couple of knowledgeable neighbors quickly pointed out the error of my ways. I’m apparently far too trusting of people. Cleanup is often a sore point if “supervision” is not provided. So scheduling became somewhat difficult.
But the job is now finished, and the result not too severe. I had them leave the stumps so I might convert them to chairs if desired. We’ll see. As for the rest of it, we’ll see. Now that the dam has broken for spending money on yard maintenance, I just might go ahead and fix the back yard up at least to adequate status.
But at the same time, you may recall that I was looking at a bathroom remodel. Sticker shock. But I’ve found that the price I was quoted was probably pretty good. Things just cost the proverbial arm and leg these days.
Yeah, I own a house in the San Francisco Bay area. I just missed the anniversary of the date I purchased it, Nov. 1, 1981, and I hope it isn't too upset with me. Perhaps having a section of my website dedicated to this fine bit of paradise will make it feel better. Probably not as much as if I cleaned it up real nice, but it's a start.
Shin the Homeowner
The Good Neighbor
I’ve been at war with my yard this year. I’ve been losing.
Every year as winter turns to spring, I find countless weeds that need pulling. I convince myself that the task is therapeutic and then set out about the task of doing it. It’s taken a couple of weeks, usually, giving a couple of hours a day (sometimes a little more) and it gets done.
This year has been different. My body rebelled, and in the middle of the process, I found my back and shoulders to be very sore. Only now are they getting tolerable, and for a while I thought I was going to have to go back to therapy. Not for now, but I did stop my weeding with the garage side of my back yard left.
I decided that this was the last time. I vowed major changes to my environment to make it easy and inexpensive to keep it looking at least neat. I’ll likely yank the five large shrubs that seem to have passed the point of no return, then overlay the whole area with mulch. If the next owner wants to be more creative, good for them. As for me, I’ll feel comfortable with this simple solution.
Into this mix came the recent reemergence of the local anti-juniper movement. You see, my neighborhood is considered to be high-risk for a major fire, and junipers are considered to be highly flammable. I had a pair that were continually growing up against my house. I’d gotten to the point where I was paying to have them cut back every couple of years, and I still had misgivings that it wasn’t enough.
I’ve made jokes about the Citizens for a Beautiful Kensington, but in this case there is a group of people which included two of my best friends in the neighborhood who are actively trying to persuade those of us with junipers to get rid of them. Between my desire to change my yard completely anyway and my actually seeing their point of view, I decided to go ahead and say goodbye to the two junipers that were beside my house when I first moved in nearly 24 years ago.
One of the “persuaders” had a line on a general yardwork contractor who I subsequently hired to do the job. I saw no reason I had to be there as the work was being done, but a
Last Update: June 4, 2024
The John Shinnick Web Site
These two junipers (they look like one, but trust me, there are two) were in my yard when I moved in nearly 44 years ago. Sadly, they'd been a fire hazard all that time. Who knew?
This section includes the house, the yard, the garage, the car and environs.
