random Sunday randomings

[the_siobhan]

You know the falling down house I posted about? My suspicions are confirmed that the buyers are planning to flip it. For the last two weeks I've been watching them staple new shingles over the roof of the front porch and put aluminium siding over the front and side walls. Over the moldy shingles and the gaping fucking hole between the wall and the roof. Only trouble is, the walls are still pulling away from the roof and there is already a gap developing above the siding. The porch is also pulling away from the rest of the building, and there are now big spaces between the individual boards on the side.

I really hope any potential buyers get a good inspector before they lay out any money on this dog.

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I'm sorting through trip pictures today. Things got a little delayed in that regard because the first thing I smelled when we walked in the door when we got home was mice. I've been tearing the kitchen apart and cleaning up poop along with the usual post-holiday laundry, cleaning and sorting.

Well that and all the lovely distractions that keep dropping by the house. But I ain't about to start complaining about that.

It occurs to me that I never finished uploading the pics from our February California trip. Oops.

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Toronto has insane gridlock and air pollution - and a provincial ministry is threatening to shut down a ride-sharing program? Can you say what the fuck?

http://save.pickuppal.com/petition

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WE HAVE TOMATOES! Still green, but winking alluringly at me from the branches, promising me healthy and and delicious delights in the near future.

The basil plant didn't survive, but one of the pepper plants is throwing out fruit. For some reason I didn't expect them to be purple. FYI, they are maybe an inch long.



How do you tell when they are ripe? I took a bite out of one that I pulled off by accident, but I don't think it's done cooking yet.

It's going to be a challenge getting the vegetables before the bastard raccoons do. They have not only ripped the slats out of the composter and then chewed through the chicken wire we used to repair it, but in the last few days they have chewed right through the thick plastic handle on the top.

Axel is researching metal compost bins as we speak.

Comments

[divine.livejournal.com]

Peppers take some time to mature. If it's the ones i'm thinking they are, they need to be like 6 or 7 inches before they're tasty and delicious.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Do the stems of the peppers have a sort of "join"? I know with tomatoes, they're ripe when you lift and twist the fruit and the stem breaks of neatly, and I think the same is true for at least some peppers, although it's hard to tell from that photo whether it'll work for those! They're a gorgeous color; I don't think I've ever seen purple peppers before!

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, they are both belladonna family.

They're pretty, aren't they? There are some orange and yellow ones on the same plant, but most of them are purple.

Exerience from BoyMan's Garden

[panic-girl.livejournal.com]

They haven't gone after his peppers yet and one of them is almost ripe. Maybe they don't like them? They do seem to like cucumbers an awful lot. We saw some nibbles on one, but we let it stay instead of picking it. And they keep returning to the same cucumber to nibble and leave the others alone. I'm not sure if this is particular behaviour to the raccoons in his hood, but it's worth noting if you see anything like that in your garden.

Purple peppers (I've had) aren't sweet like red/yellow/orange bell peppers BTW. They taste like the white ones, which is to say slightly bitter and like a whole lotta nothin'. So don't expect the same taste.

[elixxir.livejournal.com]

I am very jealous of your leet veggie growing skillz. Everything we planted died a brutal and violent death. Of course, watering them might have helped? You really need to post before and after shots of that moldy house flip. My morbid curiosity is en flambe!

[liz-lowlife.livejournal.com]

Tomatoes literally slip off the plant with a mere twist when ripe.

[grimjim.livejournal.com]

There are definitely squirrels digging about in back of where I'm renting, but I'm unsure if there's raccoon activity.

[ashbet]

Purple peppers and lovely distractions = awesome!

Misbehaving wildlife = not so much, sorry about that :/

Heh. I sincerely hope that whoever looks at that house has a good inspector -- I didn't find anything QUITE that egregious at my old house, but I certainly found some things that the inspector had missed, to my dismay. Of course, this was well after the inspection-warranty had expired ;P

Looking forward to seeing your pics, whenever you have time to put them up!

*smooches*

-- A <3

[ladyclayton.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be sweet irony if the house collapsed after these bozos put all that work into it? You know it's inevitable... ;)

PURPLE PEPPER! So pretty!

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

People actually still use aluminum siding?!?!

Did the orange and yellow peppers on the plant start out orange and yellow, or were they purple first? Pretty good chance that those orange ones are the ripe ones. I'm trying to think of peppers that are purple in the mature stage, and am coming up empty (not that that means anything; my brain comes up empty a LOT)

[sickboy.livejournal.com]

As someone who bought a flip house and had an engineer as the inspector, but still discovered MAJOR problems afterwards, I wish there was somewhere that this type of unscrupulous act could be reported. I just can't begin to fathom the type of person that could pass on such huge issues to some poor unsuspecting stooge.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I ended up calling the city on them. There will be a building inspector going around to check it out.

[(Anonymous)]

Those aren't the peppers I gave to you that had trouble surviving in my shady appartment, are they?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Nope. Those ones got offed by the slugs.

[(Anonymous)]

Those aren't the peppers I gave to you that had trouble surviving in my shady apartment, are they?

Jenn

[(Anonymous)]

sorry for the double post. *hangs head in shame*