Blog Archive: August 2016
Gravel for road surface and rock garden
| Home Remodeling | 5 seen
The other day I first met with one of our closet neighbors, he approached me and told me, that in couple of days he will cover road (we are sharing together) with a gravel. I already mentioned it in my previous post about pond works.
I asked what kind of gravel does he is using for road surface, and decided it would be a good idea to have a little bit gravel for upcoming home foundation works (concreting). We agreed that he will give me a little bit gravel (I asked for about 1m3, but got some 3m3).
Pile of gravel
Just later I learnt, this gravel won't be suitable for concreting as it contains particles of clay.So we decided to use it later in shaping our upcoming rock garden.
Piles of gravel on the road
Neighbor will use some heavy vehicle to even out gravel later tonight. Cool you can have such neighbors, right?
Building a Rock Garden
| Home Remodeling | 4 seen
Today we made a rock garden from scratch, well almost. The thing is - idea to have a rock garden have always been in our minds, but we hadn't yet figured out how to solve the biggest question - rocks.
We had already idea of place were rock garden will be situated (in front of house, were use to had been a dump - see: The Big Spring Territory Cleanup )
Luckily after pond works were done, pond guy told he could help us with his New Holland excavator to do something else, and we agreed to take down that collapsed cowshed in front of house, it turned out there are huge rocks laid for the foundation. It was time to shape our rock garden using those huge rocks.
Excavator taking down collapsed cowshed
We will build something cool at the place in former cowshed, but for now we are taking rocks from it's foundation and forming our rock garden
Rocks in the place
Wow, they are huge ones, the same will be our rock garden
Rock garden in front of house
Former cow shed
Building a foundation for a garden oven - Part 1
| Home Remodeling | 5 seen
Idea to have a nice garden pizza oven were sit first already last year, together with the works we started shaping a form of our rural house, we recently inherited. Thus we had to wait for more than a year, before actually proceeding.
The other day, while the pond guys were finishing digging pond, I dug some soil, to lay in the foundation for garden brick.
Laying foundation for garden oven
With the help of a shovel, I will dug off the ground surface
Shaping the form of foundation
We will go for a L for garden oven, attached with a sink and water (nice outdoor kitchen)
Laying in bricks
I'm using old clay bricks from the chimney we took down some time ago.
Base foundation formed using old clay bricks
Now it's time to fill the foundation base with a concrete, but later on that.
Pond Digging - Part 3 - The Result
| Home Remodeling | 26 seen
This morning started with a surprise, I was still sleeping, when my partner awakened me and told - pond guys are digging. I was surprised, because I didn't heard a sound. Maybe I was too tired from yesterday's pond draining or as it turned latter - the modern excavators are quiet.
Anyway, I was not surprised at all - because when pond guys started, they didn't even informed me, see how it started in part 1.
I made (more correct, my partner did it) my morning coffee and took my camera to document the progress.
Excavator digging pond from the road side
I was a bit worried about the road, because we are sharing it with one another neighbor, and few days ago he informed us, that today he will be adding some load of gravel on the road surface. And that for a few hours he will block any access to the road. I told that to the pond guys and they replied with a smile, he will have to wait.
Digging the pond
At the Spring we constructed three greenhouses, and they were actually an obstacle in today's digging works, but we agreed not to touch them.
Excavator demolishing and…
How to drain a pond with a pump and hose - Digging Pond - Part 2
| Home Remodeling | 7 seen
Today I had a chance to excel in pond works - I was left with no choice but to drain the pond. Luckily the pond guys brought an electric pump to make my life much easier.
If you are new to home remodeling series, make sure you check out an article on how it all started about a year ago. And of course check out first part on pond digging, when we discovered that pond have been dug without our presence. Surprise pond digging in the middle of Summer.
Now, pond guy phoned me and told me that it would be great that we should drain the pond, he will bring a pump and all I have to do - just to watch for the water level going down and turn of the pump once the works are done. In fact it turned out to be a bit complicated, but in short yes, nothing hard.
Inserting pump in the pond
Luckily I had bought an electrical extension cord 40 meters long to plug the pump to the electricity.
Pond drainage
With help of about 30 meters long hose I had an option to drain pond water to the nearby cherry tree garden.
Pond drainage - few hours later
In total it took me about 6…
Chasing Sunset Photography with a Strong Foreground (Pāvilosta / Jūrkalne)
| | 11 seen
Chasing sunset photography with a strong foreground is a brief story, which happened on the next day after Summer Solstice. We took our moms and a little doggie and decided to visit coastal Latvian beaches.
At start we headed to Pāvilosta piers, I left girls wandering around while installed a tripod and thought I will make a few HDR's here. I have been into HDR photography since the day 1 I discovered this lovely technique back in Tbilisi. The rule of thumb for a great HDR is so called Golden hour - 30 minutes before sunrise/sunset to get interesting colors.
Pāvilosta piers
I have felt in love with the city of Pāvilosta since the day one I first visited it. Read my review of Pāvilosta piers or see Piece of Life postcards from series post - Postcards from Pāvilosta.
The above picture was not yet post - processed and I already knew - I have a good picture for my 365 days photo project. So we left white sand beaches of Pāvilosta and headed to nearby tavern - Āķagals, and spent there about an hour. My better part told me - hey, but we must get you a better sunset photography - let's visit the nearby Jūrkalne seashore…
Jurkalne Seashore Bluffs
| Tourism objects | 23 seen
The Jurkalne Seashore bluffs (Jūrkalnes stāvkrasti) are one of the most picturesque parts of Latvia's Western part seashore, located some 20 km from Pāvilosta.
Jūrkanle bluffs are great for photography or quiet walk near the beach. The bluffs in Jurkalne belong to the landslide-landfall type. The largest amount of erosion can be observed in Jurkalne.
Seashore near Jūrkalne
A quiet beach untouched by civilization and bluffs of up to 20 metres high.
The stairs that lead from the top of the bluffs to the beach have been replaced many times, due to the shore receding after powerful storms. It has been noticed that the shore can recede as fast as a few metres a year.
Sunset near Jūrkalne
Jurkalne offers ample opportunities for spending your holidays — either quietly in front of the see, or more actively: this is an excellent location for paragliding, windsurfing, kiteboarding and paddle boarding.
Jūrkalne from a drone flight
Postcards from Pāvilosta
| | 8 seen
In today's Piece of Life photo series - Postcards from Pāvilosta. I made an article about Pāvilosta and Pāvilosta's lighthouse a while ago. This time we headed to Pāvilosta in company of five after we celebrated Summer Solstice.
I was equipped with a tripod and I already knew - I will catch a sunset today
Pāvilosta piers
Much of the Pāvilosta history and foundation is related to harbor here - Information(link is external) about the history of Pavilosta dates back to the period of Duke Jekabs (1642-1682) when ships could enter the Saka River and Pavilosta served as Aizputes harbor. This harbor was used to export wood, grain and other products to various other harbors in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Trade agreements with Danish merchants were especially prosperous.
Pāvilosta beach
It might sound a little bit overstated, but allow me to say - Latvians have their own Portofino (hmm, should we call it part of Latvian Riviera?)
Catching Sun Set at Pāvilosta
Rude Manor
| Tourism objects | 53 seen
Rude manor (Rudes muiža) is located in Laidi parish, Kuldīga district Latvia. According to Kuldīga tourism information center it's one of the best preserved Empire style manors in Kurzeme.
Rude manor complex with a simple, but elegant Empire stylemaster’s house, a stable, a few barns and servants’ houses is located on the picturesque Rude hill.
Rude manor
In 1819 the estate became Firck family’s property. In 1882 Rude changed its owners again, and was bought by baron Paul von Manteuffel, who was its owner until the manor was expropriated in 1921. However, the Fircks family gave the most significant input creating the basis of the manor complex which has survived until this very day.
Rude manor