Projects we've had materials for "forever"

Chain link around wading pool area off patio; cemented in other two fence posts and other gate post; replaced old wooden lattice work with white vinal latice my sister GAVE me, string up grape vines that have grown for three years on new white vinyl latice work.



Gee Whiz! Where can we buy enough rock to make a path to the garden so we don't get our feet wet everytime we water. Good question if rocks didn't grow in our yard. It's easy to dig a hole here; just remove the rocks and take out the teaspoon of dirt. Add dirt from someplace else to pack in the rocks or posts.



This is my green house window for my kitchen.

We had two mismatched 30 year old windows lined up to pretend they were double pained, put in long before I ever bought the house four year ago.
The wind leaked in around them like there were no windows there.

My precious, well meaning brother, bought the green house from
Habitat for Humanity three years ago,
and was going to install it for me,
but then was going to install it next door
when he built that house,
but didn't and had it in the garbagevtrailer
to haul to the dump.
I asked if I could buy it from him and he let me take it free.

It sat on my patio gathering dirt for another year,
and the wind blew it over, breaking most the glass.

My crafts man replaced the glass and installed it last week end,

in the process fixing the electric wires that hung in the water drain,

and calked it with double pain glass, then ceremic tiled the bottom.

More photos later. It is a work of art in progress.


This is the first mural my grandkids and I made after we painted the very old weathered fence we share with the neighbors; Canyon Cove Assisted Living Center. We also help them out with church services on Sundays.
The mural represents "hands around the world" for Growing Together" The kids had a blast painting their hands, and Uncle Monte lifted them up and pressed their painty hands against the world that I had painted earlier. My husband Steve outlined in and enlarged it from an atlas picture of the world. Good to have an artist in the family, and an Uncle who will brave the little rug rats with painty hands. Thanks to all who contributed. My daughters cringe and turn their heads when I let their kids do crafts. They say they are glad I do things with the kids, but they don't like the messes. What messes? You just hose them down after. I try to keep lots of play shirts to go over their clothing from Savers. Sometimes we miss and stain a cuff or sleeve, but my daughters appear to forgive me.

City Inspections, Kick backs and Rebates Warnings

Subject: FYI Gas & electric Company Rebates end this week

We finally got around to calling the gas company (we meaning my Husband) because
I thought all the work we had paid for on the house surely earned us some
rebates, but what we got was lists of things that COULD be done by licensed
contractors that would practically be paid for by rebates through the gas
and Electric companies; I was amazed.

The inspector said the work we had was "shoddy" and way below code and below
safety standards, and to get the rebates we had to have licensed contractors
redo, or do it by sealing the under floor ducts, insulating them, and
insulating the ceiling after sealing the ducts above our bedroom,
but they practically pay us back to have it done,
so if you are suffering from below code, or below safety or "shody workmanship" (they actually used that term)
on your ducting or insulation, get it redone now before (I think it is May
7) when the reabates shrink way down.

Right now between the two gas and electric companies you can actually make a few bucks on the rebates if you can get a contractor.
The Gas co. Inspector shook his head and wondered aloud who had ever
inspected "This mess" and got it approved by the city. I have to wonder too.


Just thought you might like to know if that is the case with your house or
rental you only have a week.

It might be good to have it inspected next door because I think you had the same team do that house as you had do mine.



Dear LoLyn,

As I build, every hour or so some of us builders say something about what the inspectors will inspect.

However, because this is for my own use, I make sure it is stronger than it needs to be.

G

To: G
From LoLyn

That would be my philosophpy, but apparently our builders had just the opposite.



Date: 4/26/2009 4:32:46 PM
To: lolyn123@comcast.net
Subject: City inspectors and Utility Rebates

Oh good grief!! I almost missed the whole point. I read down to the last line saying you just thought I might want to know.

Then, and only then did I see the kind reference that led me to realize you had copied your builder and the city about the incompetent inspector!!

I kept hearing about it on the TV.
I hadn't even thought about the apartments!!
I'm sure the house could use upgrades, too.
The new windows I put in a few years ago definitely have saved on heating and cooling.
Yes, I will call tomorow and check on it.

"He shook his head and wondered aloud who had ever inspected

"This mess" and got it approved by the city."

Oh my, oh my how absolutely insulting and offensive!!
How could he have dared voice such a truth??
I really, really hope he reports the inspector.
He was probably just so sick of the crap that he signed off on it to get the,
uum, remodeler people out of his hair.

Part of the, oh this wasn't done right, is part of the game.
You don't know how many repairmen have come in and commented on work done by other repairmen of the same type.
The sad thing beyond the game is that they are often right.
That's why I stick with my Expert Rooter people, then we always know who did what if indeed it is wrong.

I also saw on TV where the contractors were ripping people off.
Apparently the money is paid directly to the people who then pay the contractor for the job.

They would just raise the prices of whatever you wanted done to make sure they pocketed all the money.

Make sure you call around and see what a comparable job would be by someone else.

It was barely just now that I put all those pieces together.

Thank you,


From: LoLyn
To: siblings and kids
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 4:06 PM
Subject: City inspectors and Utility Rebates

I sent a copy of my letter,(above) just straight, no comment, no editoralizing or moralizing to the mayor and city council just now. You think they might get the point, or miss it like you did.


From: LoLyn
Date: 4/26/2009 4:36:33 PM
To:
Subject: City inspectors and Utility Rebates

Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes. They gave us quite a list of contractors. My trouble is getting my husband to call them before April is over. I fear I will have to do it my self.

Fellowship Bible Church - Contact Us

Fellowship Bible Church - Contact Us

Our Home is open for the Lord's Work

Dear Growing Together;

I am a born again Christian and have finally found my place in the Christian world.
I am sharing this letter I wrote to our new Pastor. See Post above.

Dear Pastor Mike:
I'm sorry you did not get to meet my husband when he came to pick us up. You were there in the sanctuary one minute and had disappeared when he came the next!

I have had many healings through the Lords intervention these last few weeks
and I know he has prepared me to do His work and
led me to you to be used in His work.
Anything I can offer your church is yours for the asking.

I signed up for the family bible camp and other things I could see on the table.

T was happy and said, "I really like this church" several times on the way home, which made me very happy indeed.

He is our newest in a long line of foster children.

I have been pushing for and waiting for two years back pay on social security

disability payments from which I will tithe this church for the building fund

and missionary fund and plate passing as soon as it comes,

hopefully by next Sunday.


After that I will be broke again,

so I hope that keeps me in good standing for a very long time.

With that money, or rather the hope of that money,

we have been fixing up our home and yard to be a place for kids to come,

with a basketball court on the driveway;

in our back yard we have an enclosed patio, wading pool,

badmittion-volley ball net, and across 1000 East

The city of Orem has graciously put in a grassy park in which

we can play foot ball or base ball or crochet which we have equipment for.

We also plan a sunken trampoline in the back yard.

We have two bedrooms for foster boys and two downstairs which I wanted to use and

fixed up for offices, I am fixing one for now for a rental room for college students. I keep one for a counseling office and my computer room where I do genealogy and other research and blogging.

The Lord has blessed me in so many ways.

We welcome the church members and neighbors in our home and yard for parties and socials throughout the year. That is why we are making it the 'go to home".

Much like the bridegroom inviting everyone to his party,

we have been pretty well rejected by the people in this neighborhood,

so we are glad to open it up to everyone else.

We live at 1000 East 800 North just West of the mouth of the Canyon,

about a block and a half east of Harmon's Grocery Store, very accessible.

We look forward to a long association with your congregation,

and will probably be attending the 9 a.m. Session from now on,

because T and I also want to attend a Spanish speaking church

at 1 to improve our Spanish so we can do the Lord's work in Spanish,

and also my counseling in Spanish more fluently.

Thank you for welcoming us into your congregation.

It was a real rush this morning.

LoLyn and T.

Growing asparagus

Subject: Re: Mike McGroarty's 72 second gardening message. April 15, 2009

Dear Mike:

Thank you.

I just bought a dozen bare root asparagus and wasn't sure what to do with them.

Each day my back yard nursery grows from cuttings, seeds I've gathered on walks

through the neighborhood in Summer time, and a few things I've bought.

You have been an inspiration to me through the long winter depression,

giving me hope and plans for a wonderful hobby this spring.

I have posted a couple of your news letters and web site information

on my web site "gardening ideas" growingtogethercounseling.com

for others to contact you.

Having some trouble finding Green Sand in this area, nurseries do not know about it,

so I printed your news letter to take with me to

Home Depot and Lowes to try to order it.
Then I looked it up on the internet and found Green Planet and they were very Helpful. I got mine last week.

We're having our first Utah County Growing Together

"yard sale" every weekend in May

to sell some of the nursery stock I've accumulated.

I'll post and send photos.

LoLyn


Subject: Re: Mike McGroarty's 72 second gardening message.
April 15,2009

Just watching mine patiently grow from root clumps will be a unique experience;

I ordered 10 five pound bags of green sand for the gardens, I'll let you try some of it if you want.

I was going to sell most my root stock of asparagus,

but I think I'll make a whole plot of it and harvest in two years and from then on. I love asparagus with milk and hard cooked eggs in the spring.

-------Original Message-------

From: Marie Hunter
Date: 04/15/09 10:30:16
To: lolyn123@comcast.net
Subject: Re: Mike McGroarty's 72 second gardening message. April 15,2009

I started asparagus from seed and carefully nurtured it

for the full growing first year.

Then I put them outside and they thrived.

They were just starting to have asparagus looking shoots.

Then something happened, don't remember what,

and I temporarily buried them and that was the end of them,

never even saw a peek of sprout after that,

which seemed really weird.

Just the watching the patiently growing from seed was worth the experience.

Growing Asparagus by Mike

An asparagus patch is typically started with one-year-old
crowns purchased from a garden center or seed catalog.

A crown is the root system of a year-old asparagus plant grown
from seed.

There is conflicting information on how asparagus crowns
should be planted.

Traditionally it was recommended to dig
an 8-inch deep trench for the crowns, then carefully spread
out the roots within the trench, refilling it a bit at a
time as the plants grow.

However, recent comparison studies have shown that

it isn't necessary to gradually fill the trench
or spread out the roots.
Additionally, the deeper asparagus crowns are planted,
the more the yield will be reduced.

To plant your asparagus crowns in the spring, start by
digging a trench that is 5-6 inches deep.
For every 50 feet of row, add a pound of 0-46-0 triple superphosphate fertilizer
or two pounds of 0-20-0 superphosphate fertilizer to the trench.

Next, toss the crowns into the trench, right on top of the
fertilizer. The plants will grow well whether or not the
roots are spread out.

Place the crowns 18 inches apart,with five feet between rows.
This will provide good air circulation for the plants

and help prevent fungal diseases.

Finally, backfill the trench to the original soil level,

being careful to not compact the soil over the crowns.

If you have poorly draining or clay soil, it would be

better to plant your asparagus in a raised bed.

You can learn how to create a raised bed here:
http://freeplants.com/preparing-raised-planting-beds.htm

The asparagus spears cannot be harvested

the same year the crowns were planted.


The plants need this time to build their energy so they can produce well.

The following year you may harvest a small crop over a three-week period,

and over a 4-6 week period the year after that.

It is the third year after planting when you can continue to harvest

for the full 6-8 week season.

Stop harvesting when new spears become less than a half inch in diameter.

Once harvesting is done,

allow the plants to grow and keep their fern-like foliage

through fall and winter.

The foliage will catch snow that will provide moisture

and insulation for the roots.

Cut or mow the foliage in early spring before new growth begins to emerge.

Have a great week!
-Mike McGroarty

(more personal stuff about Mike and Pam and pictures
of our grandkids)
http://www.freeplants.com/stuff.htm

P.S. The message board is here:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/519353/



McGroarty Enterprises Inc.
P.O. Box 338
Perry, Ohio 44081, USA

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:
http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?LMxsnKystCwsLAys7MxstEa0LGzMnEyMTA==

Thanks MIKE, I keep saying I'm not going to post your news letters, but they are so good. I hope every one is subscribing that has an interest in gardening.

Amish lace and Garden tool shed

AS my brother, your uncle Glenn would say, I finally had a rush of brains to the head and realized that sheer curtain on the patio gets dirty because everyone tries to push it out of the way to get though I even quizzed Steven and our proctor son, they both denied it but the boy finally admitted that every night he pushes it closed, even though I have pushed it open past the center screw to keep it out of the way of dirty little hands. And I had blamed my grand kids, but they just haven't been here enough to soil it so much.

A-n-y-w-a-y I found a short rod while cleaning out that shed and Steven installed it on the blank wall from the door to the corner, and then we shortened the rod back to the center point, washed the drapes again, and put them up in two sections; from the freezer to the center point, then no curtain at the exit point, then curtain over the wall to the other corner. It looks nice, and will hopefully stay cleaner. That is real Amish lace, and I just hated to let it get dirty but didn't want to take it down either.

Jose finished the chain link fence and rock walk around the garden. He built and welded a re-bar base to the basketball pole which will be cemented into the concrete slab "eterrado" (entoumbed) at the end of the b-ball court.

I finally went to the doctor, the pain in my rib got so much worse today, only today did I realize I had broken in in my fall last Friday morning before leaving for Argosy. I think moving that heavy desk probably did not do it any good.
I used my back brace placed higher to hold it in place for the ride, but the doc said not to wear it too much because it appeared to be cutting off my breathing.
On the way home we stopped at Hale theatre to schedule our season tickets for "As You LIke it "in three weeks; can't do the 16th we have classes, next week is too soon to sit through, so my rib should be healed about right by the 23. Always good to check things off the list.

My ENT called back about the green speutem and said I should STOP the sinus irrigation and take an RX oral perscription he called in for me, then scheduled a CT scan on my sinuses again for Monday to try to see what's going on. After two and a half months of medicated sinus irrigation daily, ya think it would be clearing up. Maybe, he said, we can fix that cough. When??????

I have gotten the shed water sprayed out and thrown things away by the box load. It will be so neat to have space for the garden tools and lawn mower and snow blower. We don't have much so it's nice to be able to take care of the tools we do have properly.

Mom/sister/ auntie

Creo estoy sonando

I believe I am dreaming, with having Jose here repairing and installing
everything I have dreamed about for four years. In four days of work, and
less than five hundred dollars in wages and materials he has repaired most
the things on the list that hung on my refrigerator for four years. My brother and husband were totally overwhelmed by the list, and I didn't know where or
how to begin. No one would help me as a service project even though it was promised several times.

Right now, Jose is busting his ass digging out the basket ball court area
from the winter collapse so we can pour concrete next week if my money comes through. It would be fun if the grand kids could gather around and put their hand prints on the boarders, their names and birth dates; maybe then I could remember how to spell them and their birthdays!

He's only doing that now because we need to give him some money to got to Home Depot to pick up the materials to complete the chain link fence around the swimming pool area, and to finish the green house kitchen window.
Steve should be back shortly, but Jose is as manic as I, and can't just sit around.

Steven is buying film today and I will take some photos, take them to Wall
greens for a CD and post them in a few days. Yes, it would be nice to have a
digital camera and that is on my list of things to buy if the federal
government actually sends me the money they have promised for the last two
years.

Yes, I am a socialist. Yes, I Like living off the government's hand outs
for social security disability.

I will enjoy my incentive check and tax returns. I appreciate Paul Farb, my third husband having arranged for me to get total refunds for the rest of my life on federal income tax because of his narcissistic errors. Bless him. At least I get a little of what I invested in him back. If you see him, tell him thank you.

No, I am not ashamed to admit it. The world and my church has treated me with disdain for 60 years, and I deserve a little payback.

I have paid my dues to church and state, and I don't mind getting a little of my own back, thank you.

I put new hats on my scarecrows from my hat collection and worked on the
split rail fence around the garden. I planted 12 ASPERAGUS plants and have
slats to put by them, one for each grand child. It will take about two
years before we can begin to harvest asparagus to eat. By then the
grandkids should be old enough to try tasting it. Begin to prepare them now.

Come by those who can, drag Mother over to see it, and patiently wait for
the 20th century low tech high tech photos.


Love you, LoLyn.