There is something that really bugs me about myself. I think I’ll tell you what it is. My brother has the same problem. We I get something in my head, it rarely leaves until I satisfy it. Many times, it has to do with a project I am doing and it involves me going to the store to buy something. I am a pig.

With that said, I decided to beef up the landscape lighting I installed the other day. I mean, it looked good and all, but I didn’t think it was enough. Ever since I went to Punta Cana and saw what the resort did with landscape lighting, I have been intrigued. I like the effects of landscape lighting at night. In my humble opinion, it’s really cool.

Now, I know you remember the six landscape lights that I set up just the other day. I bet you thought that was pretty cool. Well, that was nothing and personally, I thought it was a bit wimpy.

I decided to go back to Home Depot to get six more lights, but this time I got six Malibu low voltage flood lights. They are wicked cool. I also had to upgrade the 121 watt power pack to a 300 watt power pack because there were more lights in the system. That wasn’t hard, it just cost more money. By the way, if anyone wants to set up their own landscape lighting system and needs a 121 watt power pack (good for about ten low voltage lights), let me know and I will give you the old one.

So now, we have six low voltage sidewalk lights and six low voltage flood lights that face up towards the house.

Take a look at what I’m talking about…

Home landscape lighting

Home landscape lighting

Home landscape lighting

How cool is that? Just a few lights brought the place from dark and boring to warm and inviting. I think it looks great, but would love to hear what you think.

I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I have been busting my butt to get the front sidewalk area of the house landscaped. It wasn’t all that difficult because things were in pretty good shape. I really like mulch areas, so I decided to add a few. Keeps the weeds down, if you know what I mean. Also, it just looks damn good.
After a few trips to the local hardware store for some mulch and a lot of weeding and digging, I can finally show you some photos of my hard work. I think you will be impressed with my perfection.
Here you go.

Mulch area in front of the house

Front of the house from a distance

New Blue Princess Holly bush

 Photos Of A Morning Glory

A while back, I can’t even remember when, Laura got a Morning Glory. I can’t remember if it was some seeds or the plant itself. What I do remember is that she decided to plant it in front of the house.
Well, it has been a month or two and now the thing is huge. It has overtaken the rose bush and is starting to cling on the siding. I have to trim it every so often.
The other day, I noticed some nice blue flowers on the Morning Glory. Since I have never had any experience with this type of plant, I decided to go in a tell my lady. Upon informing her of the exciting news, she turned to me and said, “Yeah, I know.” That was it. Like, c’mon.
After that, I did what I do…I grabbed the camera and started taking some pictures and here they are…

Blue Morning Glory

Blue Morning Glory

Yesterday, I noticed that the Morning Glory wasn’t looking so good. It was drooping a bit in the sun. I didn’t mind, because I am actually looking forward to getting rid of the vine so I can have a little space back. This morning, I looked at the plant and it was back to life, flowers bloomed and all. I told Laura about this and she said, “Yeah, I know. That’s why they call them Morning Glorys.” I need to stop having these conversations.

While I was out there taking pictures, I decided to take some of one of the bushes we have in the front yard. I can’t, for the life of me, remember what it is called. The neighbor told me what it was, but I forget. I have a lot of stuff on my mind all the time. I really don’t listen all that well. Can you believe people blame me for this?

Well, whatever they are, here are a few good shots of them…

I told you in my last post that I was going to take some pictures of the freshly installed sidewalk lights at night. Well, guess what I just did. You got it. I took some pictures, but at dusk, not night. I am not sure they would have come out at night.

I think I have a dim bulb, but they aren’t bad. Here, check them out…

Sidewalk lights at night

Sidewalk lights at night

Sidewalk light at night

As you may know, I have been doing a lot of work outside trying to make things look nice. A lot of sweat has gone into these projects. Things are rolling along smoothly and actually getting somewhere.
I have been visiting the local hardware store every few days to get a yard of mulch. I can fit twelve bags in the car, which is actually about a yard and a third. It’s good enough to do smaller areas. Once you start raking, mulch doesn’t go all that far.
I am up to the front sidewalk area of the house. I weeded the whole area this morning in preparation for the sidewalk lighting I purchased at Home Depot yesterday. There were already three lights out there, but two of them were out. I decided to buy three more lights and a set of bulbs. I got the Malibu “Do-it-yourself” metal lights, because they matched the ones already installed.

These lights are pretty nice. They are about a foot and a half tall, made of metal, use 11 watt bulbs and are really easy to install.

Since there were already some installed, but I like to do things my own way, I decided to take them out, along with all the wire. With the 50′ of outdoor wire I bought yesterday, coupled with the existing wire, I had plenty to add three light to make a total of six.

After I did all the weeding and pulled out the wire and lighting fixtures, I assembled all the new lights. Each one took just a few minutes. I installed the lights and re-ran the wire so it accessed all of them. I changed the time on the outdoor timer and took a look. Miraculously, all of them worked. I am very excited for it to get dark tonight to I can attempt another picture. I am hoping it will come out so I can post it here. Then, you will see the pure beauty of my work.

After I showed Laura what I did, she suggested that we put in some small floodlights that aim at the house from the sidewalk, facing upward. I am sure you have seen them. There are a few houses that have those types of lights in this neighborhood and I get jealous when I see them. There is nothing worse than a naked, dark house at night time. Well, I’m sure there are some things worse than that. But still, it’s all about the lighting.