mforr, you have a garden at the beach? How cool! Yes, do post.

mforr - I miss my deer & turkeys from north Jersey!! Last year my raccoon had babies; wonder who'll show up this summer?!

that 'dirty' door closing dog video is GMA's 'play of the day' today.

I have the deer, same herd, I scare off any interlopers, there's enough already. Raccoons, possums, foxes, groundhogs, wild turkeys, owls, hawks and herons. There is a lot of action. And tons of babies right now. There are woods around the property and the birds sound like a sound effect tape from a movie. Also there's all the "peep" frogs announcing spring and a small fish pond in front of house that is a very green, murky home to at least 80-100 fan tailed goldfish in colors from white, gold, orange and black, with striped and spotted in all of those colors combined. Also home to about 10 frogs who love to talk to me and especially my husband and son who have very deep voices. It's a crazy menagerie! Some people who live about a quarter mile from here have those white domesticated ducks, I think a Muscovy and something else mix, that parade down the road or through the woods and visit my meadow and other bigger pond (that is more like a giant swampy mud puddle when there isn't a ton of rain) they are so funny and don't like each other very much but still hang out together. Also a big, old turtle lumbers up from the pond and lays eggs in the same spot every year, funny, I always seem to look out the window and catch her every year. What are the odds of that happening? It's not like I'm plastered up against the window waiting for it!

mforr - sigh .. I miss having/being surrounded by all that wooded area, that attracts more animals. I have possum & raccoon now (miss the skunks), lots of birds, squirrels & chipmunks. It was interesting on Sunday .. quiet all the way thru Morris County on 206/24, but once I hit the Somerville area on 287S, I began passing areas with cicadas making a racket!

I used to live a few minutes from the Celery Farm in Allendale, where I'd get my fill of lake-loving waterfowl, turtles & frogs.

We have friends in mahwah, love that area. Last year I looked out back and scared some skunk babies. They were so funny, they all touched noses and made a "skunk starfish shape" and staying in formation sidled away very slowly, it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Maybe they were trying to appear like a giant skunk monster. :)

Astraea - Cowardly Custard is the actual name of the paint - not one of my smart remarks for a change.

From what I heard, Joel Madden brought Nicole and the kids out here with him, but I don't know about Ricky Martin, there was no mention of his kids at all. I guess so many of them have Nannies that probably see more of the kids than the parents do anyway, they wouldn't even notice the parents missing for a few months. Of course with technology today, FaceTime and Skype make distance irrevelent.

It's like an old western movie, "cowardly custard is for yellow bellies, now draw!!!"

We spent a year and a half in London when my kids were in elementary school. One of my daughter's classmates was the youngest child of a very rich Arab family who was still too young for boarding school. This kid actually had two sets of nannies - one for the week and then another couple who stayed with him on the weekends. Plus, his own limo driver and bodyguard as well

Hey mforr, how are you today?

Roo, my daughter was a big Good charlotte fan! Saw them with her dad when she was in middle school. Joel seems pretty sensible and family oriented.

I'm doing great, handymam! How are you? Did you get any of that rain? My mother lives in Clinton and it was rockin' and rollin'. I missed the worst of it. I'm going to post some pics of garden for you and I came across some pre renovation pics of beach house. The befores look like a hillbilly shack from an over the top tv show. When people tell me I have "vision" I now finally believe them. Or I'm totally insane and masochistic!! You'll love these, guaranteed. I can't stop laughing and I haven't even posted them yet. I'll have to switch to phone, that's where the pics are.

I can't wait to see these pics now, lol!

This is the back corner of house where the outdoor shower was/is. Look what they found when they took the cementboard side wall of shower down!!! I can't stop laughing!!!! Anyway, it's much better now. And I designed and decided on every single change and refurbishment to that house. Builder just stood back, nodded and got to it. And then said he originally thought I was nuts to take this on. Afterwards, he said it was one of his favorite projects. Before he flaked out on me and didn't finish punch list, oh well, nobody is perfect. I'll post the garden pics after. There's a lot, but I could have gone on forever, I'm so happy with it. :)

Garden

Garden

Garden

Garden

Beautiful, mforr!

Still more to plant, perennials and a few annuals. And some big blue ceramic pots to fill, so excited that no one will eat any of it.

mforr....Just Lovely!!!!!!!! LOVE!!

Thank you kim and jayme! What, no comment on toilet hanging out of wall??? :)))))

LOL, I saw it -- I assume it's no longer there!

@mforr...the gardening/landscaping is just like what I love!!!

I can only imagine going in to use powder room and sitting down and leaning back a little too hard, and wham!!! You're outside. The little piece of cementboard was the only thing behind it. What a crazy house!! Oh, and yes, it's gone away to the place all bad toilets go.

Tried to make it lower maintenance, because I'm not always there. Even though, I love to go there almost year round, it's nice to be at shore off season, even off, off season.

Love it mforr!!

Thanks robin :)

Mforr – I was in Upper Saddle River; best friends live in Mahwah, and was up there a couple of weeks ago. Do you watch News12? My current town was on the news this morning .. but not in a good way. This is a very quiet town, so when there’s a shooting, it catches my attention!

A shooting?!?! Holy!!!

Oh, didn't see that, what happened? It is a lovely, quiet, sleepy, family town. One of my favorites.

Hmmm, owner of the sand bar restaurant shot someone who worked for him, maybe a love connection? He's apparently holed up in his point pleasant home. Shocking for that quiet area, Astraea.

Robin - Well the self-defense theory (if used) won't work, since the victim was allegedly shot in the back! The latest update was that the victim is an employe at The Sandbar restaurant, and the shooter is the owner .. so as they say, "the plot thickens"!

I looped past the restaurant, on the way home from the salon this morning, but everything's quiet again.

Thank goodness, the action has moved away from your area. How awful, is she still alive?

mforr - Critical but stable condition, and she identified who shot her. Now the state police are involved; they evacuated the area around where the Sandbar owner lives in Point Pleasant.

They got him, what a terrible thing for the woman and awful for all the people who had to be evacuated until about 1:20

mforr - I think they said that the police came around his neighborhood around 4 am, telling people to evacuate. I'm not sure I'd even go to the door, if the bell rang at that hour .. I'd rather stay locked up in my house, but they worry about "stray bullets"!

I know, I thought about that too. I wouldn't trust anyone a door, unless I knew them already or I could see the actual police car, not just a flashing light either. Scary :(

Handymam, oh handymam!!! What happened to you? Where did you go?

mforr, oh, mforr, I am back from my real life! (The one I go to sometimes when I am not on here, lol!)

Your house and gardens are just gorgeous! So jealous, but I know you put a lot of yourself into what you did. You really have a great sense of style! That color on your house is perfect. No wonder you suggested it to someone the other day!

I am really going to kidnap you now and pick your brain for all my projects I am juggling, hehe!

Thanks handymam, that means a lot to me, coming from you. Please tell me you enjoyed my hillbilly outhouse picture at the top of those posts. It's my favorite, favorite image and cracks me up every time I see it. I'm grinning like a lunatic even now, lol.

Yes, I meant to say that I don't know how you were able to see past all of that to envision what you ended up with! Was thinking that bathroom must have been really cold with just that thin little wall between you and the outdoors! LOL.

How long did the transformation take?

Eight months. Whew!!

That's all?? It took me 17 years to get my yard to having the look it does, lol.

It was freezing, there was no insulation in house and some really nasty old baseboard heat. Put in a combination ac and gas heat furnace in attic , lost the yucky baseboard, gained hot water on demand and room for a laundry room in what was the utility room with gigantic furnace and crappy giant water heater. Love the Navian hot water on demand system. Works really well. Great project, soooooo glad it's done, except for bits and pieces :)

The garden was separate project, we had someone to do the stonework, no way we were doing that!!! Also had some of the bushes and three trees done by them. We planted a bunch of bushes, perennials, roses, grasses and one tree. It took them 8 days to do their part and we've been doing it for three weekends now. Still need some more planting done, but it's really looking great already. Not that I want to rush the years, but I wish I could see the mature garden now!! Patience is not really my greatest virtue. If I have any virtues, lol :)

So this was a very recent house purchase then?

Don't rush the plantings to grow! Then there will be trimming involved and less time on houzz!

Nooooo!!!! Don't take my houzz time away. I won't rush it, but my mom is a genius at hedge trimming. We used to tease her that she must go over everything with manicure scissors because it was soooo perfect. She is the true green thumb in our family. I'm the house interior and exterior wizard and my husband and two kids get a lot of work to do. Ok, maybe it's mostly just my husband.

I am the brains of decorating and repairs in my housse, but my husband has the wallet and the braun, lol.

Sounds like you and I are a team!! Exactly the same here, lol