Field Trip: Rich's Foxwillow Pines

We are BIG pine tree fans here at the 2-flat. Actually to give credit where its due, I'll admit that Steve is the one who has given me the appreciation I have for evergreens. Take a walk with him sometime around a neighborhood in Chicago and listen. Chances are you will hear him say gazing upon some new condo conversion, "They should have planted some pine trees."

Being a native of Michigan, the source of the many a Christmas tree in these parts, it's no big surprise that Steve is loyal to this noble tree. He also spent some of his childhood living on a lake and has a love of being near water. That's why we live 2 blocks from Lake Michigan and why Steve never ever wants to move. In my weaker moments, I would consider moving west to get away from some of the urban headaches, but Steve would never go for it. I love him for that.

Steve is our tree keeper, while I tend the perennials. It's a system that works for us. For several years, he has wanted to visit Rich's Foxwillow Pines in Woodstock- THE place for pine trees. They specialize in specimen trees and smaller sized trees ideal for city lots.

Here's Steve pensively studying the price guide at Rich's under the share of a massive willow tree.

I'm happy to say that things have died down enough with our house projects that we can start doing those things that we have been wanting to do for while. Call it a bucket list if you like- as far as life goes, after 40, one starts to want to "make it count." That's kind of where we are at right now. Some of these things are small, like "visit the new Modern Wing," some are bigger like, "visit the Canadian Rockies."

As I mentioned, Rich's specializes in dwarf trees suitable for smaller spaces. He even has a whole collection of teeny tiny tees. Those of you with only a balcony could make an AMAZING miniature "forest" in a large pot!

The place kind of rambles around and goes on and on seemingly endlessly. At the spot pictured at left, I came across a painted turtle and heard frogs grunting.

And there were robins absolutely everywhere.

If pine trees aren't your thing (God forbid!), he has 500 varieties of hostas also. And he has 35 acres down the road, which he uses to maintain his inventory levels. We met Rich while we were there and he was kind enough to drive us around in his cart and show us a few things. He's an affable fellow and it's always great to meet someone who has found their passion and loves what they do.

We were looking for ideas for adding some more trees to the backyard and we found some. Now we just need the m-o-n-e-y, which we will be able to budget for next year.

So, why do we love pine trees so? Quite simply, they are evergreen and provide year round color, which is sorely needed in a long Chicago winter.

Besides that, they provide a needed structure in the garden, sanctuary for birds, they smell nice and there are so very many varieties, shapes and sizes.

So, that in a nutshell covers our visit to Rich's Foxwillow Pines.

If there's one thing you can count on in life...

It's that things are constantly changing. I just realized it's been 4 months since my last post. The time just kind of slipped by me. We are not doing any "major projects" here at the 2-flat and so I seem to have turned my focus elsewhere.

Steve & I went to Canada in August and had an amazing trip. As we were climbling mountains in Kananaksis Country ("K-Country"), I found myself thinking how renovation helped prepare me for the experience of climbing mountains.

Both involve endurance and delayed gratification. You work weekend after weekend on your house all for a long term goal. With hiking, you climb and push yourself to get to the top of a mountain, pass or ridge to gain the expansive view from the top.

Both are rewarding and provide a real feeling of accomplishment that money cannot buy. You did it. Yourself. You know you can do more than you think you can.


These are the gifts of DIY and the gifts of a good hiking trip. Endurance, self-reliance and joy at accomplishment.

Now, on to the more mundane tasks like weather proofing this house for winter.

Kitchen Table Progress

I think I may have mentioned before that finishing a piece of furniture can take as long or longer than the building it. Wood is a natural material and it can be tricky and even unpredictable.
Steve did quite a bit of research as he has never worked with bird's eye maple. He did do one shelving piece in maple and that was trickier to finish than white oak, which is what he usually works with.
Of course he consulted the internet and his favorite publication: Fine Woodworking (that's besides his other fav publication Fine Homebuilding). He even emailed the author of "Three Finishes for Bird's Eye Maple", Teri Masaschi to ask a few questions. And she very kindly emailed back!


Steve has been working on finishing the bird's eye maple table top for a few weeks now.
For anyone who is a newbie at woodworking, you don't just go and slap some stain on wood after you are done sanding. That would not be wise because as I said, the wood can be unpredictable.
Steve always makes some test pieces to determine how the wood takes the dye, stain or shellac, etc... Here you can see the variations he came up with with different layers of dye.
We selected the top center board color as it is lighter than all the oak in our kitchen and we feel it will offer a nice contrast and show off the figuring very well. What do you think?

One thing that came up with this particular project is that some of the "bird's eyes" popped out. They were filled with a fill stick as you can see here.
Steve decided to use a combination of gel and shellac for the finish. A few kinds of shellac that I will post about later as I don't have the details right now. He is in process of applying several coats of shellac and just last night after putting on another coat, he discovered some "ghosting."

No, our table top is not haunted. It just has some white film on a section of it. Not the look we were going for. There are many reasons this could happen. Possibly there is too much humidity in our basement and higher water content in the shellac then caused this. Possibly slight residue of sanding was left and became embedded in a layer of shellac. You see what I mean about tricky

So now, we have the dehumidifier going and Steve is contemplating sanding off some layers and beginning again with the shellac. It's tricky. More to come.

But as you can see here, this wood is so pretty, it's work all the effort. Finishing is really the hardest part to woodworking!

Just saying Hi

I just realized that I went the entire month of March without posting.

True we haven't been doing much, but a month? That's just not acceptable.

Steve has been working on the table top. He just this week started applying the layers of finish. He has been doing extensive research as he has never worked with Maple before.

I have to admit that right now I just don't have the oompf to write up the minutae of dyes and shellac colorations and how those combinations interact etc... etc...

Instead, I'm just posting this pretty picture of daffodils and saying Happy Spring!

Right now, we are in the process of looking for tenants also. Our adorable twenty-something roommates had to split. I believe we will be wrapping that process up this weekend. It is always good to have that behind us. Miss you guys.

Little Projects

That's what we'll be doing this year or rather that is what we have planned right now. This doesn't make more exciting blogging, but it will have to suffice for 2009.

Of course, we made a list, a rather long list of everything we'd like to do and then we prioritized based on stuctural issues and cost. As it turns out, we have a number of things we can do that will cost next to nothing. Projects that have been cued up for a while and just pushed aside.

We have a stockpile of some materials in our basement also (read: oak, more oak, and some more oak)and it will be nice to clear some of that out! Steve is still working on our kitchen table at the wood shop. He is hand scraping it, which is the method used before sandpaper was invented. The effect is more burnishing and smoothing as opposed to sandpaper, which leaves fine scratches on the surface.

He's kind of a luddite when it comes to making furniture, but he does make "hand-crafted" furniture. This is why it takes a while too.

As an example of the kind of projects we are undertaking, our latest project was to install a Hunter ceiling fan we purchased in 2006, back when we were remodeling the 2nd floor.

The funny thing about this little "freebie" project is that it ended up costing us close to $100.00 after we retrofitted the ceiling outlet with hardware to hold up this monster ceiling fan. The house gets the last laugh this time, but just wait, the year has just started.

Projects on the boards for this year include:

Building out our mudroom/entry area with a mirror and hooks for coats etc...

Tuckpointing the garage and basement walls.

General maintenance of roof, concrete repair, window glazing etc...

Install missing shoe moulding in Living room, dining room and mud room.

And no summer would be complete without me refinishing at least one door so...we will be buying a salvage door for our den (Steve's office) and I will refinish and then install it.

There's a bunch more little and not-so-glamourous-or exciting small projects that I won't bore you with here. I'll try to post when something exciting happens.

Happy Holidays from Chicago 2-Flat

I like to decorate for the holidays. Many years our home has not lent itself to this for various reasons. Anywhere from the house was such a mess it seemed a moot point to we were just to darn tired to we had no extra money.

Now that our home is done to the degree of being livable and not a source of embarrassment, I get to have some fun. There are ways to do this without spending a fortune or looking like an over-decorated retail establishment.

This is where some of my squirrel-like tendencies pay off in spades. For example, over the years whenever I have purchased a wreath or centerpiece or beautifully wrapped gift, I carefully removed any of the embellishments that could be re-used. I also save all my Christmas cards and someday I am going to do something really cool with them- mark my words. It helps to have a basement to store these things.
So, this year I was able to cut way back on my spending. Instead, I made my own centerpieces and cut way back of fresh greenery for the outdoors. I only decorated the 2 pots on our front porch and added red ribbons, which are very festive. A string of colored lights around the door, and finis! Cost was about $30.00 for the greenery and bows. I saved money by forgoing the wreath also.

In the dining room, I spent not a dime. The fresh flowers were scavenged from my office. (We get fresh flowers every week and they get tossed on Fridays if no one wants them)

A card "tree" is a great way to display cards. Buy it once and you have it forever. These will mos likely be on deep discount after Christmas on Potterybarn.com.

The centerpiece is simply a piece I had with acorns from Steve's parents yard and some of those embellishments I had squirreled away. I'm not saying it's anything "fancy" but it's casually festive in a way I like. If I was going to go "hog wild", I would probably be inclined to hang evergreen boughs over the windows with some kind of red ribbons. Not this year though. :o)


Here's another little piece I made entirely with scavenged items. The fresh greens came from trimmings from our tree.


I got these matching ornament wreaths at Pier One a few years ago 50% off after Christmas.


Of course, trees are expensive so it's hard to save there. And you want a fresh one that will last. I don't do a tree every year, but this year we will be home and I am off from x-mas till New Year's. I plan to spend several days curled up in the living room with a good book and this is really relatively cheap entertainment when you divide the cost over all that time.

Plus, there's just something about a real Christmas tree. It's romantic and impractical and it's nice to be that way once in a while.

When Steve was bringing it in, I was struck my how strange it is to take this poor tree and cut it down and bring it into a house. Don't trees belong outside growing in the ground?

But then how perfect is it when we are all cooped up inside because of the cold and snow to bring the outside inside to keep us company? Not practical and maybe not so "green", but I promise I will bring mine in to be mulched after the holidays. And I promise to cherish it.

I've discovered Facebook...

...and of course being the internet addict that I am I am using it constantly. Well, not constantly, but way more than before I had a profile and signed up. :o)

And I'm devising the ways this fascinating new-to-me-tool can be used.

Of course, faithful houseblogger that I am, I searched for a houseblogger group and there wasn't one. So I made one. And I am the only member right now, so sad.

And of course, the next thought that popped into my head? Let's use it to plan Woodstick 2010!!**

If you're on Facebook, why don't you join me? Come on... it'll be fun! I already consider so many of you friends online so feel free to ping me on there if you like.

**"Woodstick" is houseblogger talk for a huge gathering of housebloggers, which has been talked about, but not yet come to fruition.

Counting our blessings

I took today off work and went over to my Mom's to play sous chef to my Mom, who is a fantastic cook in my book. She uses simply the best ingredients, fresh, organic and locally sourced produce with an emphasis on vegetables and she also cooks an amazing turkey.

We are not a family that serves the same dishes every year. We always have turkey, stuffing, home made cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes, but the specific recipes and preparation style changes yearly. This year, Mom is making a salted turkey recipe from Gourmet magazine and a beet cranberry salad that we have never had before.

She also had the idea that before we start dinner, we go around the table and have everyone share something they are grateful for.

In the midst of this horrific economy that frightens me, a stressful week at work, and the fresh news that our tenants may need to break their lease as one of them was laid off and cannot sustain the expenses of the apartment, I accepted this with some degree of battle fatigue.

I spent the next few hours chopping vegetables and talking with my Mom. We listened to NPR and heard that "layaway" is back. I tuned out news on the economy and asked my Mom, "Why is Obama still asking for money?" (I am still getting frequent emails from the campaign asking to donate.) I continued, "I mean, they think THEY need money. I need money." Mom agreed it was kind of annoying. I discussed my job and some of what has been bothering me. Mom understood and that made me feel better, validated.

And as I was leaving at around 4pm, I thought that I am grateful and fortunate to have such a wonderful cook for a Mother. Food just tastes better and feels more nourishing in her home.

But beyond that I am truly blessed having the parents I have. I could not love them more. Both are living examples of living life with grace. I think if can be as graceful as they are, I will be doing just fine. So maybe I can accept this economy and this job and this uncertain situation with our tenants with grace. And I can count my many blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was there

I don't want to dwell on politics because this is after all, my house blog, but I just wanted to follow up on my earlier post and let you all know that my Mom and me did go to the rally in Grant Park on November 4th! It seems like ages ago already doesn't it?


The crowd was very calm going in and there was almost no pushing. I observed not one person smoking, which seemed odd to me since we were outside and waiting for hours.


We arrived at about 6pm and left at close too midnight. We stood almost the whole time and I was pretty tired, but it was also pretty amazing to just be there and see everyone so happy.

My Mom had actually been downtown for the demonstrations at the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention years ago. I couldn't help but think how far we've come since then. It was pretty cool.

And thanks to everyone who commented on my "no-spend-zone" post. It's comforting to know I am not the only one feeling the pinch, although I have to say I don't like it too much. I, as do many, like my creature comforts. But maybe I'll blog more now. That doesn't cost anything right?

Rebuilding a chimney crown....Chim-chiminy Chim chiminy...our Chimney Cap Project

This post is a perfect example of how projects can drag on for years, and yes I do mean years!

We had our flat roof torn off the summer of 2006 and some faithful readers may recall that at that time we discovered that our parapet wall was very deteriorated. We had to determine how to address that issue. Back story here.

We planned to undertake the chimney project ourselves to save money, but ultimately, we ran out of time and we ended up paying our contractor to rebuild the chimneys before winter. The project was not completed though because we still needed chimney crowns and caps. Due to other projects, this didn't happen until 2 years later..just this fall.

Although my blog posts have been sparse lately, we have actually been still working. Steve completed the cast-in-place chimney crown and installed the chimney caps last weekend just before winter's arrival. Hooray!

The first photo illustrates the starting point this fall- one of the two double flue chimneys exposed to the Chicago elements.

Before undertaking this project, Steve did internet research. He found various plans for pouring cast-in-place chimney crowns made of concrete. He called up the Masonry Advisory Council and the Portland Cement Association. Below is what he learned.

The chimney crown must be made of concrete and not mason mix because concrete is used for foundations etc... while mason mix is suitable for laying brick.

Secondly, the crown should be at least 3" thick and it needs to overhang the chimney by a few inches with a drip edge to prevent rainwater from traveling down the chimney causing rapid deterioration. He also found out that the concrete crown must have a bond break from the chimney, that is there needs to be a separation between the chimney(made of brick) and the crown (made of concrete)because both materials expand and contract at different rates and would compromise the chimney with the different movements during freezing, thawing etc...

The concrete crown must to be sloped so that water will drain off of it. The recommendation was that there should be a 2" slope to shed rainwater. Rebar was suggested to reinforce the crown also.

Steve built wooden forms for both chimneys. The concrete would then be poured into them. The form was screwed into the mortar of the chimney using masonry screws. And alternative method would be to use shims underneath the bottom of the frame, which would hold the form in place. With this approach, there is no masonry repairs to do from the screw holes afterwards.

In these photos you can see the completed form ready for pouring the concrete. Here are the steps he took to create this form:




First, he bolted 2x4s around the perimeter of the chimney flush with the top course of bricks.

Because Steve wanted more than a 1 1/2" overhang (width of a 2x4), he screwed a second layer of 2x4 over the first. This created a 3" overhang.

Then, he took 1x8 lumber and attached it around the 2x4s, which created the box you see here. The 1x8s were also flush with the bottom of the 2x4s. This "box" would contain the poured concrete, which would then become the cast-in-place chimney crown.

This close up photo shows more detail on the form he built. Steve nailed in place about 1"from the form edge 1/4" strips of wood. This creates the drip edge (indentation in the concrete). It was removed with a screw driver after the concrete was dry leaving a channel. This drip edge  channel prevents water from running down the side of the chimney bricks.

To create the "bond break" between the chimney and the concrete crown, Steve covered the entire chimney top with 10 ounce sheets of copper, which extended beyond the chimney base by 1/2". He used 10 ounce copper because that is what was available, but 7 or 8 ounce would be fine.

He tightly wrapped the flues in 2 sheets of corrugated cardboard. (Cardboard was removed after concrete dried and gap was then caulked.

Rebar was put along the length and width and between the two flues and was tied together with wire and then raised up to the mid-point of the crown using rocks.

Steve wasn't sure if the weight of the concrete might cause the form to blow out and break apart, so he took some wire and wrapped the box to be safe. Since the form was screwed together (for strength and easy disassembly), Steve thinks this reinforcement is not needed.

In this photo, he was ready to pour the concrete.

He mixed up the concrete, poured it and created the recommended slope. He took a hammer and pounded all sides of the form to eliminate air bubbles. According to Steve, it was about 75 blows. He is nothing if not detailed and is helping me write this if you can't tell!

He then tarped the form with plastic sheeting to slow the drying process, which makes for stronger concrete. He kept it tarped for a week.

**It's important not to tarp the flues for safety reasons. Chimneys need to operate at all times...CO2 etc...! We do not have fireplaces, but our boiler and water heaters are connected to the chimneys and need to be vented outside for safety.

After the concrete cured for a week, Steve unscrewed the form, removed the drip edge strip of wood underneath, removed the cardboard and installed foam backer rod into the cavity and then applied a generous amount of caulking around the flue.

In keeping with our new thriftiness, we purchased inexpensive galvanized painted steel chimney cap kits.

Of course, there are chimney crowns made of aluminum or copper, which will last forever but are much more costly. We opted to be budget conscious and these should last 10 years. Assembly is very easy. They get mounted to the cap as seen.
One thing Steve did to extend the life of the structure was to raise the cap using 1" chrome spacers, which will hopefully prevent moisture from corroding the bottom of the frame.

So, we have now stopped the rapid deterioration of our chimneys and hopefully we will be solid for some time to come.

Many people never go up on their roof until there is a problem. It's very important to inspect your roof once a year. We usually do this in the fall.

Steve is really becoming quite the amateur mason around here. I think I'll keep him for a while longer. :o)

We have entered the "No-Spend Zone"

I have to admit I've been pretty preoccupied with what has been going on in the world recently. I'm also very excited because I am one of the lucky 65,000 that have a ticket to the Obama rally this Tuesday. I am going to witness history firsthand (I hope).

I listen to NPR on my way to work in the morning and hear all the speculation about the future of the economy. I read The Huffington Post every day. And I pray. And I am not a religious person, but I still pray. What else can we do?

Well, there is one thing, although to express it here makes me feel like a heretic because it goes against what our economy is generally based on. But I'll just say it. Stop spending money. Better yet, stop spending money that one doesn't have.

Actually, I wouldn't dream of telling anyone else what to do. That would make me like Suze Orman and she kind of annoys me with her dogma. When I see her on TV saying people shouldn't spend any money, I want to respond "Suze, people can't stop living! They have to celebrate their child's birthdays. They have to have some fun. They can't just work and pay debts. They may as well be in a debtor's prison then, even if it is one of their own making." Honestly, I don't think she has a clue of what life is like for most people. She's out of touch. Some of her ideas are good, but she is too extreme for me.

Here at the 2-flat, we are evaluating our plans. We have debt and we have savings. We have been planning a few projects for this winter like adding some kitchen cabinets. We need a new sofa. Things like that. Because of what has been going on in the world, we have decided to wait on any big expenditures.

Rather, we will work on projects where we already have the materials and I am going to get some pillows recovered to spruce up our living room rather than buy a new sofa. There are things we can do that will not cost much and those things will move to the top of the list.

We have cut way back on eating out and are buy things on sale at the grocery store whenever possible. We have entered what I am calling, "the no-spend zone." It's a mind set and I think it will be good for us. We will pay off our debts and save money. This feels like the right thing to do at this time.

We are fortunate in that my job is pretty secure. I work for a high-end company and sales are still up- i.e. the rich are still rich. Steve has his own marketing and communications business and steady customers, but advertising is vulnerable in a bad economy and so we have reason to be cautious.

I just wanted to post about this because it is really a part of what is going on right now and years from now, I want to remember this. And I would also like to hear from other people as to what they are doing and how this whole mess is affecting them. My heart goes out to anyone who has lost their job. I know people in this situation.

With all this going on, I am still hopeful. Studs Turkel just died and I think of him and his book "Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times". I think now is the time to check that book out of the library.

Fall is falling

We took a trip to the Chicago Botanical Gardens last weekend. The wind was brisk but it was a beautiful day.

I've been pretty busy with shutting down the garden for the season (digging up cannas, mulching, transplanting and tweaking, bulb planting etc...). Steve has been finishing up the chimney cap project which I will be doing a post on very soon.

For now, I'll share some more photos from our field trip. With all the rain we had this year, the fall foliage has been so pretty.

How about these mums for some color therapy?

This is from the prairie section of the garden. What you can't get from this picture is the sound of the grass in the wind. There's a reason why "The Wind in the Willows" makes a great book title.

Of course, we often get ideas when we visit places like this. Steve saw this evergreen container garden and said this would be his garden project for next year.


Speaking of evergreens, I realy liked these in the Conifer section of the garden.


Not sure what this is, but it reminds me of some kind of thistle and we both thought it was very cool.



One last look at the fall foliage...

I guess I kind of hope that life follows the cycles of nature. If so, the autumn of life should be pretty great.

It was a dark and stormy night..

It's been raining here all day long. I really can't complain though because some people have a hurricaine to deal with.

I am a person that is not really afraid of bugs in general. I've been known to smash ants or small moths with my bare hands. Centipedes are a different story. Those, I tend to sick Billie on. Terriers come in handy in this way.

But I am in awe of the spider that dwells in our gangway. First of all, I am convinced this creature is a genius as it it selected probably the best location on our property. And it is eating very well- I've stood there and watched it.



Here it is. Isn't it amazing?

Parkway Expansion

I took advantage of the long weekend and I am about 90% done with our parkway project.

Ingredients:
2 trips to Buy the Yard to get river rocks
400 pounds of rock
4 bags hardwood mulch
3 bags of soil conditioner
1/2 day Saturday
1/2 day Sunday
one achey elbow

Here is the view from the south side. The bed has hostas bordering it, iris, roses, sedum, some alliums, our slowly growing pine tree, and one hardy shrub (seen on the far end).

I plan to add a bunch of daffodils and muscari for the spring.

This is the view from the north. On Monday I saw a little boy walking along the rocks and I thought that was kind of cute.

Here is the last section, which I will be wrapping up this coming weekend.

The worst part about this whole project was removing the grass and also digging out the very compacted and root filled soil.

Anyone who has excavated a city parkway will know what I am talking about. But what I kept telling myself is that this is a "one time" job and as long as I do not plant grass again- I will never have to go through this again! Kind of like stripping woodwork- don't paint it and you won't have to strip it again.

I am super happy with the way this project turned out. I didn't have to buy a single plant either after dividing up the existing hostas and relocating a few others from various parts of the yard.

Life is funny

Last week I noticed my right elbow was hurting, kind of like what one might call a "tennis elbow" only I haven't been playing tennis. I was puzzled over what I had done to injure myself. Plenty of times while working on projects I bruise or cut myself and don't even notice until later on. The adrenaline of working I guess.

But usually when I strain something, I know why. Case in point, pulling nails from a bazillion boards using a vise grips. My hands were in traction after that. I knew why.

I just couldn't think of what had caused this. Then it dawned on me... It was the garlic press! I had made garlic olio using a manual garlic press and pressed so much garlic that I gave myself garlic press elbow. Leave it to me to overexert myself cooking dinner.

I determined to buy a better garlic press. I have too many important things to do to be disabled by any inferior garlic press. So, off to Crate & Barrel I went.

Blissed out day

Today was one of those oh-so-very sweet days of summer. Just an ordinary Saturday for us really. Steve was cutting and installing the trim for the new screen doors and I was putting a second coat of paint on the front iron railing and I washed the windows on the first floor.

But this morning when I went out into the yard to have a cup of coffee, the sky was so beautiful and the light so perfect, I decided to take some photos of the garden.


I've posted pictures this year of the backyard, but it's at it's peak about now, although the lilies are all gone. Sunflowers, Phlox & Black-eyed Susans are all blooming. I like this photo because Mojo was looking at me.

Here is a shot of the frontyard- no grass anymore as you can see. Once you get perennials established, they are so much less work than a lawn. They bring birds and butterflies and compliments. You just don't compliments on a lawn the way you do with flowers. At least not in my part of town.

Here is the parkway, which I have taken over about 50% of the way. This fall I am going to remove the remaining lawn and divide those massive hostas to I have a complete border of them.


And here is what you see when you leave our house. I guess you could say my garden is therapy for me. It sure puts me in a good mood. And so does summer. Tomorrow, we are headed for the lakefront and the beach. I hope you are enjoying your summer too.