John Plocher and I are in the process of fixing up our 90-year-old Spanish Mission style home in Willow Glen (San Jose, California). One of the duties of homeownership is maintenance, particularly fixing what does not show. We just completed Phase One of a maintenance project, including adding new French drains to redirect water away from the house, repairing some rocky tiles on the side porch, replacing a front porch post, adding better support for the ground floor so that the front door opens all the way, and replacing a walkway-with-a-step with a ramp. This work will not meet the realtors’ goal of “increasing the value of your home” for resale, but since this is our family’s forever home, it is enough that the work increases its comfort and value to us. We got virtual tours of the ongoing work under the house using FaceTime.
Some of maintenance challenges come from ours being an old (if well-built) house, and others from the land being part of the original Willow Glen swamp of the Guadalupe River. The ground shifts annually with seasonal moisture changes, causing stucco cracks and sometimes making doors stick. The most unhappy person with the construction has been Princess, our porch cat, who resented the disruption of her royal domain. Phase Two is being planned now!
Porch post with gap, July 2022Original side walkway, July 2022John Plocher raking weeds, July 2022Resetting porch tiles, July 2022Repaired side porch tiles, July 2022Cat judging front porch construction, July 2022Digging french drain trenches, July 2022French drain trench complete, July 2022French drain lining and rock, July 2022Completed french drains, July 2022Painting new porch post, July 2022Pouring new side ramp, July 2022Smoothing new ramp, July 2022New ramp walkway, July 2022FaceTime of work under house, July 2022End of walkway drying, July 2022Fixing front door, July 2022Princess the cat hiding, July 2022
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It’s time in the San Francisco Bay Area to start planting our summer vegetables. Since I have some time during GTU‘s Reading Week, I cleared out winter weeds, dug in compost, and added tomatoes, basil, and borage to my planting beds. I left the rhubarb in its wheelbarrow since it seems happy. This year, from Yamagami’s nursery I bought three cherry tomato plants for salads and snacks (Yellow Pear, Sun Sugar Hybrid, and Super Sweet 100), plus three Ace tomatoes for soup. I also upgraded the Guadalupe River bank area next to the planting bed. The big yuccas, huge prickly pear cactus, and an elderberry tree dominate that space. There are also three lavenders (French and English) and two California Sagebrush (Artemisia Californica – from Jessica) continuing from two years ago. I just added four gloriosus “Heart’s Desire” prostrate ceanothus to fill in under and around the cactus. Another ceanothus “Centennial” plus some yarrow (Achillea Little Moonshine, and Red Velvet) will go in the front yard. I mostly add California Native Plants for long-term plantings. I am looking forward to everything growing happily all summer!
Katy Dickinson garden, San Jose CA, 23 March 2022Katy Dickinson garden, San Jose CA, 24 March 2022Katy Dickinson garden, San Jose CA, 24 March 2022Katy Dickinson garden, San Jose CA, 23 March 2022Princess – cat garden guardian, 24 March 2022Ketchup – cat garden guardian, 24 March 2022
Update 24 March: I decided to go camping with Jessica and the TechWomen in Yosemite this weekend, so I planted the ceanothus Centennial in the side yard, supervised by guardian cats Princess and Ketchup. I am also moving some of garden stones into the side yard where they will be more visible.
Update 28 March: My neighbor Russell gave away some of his extra heirloom tomato starts today – so I added a seventh (and final!) plant to my bed. The little plants are enjoying today’s rain.
Ceanothus Centennial, Katy Dickinson garden, San Jose CA, 24 March 2022Marvel stripe heirloom tomato, 28 March 2022
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Cercidium Floridum, Desert Palo Verde, Parkinsonia Florida, San Jose CA, June 2021
Now that I am done with Spring 2021 classes, I have been able to tend my garden. Our house in Willow Glen (San Jose, California) was built almost 100 years ago in the old bed of the Guadalupe River, so the soil is amazing. Yesterday, we planted a green-bark, yellow-flower Palo Verde tree (Desert Palo Verde – Cercidium floridum – Parkinsonia Florida), that should thrive in our increasingly-hot summers. The tomato garden I planted in March is starting to fruit, and the giant white bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai), Pink Stripe Flax (Phormium), Matilija Poppies (Romneya), and four types of yarrow are blooming exuberantly. The oak tree named after my friend Seham Aljaafreh, who helped me plant it in 2014, has doubled in size this year.
Tomato bed, San Jose CA, June 2021
First tomatoes, San Jose CA, June 2021
First tomatoes, San Jose CA, June 2021
Strelitzia nicolai, giant white bird of paradise, San Jose CA, June 2021
Blooming phormium, San Jose CA, June 2021
Matilija Poppy, Romneya, San Jose CA, May 2021
Front garden bed, San Jose CA, June 2021
“Seham” Oak, San Jose CA, June 2021
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It’s that time of year: flood season on San Jose’s Guadalupe River. Late yesterday afternoon, yellow rain slicker clad city workers went house to house to tell us of immediate danger of flooding. In addition to the houses, city workers went to each of the homeless camps near us to be sure that our unhoused neighbors were also prepared. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many homeless living under bridges and in culverts near the river where they are in danger as the water rises. We are watching the water levels on the NOAA map.
City of San Jose, CA, flood notice
U.S NOAA flood map
San Jose’s Guadalupe River, Alma bridge, with homeless camps.
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We have four old family clocks, two of which work and one of which chimes. The sound of the two ticks and the chimes fills our downstairs with small comforting noises, even when everyone is silently interacting with their computing devices. The clocks keep time but not with each other. It is somewhat like how Terry Pratchett describes the clocks in his fictional city of Ankh-Morpork on the Discworld,
“Noon in Ankh-Morpork took some time, since twelve o’clock was established by consensus. Generally, the first bell to start was that one in the Teachers’ Guild, in response to the universal prayers of its members. Then the water clock on the Temple of Small Gods would trigger the big bronze gong. The black bell in the Temple of Fate struck once, unexpectedly, but by then the silver pedal-driven carillon in the Fools’ Guild would be tinkling, the gongs, bells and chimes of all the Guilds and temples would be in full swing, and it was impossible to tell them apart, except for the tongueless and magical octiron bell of Old Tom in the Unseen University clock tower, whose twelve measured silences temporarily overruled the din. And finally, several strokes behind all the others, was the bell of the Assassin’s Guild, which was always last.” (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms, 1993).
Gilbert, oak case pendulum wall clock, Western Pacific glass
Gilbert, oak case pendulum wall clock, inside
The Junghans chiming mantle clock was a wedding present in 2000 from John’s parents. It was purchased by John’s great-grandfather Johannes Plocher in Holzhauzen, Germany. Joannes and his wife Anna gave it to their son (John’s grandfather), Karl on his wedding Adelia, in 1930. I love the art deco design on the clockworks inside the case.
I bought the Gilbert wall clock in 2008 as a birthday present for John. The clock itself is from about 1915. The Western Pacific glass is not original but is one of the reasons we like it, since we own WP668, a Western Pacific caboose. John winds up his Junghans and Gilbert clocks every week.
Gilt metal Rococo clock
Ornate horseman clock
The two clocks which have stopped working are from my family. One is a gilt metal Rococo style clock that my father’s mother, Gladys Grace Oakes Dickinson, loved. The other is an ornate horseman clock that my mother, Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, had since I was young. Surprisingly, even though they are from different parts of my family, both were made by the New Haven Clock Company, probably over a hundred years ago.
Web search results showing many horse-only New Haven Clocks
Update: I have been looking for more information about the New Haven Clock with the ornate warrior horseman figure. I found that a version of this clock with the exact same horse but no rider is relatively common. All of the versions I have found on the web have a top piece above the clock that is missing on ours. Sometimes the horse is on the right and sometimes on the left of the clock on the pedestal. I still have not found an exact match. My Aunt Louise Creekmore Senatore read my blog and wrote that her father (my grandfather), Robert Elmond Creekmore, was once its owner in Knoxville, Tennessee, “the Ornate Horseman clock was on my Dad’s bureau for years when I was a child. It traveled with us to Windgate (1964), stayed on his bureau, and Eleanor asked Mom for it when Dad passed away (1976).”
I found this tiny, blurry thumbnail photo on the web of a gilded variant of our clock but it is on a dead website. Still hunting for more information!
(None of these clocks is for sale – please do not ask.)
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My Willow Glen micro farm is thriving. I usually grow cactus, and herbs like fennel, rosemary, and sage. Since we are mostly staying home because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am taking the opportunity to grow vegetables. I started this project in April by converting a section of our little orchard. The first fruits of my farming efforts are cherry tomatoes and delicata squash. Both indicate their readiness by a color change. The tomatoes shift from green to yellow to red. The delicata squash start white and develop green lines as they mature. The tallest plants are sunflowers, which are currently competing with the apple tree for head room. I am expecting beans, peas, corn, and watermelon over time.
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Inspired by my daughter Jessica’s gardening efforts, I am branching out. I have always been a serious gardener but mostly focused on flowering plants and cactus. Jessica’s enthusiasm for gardening edible and native California plants is infectious. We have lived in the San Jose neighborhood of Willow Glen for over twenty years – on the bank of the Guadalupe River. Chuck and Kathleen Purdy who owned our house before were great gardeners. They passed on to us many fruit and nut trees, including a small orchard. Some of the fruit trees have died over the years, leaving space for my son Paul to store his curing logs for woodworking, and for me to create a market garden next to the prickly pear and yucca hedge. Paul and John used some old steel beams we had for the six foot by eight foot raised border. Jessica brought over some of her seedlings and 12 bags of garden soil with fertilizer which I have dug in to create a good planting bed. Paul also took the wheels and handles off of two old wheelbarrows for small beds. (Other than the new soil, plants, and mulch, this new planting area was created with materials I already had.)
So far, I have planted:
Three Sisters (a gift from Jessica): corn, beans, and squash (with a sunflower) – 6 sets
Cherry tomatoes (“Husky Cherry Red” and “Cherry-Red”) – 3 plants
I am getting ready to plant carrots, potatoes, snow peas and snap peas as well. I bought seeds from Plants of the Southwest – and added a 3-sided trellis to support the pea and bean vines. A Meyer Lemon I planted many years ago is thriving next to the apricot, apple, and white peach trees. I added a brick border for the lemon trunk and tossed in all of the stones I dug out of the planting bed for decoration. Three garden cats (only one of whom is actually ours) – Princess, Ketchup, and Charlie – help us manage the property. I am concerned that the raccoon marauders will dig everything up – I may have to add a wire cover to the planting bed like that of our neighbors.
22 April 2020 – everything planted!
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