What home improvement work did you do today?

I decided to add some sprinkler water for some plants on an island. One plant was looking famished on our hot days. I tapped into a lawn sprinkler and added 1/2 flex line about 6 inches deep. Ended up digging up rocks and buried wood in this short stretch. I need to get some more dirt as the displaced volume removed from the wood and rocks was somewhat substantial.
We had a double rainbow that night over the trees in the back yard.

 

Nice double rainbow! Beautiful property!

 

Some little stuff. Replaced some solar string lights that were only working about 50%. Also made some DIY citronella fire pits from tiki torches in decorative pots.

 

Thanks, 75% of what you see was covered in blackberry, nettles, scrub brush. A neighbor had a guy with a 55000 lb excavator clean up his yard and we hired him to clean things up. We have a log pile in the back that filled up a low spot. I have a Honda ATV Rancher with Wild Hare landscaping attachments that I used for a lot of additional leveling, rock moving and dirt moving etc. we had the original sprinkler installed and included half of the back area you see. It drops down more than 30 ft from our upper area. I’m glad it’s done, just keeping the weeds in control is enough for this old guy now.
After the green belt of trees it is a steep slope down about 150 ft. The house below is about a 1/3 mile away.

 

I would give my right testicle, and maybe my left one for all the good it is doing me, for a property like yours. You have worked extremely hard in building a great retirement place. Time to enjoy!!

 

A lot of half assery geez.

 

Algae/lichen/moss remediation on the back driveway. Had to do the front sidewalk, our flagstone paver patio, and two other flagstone patio path/areas in the yard the last couple of days. But this is the best before/after I've got. 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner is awesome, I'll initially dampen my surface so things stay wet, mix into sprayer at ~ 50/50, spray it on top of slightly damp surface, deck brush scrub the area after a few minutes, let it dwell for 5-10 more, spray it off, and it continues to brighten up the concrete for 2-3 days.

Fun stuff, though. I know the the maple tree behind the green garbage can in the 2nd picture was planted too close to the house. I ended up paying someone $1,200 to take one of the three vertical splits out of it about 10 months ago because that entire split, bigger around than one of my thighs, was fully dead. No visible sign of why it was dead. Well, #FML, I figured out why. Found some "Dead Man's Fingers" fungus on the roots. It's a f'n goner. So now the whole damn tree gets to come out, I guess.

I guess it's a blessing and a curse. Blessing because, if you look at the concrete footer for the deck, maples being invasive-rooted fuckers they are, it's lifting up that deck footer. And you'll see it's also lifting up the apron (note concrete triangle, bottom left) of the house, which has been allowing water to come back toward the house. Ugh. Builder planted that f'n thing too close to the house 22yrs ago. When it rains, it pours I guess ...

Probably need to call out a structural engineer to look at some weird shit I'm noticing on that corner to boot. Something tells me I've got abotu $8k-12k in expenses coming my way soon, but hoping for the best. Hopefully when the roots compact back down, the corner of the house doesn't sink and require a helical pier.

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Oh and the subject "dead man's fingers".

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Dug up whole property line at the long term fixer upper for fence posts to go in, then valley gutters along the property to manage water, then landscaping finally

 

In prep for new siding I extended side awning by 6’ to cover and protect side garage door and garbage/recycle carts. Still have flashing and roofing mater To put on. And the original awning is smoke stained from bbq not leakage.

 

WTF, I've never seen anything like that.

 

Have fun!:

https://purduelandscapereport.org/article/dead-mans-fingers/

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/dead-mans-fingers/

https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/dead-mans-fingers

 

Seems like good advice.

Not recommended/not edible

 

You could really scare the dickens out of the little ones telling them that grandpa is coming back up for air.

 

They would probably laugh, say something like, "OK, BOOMER!" and walk off.

Even though I'm technically not even part of the boomer gen, all X here.

 

Nah. They'd just give it the Gen Z Stare.

 

Pretty much my life with my kids as well.

 

They get pissed at me any time I bring up the Gen Z stare. "All of you parents are talking about that right now, it's total BS!"

I made them watch , so they could understand what it's like to deal with, that blank void, and the muttering in response. It's real, and I'm pretty sure it's because kids don't socialize anymore in person, only on screens. Seriously, the psychological/social damage screens are doing/have done to kids, we're going to be studying that shit for decades to come.

No interest in commentary on that TikToker's appearance. I don't give a shit how people dress or address themselves. The content is a perfect fit for a very real phenomenon, even though I can't stand TikTok or that style of video where people shoot themselves as two different people.

 

Psychotropics. Don't forget how prevalent those are with a lot of young people now days. I think that plays a huge roll in that stare too. Those are really really good at clipping highs/And lows creating a zombie like personality.

 

Our kids aren't on anything though. Most of their friends aren't either. The still do it. I'm convinced it's screens that've caused it. I've noticed in all of them, they prefer to avoid human interaction unless it's through a screen. They literally don't know how to communicate.

Schools here finally decided to take away phones/ban phones from use at school. And they're locking down computers much more diligently. I'll be curious to see if it helps.

 

They are high. High on the constant dopamine surges from those tiny electronic devices they hold every waking moment of the day. These electronic devices are changing us. No one has to ponder, or daydream anymore. No one has to go over to another persons house, or call them on the phone to interact. Our brains are worse for it.

 

Right. No shock, wonderment, Awe, or mystery with ANYTHING anymore. I'm not immune to it either...

 

Hence the blank stare

 

Yeah pretty soon (near future) when a Giblet is pushed out that lemon hole, there will be a monitor instead of a head

 

Yep, it's definitely a real thing. Coworker of mine did it ALL THE TIME. My son didn't realize he did it until I sent him a video...and he responded with "Dang, I do that, don't I? Sorry Dad." No worries - we all have our idiosyncrasies and stuff. I will say my son does it less, but he also just got his car and is socializing like crazy.

On a related note, I'm constantly told how well-adjusted and outgoing my son is, and how he'll gladly talk to anyone at any age. I tell them "Yes, because we actually parent and don't outsource it to a screen."

 

It abso-freaking-lutely helped where I live. (King George County in VA) When they instituted the policy prior to last year's school year, the way parents carried on about it on social media, you would have thought they were consigning kids to prison. LOL SO many parents brought up every exception known to man, from "My precious little muffin needs to be able to tell me when practice is over" (first, that is AFTER SCHOOL, when phones are NOT banned; second, you COULD ask the coach when it usually ends, and be there at that time) to "My son has T1D and needs to monitor his blood sugar" (valid, and there are EXPLICIT exceptions to this in the policy - which most parents didn't bother to read) to BS about 1st amendment rights and blah blah blah.

My son has ADHD, as do some of his friends. To a person, they are GLAD cell phones are banned. They say it's quieter, they can focus easier, and intentional repeat offenders spend a lot more time out of class/at the principal's office.

 

Right? We've been told the same regularly with ours (nearly 15 and 13), and "vocabulary is better than most adults I know!"

I just worry sometimes, because the youngest has zero problems with in-person interactions, but he also does team sports (soccer), but the oldest, while we've made her do stuff, really doesn't seem to like initiating conversations, and her friends are equally uninterested. I think it contributes a lot, and I'm sure if you don't have social interactions early on, and take that risk, just like learning how to drive at an early age when you don't fully grasp risk is important, you lose out and it'll stunt you.

I think we saw similar with millennials and dating, they learned how to date via apps, rather than going to bars/clubs/etc. to ingest 'liquid courage' enough to get comfortable with the process and throw inhibition out the window. That was the 1st sign. Now we're seeing what it's doing to the generation after, and now two generations after with Gen A coming to fruition.

 

We have a timeframe of 3 hours every evening where they (our kids) don't have access to a phone or a screen. I'll be damned if I raise a zombie.