California 2 Puerto Rico

Stefan, Kuta, Monkey, Cheech and I were planting palms behind the house yesterday, trying to pimp out the backyard. We got two Areca Catechu’s in the ground and we were trying to figure out where to plant the red palm that we got from Montoso Gardens. Stefan figured out where it would look good and starting digging with the pickaxe…dig dig dig, dirt, rock, dirt, rock, rock, Medalla can, rock, dirt, THUNK. Uh oh.

Unfortunately we didn’t hit buried treasure. And the only gold we saw was a buried Medalla can. A sure sign that the plumber had been here a one time.

Stefan turned to me and asked if I remember where the ditch was that we layed the sewage line. I took a look at the house and then at the septic tank and it was pretty much a straight line where Stefan was standing with the pickaxe.

Whoops!

So we put our landscaping plan on hold and Stefan ran to the ferrateria (hardware store) to try and get some pipe to repair our septic line. Unfortunately it was Saturday at 3pm and all of the ferraterias were closed. Luckly, there is a plumber that lives in our neighborhood and Stefan found some scrap pipe in his yard.

We cut out the damaged part of the pipe and definately did some ghetto style plumbing. But after 2.5 hours, it works and it doesn’t leak, so mission accomplished.

It’s weird for me to go from working out in a gym 4 times a week, to not really knowing what to do with myself, since we moved to Puerto Rico. I guess it’s just transitioning from Southern California to Puerto Rico, but I certainly got a workout today, while working in the backyard. Killing two birds with one stone!

Here is what went down…

First, grab a cinderblock from the cinderblock pile:

Run the cinderblock 100 yards to the other side of the house (and place in line):

Repeat 15 times.

Run down to the dirt pile and shovel dirt into the wheelbarrow:

Run the wheelbarrow up the hill:

Shovel dirt into cinderblock “planter”:

Repeat steps 3 - 5 ten times.

Everything was fairly easy, except for running the wheelbarrow up the hill. That was HARD. I had to get a running start at the bottom, which would get me half way up. Then I would have to set down the wheelbarrow, (so it wouldn’t slide back down) and reposition my feet. Then I would literally have to inch up the rest of the way. I’m sure my neighbors probably were watching me and laughing their butts off.

Nonetheless, we got a nice temporary planter around the backside of the house so we can start growing out our jungle

After planting some ginger, birds of paradise, etc.

So I was was reading a trashy celebrity gossip magazine today (I have to catch up when I’m off the island ;)…), and there was an article about Martha Stewart and her pet miniature donkeys…

MIniature donkeys?!? What?! Awesome!!!

I have never heard of miniature donkeys before, but that is EXACTLY what Stefan and I need! We have gone back and forth on what sort of animals/pets we want to have for the property, in order to keep the jungle growth in check. First we thought we wanted goats (or a small flock of pigmy goats), but goats eat EVERYTHING, including the young trees we have planted, gardens, palms, laundry, shoes, the house, etc. Then we thought that perhaps we should get a horse or a cow, since they are good mowers, but won’t eat our trees, but I think Stefan and I are both intimidated by having such a big and powerful animal such as a horse or cow (I was leaning more towards a cow…ha). So, how perfect would a pair of mini donkeys be?! Look at how cute the little beasts are!

Couldn’t you imagine Monkey and Cheech riding Buck Rogers (the mini donkey) around the property while Kuta is herding them all?!?

I am SO looking into how much it would be to buy and fly a pair of mini donkeys to Puerto Rico…

p.s. I’ve always wanted to be Pippy Longstockings, so I am going to carpe diam, damn it!

What a great trip. It was awesome having Eddie and his new family down at the house for the past couple of weeks. They flew down to watch the house and enjoy the heat of the Caribbean (as opposed to the chill of Rhode Islane).

While here, the house turned into a home. Their 2 month old baby girl helped the place smell like baby powder and numerous ointments…the oven was kicking it at all times of the day…water was constantly boiling for either coffee, oatmeal or tea. Someone was cooking breakfast or cutting fruit. When the kitchen of a house has life, it feels like a home.

Eddie worked his ass off on our yard also. He planted new seed, helped set up a watering system, helped me organize where certain plants and trees should go and helped me understand the process of growing plants just a little bit more.

Cheers Eddie Thacker

Thanks for the help…it is greatly appreciated!

The plants are coming!

Last week Stefan and I went to Montoso Gardens in Maricao, Puerto Rico, where the have all sorts of interesting exotic plants. Like lemons as big as your head! Well, as big as my head at least…

David Brunner was nice enough to show us around and educate us on various exotic plants that they have on their farm. We placed a fairly large order and the plants should be arriving shortly. Here is what we will soon have planted on our property:

2 Areca Catechu palms 6′-7′
2 Macarther palms 7gal., 5′-6′
1 Triangle palm 3gal.
1 Red Sealing Wax palm 4′-5′
2 Grafted Rambutan trees
1 Grafted Abiu
2 Purple Grumichama 1gal
1 French Peanut 1gal
1 Cinnamon tree 1gal
1 Cannonball tree
1 Grafted Maprang
1 Noni
1 Mangosteen
1 Yellow Jaboticaba
1 Spanish Tamarind
1 Aemygdiana rhizome
1 Tahitian Ginger 3gal
2 White Torch Ginger 1gal
4 Red Torch rhizomes
4 Pink Torch rhizomes
2 Cacao Trees 1 gal
1 Ae Ae Banana 3′-4′ division
1 Peanut Butter Fruit 2gal
3 Pink Ginger 3 gal
3 Red Ginger 3 gal
3 Polynesian Princess Ginger 3gal
6 White Bird of Paradise
4 Orange Bird of Paradise
3 Mexican Gold Heliconia 1gal
3 Oriole Orange Heliconia 1gal
3 Iris (red) heliconia 1gal

Most of the plants above you may have never hear of, but that is because Montoso farms specializes in exotic fruit trees from around the world. If you’re looking for the standard fruit trees (mango, orange, grapefruit, etc), you won’t find those at Montoso farms. They are far more interested in rarer varieties of fruit, which is fine my me…I can’t wait to have our property overgrown with interesting plants and fruits!

Summer and I are still working hard on the house everyday. It is funny, we moved down to Puerto Rico for a more relaxing tropical lifestyle and I am busier than I have ever been in my entire life. Ha, I guess that is just how it goes when you build a house.

Now that we have the beautiful hardwood floors in, it is really time to do something about the driveway. At the moment, it is just scraped dirt with some hard rock, but when it rains, it pretty much turns into a slip and slide. If you are parked down by the house and a good rain comes through, you aren’t leaving unless you have 4 wheel drive. For Example:

The mud and dirt from the driveway get tracked into the house by the dogs, us and our friends that come over. I mop in the morning and by the time Summer wakes up she doesn’t even notice that I cleaned the floor.

Now, we have plenty of options as far as driveway surfaces go, but I think our bank account is going to dictate what we are going to be able to do to resolve the problem quickly. Concrete is just too expensive right now, and we will be able to cover up a gravel driveway down the line with concrete when we can afford to pull the trigger on such an expensive project (maybe when we get the pool and cabana in the back yard :-).

Here is the basic layout for the driveway. Nothing fancy at all.

Does anyone have any experience with gravel driveways out there? The only thing I remember about them as a kid is they suck to walk on with bare feet. I am looking for a little deeper intellectual insight than that though. How often will we need to pour in new gravel? Do we need to build a form for the driveway or do we just dump the rocks and push them around? Will they drain well or will they all erode down the hill? Should we have a big roller come in and compress them down?

Do you guys have any insight on gravel driveways in Puerto Rico or elsewhere?

I recently got a hot tip from The Kruses on where to get some great plants, here in Puerto Rico. Karina recommended Montoso Gardens, which is in Maricao:

Montoso Gardens has all sorts of great exotic fruit trees, flowers, nut trees, spices, palms and more. They even have an online store and will ship plants for very reasonable prices. Stefan and I are going to head over to Montoso Gardens sometime this week, so we’ll let you know what we end up with :)!

Jerry did the work on the downstairs shower pan and also the shower pan for the outside shower. They both came out pretty darn good! Here is a picture of the outside shower and the new shower pan:

It may not look that impressive to you, but here is what the shower looked like in May :

The shower pan is one of the most important parts to building a shower and it’s probably the hardest to get right (Luckly, Jerry is a master with concrete). Essentually you need to slightly slope/angle the floor so that the drain is at the lowest point. This is so that all the water flows towards the drain and doesn’t pool and sit stagnant in your shower. Gotta love gravity!

I also planted a foxtail palm and some purple flowery plants around the shower, for that “Yes, I am showering in the jungle” feeling :D.

A mere 3 weeks after planting grass seed, our lawn got its 1st mow today. I can’t believe how fast the grass grew in. Awesome!!

I’ve been playing the roll of gardener for the past week or two, since the guys are concentrating on the inside of the house. As I’ve been watering, weeding and planting, (I’ll leave the pica pica to Stefan ;)…) I’ve been getting ideas for how we are going to lay out the garden(s) and outside living areas. There is a HUGE mango tree near the back of the house that I want to put a swing in and I got the idea that I wanted to clear out an area under the tree for a table and chairs as well. So, I raked out under the tree, pulled the weeds and was prepping to dig out a decent sized tree to transplant into the front yard. I grabbed the pickaxe and round nose shovel and went to work.

On my first swing of the pickaxe, I hit the BIGGEST centipede I have ever seen. Lucky for me, I chopped it in half, otherwise I could have been in big trouble. I went up to the house and grabbed my camera, but the pictures came out too dark, so I photoshopped this reenactment for you…

Behold! Summer the giant centipede slayer!!!

Seriously, though, the centipede I came across under the mango tree was pretty close in size to the one pictured above. Scary! It makes me a little nervous having the dogs running around, being as a centipede that size could easily kill a dog. I’m going to have to fashion some sort of centipede-proof doggy boots for Kuta and Monkey…