Musings from the Junque Pile

So, my steam mop bit the dust a little while ago, and man that bummed me out.  I had gotten so used to whipping it out to clean up after the herd.  It was a Shark model, before the pocket one came out, and I just didn't feel right about spending $125 for another one if it was going to break in less than 2 years.

The Shark mops have a problem with flimsy handles - you have to pump the handle as your mop in order to get the steam to come out, and as the handle is plastic, it tends to break easily. Shark even sells replacement handles for their product - they *know* it's a problem.

Unfortunately, the mechanism that releases the steam into the mop is what broke on mine, and there was no way to fix it.  :(

So after an exhaustive internet search, including extensive reading of consumer reviews, DaHubster and I finally decided on the

Eureka Enviro Hard-Surface Floor Steamer,313A. 

It has some great reviews, and a decent price - one that I can live with if it doesn't last the 2 years my old Shark steam mop did.


We also finally FINALLY bought the Tattler Reusable Regular Canning Lids and Rubber Rings - 12 Pack. I've been hearing about them for awhile now, and have heard some people that I trust (ie: Jackie Clay, from Backwoods Home Magazine), that yes, they do work. Year after year. We got both regular and wide mouth lids.

I cannot wait to start using these new re-usable lids this year. And we will have plenty off opportunity to, as we are finally adding the raised bed along the back fence, and at least one other raised bed in the "back 40." There will lots of great veggies growing in this years garden!

I love it when things finally come together.

Musings from the Junque Pile - current project

This is a wooden 3-tiered rack that I found at the Salvation Army Store for $2.99.

Stay tuned for how I make it pretty and functional...

(How's that for a tease??)

Junque Yard - freshening up the walkway

It's a warm/cool morning, as I sit outside with my laptop and cup of coffee. I'm really enjoying the spring/summer like weather. After all my rantings that spring was too cold and rainy, I'm taking advantage of all the good weather I can!

DaMan started on a project that I've been chomping at the bit to have done for awhile. We held off due to financial and the aforementioned rainy weather, but the stars have aligned, and we can now (hopefully) go forth!

There is a paver-lined walkway that goes up to the back of our yard. It's in sort of a strange area, about 2 feet out from our garage, leaving a space that has become our berry patch, with strawberries, raspberries, and one lone blueberry that's hanging in there, but isn't happy, because it needs a girlfriend blueberry bush in order for it to be happy and produce blueberries (hoping that will be rectified soon, I hate to see anyone/thing lonely).

As nature is prone to do, the grass and weeds have come up through the cracks between the pavers, and it's pretty unattractive. Grass has also permeated my strawberry patch, and is making it difficult to weed in there. So it is time for a re-do.

DaMan pulled up about 50 concrete pavers last night. Today we are going to head to the local hardware store where they are having a sale on pea gravel. We will pick up some landscaper's cloth, too (and maybe another blueberry bush for the lonely guy that can't get a date).

The pea gravel is essential. Once all the pavers are up and the unwanted sod is pulled, we will level the dirt underneath as much as possible, lay down the landscaper's cloth, and spread the pea gravel. The bags are $1.75 for 3 cubic feet.. We estimate that we will need about 20 bags of gravel. Then the pavers will be laid down again on top of the gravel. Everything we've read about this says that a good 2 inches of gravel will help with frost heave during the winter. If you are unfamiliar with that lovely trick of Mother Nature's, it's where the ground buckles and heaves up during the winter due to cold and frost. Concrete and cold do not like each other, and they fight in the winter time, especially in cold climates, such as ours. If you see cracks in a  sidewalk where one corner is higher than the other it's likely, more often than not, due to frost heave.

Landscaper's cloth is just a little more insurance that the grass and weeds don't come back for a few more years. It will eventually degrade, and you can buy the stuff based on how many years it is estimated that it will stem back the tide. 7 years, 10 years, etc. it sells for about $8.00 per 20 feet.

We are hoping to do this project for around $45. Here's hoping that we keep our budget, and I'll have a nice looking walkway again! I will update the results as we finish the project.

Isn't this ugly? Strawberry patch to the left, lawn to the right

The pavers DaMan pulled, to be used again, once the ground is ready for them.

Junque-ology & Junque-yard

This scary image is one that's going to give me nightmares to years to come. Our house, built in the 1950's came with a 50 foot TV antenna in the backyard. Over the winter, one of the legs broke away from the in ground cement block and is now swaying dangerously toward our roof. As a temp fix, Da Hubster anchored it with rope to a fencepost at the back of the property, but the antenna needs to come down.

I have no problem with this. It's an eyesore. I have, however, in years past, planted morning glories around the base to pretty it up, and I would have missed being able to do that, so I asked if Da Hubster could possibly leave some of it at the base for me. He said he'd try.

This is a pic of the antenna and the start of the morning glories

I love my morning glories:

Anyway, we've been waiting for the rain to stop, and the wind to die down, so that Da Hubster can make the climb up and start hacking, or buzz-sawing his way back down. Easter Sunday appears to be the day. We will see how it goes. If you don't hear from me, it's because I had a heart attack watching him do this. *nods*

Upcoming Junqueology projects...

I'm having trouble with my motivationals this weekend. My original plan was to come home Friday night and clean house so that I'd have the weekend to putter around with the myriad of projects we have lined up for this spring. However, it's been a really trying week, and I just was not feeling the cleaning mode, other than to take a few swipes at the bathroom and kitchen before playing on the computer and going to bed.

Martha Stewart, I am not.

So, I figured in the time honored tradition of all full time workers out there, I'd not be able to sleep in on a Saturday, get up, and start my homage to Mr. Clean in the bright and shiny morning. HA. Yeah. I actually did sleep in, until 9-ish (this is unheard of for me), and when I did, I woke up to the beginnings of a head cold/sinus & ear infection.

So I am not motivated today to much else other than keep myself from whining and whimpering.

I will, however, tell you some of the upcoming Junque projects I've got in mind for this spring and summer. Please disregard the excess tissues on the floor. And you might want to put on a mask, just in case.

This poor piece of un-luv-ed furniture was left for dead in our garage when we bought the place. The previous owner used it, and used it well. Then the mice used it, and they used it well, too. Now, it's all mine! First, though, I gotta fix it. Give it a good loving. The picture above was taken last summer after we dug it out of the garage. I liked the height of the desktop, and thought it would make a great potter's bench, if it wasn't too rotted. If I could get it waterproofed. As you can see this desk is in rough shape, made even rougher after being outside all winter (I wasn't smart enough to put it back in the garage before the first snow last year).

After it dries out, I will strip the (ugh-ly) green paint off, sand it until it's smooth as a baby's bottom, and weather proof it. I'm stuck on colors though. Not sure if I want to stain it or paint it. And what colors??? Black would be easy enough, but there has to be a snazzier color - if only my brain would pick one! Or maybe I should just go white??? Ah well...first things first - clean it up, repair it, then decide. If I have the pocket change AND the where-with-all, I plan on creating a mosaic tile topper. We'll have to see if the top sands flat, or if I need to rip it off and put a ply-wood topper on it. *rubs hands at the thought of digging out the power tools*

This potter bench will be a mid-summer project, when I can count on the day's being warm, and all my veggies are in the ground, doing their thangs. But I promis to keep you all posted. :)

I have 2 Junque-yard projects slated for before this one, though. I'll write about both here breifly, then detail later with pix and everything.

The first is to whip up one, two, possibly three more raised beds in the back yard for veggie growing. Da Hubster's out there right now, marking off where we are going to build a bed along the back fence for our berry bushes. Our goal is to make them with scrap wood we have on-hand. They won't be pretty, but they will get the job done. Pretty will come later, if I can talk the budget into a few cans of paint. :)

The second project is a re-do of a walkway in the backyard. Originally it was made of cement pavers about 100 years ago. It's completely overgrown, totally not level and as it goes downhill anyway, it's pretty much a hazard for walking. I've been buttering up Da Hubster into helping me fix it. It won't take much, other than muscles and time. He's got Da Muscles (hubba Hubba), and I got the time. I will do a detail of this project later, but for now, I think I need to whip out some cookies for bribery.