The Adventures Of IndeMoJo: When August Comes Around
I started a post about a month ago trying to gather all my Facebook posts into one blog post. It’s an insane amount of work trying to reproduce those posts in a WordPress blog format. Lots of heavy CSS & HTML vudu to create MY version of what was posted to FB.
I spent so much time working on the house, the only time to document this was on breaks as i was trying to rest and or cool down. Hence—Instagram posts, with auto posts to Facebook. Seems Facebook became my way to document all my doings. There have been A LOT of posts from May 18 (when I closed on the house) to now!
What I am doing here, is breaking my larger Facebook “bulk dump” into a few posts rather than ONE HUGE one.
Sometimes it still seems sureal I’m here—living in Missouri. I’m a NJ boy-man-child; born & raised! But here I am—none the less. And even though it seems incredulous, I actually love my new home and all the things I’ve already accomplished here. There have been a massive amount of “#joProjects” posted to Instagram & Facebook. And some I’ve gathered together in a previous post.
Since buying my home in Independence, MO, I have been working on fixing the place up—on my own—and with the help of “professionals” for jobs I did not have the skill set for. Always good to know (and set) your limits.
Waking up 6-ish every morning, being out in the yard working on the next joProject before the temps hit 90º plus, was how my life had been all summer long. Being retired … not much else to do … except turning this 112 year old house into my home. And so here we go ….
New Home Projects: Found a video on Instagram that showed how to root rose bush clippings using honey as a root stimulator. I’ve done 5 cuttings. We’ll see how they work.
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The other project is enlarging the flowerbed plantings on “The Hill”. I have a combo of Russian Sage, “Baby Joe” Pye weed, and “Buzz Magenta” Butterfly Bush. Need to keep those pollinators happy! Already attracts butterflies & bees even before planting. Plus the single white hydrangea was kind of lonely and in need of company.
🌸🌺🌼🌻🌼🌺🌸
Saw a lone hummingbird flit by my front porch, which made me put up my hummingbird feeders & take down the bird seed feeders. Yeah, paying $100 for two 40 lb bags of no waste seed is kind of out of my budget. But a 5 lb bag of sugar … I can handle. And it’s also so cool to see hummingbirds making pit stops at the 2 feeders.👍
#flowers #joepyeweed #russiansage #butterflybush #butterfly #bees #polinators #roses #rooting #honey #projects #birdseed #hummingbirdfeeder
Cut some of the foliage off so the rootless plant doesn’t have to support that amount of foliage.
A story has been passed down in my family of how five 30-year-old climbing rose bushes got their start.
Great! Aunt took stick cuttings and at the bottom made a split and put a lentil in there then planted them.
No one knows if anything else was done in the process, but that lentil gets spoken about as being the magic.
I’m not sure if I enclosed it in a Ziploc, But I do know keeping it in full shade was important.
Can I just say: AWESOMENESS!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The barrel came in 4 sections that I had to bolt together. One lower half, then an interior stationary “mixing bar” and the top half over that. When done … one barrel. Then assemble the legs, attach, and we’re ready to load it.
Loaded it with greens, browns, dried twigs, a little cardboard, coffee grounds, watermelon rinds, and assorted veggie trimmings …. and then … I’ll tumble for ya!
Round and round it goes. Add a little moisture & tumble some more.
What an ingenious idea! 💡
Start your compost engines! 👍😃👍
#SpinBin #compost #compostbin #composting #compostable #spinarama #wateringcan
Not the greatest photo … but… you get the idea.
It amazes me how many hummingbirds are fighting over a turn at the feeder. I’m also amazed at how many are around … period. Though they seem smaller than the hummingbirds in Seattle. Unless they are adolescents. Didn’t card them before service. 😆
Pretty wild … these guys will buzz up to me just feet away, to check me out when I’m sitting on the front porch, or if I’m washing dishes, they buzz up to the screen of the kitchen window. Pretty fearless little buggers! 👍😃👍
And yup … Just found out the males are VERY territorial when it comes to feeding and a found food source. The things you learn from Google.😂
#joProjects: Fabricated a new dirt sifter this morning. Went to Lowe’s bought the 2x4s the 1/4″ welded mesh & took care of business. Good thing I like doing things like this! lol
All this because I’m trying a new way to plant using the fine sifted clay soil with compost, rather than buying topsoil & mixing it with other soil additives. Figured I’d try it on the 7 pots of mums I bought.
I bought the yellow mums in memory of my mum. She loved them, as did the butterflies back in Lanoka Harbor, NJ.
Had to make sure the hill was completely done before Wednesday. I’ll be getting FIFTEEN cubic yards of mulch delivered at 8:00 AM. That will be lots of fun spreading in my flowerbeds 3″ deep! 🥵
Just another day at home. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#garden #gardening #gardeninglife #joHome #mulch #compost #lotofun #spreadthemulch #dirt #soil #soilsifter #dirtsifter #sifter
#FileUnder: How Awesome Is This!?!?!?!
Community Action Agency of Greater Kansas City just came out to do a complete & FREE energy audit on my home. They will be lining up contractors to seal up all air leaks in the house, insulate the roof crawl space, the floor rafters in the basement, wrap insulate all HVAC pipes & ducts, clean both my hot water heater & my HVAC system, plus a whole lot more! Wow!
They will also insulate all my uninsulated house walls—for FREE! All I have to do is have an electrician come out and certify in writing that all knob & tube wiring in the walls is not active. Of course I already called my electrician to make an appointment to do this.
I am totally FLOORED (no pun intended) that there is an organization like this to help MO citizens—especially seniors— who meet the income (or lack there of) requirements, and do all this work for FREE!
I applied maybe a week ago, got a call within a day to verify some info, was okayed, and a team of 3 men came and did their thing at 9:00 AM this morning! That’s fast!
So incredibly awesome & thank you CAA!!!!!
So the first thing I did at 7:00 AM (of course only after starting coffee brewing) while there was a lull in the rain: went out to spread tall fescue grass seed on the patches of lawn where I was trying to fill in large divots and pot holes. I had used all the “fines” I got from sifting the old mulch to fill in and spread on large areas. Figured it was a good use on top of the nasty clay soil to give the grass seed a fighting chance. Then spread a thin layer of peat moss on top of the seed. And right on cue … the rain started up again. Most excellent!👍😃👍
Um …. they said it would only take an hour. Yeah. Right. 😝
Sometimes I just outright amaze myself at all the things I’ve done and am capable of, fixing up my home. A Joe of all trades. For sure!
I had my doubts about doing this project. The paper instructions were pretty worthless. But found an install video on YouTube for the model I bought. Still more than hour. More like six. But hey … not much else to do on a rainy day. 👍
Also good thing I paid a bit more and got a door that’s made for “not plumb” openings. By the standards of this house … that’s the norm.
All in all it looks good. Me likey!
Have to wait 24 hours for the silicone caulk to set. But that’s okay … I’m not so stinky right now. 😝
The cats are upset they can’t lay inside the shower like they always do. With my luck … they’d paw at the silicone. So better safe than sorry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#joProject #bathroom #showerdoors #thecatshelped #homeimprovement
Woke up. It was an Inde morning & the first thing that I saw … ❤️❤️❤️❤️
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#joPhoto #Independence #mo #missouri #missourioutdoors
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#garden #gardening #lawn #wheelbarrow #butisitart #joPhoto
He’s now seeing if there is another door in stock to replace the damaged one.
Luckily there was another. He just called me & they are on their way! Yippee!!!
Plus 2 insulated fiberglass doors. One nine pane (back door) one six pane (front door). The old front door was solid, now I can see who’s at the door & get a bit more light into the entrance & living room. 👍
Have to decide if I’ll paint the front door or not. I was kind of thinking orange like the mailbox trim. Or gray outside and orange inner panels. But that’s far down on the list of things to accomplish or even fret about.
Right now, I’m happy with the look of the doors—especially the new screen doors. Plus I can finally get cross ventilation with both screens open. Screens are on the top which is kitty proof & the kitties can still see out the bottom. Awesome!
#houseprojects #projects #doors #stormdoors #before #after
OMG!!!!!! I finally have a working washer & dryer! Getting it set up cost me as much as the unit. Ouch!
First load done & in the dryer. Second load starting now. I’m amazed at how quiet it is & even at high velocity spin dry the washer doesn’t shake a millimeter! Damn! I was so afraid it would vibrate the 112 year old floors. Guess the new main floor beam helps with that too. 👍
LG color me impressed! Love tech in all forms. And it so shiny, pretty & new! The funny/scary thing: the unit has WiFi. I can download the LG app & control the washer & dryer from my phone. Awesome!!! lol 🤩🤩