Friday, August 29th, 2008
There is something that really bugs me about myself. I think I’ll tell you what it is. My brother has the same problem. We I get something in my head, it rarely leaves until I satisfy it. Many times, it has to do with a project I am doing and it involves me going to the store to buy something. I am a pig.
With that said, I decided to beef up the landscape lighting I installed the other day. I mean, it looked good and all, but I didn’t think it was enough. Ever since I went to Punta Cana and saw what the resort did with landscape lighting, I have been intrigued. I like the effects of landscape lighting at night. In my humble opinion, it’s really cool.
Now, I know you remember the six landscape lights that I set up just the other day. I bet you thought that was pretty cool. Well, that was nothing and personally, I thought it was a bit wimpy.
I decided to go back to Home Depot to get six more lights, but this time I got six Malibu low voltage flood lights. They are wicked cool. I also had to upgrade the 121 watt power pack to a 300 watt power pack because there were more lights in the system. That wasn’t hard, it just cost more money. By the way, if anyone wants to set up their own landscape lighting system and needs a 121 watt power pack (good for about ten low voltage lights), let me know and I will give you the old one.
So now, we have six low voltage sidewalk lights and six low voltage flood lights that face up towards the house.
Take a look at what I’m talking about…
How cool is that? Just a few lights brought the place from dark and boring to warm and inviting. I think it looks great, but would love to hear what you think.
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Posted in Home Improvement, Landscaping, Trees & Shrubs | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 29th, 2008
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I have been busting my butt to get the front sidewalk area of the house landscaped. It wasn’t all that difficult because things were in pretty good shape. I really like mulch areas, so I decided to add a few. Keeps the weeds down, if you know what I mean. Also, it just looks damn good.
After a few trips to the local hardware store for some mulch and a lot of weeding and digging, I can finally show you some photos of my hard work. I think you will be impressed with my perfection.
Here you go.
Front of the house from a distance
New Blue Princess Holly bush
After all that weeding and trimming, I had a few open areas. I decided to get two Blue Princess Holly bushes to fill the void. I also decided to get some more landscape lighting. Oh, you just wait for the next post for that one.
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Posted in Gardening, Home Improvement, Landscaping, Trees & Shrubs | No Comments »
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
I am not sure how I get myself into these messes.
I had a second to spare this afternoon, so I decided to put a shovel in my hand. Then, I went outside and started looking around. I had planned on doing all the mulch beds in the Spring, so what the heck was I doing when I started digging up the grass?
Oh well, since it was already started…I decided to drag the shovel along the ground in a nice curvy line. I had a vision of how I wanted these particular mulch beds to look. By the way, here’s a tip for you; when making a mulch bed, make it three times larger than you originally planned. There is nothing worse than a small mulch bed. Trust me, when it’s done, you’ll think a professional landscaper did it. The two beds I made here already, I have to go back and make them bigger.
Before I started digging the mulch bed
Starting to dig the mulch bed
Finished digging the mulch bed
Second finished mulch bed photo
If you can see what I did, you will notice that I just dug a sharp trench, about eight inches deep, along the line where I want to see the mulch. Anything to the right of that line is going to be covered with mulch. Realistically, you just need somewhere for the mulch to butt up against. I don’t worry about the chunks of grass and the existing grass. That won’t grow through, if you put enough mulch down. I did this back at the old house and only saw small areas of grass peek through. I killed that with weed killer.
Now that the front is done, I have to do the other side, along with some more flower transplants. Once that is done, I am going to order my ten yards of mulch and go to town.
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Posted in Landscaping | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 21st, 2008
Facebook Redesign To Go Live Tomorrow
Five months later and it looks like Facebook is ready to release their new profile redesign. Initially Facebook announced they were working on a redesign earlier this year. In May, a glimpse of the redesigned was released to developers in the developers sandbox. Tomorrow evening the redesign will be open to the public.
Google’s Android Losing It’s Mojo Fast
Android started off being a great idea, from a great company, with lots of support from carriers and manufacturers, and an awesome $10million contest to get developers drooling. With some stiff competition from Apple, and loss of developer morale, I’m afraid of what the future might hold for this platform.
First Commercial-Scale Tidal Power System Delivers
The world’s first commercial-scale tidal turbine developed by British tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines, has delivered electricity onto the grid for the first time. In principle, SeaGen works much like an “underwater windmill”, driven by the power of the tidal currents.
Google Tests Search Interface That Looks More Like Digg
In the new Google Search Interface each comment has an up or down vote feature as well, and Google is using thumbs up and down icons that are exactly the same as those on Digg. The comments show the username of the person leaving it, and clicking on it shows their Google account profile.
Google Launches New Space Race To The Moon
When Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, he uttered unforgettable words. But the next visitor to roam the lunar landscape may send back e-mail instead. Welcome to a new kind of space race, where the earthly guest will be a machine and the goal is as much exploration as seeking out new business ventures.
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Posted in Current Events | No Comments »
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
If you have ever driven through Virginia, you would probably agree with me when I say it is a very pretty state. I like to drive down Interstate 81 because of the scenery. Virginia has a very diverse landscape, which makes almost the entire state exciting.
I am sure I mentioned that I love to browse different towns online. I like to look at photos of the areas. Many times though, there really aren’t a lot of photos to see, not even on the websites that the towns own and maintain. This always gets me a little curious. I mean, the reason for the website in the first place is to inform and attract, so why not add a nice photo gallery to it? I guess they are getting there.
Recently, my brother Jeff bought a cute place in the hills of Virginia near Luray. He has made a little hobby of taking interesting photographs of the area. He has been emailing them to me and I thought they were great. I asked his permission to post them on my blog and he agreed. I think this may be his big break…getting published on a famous blog like mine.
Anyway, since there really aren’t any great shots of Luray, VA out there yet, we are going to start putting them there. The pictures below are some country shots. I believe Jeff is going to start taking pictures of the town and different more populated areas, so I will post them when he gets them to me.
I think I finally know where Jeff gets his talent…me.
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Posted in Family & Friends, Travels | No Comments »
