roses are... pushy

in anticipation of our landscaping coming in a few weeks, we are staining our deck. There's only one problem. Our rose bushes. They were planted way too close to each other -- and the deck -- so they don't have room to breath and are growing over and through the slats. I love roses but not climbing over my shoulders while I'm enjoying a beverage on my new patio furniture.

It may not look like much here but, at the rate they are growing, they will take over half of the deck in a month. There is no way we can stain the deck in this state, especially the outside and slats. 

So off to Home Depot I went and made my favorite home purchase yet:

I went to town with the hedge clippers. It was fun. 

I cut and cut and cut until there were a few inches of space between the bushes and deck. 

Then I went in and cleaned out the really thick areas and the dead branches all around the bush. 

I had to contain myself, hedge clipping is way too much fun. 

It will be so much easier to paint the deck now. We won't have to worry about rouge branches poking out and petals shedding on our fresh paint. 

And I'll be able to enjoy my Summer Shandy in rose-free peace. 

little mrs. fix it...

I am feeling very proud of myself today. I accomplished my first homeowner fix-it project. A few weeks after moving in, I noticed a water spot on the ceiling near our front door. It wasn't something that was noticed during inspection, and in all fairness to our inspector, it could have been mistaken for a paint splotch. Whoever did the paint touch ups did not have a steady hand.

But anyway, I called our inspector and he agreed to come look at it. He thought it was an old spot, but did find the source – a small tear in the membrane of the roof of our front porch.

Luckily, the fix was easy. Fill in the tear with roofing sealant. That meant buying a caulking gun. So now I'm armed and dangerous.

After a bit of a dog and pony show trying to figure out how to use the darn thing, I was ready for action.
I removed the screen and got to work.

I was so excited to use the gun, I forgot to take a picture of the tear. But here I am simulating how I fixed the rip. The tear was located on the right side of an already reinforced square area close to the house. So I just popped my head out the window and started sealing.

I reinforced the entire square because it looked like the old sealant was starting to come apart.

To make sure I got it all, I stuck the gun underneath the siding to make sure I didn't miss any of the tear. Looks like I got some of the siding too.

This is the final product. Looks like I went a little overboard with the sealant, but honestly, it was so hard to pull the trigger on the caulking gun, that I just sort of glopped it on in three layers. The tear was along the right side of the square and was not nearly as big as the cover-up. But better safe than sorry, right?

Now only time will tell if it works, but as of right now, I am pretty proud of my handiwork.