Thursday, May 29, 2008
Photos of the House
Lee Kiang just posted a bunch of photos of the house in her blog. Thanks! Also, she'll be writing about her visit to my place, so keep reading her page!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Taking Care of My Lawn (with more square footage than my house)
My annual Mad Month of May is finally over. So I can now get back to updating this sadly neglected blog. One of the things I had to do after moving into this new place was find out how to take care of a lawn. A very large lawn. 7000+ square feet!!! That's more than 3 times the square footage of my house! Thankfully, April was still too cold for grass to grow so I had some time to settle in. 
Naturally, I first consulted my colleagues who have lawns. Their recommendation was to get a self-propelled lawn mower, with mulching capability. This has a small single-cylinder petrol engine that will move itself, and spin the blade underneath, of course. This is a very good thing because the mower weighs about 40kg. Pushing it up and down a rough, grassy, slightly sloped surface would not have been easy. Mulching is just keeping the cut grass in the cutting path of the blade a bit longer to chop it up fine, which basically means I can leave it on the lawn. It is barely noticeable and the decomposing grass helps to fertilize the lawn. Another saving in effort and time.
Lee Kiang helped me cart one back from the store. US$288 plus tax. Hiring a lawn service to do the mowing would cost about US$20 each time, average once a week. I would earn it all back in the first year. The consumables of petrol and engine oil doesn't cost that much, even with higher petrol prices.
Actually taking care of the lawn would take more than just cutting the grass. I never realized just how lawn-obsessed U.S. culture actually is. There are literally whole libraries of material, both in actual libraries and online. One excellent resource is the web page of a popular home improvement show, This Old House (e.g. watering the lawn). There are also many others, some more useful than others.
Anyway, enough of the research, preparation and agonizing, I had to actually do it and figure it out myself. Turns out.... not too hard. Mowing the entire lawn takes about an hour. Other than slightly sore hands from keeping the machine going in a straight line, wind-blown dust and grass on my face, it wasn't too bad. I'll eventually need to get to the maintenance chores with the mower but it should be OK. Lots of help from guys in the lab.
Naturally, I first consulted my colleagues who have lawns. Their recommendation was to get a self-propelled lawn mower, with mulching capability. This has a small single-cylinder petrol engine that will move itself, and spin the blade underneath, of course. This is a very good thing because the mower weighs about 40kg. Pushing it up and down a rough, grassy, slightly sloped surface would not have been easy. Mulching is just keeping the cut grass in the cutting path of the blade a bit longer to chop it up fine, which basically means I can leave it on the lawn. It is barely noticeable and the decomposing grass helps to fertilize the lawn. Another saving in effort and time.
Lee Kiang helped me cart one back from the store. US$288 plus tax. Hiring a lawn service to do the mowing would cost about US$20 each time, average once a week. I would earn it all back in the first year. The consumables of petrol and engine oil doesn't cost that much, even with higher petrol prices.
Actually taking care of the lawn would take more than just cutting the grass. I never realized just how lawn-obsessed U.S. culture actually is. There are literally whole libraries of material, both in actual libraries and online. One excellent resource is the web page of a popular home improvement show, This Old House (e.g. watering the lawn). There are also many others, some more useful than others.
Anyway, enough of the research, preparation and agonizing, I had to actually do it and figure it out myself. Turns out.... not too hard. Mowing the entire lawn takes about an hour. Other than slightly sore hands from keeping the machine going in a straight line, wind-blown dust and grass on my face, it wasn't too bad. I'll eventually need to get to the maintenance chores with the mower but it should be OK. Lots of help from guys in the lab.
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