Jan 28, 2020
My husband says it’s like being married to Pigpen, the notoriously dirty character in Peanuts.
I might be cleaned up and ready to go out for the evening, but then notice a plant that needs water or run into the garden to check something. The next thing I know, my shirt is wet and smudged, my fingernails are grungy and there is debris in my hair. There have been occasions when I have had to wash up and change clothes twice before we finally pull out of the driveway.
I simply can’t stay clean.
Dec 30, 2019
The East Sacramento bungalow, built in 1949, had the original kitchen, original bathroom, original flooring and no insulation. There was even the old knob and tube wiring when Nar Bustamante purchased the home in 2018.
“As pretty and cute as the house was, it was just done,” says Bustamante, who looked at numerous homes before finding the two-bedroom, one-bath house on a quiet street off Elvas Avenue.
Dec 30, 2019
You can’t just plant and forget a landscape tree. Even if you’ve carefully planted it in the best possible spot, your job isn’t done. According to Pamela Sanchez of the Sacramento Tree Foundation, you need to make a commitment to properly train and maintain your new tree for at least eight years. Just as you must instill good behavioral habits in a child or puppy, establish good growth habits in a young tree.
Trees grow in the wild without any human intervention. Our standards are higher for a tree that is growing in our yard. Attending to a tree’s structure improves its health, safety and aesthetics. Just as a stitch in time saves nine, a snip (or several) will save you time and money over the many years of a tree’s life.
Nov 28, 2019
My two yards are like a mullet: business in the front and party in the back. I’ve never gotten around to converting my scruffy front lawn to a more interesting water-efficient landscape, but my husband and I have created our personal paradise in the back.
I didn’t mean to keep it a secret, but only a small circle of family and friends usually see it. Our garden was designed for my obsession with plants and my husband’s addiction to tomatoes, not for garden tours or large-scale entertaining.
Nov 28, 2019
When you walk into Uri and Lea Carrazco’s remodeled house in the Fab 40s, don’t expect to see refurbished light fixtures, original hardwood floors or carefully preserved crown molding beckoning back to the home’s heyday in the 1920s. The previous owners gutted the interior in 2015, leaving one wall standing, and started anew.
The two-story home, built in 1927, is now a showcase for contemporary living, complete with a black-and-white color palate and chic furnishings. The Carrazco’s East Sacramento abode is one of five on the annual Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour this month.
Oct 29, 2019
Whenever I hear a chainsaw buzzing in my neighborhood, my heart sinks and my stomach clenches. Are we going to lose yet another beloved shade tree?
My husband and I see ghost trees everywhere in our East Sacramento neighborhood, remembering majestic giants that once filled the now-empty sky and shaded summer-sizzling sidewalks and yards. These trees weren’t ours, but we loved them and miss them still.
