Project Updates & Sunflowers

I started this morning with grand plans of repainting all of the garage trim, then I remembered how much I hate painting.  I wound up just painting the lower parts of the trim and doing touch-up where needed.  If it doesn't blend well then I'll repaint all the rest tomorrow as the paint is still good but the rim has rusted out so this will be the last use of this quart, this weekend.  I know I get no style points for my paint job, but function over form for this project.

Meanwhile, I chose a contractor for roofing the house, porch and garage.  We will keep the gutters we have on the house as there's only one small dent on one side, but will replace the downspout that got all beat up.  Last time we did the roof we did not do the porch as we thought we'd be replacing it.  Well, that hasn't happened so we will have a new roof put on that and have the gutters replaced, and all gutters will get a gutter guard so I will no longer have to climb a ladder around the house twice a year to clean them out.  We considered putting gutters on the garage and getting a rain barrel by the garden.  It's still something I dream of doing, but not at this time to keep costs down.  The process of choosing a contractor was harder than it should have been, but that was mostly on the contractors I talked to (or got ghosted by).  The work is planned for sometime in a two week window starting later this month, I should know more soon.

If you remember, as part of our 2024 street reconstruction project included a footbridge across the creek.  That part of the project was stalled due to permitting issues, we were told, but construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed in 2027.  This unnecessary expenditure comes as the city is asking all departments to slash their budgets, still broke though we residents inexplicably voted to let them raise our property taxes to above state-mandated levels a couple years ago.  Egad, what a waste.  We can't wait for these city elections to oust everyone in office right now.

Still peak summer here, with the yard and gardens so alive.  The cone flowers have gotten really tall in the stump area, so no pots on the stump were actually needed this year.  Day lilies that Kate planted a few years ago are bursting with blooms, and other flowers come and go.

If you peek over the fence on the left you'll see the neighbor is getting a new fence to match ours installed today.

The sunflowers have had a hard go of it this year.  Out of 54 planted we have 15 left, so almost 3/4 of them have been lost.  I'll post the rundown after the break, otherwise have a great weekend!

Left to right there were 5 clumps of sunflowers between the back steps and the house.  The clump in the corner by the porch has none remaining, so starting from the left:  One large and one small on the outside of the air conditioner; three smaller ones on this side of the air con, below the window; one lone large one; and next to that is another large one that also has a smaller, twisted one that is still growing well below it.  8 total in this area.

Two clumps on the outside part of the back steps, the left planted originally and the right planted later.  The left has one large one remaining and the right still has all three growing well so far.

The two in the pot by the garage are still doing well.  I don't expect them to get as big as if they were planted directly in the ground.

Yesterday I found this last one left by the firewood broken, bent in half.  Sunflowers are pretty hardy so I put a stake along the trunk and tied it up with garden tape, which should stretch with it as the sunflower grows and repairs itself.

And, finally, the gardens.  Top left has pepper plants and is where I planted 5 or 6 sunflowers, I forget, but there is only the one remaining.  On top right the tomatoes are growing like crazy again so the old ladder is once again used for support.  Bottom left is lettuce, still small but growing well.  Bottom right is the raspberries.  Meh, we'll see what happens with them.

Several sunflowers planted out front by the bird feeder have been destroyed, same for the back corner of the garage by the tomato plants.  And six attempts by the compost bin did not last very long.  

All pictures here were taken this morning.  Thanks for coming along on this little tour.  Cheers!