in preparation of a fence.

the fence separating our home and our new neighbors is chainlink. this is leftover from the previous homeowners, and used to feature barbed wire at the top. luckily, that part was taken down several months ago.

we got an estimate done to replace the chainlink with a redwood fence, and are moving forward with it. the fence posts will be set right into the concrete. however, there are three bougainvillea plants right where the fence would be going, so we we needed to dig them up.

limited space for digging due to the concrete.

the smallest and easiest to handle of the three bougainvilleas.

we are happy to move these guys too, because they haven't been thriving in their little concrete box. it wasn't all that easy to get them up either. the biggest of the three (not pictured) and roots that went down pretty far, and trying to dig them up without damaging the roots was really hard. we probably weren't successful either, but we've got them in pots and our fingers crossed they'll survive.

the bougainvillea repotted. as you can see, there is little privacy with a chainlink fence.

all clear! hopefully we'll get the contractor scheduled soon and the chain link will be gone and replaced with a pretty redwood fence. we've got big(ish) plans for this space! more of that to come in time..

view from the street of this unutilized space between the two houses.

the return of an unwelcome houseguest.

what an exciting evening we've had! after eating dinner and watching an old episode of doctor who (we're avid fans!), we were finishing our last blog post when we started hear little taps and other weird noises behind us, about where the front door is. there are definitely lots of cats in the neighborhood, so we paid no attention, until we noticed it was above us. and remembered that a few months back, we had a raccoon problem in the attic...!

so we rushed outside, flashed our light up there and saw.. nothing. we had previously figured out how he was getting in: a few missing pieces of wood in the attic gables allowed enough space for a pesky little raccoon to enter. except, he's not so little because we saw him last time, right after we sealed it all up, and he had tried to enter but couldn't. he was at least 30 lbs. big raccoon. but we thought our problem was solved, and haven't heard a peep in the attic for months. until tonight. and the wire mesh we had used to block the entry still looked intact, which was awfully confusing.

james is a trooper.

we knew the raccoon was definitely back though, because he tore up our side garden, which is something he did the last time:

raccoons are jerks.

anyway, while james was still scouring the outside of the house to try and see where it was coming and going from, i went back inside the house and was able to confirm it was definitely still inside the attice. james took a ladder into the front yard, stood on it, and shined a light at the entry, while i knocked our ceiling with an umbrella to try and scare it out. and it eventually worked. james then used the ladder to get onto the roof, went to the spot the raccoon had managed to get loose and tied the lattice-work together with 10-gauge steel wire and put a cinderblock on top. fingers crossed that holds.

the outside of the house gets a little love.

we replaced the light fixture on the side of the house, and we couldn't be more excited about it!

the existing light on the side of the house (visible from the kitchen and dining rooms) isn't inherently bad, but it looked really janky because it's broken and missing several pieces of glass (james turned it so that the two intact pieces face the street). it doesn't help that we essentially gave up on it, so didn't even bother to clean it, letting the spiderwebs and dead bugs just run rampant.

gross.

it's bothered us from the day we moved in, and we look in the outdoor lighting section of every home depot and lowe's that we go into, every single time. surprisingly, there just aren't that many options for a small, outdoor-rated ceiling mounted pendant light - especially in a style that makes sense with a hundred year old craftsman house! in the end, after a visit to rejuvenation in culver city, we ordered this jordan valley semi-flush mount (outdoor-rated!) in antique copper, with a six inch clear glass globe shade. guys, it is so pretty. it was more than we really wanted to spend on a side light, but the quality is palpable. and again, so so so so pretty. you'll see.

eeeee....! (so pretty!)

we thought getting the old fixture off would be a piece of cake - according to the instructions, just a screwdriver and pliers, right? maybe a vise grip. but of course, this fixture has been there for decades, and nothing is ever as easy as you'd hope.

there was so much rust, and stripping of the little bolts holding the mount in place, that we just could not get it off. it was basically spining freely inside the mount, so we had to resort to a dremel. i can't say how grateful i am that james has a pretty decent set of tools at his disposal, and we didn't have to make an additional trip to the store for such a relatively minor setback.

anyway, once we got the mount removed, it was relatively simple. phew! we didn't know what we would find (again, super old house). so finding a standard black/white power/neutral set of wires was quite a relief. 

we're not too pleased that the little junction mount sticks out about half an inch (and you'll see why in a second), but at least it cleaned up pretty nicely, and we were quickly able to wire up the new fixture to it.

even though we really don't get much rain in los angeles (especially this drought-y year), we still wanted to be safe, and by chance found these waterproof connectors. we didn't really get how they would work, until we used them. when you stick the wires into it, it breaks some seal inside it that is holding a silicone sealant, which coats the wires, waterproofing the connection. pretty nifty!

and voila! however, can you see what i see? there's a bit of a gap there between the mount and the beam..

we're going to leave it as is for the moment, but we'll need to find some way to make this look better. knowing the area, it will just become infested with more spiderwebs and bugs. we're thinking of making an additional wooden mount piece to go between the two.

With such a pretty fixture, we couldn't just use the old CFL in it. We ended up going with an edison bulb, which is less efficient, but gives off a much warmer and prettier light for the side porch.