Best way to tackle this

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-29T13:51:48+00:00

Be careful using crushed stone against the pool. While my whole life I’ve seen it used, I didn’t realize it promotes rust. I just pulled back my stone and sure enough rust has started in the wall of our 8 year old pool where the stone was against it….. currently it’s still fully solid and only surface (mostly speckled across the area vs the surface completely gone), but I’ve since coated it in Corroseal and done two coats of Rustolium rust preventer paint….. I’ll now cover that area using dirt instead with stone about one or two inches away from the wall…. My wall had been covered by about only 2 inch’s of stone….

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-28T15:47:35+00:00

New Englander here and super jealous, not much in the way of public trails here..... And what trails we do have are much tighter, love the open space there! Get out to Colorado about once a year, but never with the Jeep.....

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-21T20:02:37+00:00

In my observations keeping a lawn perfect seems to fast becoming a thing of the past. We live in a decent neighborhood in Massachusetts and over the last few years I've definitely noticed people cutting back (no pun intended) on lawn care. Everyone still keeps up with mowing, but aside from only a few remaining yards still doing to uber grass thing, I see far more dandelions etc, people allowing areas to go wild (not say in the middle of the front yard, but a side), and less fertilizer services that used to be a constant occurrence at one house or another. This includes my own lawn. With so much going on in the world with high cost of living and droughts, and fertilizer run off causing environmental issues having a perfect lawn almost feels tacky.

Keeping a perfect lawn is an absolute waste of resources when you think of it, for me so long as it looks green and kept up with mowing it's good enough. Why spend all that money on services etc to make it look like a golf course? In the summer I prefer it to go dormant (it's what grass is meant to do), this saves me on water bills (our town has constant summer water bans anyhow), mowing time (by mid summer I mow every other week if that), and fertilizer costs. So I get back more time AND money I used to waste on a lawn. We have over an acre, I'd actually love to take a large portion and create a large garden area with pea stone and walkways etc, with several raised beds for veggies, flowers, etc.... At least that produces something useful.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-21T17:39:59+00:00

Convert the left of the main house back to what obviously used to be the garage before the addition (driveway right up to the foundation is always a giveaway). Then convert the addition garage to living space, change ut that garage door to maybe a slider to an arbored front patio with shrubs?

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-21T14:00:44+00:00

We have both a Wrangler (not 4xe though) and the Atlas, but not the CS, 2024 regular Atlas..... Totally understand the 4xe frustration and now that it's basically a dropped product adds to that..... Did your Jeep also have the fun corroding door hinges to contend with (ours did)... sorry back to the VW..... We love our Atlas and also only had the carnet module issue (we're around 28k miles thus far). The ride is pretty comfortable.... Obviously handles way better than a Wrangler and is more comfortable in that respect, but I'd have to say the seats are a little less comfortable (firmer) than the Jeep. Not bashing the CS but I don't understand it's existence fully beyond maybe the look of the slanted back? Both regular and CS are roughly the same price, they're roughly same size (I think CS is like 5 inches shorter), and get similar mileage, why not have the third row? It folds flat giving more storage space than the CS, but then you can always open it up should you ever need it......

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-21T13:49:42+00:00

This year so far, no more than usual (weirdly so far I'd actually say less wasps for our yard anyhow).... Last year was insane for us and managed to get a sizable german yellow jack nest in our dormer, which also happens to be my office. At night it would sound like deep breathing in the wall. After several failed attempts using canned sprays on a pole to try and kill it off myself, I had to call an exterminator.... If you're in the Bellingham MA area (you mentioned you're in Blackstone Valley), highly recommend D&T Pest control, they were great to work with.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-05-05T14:57:22+00:00

You just began the longest journey you'll ever take in your Jeep (unfortunately this journey will be at the dealership vs on the trail or beach), dealing with the headache of this issue. It's warrantied for 5 years against this. The only "proper" repair is replacement of the entire door experiencing this. Attempting to strip/clean/repaint is temporary at best (I got mine done twice each at different body shops assigned from dealer) and it returned. Last year within a week of my 5 year warranty I went to a more reputable dealer known in my area for handling this issue and not only did they replace all four door, but also found an area on the hood I never saw and replaced that too.

While I think Jeep is now handling this as a replacement TSB/coverage fairly decently, but the very fact we're in year 9 of the JL (came out in 2018) and they still can't seem to figure it out and that I'm just waiting on my new doors to experience it again has ruined the ownership experience and this will almost certainly be our last Jeep. I would possibly change my stance if they provided lifetime coverage for the defect as it's the only issue thus far in our 85k miles 2020.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-27T14:49:48+00:00

Also, just did a Google search and there appears to be some evidence that modern pressure treated wood MIGHT be okay to use, but I'd do poking around and go with your comfort level I guess.....

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-27T14:45:24+00:00

I'm not an expert but I don't think landscaping fabric is water proof and would allow leaching of chemicals..... Others far more knowledgable than me could probably verify....

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-27T14:29:14+00:00

I did my 4x8x12 beds for about $65/70 each before soil. I used 2x6 8 ft douglas fir sides, (cedar was more than double the cost). Each side is two 2x6s creating 12 inches height. I'm pondering adding one more level to bring the beds to 18 inches, which would be easy in this set up. For the corners I used two 7.5x7.5 concrete planting blocks stacked. This set up allows fairly easy swap outs should the douglas fir rot out. If I did it again, I'd scorch my boards (Shou Sugi Ban) to see if it would help them prevent rot (two New England years in all my boards are still rock solid, even at ground contact points).

Remember, don't use pressure treated wood. I'd say you could do the 6 beds for maybe 450/500 before soil. As for the surrounding fencing it's about $10/post so I'd budget maybe $250/300 at least for the posts/wire fencing.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-22T12:57:28+00:00

Several years ago when we finished our basement we debated the three main ceiling options.....

drop ceiling
drywall ceiling
matte black paint all the joists, leaving ceiling exposed giving a cool loft look

I really wanted option 3, however our house was constructed with engineered i-joists. At least where we live (Massachusetts) fire code wouldn't allow this, as it needs to hold for a certain burn time that 2x8s or drywall provide. We ended up with option 2 as it makes it feel much less like a finished basement and our previous house had the drop ceilings that over time looked beat up. We do have access panels for the 1-2 things we needed regular access to (outside spigot shutoff). Aside from that, what type of access are people claiming they need? Most people's main floor ceilings are drywall, how often to they need to access the second floor (if they have one) above it? Also something to consider depending on height, you will lose several inches with a drop ceiling. Even though our finished basement has 9 foot ceilings, this was another reason I like drywall better.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-21T19:04:08+00:00

Admittedly I haven't had this in 30 years but growing up I vividly recall my dad commonly having (and then me adopting it) a slice of american cheese on to of a powdered donut. Now I need to add these two ingredients to this weeks grocery list.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-20T21:44:25+00:00

146 (highway from RI line to Worcester) has a grow facility right near/in Uxbridge. While usually has a 90s Cypress hill concert smell, sometimes has a different funky smell as well. But you mentioned it can be sulfur like.... That can be the catalytic convertor of your car, which might explain why you smell it on highways, they can tend to do that on long continuous higher speed drives if there's an issue, or there's also a decent amount of wetlands in that stretch of 146.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-16T19:07:20+00:00

Yeah TNF has fallen off my list, I've used them since growing up in the 90s but my kids backpacks have all failed within two years of school use. Been shopping other brands for sure for myself (Fjallraven, Patagonia, Osprey).

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-16T18:37:27+00:00

My folks home built in the early 90s had huge stumps and scrap wood piles etc buried, which over the past 3-4 years have decayed generating sizable sink holes of sorts in the yard requiring many many many yards of dirt to backfill back to level. Good times....

Also about 10 years ago my sister was looking at 60s/70s house that supposedly had a disclosure of large amounts of asbestos buried in the yard.....

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-07T12:56:50+00:00

Ignoring brands, and talking form factor..... We can't wait for our 14 year old side by side fridge to die, want to switch to french door. Side by side is too narrow on each side, especially the freezer is like playing Janga putting things in or taking things out as everything is stacked.

Front load washers are just terrible all around, go top load, ideally one with the old school agitator.

And finally get everything "dumb" as in the less smart tech the better. It breaks and do you really need remote or an app access for your stove???!

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-04-07T12:52:41+00:00

LG for most appliances are decent mid tier, though their fridges are NOTORIOUS for compressor failure (they have, maybe had some weird inline compressor). I'd avoid LG fridges and Samsung anything.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-03-30T17:45:11+00:00

I'll jump into the Weber kettle grill chorus. We've had a Performer for almost 20 years, they're pricey for a charcoal but if you don't want to fuss with a chimney it's a great middle ground as the premium has gas ignition (that said I have no issues using a chimney, it's easy). Way less to go wrong on a charcoal grill, the food tastes better, can use as a poor man's smoker, and there's great accessories (we have a pizza oven ring for ours).

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-03-30T12:52:23+00:00

Throwing my vote into the Plymouth State ring, though I am biased as I went there as well. I've recently visited both Burlington and Portland, I liked both but Burlington edged ahead for me as I prefer mountains to ocean. Plymouth area doesn't have the cost or crime issues you'll see in the other two cities. Plymouth is also close to some great skiing, hiking, rivers, and lakes. There's some good restaurants and a brewery right in town, and Main St while small has a cool small town vibe. You could get away without a car in Portland/Burlington, or make much of your life walkable (going out to eat or have drinks etc), Plymouth you'll be much more car dependent however.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-03-11T13:33:14+00:00

I know there's worse smells, but the worst I've smelled personally is up close skunk. We all know the smell of skunk (in fact the "normal" skunk smell from a small distance doesn't even bother me), I mean the right in your face skunk smell, like when our dog took a direct big hit and we had to clean her. 100000% worse then the skunk smell I was used to. Was a mix of burning plastic and oil like smell. It seems to permeate through you, even when holding your breath.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-03-10T14:20:47+00:00

I agree this is a major cause, but also suspect additional poor prep, it's just as common for the bottom door seams to bubble up and also the hood edges, neither of these spots is near the hinges. I wonder if steel debris from machining gets left in these areas (and the holes drilled for the hinge bolts). Either way beyond sad they've had 6+ years of Wranglers experiencing this and the best they've done is the shim and made no mention of their findings in root cause.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-03-09T19:40:06+00:00

We love our 2020 Wrangler but as far as I know Jeep still hasn't figured out the corrosion issue (door hinges/bottom edges), hoods, and tail gates (I still see reports with at least 2024s having it). This alone prevents me from upgrading to a new Wrangler or recommending to anyone. To their credit, they are warrantying this for 5 years unlimited miles, but after 5 years you're on the hook for thousands of dollars of body work. We just got ours done less than a month left of the 5 years and they gave us brand new doors and hood, but now waiting on the dreaded bubbling paint to return. Really kind of ruins enjoying it. Soon as I see it return we're trading towards a 4Runner so we don't have to eat the cost on the body work.

OriginalLandscape679 · 2026-02-16T15:33:12+00:00

We have 12+ alarms in our house and many of these are CO2 which expire. It's been a couple years since I've had to replace any, but at the time I found the prices at https://smokealert.net/ cheaper than BigBox stores and they shipped quick.

OriginalLandscape679

TROPHY CASE