Today I made a run up to Easton, Massachusetts to see a Chambers B (1939-1946) stove for possible relocation to Alabama. The seller warned me it needed work, but I found the price ($200) for a Chambers seductive, and it looked OK in the photos:
Chambers stove by
James McInnis, on Flickr
However, there wound up being enough wrong with it (too much cosmetic damage, broken hinge, missing pieces) that I passed, even though he lowered the price to a hundred. Next stop, Wellesley (MA) to see a Magee stove from the 20s, a freebee. Multiple reasons for passing on this one too, including a steep piece of property up which the stove would need to be hauled - with no assistance. After looking at - and having - multiple stoves, I'm moving more in the direction of the earlier models on legs (late teens to late 20s, more or less). The Glenwood DeLuxe is my holy grail:
Glenwood DeLuxe stove by
James McInnis, on Flickr
A stove guy told me that the horizontally-opening doors on the Glenwood assure that they close with a tight seal, unlike the drop-down doors (the style we see in modern stoves) which tend to get "tired" and loose. I passed on a Glenwood DeLuxe several months ago, thinking $700 was a bit too steep. I still think so.
Upon my arrival home today, I decided to finally download the photos I had taken before leaving Alabama. Herewith, a few:
The plant supplier I had bought my sabal palm (visible in the distance, with bracing) from came down with the flu, so I told her I'd wait until spring to buy the shrubs I had requested. Two days before I had planned to leave, she called and, to my surprise, told me my plants were in. I could have said, "But I told you..." but decided the plants would do better coming out of winter than going into summer (with no one there to water them), so I scrambled to clear grass, weeds, stubborn stumps, and a morass of roots to prepare for the foundation plants:
085 by
James McInnis, on Flickr
The shrubs flanking the stairs are
Pittosporum tobira 'Glen St. Mary', a selection that stays smaller than the species. In front of the ADT sign (and on the other corner of the house, are boxwoods. These shrubs may seem pitifully small, but there is method to my madness. Container plants only have root systems as large as the pots they're in, so I've found through experience that 3 gallon root systems can support the top growth of the plant, where larger container plants require diligent watering until a root system large enough to support the plant develops. Often I've seen 3-gallon plants outgrow their previously-larger neighbors because the homeowner wasn't religious about watering. Since I was leaving these plants to their own devices, 3 gallon was the way to go. (The tiny plant right against the house, tucked into the corner of the stairs, is my Christmas poinsettia. It's an experiment to see if it will survive.) I intend to do more planting at the foundation, including a Hollywood Juniper (
Juniperus chinensis 'Kaizuka') at the far corner of the house, where the bed bumps out a little in the above photo. I like the loose, loopy form of this tree against the boxy house.
hollywood-juniper-1 by
James McInnis, on Flickr
As I've mentioned before, the plantings around the house had been neglected for many years, so there was a great deal of cleaning-up to do. Here are before and after photos of the removal of volunteer trees under the live oak, which sits close to the south property line:
Live oak Chickasaw by
James McInnis, on Flickr
036 by
James McInnis, on Flickr
Since the 'after' photo was taken, I have replaced the chaotic snarl of vegetation with some (dinky, 3-gallon) shrubs along the property line. These shrubs will stay relatively low and won't interfere with the form of the oak. The shrub that in this photo blocks the view of the house across the street is a lowly ligustrum (privet) which will be 86'd once the other shrubs get some size on them. I thought I'd feel a little too exposed if I removed it, too.
My neighbors' house, I think we can agree, looks a bit shabby. They're a couple with three young girls, including a 2 year-old, so they probably don't have a whole lot of free time for home renovations. I thought it was interesting, though, that the husband/father made it a point to tell me his intentions regarding improvements. He even called my arborist to have the branches of the oak trimmed from his roof. I'm telling you, when you start fixing things up, it's contagious!