Backyard Garden

We finally put in our backyard garden:

Each plant lives in a unique Tupperware container, and has been tied-in to the shower’s water line to make watering super easy.

Broccoli

Peppers

Spinach

Strawberries

Tomatoes

These photos are actually a few weeks old. We have already harvested the first crop, and nothing tastes better than home-grown from your own organic garden.

Backyard Update

June 29, 2008- the backyard looked like this:

November 23, 2008- roughly 5 months later:

December 13, 2007- the north side:

November 23, 2008- roughly 11 months later:

We have finished edging the lawn around the house, and removed the palm from the north side (by the air conditioner). By now you should be able to visualize the brick path that will follow all the way around the house. The north side planting beds are waiting for the new air conditioner; the west side is going to hold an organic garden.

In the corner we have planted a navel orange tree. We should have fruit this time next year, plus, it fills in the corner nicely.

As you can see, the persian shield didn’t do very well over by the bottle palm, so we moved it here, along with some ground cover. Hopefully the corner will fill in between now and Spring.

Landscaping Update

The front path has been extended all the way across the front yard:

Across the front of the house we have planted Yucca Cane, and a colorful assortment of Hibiscus:

Besides our neighbor’s yard we planted more Hibiscus, and some bright red Ixora.

Before:

After:

Here is the Eric Garden Memorial*, consisting of a bottle palm, two large, purple Hawaiian Ti, a pair of smaller Dracaena and a few Persian Shield plants (bright purple).

*Special thanks to Eric for helping us remove the stump-o-death last month.

New Washer & Dryer

After the flood, the old washer and dryer finally died.

We decided to build a cabinet in order to hold the new washer & dryer a few inches off the ground.

We decided to include a section for the sink, complete with backsplash.

We found a great deal on some tile on clearance sale, so we decided to tile it.

A little bit of molding really helped pull everything together.

Final step: we added the sink, and a small door for the sink cabinet.

As you can see, I’m very happy with how it came out.

Also: behind the cabinet you can see the new water heater.

Brainstorm: Flood-Proof Emergency Water System

Background: My house is located on the Space Coast of Florida. For those who don’t know- Florida is the flattest state in the USA, and so, flooding is a constant problem for us. Furthermore, this week Tropical Storm Fay decided to come visit, resulting in massive flooding. One consequence of this flooding has been the temporary contamination of our water supply. As a result, we have been advised not to drink or cook with tap water until after the storm has passed.

Problem: Our traditional gutters simply route water from the roof into the ground beside the house. When flooding occurs, the gutters continue to deliver rain water directly next to the house, where it begins to seep through the wall and into the house interior. Furthermore, our water supply is unreliable during an emergency.

Idea: A system to gather rain water, store it for emergency use, and then deposit excess water into the storm drain, rather than an already-flooded yard. Here is a crude diagram to help illustrate my idea:

Step 1: Rain hits the roof, and is collected by the gutters

Step 2: Gutters carry the water down from the roof

Step 3: Rather than dump the water into the ground, it is delivered into a large plastic barrel; something like this 55 gallon drum here

Step 4: Each of these barrels is connected to one another with PVC pipes; as a result the water level will equalize itself between all barrels from the force of gravity alone

Step 5: The final barrel will be positioned directly outside of the garage, which is where our water heater is located

Step 6: The final barrel will be have a release valve coming out the top; when the barrel is full, excess water will escape through this valve. This will lead into a drainage pipe, which will direct excess water into the sewer drain located in the street in front of our house

Step 7 (not pictured): The final barrel (5) will also include a pipe to draw water into the garage. Inside the garage, some sort of pump/filtration system will convert rain water into drinkable water, and then distribute it into the normal plumbing of the house.

My theory goes like this: so long as rain water is available, the house will be self-sufficient. When no rain water is available, the house will draw from the normal water supply, provided from the city via the sewer. During a storm, the house will have plenty of emergency rain water to use while city water is unavailable. During normal days, the house will remain self-sufficient as long as possible, by gathering and storing rain water. When no rain water is available, i.e. during a drought, city water will serve as the fallback supply.

Furthermore, rather than flood the yard, and eventually the house, the new gutter system will divert all unusable water directly into the sewer drain, and back to the city water supply.

Issues: I am not an engineer, and so, this is nothing more than a brainstorm. All corrections and ideas are very welcome and encouraged. There are many issues with a system such as this, for example:

How safe is rain water? Can it be filtered into usable drinking water?

Are my expectations of fluid dynamics accurate? Will the above design fail to work the way I expect it to? Will secondary pumps be required to keep water levels equal among all barrels? Will the release valve be able to accommodate a sudden flash flood? Does each barrel require a secondary (emergency) release valve?

Will this system prevent flash flooding? If the sewer is already flooded, this system won’t do a lick of good to prevent my yard from submerging itself. However, assuming the city drainage systems continue to work normally, will this system help divert potential flood waters away from my house?

Can such a system be built to handle hurricane-force winds? I assume that 55 gallons of rain water is heavy enough to stay attached to the ground even during heavy winds. Furthermore, all gutters and pipes could be attached to the house itself. Am I being overly optimistic?

Could the same system work underground? The biggest flaw with this design is that it will result in a bunch of ugly barrels surrounding the house. But- what if the barrels were at least partially buried, and still level with one another. In other words, imagine the same design (above), but with each barrel coming up out of the ground only a foot or so, and surrounded (hidden) by a planting bed. Would it still work? It would certainly look nicer.

What about step 7? How do I turn rain water into drinking water, and distribute it through the house? Is it as simple a series of filters to remove debris and contaminates? If so, could I also run city water through the same filtration process, to ensure high quality regardless of source? What about leaves, sand and other sentiment? Can I somehow filter the gutters to remove large debris before it reaches the barrels?

As I said, I am looking to connect with other people who know more about this sort of thing than I do, especially those of you who have already done something similar. If you are an engineer with a sustainability fetish, please help a brother out and leave a comment with your thoughts, opinion and advice.

Disaster Strikes!

Back in June of 2007 we spent a few days fixing up the garage. This year, after returning from our summer vacation, we discovered that the water heater had exploded, turning the garage into a sauna. After two weeks of slowly simmering at 90+ degrees, the garage had become a real mess.

Water heater go boom.

Fun fact: mold loves the warm, humid climate of Florida.

A new water heater is on the way, with new doors soon to follow.

More updates as events warrant.

Front Yard Update

Today’s subject: the little strip of land between the garage, and our neighbor’s property.

When we last visited this area (December 2007) things were not looking good:

Seven months later, the grass had started to grow back, but the area was still a mess:

The plan: path leading from driveway to the garage door (side door) and garbage can area, surrounded with pretty planting beds:

Progress: edged the lawn, cleared the path, relocated healthy lawn to giant dead spot, and prepared planting beds:

Left to do:

- build small wall to hide garbage cans

- create path (bricks? pavers?)

- replace garage door (side door)

- replace outside light (after painting house)

- repair the rest of the front lawn (after removing a few stumps)

Update: Florida Room & Backyard

Before we bought this house, the Florida Room looked like this:

Today it looks like this:

We removed the ugly crossbars, replaced the screens and screen door…

…we even installed a doggie door. After replacing a few key pieces of the frame, and some fresh paint, the exterior wall looks good as new.

Behind the pool we’ve planted a Traveler’s Palm. As you can see, its still suffering from a combination of transplant shock, and Hurricane season.

Assuming it survives and flourishes, one day it should look like this:

Back in September 2007, the backyard looked like this:

Today, it looks like this:

We’ve installed a gate to our neighbor’s house, and started edging the lawn. Eventually there will be a brick path winding its way around the entire house.

As you can see, the lawn has grown back, thanks to a very rainy few weeks.

Office Floor

In the office, we decided to install a laminate wood floor. In the end, the decision came down to cost, quality, and ease of installation.

Installing laminate floor is pretty easy. Simply lay down the padding, and snap the floor together. The pieces are built with special groves so that they fit together without glue or nails.

The hardest part is cutting the pieces of flooring to fit the room. Closets are especially annoying.

All that remains is doors, trim, and window blinds.

Tile Windowsills

Here we see Mo with the tile saw.

And here she is applying adhesive.

And, while we were at it, we decided to tile the little step in the guest bedroom too.

After a little grout, the step looks great.

The windowsills came out great too.