Chimney Repair

Our family room is a cozy room that we painted a little darker than the rest of the house. It is great to watch movies as well as to read a book in one of the over sized chairs we have.

It also has a chimney with a wood stove insert. We thought that our winters would be nice and toasty with the Grandma Bear Fisher running. 

It is also a cook top which is nice for when power goes out.

This is showing the stove, chimney, and shelving when we moved in.

We had it checked out to see if it was safe to use and lo and behold it was NOT! The damper was in a state of permanently closed. There was no way to open it so it was unusable as it was. They would need to pull the entire stove out to fix it. While they inspected it they also found that there had been several major fires in the chimney causing a great deal of creosote and soot. When the temperature outside was just right and there was a certain amount of humidity in the air and the wind blew the room smelt like it was on fire. You know the burnt smell in your hair the day after a bon fire the one that is worse smelling when you try to wash it out? Yeah, that smell wafted through the room and made me nauseous!

Creosote is a term used for a variety of oily, dark-colored liquids or semi-solids derived from wood or coal tar. It's known for its strong odor, which is often described as similar to smoke, gasoline, or oil. It's also known for its potential health and environmental hazards. Creosote is a flammable substance that forms when wood doesn't completely burn in a fireplace or wood stove. It can build up in chimneys and flues, posing a significant fire hazard. This is just a little of the creosote after he vacced for 15 minutes. Oops, forgot to get the photo before.

They also found that the chimney had cracks and was not up to code.

We decided to have it removed and we will install a gas insert instead.

So they came back a week later and removed the 498 lb. stove.

We had Castle Chimney do the work and they were timely, professional and meticulous with clean up. Small little family company that I would recommend

They inserted a metal version of this brush into the chimney that was powered and helped scrape off the creosote and soot build up.

This is some of the debris.

This is definitely a job I would not want.

They vacced it all out and painted the inside black.

This is what it looked like when they left. Removed the stove insert, fixed the cracks, removed the creosote, replaced the damper, added a new cap and brought it all up to code.

Tried to clean the soot of the hearth step but it is still noticeable. We have to figure out what the plan will be to cover that up.

New cap!

It is now usable as a wood fireplace but we still plan to get a gas insert for it.

We painted the ceiling, walls, doors to mud room, cleaned the lights, removed the stove, and added knickknacks from home and around the world!

Next step is to find the gas insert!! But first a new Hot Tub!

Grandma Bear Model Specs: 

25" Wide 

22" Tall 

38" Deep 

The door opening is 17" x 10" 

Takes 20-30" inch logs 

Heats 2,250 sq. ft.

Fresh Tomatoes and Herbs

While I am still trying to figure out where to have my permanent gardens I figured I would test out a few spots in the yard. We are waiting on our patio to be completed hence the waiting on gardens.

I bought some seeds from Dollar Tree, 4 packets for $1.25. I was not hopeful that they would grow but was pleasantly surprised.

I started them inside on a paper towel with water. All of them sprouted but not all of them made it to bearing fruit stage. My fault not theirs.

Then moved them to soil when they sprouted.

Mike fixed another 2 beds for me out of the cobblestone that we keep finding in the yard.

Once they were ready to plant, out they went. Front row is radish. Middle row is rosemary, basil, lavender, basil, and dill. Back row is gladiolus, they never bloomed ☹️.

Radish were gigantic! Mike said they were also very spicy.

Carrots are ready to pull soon.

Rosemary and Basil have provided many meals and plenty to dry.

I also have attracted a Argiope Aurantia 🕷️ to my garden! 💜💜 She is well feed here!

This bed has 4 tomato plants. The ends are Better Boys and the middle 2 are cherry tomatoes. They became so overgrown and crowded but still flourished. They were taller than Mike.

I also planted the cherry tomatoes in 4 other locations. This is the front yard. Weird place I know. When I planted them there was no grass. It is supposed to be a flower bed but I did not tend, nor did I plan to tend it, so it has gone to grass. 

I also planted squash, pumpkins and eggplant but they received too much sun and they all died. They looked really healthy to start.

Yukon gold seed potatoes were planted in 5 pots and they did very well.

So we have been enjoying many meals from the small little garden.

Fried potatoes!

Tomato, basil, feta snacks. Had so many that this was a daily snack! Also gave several bags to family and friends.

And my favorite: toasted bread with tomatoes, mayo, and Swiss cheese!

Lastly drying the herbs has been so much fun. I use more than I am growing of some of them. 

Basil, Dill, Rosemary, and Oregano.

I can't wait till I have a bigger garden. Looking forward to garlic, onions, asparagus, a fig tree, and oh, so may other veggies and herbs.

Shade Garden

New house deserves some gardens. We waited a year to see if anything would grow on its own. My hope was that there was some hidden gem waiting to burst to life in the right season. When nothing did we decided we would create our own little pieces of beauty. 

The side of the house next to where we park would be a great place for a shade garden. I specifically did not say driveway because that denotes that it is in some way defined. Ours is not, it is a space we park that is in front of a 2 car garage. There is no pavement, no crushed rock, no oyster shell, nothing but weeds and grass. A future project for sure.

Mike measured out the space and we started by killing everything that was trying to grow. We then lugged cobblestones that were hidden in various areas of the back yard. Mike meticulously made a border with the cobbles that made the area pop. Later, I learned they were from the streets of Richmond from the Shockoe area. This area was named 'Shacahocan' by the Powhatan/Algonquian meaning a flat rock at the mouth of a creek. As the story was told to me by my next door neighbor the cobbles were removed in the late 70s and people took piles of them. The original owner to the house took numerous stones and they can be found on the property every time we clean up an area. They are also laid down to create a small patio area that needs to be redone soon. 

I spy with my little eye a dragonfly on my cobble patio! 💜

He then shoveled out a few inches and we let that sit for a few days to see if anything would grow back. We then added a weed block layer, new planting soil, and then plants.

Perfectly timed a neighbor had separated her Hosta plants and offered them to anyone in the neighborhood. I was very lucky to see them within minutes of her post and went over to pick them up. There were 10 bulbs which is exactly how many I needed. As a child we had them in our yard and I always loved the bell shaped purple flowers and the variegated leaves.

I also went to the store and bought Marigold's because it is a natural repellent for deer and bunnies which we have daily in the yard. I added some Lamium maculatum, Pink Nancy, which is also a perennial known for its heart shaped bright green leaves with a white stripe and delicate pink flowers. 

I also planted Aquilegia coerulea, Columbine with its fern like foliage and bicolored flowers of purple/blue and white spurlike flowers. I am partial to variegated leaves or bicolored flowers.  

Image credit: Colorado columbine (Aquilegia caerulea) 5Bydru-mcd 

Of course the day I added the mulch was also the day that the Maple tree decided to drop all of its samara, the wing like structure that you probably call a helicopter or whirlybirds or maple keys. Finally with numerous bags of mulch on top I had a shade garden that we see every time we head to the cars or to the road for our daily walk.

At the end of the garden there is an outdoor spigot that we attached a hose and hose reel cart to. Mike decided that needed an update as well so he built a paver platform for it. He, again, dug out the correct depth, graded it for run off, added weed block and laid the pavers. Then added polymeric sand to prevent weeds and other debris from getting between the pavers. It came out perfect! 💜

I decided that more flowers could be added for pops of color so in went some Petunias known for their colorful trumpet flowers. I selected purple, of course, for grace and mystery while Mike selected white, healing and new beginnings. When planted there was a white and purple next to each other but as you can see there became a dominate color in each grouping.

The small garden has attracted bees, hummingbird moths, butterflies, moths and planthoppers.

While planting the garden I learned nothing new, but while tending to the garden I have learned several things.

The first thing I learned is there is a contradiction to everything. 50% of the gardeners who post information are correct while 50% are not. Some say bunnies eat Marigolds and some say they don't. I guess it is the same in everything you can always find those who support your beliefs and those who don't. Trial and error works best!

I intentionally planted Marigolds to repel bunnies and deer. While no deer have eaten any, my bunny certainty did. 

That brownish yellow stick looking thing is the last of the Marigold stem. I planted 12 and over the course of a week the bunny ate 4. 

The 4 that were eaten over night would not have been noticeable to any but us because we planted them and knew they were there.  The leaves, stem and flower were simply gone over night.

The second thing I learned was when I went online to research what stops bunnies from eating Hosta I found that cayenne pepper, mint and pinecones would be a great deterrent. I was not about to sprinkle cayenne all over the garden nor was I going to plant mint that spreads and can never really be contained. Pinecones it is! Fortunately on the border of our property we have 100s of them. Off I went to harvest the cones and learned that you want to wear gloves because they have little spices that hurt. Hence bunnies do not like them either. I filled a 5 galloon bucket and went to line the 12 plants, I replanted the 4 that were consumed. One bucket circled 3 plants so back to the border I went until they were all ringed. I made a pretty star pattern and thought it looked great. The ants I learned can move them and they did rearranging them to this disorganized mess.

The third thing I learned was that pinecones will expand and contract with humidity and rain. After I arranged them in that beautiful star the rains came and I checked on my garden to find that the pinecones were no longer touching each other allowing for an intruder to sneak in. They shrank to have their size.

Back to the border I went for another 8 bucket loads of cones. I can say that it does indeed work and no Marigolds have gone to the bunnies belly since. 

Lastly, I water this garden every other day and while watering my plants I noticed there was white stuff on each of the stems of the Hostas. 

So of course I touched it to see if I could deduce what it was. It moved! Half a dozen little white spider looking things started to jump everywhere. My fingers came away sticky and honestly I was repulsed. Then I saw lots of bigger bugs hopping around as well. Once I started to look for them I could not stop seeing them. In this picture above there are 2 different stages, the white spider looking nymph and the brownish juvenile. I went inside to wash my hands and get my phone for some pictures. I attempted a few shots and was able to upload them to Google images to find out what they were. 

I have learned about a new bug the planthopper. I found two different kinds as well. Both are small less than 1/4 of an inch. They have wedge or triangular shaped front wings that they hold over their abdomens and the head is wider than tall.

This is the Anormenis chloris. It is commonly known as the flatid planthopper and is light green to white. They are very alert and move out of view if they sense danger. It was hard to get a picture. They are also very alert and hop at any possible disturbance. This photo was the best out of the 50 I tried to get. You can see the white adult and lower on the stem the nymph.

And this is the Metcalfa pruinosa also known as citrus flatid planthopper. It is typically grey or brown. Adults have 2 dark spots near the base of their wings. This one is at rest so you cannot see the wedge shape as well.

The juvenile, nymph, excrete a white waxy cotton like filament to protect themselves from predators; bees, spiders and of course humans. Ants are attracted to the honeydew secreted by the nymphs and they act as body guards against the bees and spiders. 

They do not damage the plants themselves but can spread disease among plants. Removal is as easy as spraying them with water. I took a wet paper towel and hand cleaned each stem. I did not want to spray the stems as I find them fragile and did not want to break them.

I am sure that I will continue to learn something new as summer has arrived and the plants will change. For now my shade garden is doing well and it brings me joy!