Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Your Neck of the Woods 2015 Part 6, 2 by greenthumb99

greenthumb99 wrote:
Thank you everyone for your "Happy Birthday" wishes. The renovation crew I am supervising brought me the tastiest tres leches cake I have ever eaten, very moist and sweet. Texas is quite different from Northern Virginia. The Dallas suburbs where I am are pretty much flat and dry, with little in the way of familiar flora. My only excursions out of the house are to Home Depot, and occasionally Lowe's, and I never make it to the garden department, so I don't know what plants are being sold.

Unsurprisingly, tex-mex is a ubiquitous cuisine as there is a huge Hispanic cultural influence. McDonalds is about the only place that does not serve tacos. I have seen gas as low as $1.76, but food in the grocery stores is more expensive than back home. Dairy seems especially high, probably because they grill most of their cattle.

Haven't seen much in the way of insects, except for the mosquitoes that visit me while I try to sleep. Doors sit open much of the time due to traffic, power cords, air lines, etc, providing easy entry. The one critter I get to see now and then are little 2-inch geckos that live in the walls and attic. The people are friendly, but the women wield chain saws.

Tomorrow the granite gets installed in the kitchen and the three baths. Currently, the only functioning sink is the one in the kitchen, temporarily set in a sheet of plywood. Cooking is limited to the microwave, but the new double oven may go on-line tomorrow or Thursday. The propane tank for heating the pool (not yet finished) goes in Friday, so the gas cook top will then be usable. Thursday the mirrors will be installed in all the baths, allowing me the first look at myself in a couple of weeks. All surfaces in the house have been re-done except the tile in the kitchen and the entry. By Saturday I should be able to fix a decent meal, shower, and shave using a mirror, just in time for me to depart on a plane Sunday. Really looking forward to being back home. I will post some photos of the project in the privacy of my own home.

This message was edited Oct 20, 2015 10:49 PM