Nuts! Butternuts, That Is!

One of our many vines has finally proven to be a butternut squash.

I suspect our other volunteers are spaghetti squash and sugar pumpkins.

Hm. I think there might be some ravioli in our future this fall!

Explain to me why...

...our electric panel was signed off on in December, but the new meter only got put in a week ago.

LADWP sent us a pretty high estimated bill. They're supposed to revise it based on actual meter readings.

At least something is getting done on the house!

MIA

For about a week, a mama bird had her nest on one of the posts of our porch. She's been gone a few days now, so Rob peeked in and there are eggs in there.

Not sure if a neighborhood cat got her or if we scared her off coming and going each day -- there's only one accessible entrance to our house, so we passed her fairly often.

Bummer.

Knee High!

Our oak has grown about 6 inches in height, in addition to putting out some new branches. Back in December it didn't even clear the stake. There's no stopping it now!

Corn

Our corn didn't get very high -- our soil is clay and totally sucks. One of the plants is starting to die already -- it'll make a great decoration at Halloween.

I've pulled some ears already and, while the husks were a normal size, the ears were miniature. The kernels were full size, though, and they tasted good.

Countdown to Halloween

When Rob and I met 10 years ago, I was trying to grow my own pumpkin. I failed. And I failed at our old apartment.

But now, we have at least one pumpkin that has grown to carving size. If I can just keep it going until Halloween...

Nancy Drew and the Case of the Mystery Vine

I'm going back to posting about the garden since we've at least had progress there!

One of the "volunteers" in the front yard has fruited and it appears to be a spaghetti squash. Can't wait to harvest and top it with our tomatoes and basil!

We've had some tomatoes and basil already, with burrata. Yum!

Stalled, Stopped, Stuck

This is where we're at with the retaining wall.

To save money, our contractor wants to pour the concrete into the cinder blocks at the same time as the floor in the basement. This is because the wall won't use a whole truckload of concrete.

I'm all for saving money, but it would be nice to feel like something is finished. I'm not 100% clear on why we're held up on pouring the floor in the basement, but I suspect it's because of the plumber...

I Hate The Plumber -- Part Four

I've been so bummed that everything has slowed to a crawl that I forgot to post the final (I hope) reason I hate the plumber: Part of the sewer pipe had to be redone because he laid it out straight instead of on an incline.

Just glad our contractor called him on it.

Glacially Slow

This is what our basement looks like at the moment. Which is pretty much what it looked like two months ago. We're not even sure if the plumbing has been signed off on by the city.

Sigh.