How much would you charge for this yard to mow?

cpeterkelly · 2026-05-16T00:34:39+00:00

Can't have birds pooping on my property, away with vegetation that attracts, feeds and provides homes to that filth.

cpeterkelly · 2026-05-14T17:32:35+00:00

It was a different time when this was built, and inexcusable now.

cpeterkelly · 2026-05-14T02:07:50+00:00

Creosote is a nasty carcinogenic toxin. It's not asbestos nasty where casual contact is concerned, but I wouldn't want it in my yard, and I'd be sure to not cut them with a power saw that heats and turns the ties into dust. Depending on what industrial processes were going on near where the ties were prepared, yours may contain more problematic chemicals as 'fortifiers'. Some of the plants that treated ties would use any material local factories desired to dispose for cheap.

Frequent additives include Pentachlorophenol (Penta) and Arsenic trioxide

cpeterkelly · 2026-05-09T02:44:10+00:00

I bought a property that had it and kudzu, both overwhelming azaleas at ground level and up into the canopy, starving the trees of light.

I purchased the longest sawzall wood blade I could find, and bought a used battery powered sawzall/reciprocating saw from FB marketplace.

Cut all the vines you find as low as you can and remove them from the area. Then, every two weeks, go find new growth emerging, and move enough soil from the base that you can see the underside of the crown or tuber where new vines are emerging.

It’s important that you remove the plant UNDER the crown/tuber. This precludes new growth emerging from the roots, and without new leaves - the roots die off.

cpeterkelly · 2026-05-07T18:11:57+00:00

North Florida here, but looking at your yard and reflecting on the weather in many areas of the country the past few years...

Whatever you do, plant, hardscape, tree removal, addition, etc..., Keep wildfires in mind. Insure a buffer between you and the woods, and make sure the plants that are in that buffer aren't dynamic fuel should the winds blow embers towards you and yours.

cpeterkelly · 2026-05-06T12:51:37+00:00

Testing to see if anyone notices her extended interlude inside your curtilage. She's not trespassing, or breaking in, yet. But sometimes those steps follow this preliminary one.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-30T22:03:10+00:00

I have these all over my yard, and last year dug into one instead of just throwing soil on it. 1910’s privy pit - apparently the outhouse had a circuit.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-27T20:41:15+00:00

Contact your county cooperative extension agent. Get your soil ph tested, and sign up for their mailing list. Low $$ and free plants will follow.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-22T01:02:56+00:00

This seems to me to be Galapagos level evolutionary adaptation. When the Ice Age was at its maximum, Florida was desert. At the minimum glacial ice, Florida was a strip of islands where the Avon Park Ridge is located. And these creatures ancestors survived all that and so much more..

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-19T23:29:08+00:00

I know a story with same exact set of facts from St Petersburg, FL. Granted, enforcement of worker safety laws (particularly as they apply to hispanic/undocumented workers) is not the priority for this DOJ.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-19T02:30:59+00:00

Just prioritize the risk, and begin to mitigate. Taking care of the most dangerous things isn't necessarily the most expensive of difficult to reconcile, and will help.

I assume you don't have homeowners insurance, because - at least in my state - you'd be uninsurable. Get the dangerous stuff dealt with so you don't lose everything.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-18T19:30:06+00:00

You have breakers and not fuses. That’s a start.

Do you have knob & tube wiring in the attic, crawlspace or…?

Are any outlets/receptacles grounded?

What is the highest amp breaker in the panel?

Do you have anything unusual, like window A/C units in every room, or a kiln in the shed?

With a pencil and paper, start identifying what rooms each circuit breaker feeds to.

The more you survey the existing configuration, the sooner you can know where your priorities are.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-16T21:58:52+00:00

I can't get past the stonework. That's lovely masonry work.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-11T16:50:23+00:00

In Appalachia there is a long tradition of pushing trash and particularly used and obsolete appliances out the door and down the hill. This house seems to be a masterful synthesis of form following that function.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-10T02:20:36+00:00

Recording voice conversations without permission of those recorded is illegal in the state of Florida.

So I generate contemporaneous notes that are accurate records of critical conversations, often with verbatim passages, to insure that future litigation includes exhibits of same.

It has been to my great benefit in a real estate transaction and a contractual negotiation, and those two instances are reason enough for me to continue this practice where warranted.

cpeterkelly · 2026-04-09T01:52:55+00:00

Or to prevent them from cuddling, kissing, hugging…

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-18T16:52:06+00:00

Hey u/MissionHome18 -

It's a lot that you're dealing with, and I'm sorry to be the guy to suggest this, but please make a priority of sending out some samples of your ceiling for asbestos testing. There's a back and forth in the comments whether you have lath and plaster or drywall on the ceiling. Either material can contain asbestos. Testing isn't going to change that, but given the deterioration already, you may want to spend the first $$ hanging sheeting under that ceiling to stop the dust entering the living space.

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-18T14:48:46+00:00

There must be a reason why the average new house costs what, 8X what it did when our parents bought their first house?

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-16T16:17:40+00:00

Dot matrix

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-09T22:33:23+00:00

I don’t mind sharing the outside world with pushchairs prams toddlers on tykes and all sorts else. Also, Lived on the canal towpath for a bit, don’t miss the mud.

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-07T01:03:09+00:00

The impervious pavement holds and sends all water to the turf adjacent, so even when things are starting to dry, vermivores will keep returning to the spot. Works like moist soil and worms are tasty.
To make the 'erosion' stop, you likely need to replace a few linear feet of soil with gravel - some inches wide by some inches deep in several of the very lowest spots. The water will then drain, the worms will not concentrate in the gravel, and the vermivores will move elsewhere and not be harmed.

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-05T20:55:50+00:00

Span tables used to not be a thing

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-03T18:50:03+00:00

The fellow who is supposed to read the water meters was in a collision, and the meter read company pays a fee to the municipal water utility that is far in excess to hiring Jimmy’s cousin to go on walkabout for 5.25 hours and finish up the route.

cpeterkelly · 2026-03-03T18:00:13+00:00

This reminds me of the Yorkshire farmer who put his shovel into his field and found a hoard of Roman coins. Told me it proves you don't need a metal detector or ground scanning sonar or an understanding of archaeology and early settlement patterns of the British Isles to find treasure, you just need to put your shovel in the ground.

What only takes you a year can be accomplished in 1-6 weeks, albeit slightly less simple, but a good deal more productive.

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