The Year of Pandemic

2020 has been a year like no other. At the end of 2019, there were news from China about an outbreak of a new deadly virus.  Most of us didn't think too much of it. It was all the way on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. As the months went by, it had reached Europe.  Italy was hit particularly hard with the highest death toll then it came to the States.  At the end of March, while I was working in the office, the Shelter in Place order came from the County Official and the State Governor. We were told that we needed to "flatten the curve" of the virus infection rate. Within a few hours, we were all making arrangements to work from home. 

The following week, all the retail stores and restaurants were closed.  Only essential businesses were open such as grocery stories and hospitals. Suddenly, it felt like we were in a war as the city streets, mass transit and freeways were empty.  Everyone's weekend outing plans were cancelled. Schools were closed. All non-essential air travel was cancelled.  My home became the safest and only place I could be. 

With all the time staying at home, I started working on the garden and other home projects every weekend and sometimes after work. My old garage door was in need of a fresh coat of paint. I thought instead of just painting it with one color, why not paint something interesting on it.  Although I have done much drawing in recent years, I made a pencil sketch on paper.  Within a week, I repainted my garage door with lilac color hibiscus flowers on a bright golden yellow background. Many people in the neighborhood stopped to compliment the painting.  Most of my neighbors were surprised that I can draw and paint a mural.  I often see people stopping on the sidewalk taking photos of the painting.

There were tentative plans to lift the shelter in place order on June 1st.  Unfortunately, people couldn't stay home during Memorial weekend.  The infection rate shoot up again after the holiday weekend. 

During July 4th weekend, I picked as many plums as I could to give away to people in the neighborhood.  For some reason, every plum tree in El Cerrito were covered with super juicy sweet plums.  Many people were giving away plums on NextDoor.

After all the plums were gone, I decided it was time to get rid of the grass and plant some bee flowers. I started with the small patch on the sidewalk.  It took me about a week, one hour a day, to dig up all that tough grass.

By now, some businesses were allowed to open as long as certain guidelines are followed. I made a trip to Annie's Annuals and Perennials and got a bunch of bee and butterfly friendly and drought tolerant plants. I am particularly excited about the hollyhock.  After all the plants were planted, someone in the neighborhood was giving away extra mulch since they ordered too much for their yard.  I was able to get enough to cover the area. 

It's been exciting to see many people taking advantage of this time to redo their gardens.  Last weekend, I have finally removed all the grass in the front yard.  Now I am just waiting for the HomeDepot gift card to arrive in the mail so I can go get the soil and compost for the new front garden.

Bench Makeover

Before photo of the bench

A few days ago, Katy from next door, told me that she saw a free bench on the curbside on her way home. She thought it might be something I would like.  We hoped  in my car, and she showed me where it was.  It was just about 3 or 4 blocks from home. I thought it was a nice bench even though the paint is chipping away. We also found a broken part, which I could easily just glue together. We managed to partially get it in my P.T. Cruiser and carefully drove back home.

 I first glued the broken part with my Gorilla Glue.  I thought about getting some Liquid Nails, but this broken part really didn't affect the functionality of the bench, so I decided not to spend extra money on it. I tightened the parts I glued together with a piece of red ribbon since I don't have clamps. It dried pretty quickly. I sanded the entire bench with a sanding block then hosed it down to clean it.

Glued the broken part with Gorilla Glue then held it together with red ribbon

I let the bench dry overnight before painting it. Even though I liked how the yellow color of the bench totally matched my house, I decided to paint it in lavender. I picked up a couple cans of Rust-Oleum Painter's Tough 2X in Satin French Lilac from Home Depot.  They are about $4 per can. I could have used a 3rd can to give it an extra layer, but the point here is to do it as cheap as possible using mostly found or free items. I spray painted the bench in the front yard. It was a windy day as usual in the Bay Area, so I had to stop frequently and seize the moments when the wind died down a little.  I am pretty happy with the bench's new look. What do you think?

After

Getting Ready for Warm Days

We had a pretty mild winter this year.  There was hardly any rain although it rained a little today.  It seems summer is arriving early. Our new home gets hot in the back, so I have started getting some patio items out. The cooling orange bed for the dogs. Crucus likes to jump onto it like it's a trampoline. I also put on a clothesline to dry towels and sheets.

A few weeks ago on my way to work, I saw someone put out a green patio chair to give away. I turned around and put it in my car.  After hosing it down, it's my patio chair now.

A few months ago, one of the neighbors on my block was getting rid off a couple patio umbrellas. Other than they are old and used, they are in perfect shape.  I took both of them since there isn't much shade in the yard until all the leaves grow back on the trees. I have been hoping to find a couple umbrella stands on cragislist.com with no avail. I finally had to buy a cheap one from Home Depot.

A few days ago, I found the umbrella with the stand lying on its side when I got home from work. I guess it was too windy. Now I put 2 of my spare kitchen counter tiles on top of the umbrella stand, and it's perfect. Those tiles are very heavy.

Pre Sand Village Days - Paving A Patio With Free Material

When I was pulling weeds yesterday, I thought about how I put together this brick patio all by myself without spending any money other than gas for transporting the free material. It was back in 2009 before I started my vegetable garden. I just wanted an area in the middle of the yard that I could put a patio set as a gathering spot.

I didn't want to spend too much money on the project, so I started looking into "free" section under "for sale" on craigslist.org. I was only interested in picking up free material within 5 miles radius from home. The posting I had been waiting for showed up one Saturday morning. A house up in Kensington was being remodeled, and they had taken down their old fireplace. The bricks from the fireplace were outside of the house free for the taking. I responded to the posting, got the address, and went up to get the bricks. I roughly estimated that I needed at least 400 bricks for the size of my patio.

The bricks were quite heavy, so I made at least 6 trips in two days to upload and unload the bricks. I also picked up some free sand from a house in Berkeley. Before I could lay the bricks down, I had to dig up the weeds. That digging was a back breaking job since the soil was extremely dry and hard. Finally, on April 29, 2009, I start putting the bricks together. I had never put anything together like this before, so I looked up some patterns and methods on the internet. That was all the knowledge I had. Everyday after work I was out there assembling my patio for the next two weeks. Some bricks had mortar attached to them, so I had to either try to knock the mortar off or dig the ground to fit the uneven bricks.

As I was finishing up the patio, I picked up a free patio table with 2 chairs in Albany. The table was small enough to fit into the back of my PT Cruiser. I put 3 coats of paint on the table. I also picked up a free patio umbrella from a nice elderly woman in El Cerrito Hills. The woman explained to me that the squirrels had chewed up the fabric at a few spots; other than that, it was a really nice umbrella. I didn't mind the holes. I could sew them up easily. That was a much easier job than paving the bricks!

So, this is how I got my patio. About a month after its completion, I hosted my first BBQ in the garden to celebrate my cousin's going off to college.

Little cousin was leaving for UC Riverside