Jeremy Herndon Blog

It seems that stainless steel tile is becoming a very popular way to tile in numerous ways and rooms in homes these days. My sister and her hubby are seriously looking into having some pretty nice looking decorative metal tiles from MetalStainlessSteelTiles.com  to be installed in their recent kitchen make over, that I really am starting to appreciate the look of. I have to say that at first the thought of stainless steel tiles just didn’t set right with my taste, but after looking at the big picture I do believe that it will look pretty darned good.

They have been working on this kitchen make over since the end of the year and they really want to wrap it up and move on to other outside projects that they could be getting into while we are having perfect weather for outdoor projects. I’ve been getting a lot done outside, you have to take this perfect 70 degree weather, with no humidity, while you can. I’m ready to drag out the tiller and get started on tilling our small vegetable and herb garden this weekend.

I have a very old floor lamp that I was given by a dear aunt. She tells me that she bought it over thirty years ago. I love it dearly, but it has finally given up the ghost. The socket died, and I decided it was appropriate to rewire the entire thing because the plug was the old fashioned kind that just was not as safe as the newer ones. So I went to the hardware store and bought what I needed to rewire the lamp. It took a couple of hours to take it all apart and rewire it, but I did it myself and it turned out fine.

I had called an electrician and asked him how much he would charge to re-wire it and he had told me it would cost over $100! The rewiring supplies cost me less than $20, so I’m thrilled that I saved $80 by re-wiring it myself! And I’m thrilled that I kept the lamp from going to the junkyard, so I did my part to save the environment today!

My aunt has been talking about wanting to hire me for installing artificial grass around her planned in-ground swimming pool. She explained that she was told that she has to let the swimming pool settle for several months before she can pour concrete around it and she does not want to have people running around on the bare dirt while the pool is settling. So her daughter suggested that artificial grass might be a good temporary thing to put down around the pool.

I was really surprised when she called me to talk to me about that because the last time I had heard any mention of her putting in an in-ground swimming pool no one else in the family wanted her to put one in. She said that she is putting it in for her own health, but she is putting in a very large 20′ by 40′ in-ground pool! Seems to me that if she was doing it for her health then just putting in a lap pool would be all she would need. But she has got a stubborn side to her and she has insisted that she wants the whole thing and since she is paying for it out of her own pocket then nobody but her has any say in it at all!

She has also mentioned that she wants me to take care of the landscape lighting installation around the swimming pool. I think that for lighting I will suggest some solar powered lamps, on both sides of the privacy fence that she will need to have installed. She sure is going to be spending a lot of money! I hope that she gets her money’s worth of excitement out of it! I just cannot imagine putting in a full-sized swimming pool after the kids have grown up and left home.

This weekend we are expected, once again, to have a great weather weekend, so I’ll be spending time out in the yard as much as possible getting things done that normally wouldn’t even been thought about for another month or so. It has been in the eighties all week long, crazy weather for the middle of March.

I have ordered some irrigation supplies that I need to get the yard ready for. I have wanted to get lawn sprinklers installed for some time now and when I got my tax refund check deposited into my checking account I went online and found just what I wanted and needed and put the order in in just a matter of minutes.

Working out in the yard is something that we take seriously around here. We like having a nice backyard that we can spend good quality time in all year round, which we have basically been able to do with this extreme warm winter weather that we have been blessed with this year. But during the summer we entertain a good bit and it always helps when people can relax and enjoy being out in the yard, front, side and/or back.

I’m so glad that we are in the part of the country that is having the extreme warm winter weather. Folks have been totally taking advantage of this warm weather by getting a lot of outside work done that generally doesn’t get started until the end of April. I am hoping that this weekend will be nice again so that I can get my tiller out and get at least one of the gardens tilled. The ground hasn’t been frozen in weeks so it is nice and moist and soft so that it should be a breeze to get tilled. I hope so because tilling is not one of my most favorite chores.

Our retired neighbor that lives across the street is starting to get to work on his backyard swimming pool, since it won’t be long until people are wanting to take a swim and cool off from the heat of the day. He was looking at new swimming pool liners to use this season as well as a new pool cover. I haven’t talked to him in a while to see if he was successful in finding all the pool supplies that he needs and if he needs any help with anything to get it ready. He is a really nice fellow and always extends an invitation to the neighbors to come and enjoy his pool, which we have done a few times a years since he had it built. It is a very nice pool that he takes much pride in and he certainly deserves it after working hard in the E.R. in town for so long. We are certainly blessed with good neighbors.