot how much these thing can buck when they hit hard ground, and how much crap is actually in my ground. I pulled out two pieces of rebar and enough rocks to think I was plowing in Minnesota, assorted toys and arms of toy soldiers who hopefully got a Purple Heart, a metal plate, and luckily... no Jimmy Hoffa, but we think he may be in our walls, and that is a story for another day.

It took me a total of four passes. Two passes going east and west and two passes north and south to finally get the majority of the hard places and very stubborn grass. I started out going long ways and then would go across, back to long and then back across. I made sure I was overlapping cause I was finding out I was leaving this strip of grass and hard packed ground that would trip me up when ever I had to grab hold of the tiller cause it wanted to start really jumping around.

Once finished I had a pretty decent tilled area with LOTS and LOTS of dead grass. Tried racking but wasn't doing any good I was getting too much dirt and it just wasn't working. So we decided to just let mother nature take care of it. Don't get any idea's I am not a Greenie Weenie, just a little on the lazy side. Fortunately, a couple of days later we had a good 40 mile an hour wind blow most if the grass over into our neighbor's yard.

After all of this work I have to say, you feel good, tired and have sense that you have accomplished something. I cant wait till we plant and that will be the next post for the garden.

Well this is the first run on trying to blog again, and I now have a topic I think will provide entertainment and information. That topic is my house!

Now a little background, the house was around 65 years old when I bought it 5 years ago. It was purchased for $58,000, and has far more than its share of problems. The locals called our house the "Gingerbread House" due to the German styling, but as we have recently found out it was also it has been known as the "Tittie House" due to at one time it was painted tittie pink! My wife and I have been looking and wishing to make some changes to our home but we were always too busy just keeping our head above the water.

This is cause a week after we signed the papers on the house I lost my job and had to find another one. found one but the pay wasn't what I was making when we first bought it. So we had to do some serious budgeting and the plans for the house were put on hold. We were in survival mode and nothing was going to get done and for five years nothing did except a few major things that had to be done.

That first winter found out that almost every north window and door leaked. Our gas bill would climb up to the $400 a month range, and the house would stay cold downstairs but the upstairs would be comfortable. So we did the old tactics that our great grandmothers would use blankets over the doors, and plastic on the windows.

Our second summer in the house our Air Conditioner died and definatly didn't have the money to get a new one installed, but two years ago, a friend had a 2 ton unit that wasn't being used. So they gave it to us. Yet, again didn't have the money to get the unit installed. so we have spent 3 summers with no AC and sweating out butts off.

Number one problem concrete walls. Yes the outside walls are concrete and as one handyman, that we scared off, found out they are a great pain in the back side to work on.

I will be updating this blog with steps taken and different changes and challenges that my wife and I come up with so, keep tuning in and learn from my mistakes.