Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

One year ago today, the Tiny Bungalow had a little bit of a setback.  Over nine inches of rain fell in our neighborhood over a 2-day period and it left our basement a little less than hospitable.  This morning, we woke up to an odd grinding noise from our air conditioning.  I walked down stairs and, thinking about the storms we were having, started to have a sinking feeling.  When I got to the bottom of the basement stairs, my fears were realized.  We were flooded.  Again. Precisely one year after being flooded the first time.  This time, a seven inch rainfall in a single day, a record for Chicagoland, was the culprit.  We were lucky though.  Due to our major re-design and some vigilance about keeping things off the ground downstairs, we actually fared pretty well.  The Flor is soaked and we lost a handful of toys and our hot water heater is out but otherwise, we only have a mess to clean.  This is a major improvement over last year.     

I didn't take any pictures this year.  The water came to the same height.  There was less debris and we have a long road of cleaning ahead but I figured that I'd rather not dwell on any of that.  Instead, I am looking on the bright side of it all.  Instead of flood pics, I figured I'd showcase the fact that the storm did NOT destroy the sunflowers that have started blooming.  They are beauties too!  I think I will be investing in the red sunflower seeds every year now. 

We also have a very interesting volunteer this year. I had nothing to do with planting it but a very showy spider flower is about to bloom. I have to figure out how to propagate this sucker. If it got here on its own, it can't be that hard, right?



Stay tuned for the next project at the Tiny Bungalow:  How to Install a Sump.

Let's see how this turns out

I picked (or better, hacked with a machete) one of the sunflowers yesterday. I am hoping that it dries out and we can have sunflower seeds. It looks fairly promising. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Anyone have tips for this?I also finished canning last night. Work on the garage made me delay the last batch. I roasted corn, onions, garlic and poblano peppers on the grill and combined it with some fresh tomatoes to make a salsa. It tastes pretty good so far. If the canning process works out and it still tastes good in another month, I may do a lot more next year.

More sunflowers

It's like a behavioral study now. One day, it's all perked up and facing the sun. The next, it has swelled up and drooped over. The tallest one hasn't bloomed yet but they all look like they are going to pop any day.

Sunflowers

They haven't boomed yet but it looks like they will pop this week. Our sunflowers are much larger than they were last year. For those that don't know me, I am 6'-4" and my reach is about 8'-8". The tallest sunflower is easily another 4 or 5 feet taller than my reach. These are the only ones that have survived the summer storms. With our luck, we'll get a tornado just as they start to bloom.I was excited by our accomplishment on these heights until I drove by a house on the OP last night. Their neighbors must hate them, they have an entire yard and parkway full of these things. Awesome. Since it has been so nice, I'll have to get some pics of this and of the other OP yards I covet.

How high do these things get???

The eave of my garage is 7'-6" above the ground. I am really not kidding about not renovating the garage and planting sunflowers instead.

More yard work and preparing for guests

The garden and yard are almost ready for the guests we will be receiving in a couple weeks. I am sure my wife would have loved for the house to look more presentable (this weekend, she called it a "disheveled hole", I was offended) but I guess there is only so much that can be done between work, family, holidays, birthdays and other obligations. I did not do much this weekend, since we were away for most of it but I did get to finish the screen door to the basement and did some much-needed cleanup near the rear gate.
I learned quite a bit with the screen door project - I am not sure I would attempt to do a real door for an existing (and crooked) house but I think this one will be fine once I get some weather stripping to fill the gaps. I need to add: the door is very quaint and the spring-loaded hinges give it that creek when it opens and make it snap shut with a crack. It makes me think of the sound of the front door in "The Waltons".
I also took the time to check out the rest of the yard and a lot of my transplants are doing well. The sunflowers look great. I hope the ones in the front get just as tall. Maybe I don't need to repair the garage - just plant sunflowers in front of it next year.
The flowers in the front look nice too. There is quite a variety and only a few have bloomed but I bet it will look great in another week or so. There were on too many zinnias out front so I thinned them out a bit to let some of the other things grow. I moved the zinnias to pots and put them in and around the raspberries.

By the way, our raspberries are infested and the leaves are all getting eaten. If anyone has and suggestions that can help us salvage them for the rest of the season, I am all ears.

I also built some trusses and tripods for the african black-eyed susans in the back. These are doing really well and look pretty cool. I wish I had anticipated how good they would do and I would have been more creative with the trellising.

We also dug into the garden and had some cucumbers and squash this weekend. To my surprise, we have a lot of cucumbers and a few squash. I did not think these would do well at all. I just can't wait until we can start harvesting tomatoes.