JeanP's Profile

Oh, I'm definitely going to invest in those spikes! Thanks for the tip!

The landlord would definitely let me remove the chain link, but I don't have any idea how to do so. It's sunk into the cement of the deck. I also wouldn't know what to put up in its place. And I'm hesitant to spend a lot of money on my apartment because I don't own it and could be evicted at any time. I've been a tenant-at-will for the past 13 years -- my landlord is one of those handshake agreement oldsters who thinks a lease is a distasteful thing for one friend to give another. And I know he would never throw me out or raise my rent, but his son has often spoken eagerly of the day when he gets to throw me out on my ass and turn the building over to a developer. Which is fine and totally within his rights and all that, but it makes me hesitant to sink any real funds into renovating the place. Now, if I owned the place, I would remove the back window and put in a sliding door onto the deck, and build a level wooden deck over the cement one (the cement deck is about a foot higher on one side than the other to encourage drainage, so it's a little uncomfortable to sit on if you're facing forward). That's probably what the rich person who moves in after I get evicted will do.

At one point, I draped sheets behind the chain link and spraypainted the whole thing, but that just made it stand out more. I really do hate it. I have planted some beans, peas, and morning glories, but they're not very far along. We don't get much sun, so the garden doesn't really get interesting until mid-July.

I have more flamingos along the top of the fence -- six in total.

JG -- I actually tried the owls! But the pigeons aren't afraid of them. They're wily, those pigeons.

Yeah, I really lucked out. I moved to the North End right after graduating college, and just fell in love with my building and the neighborhood. I've been in the apartment for 13 years so far, so I have over 1000 sq ft of indoor space and cheap rent. I do everything in my power to keep the landlord healthy. Of course, the apartment has a lot of problems -- two rooms were never wired for electricity, for example (and the rooms that were wired for electricity have copper wiring with cloth and some sort of hair wound around them, which looks fairly hazardous to me), and the bathroom is so small that you have to sit diagonally on the toilet.

My biggest problem on the deck is pigeon poop. If anyone could suggest a way to keep them off the roof ledge, I'd be much obliged. We had to buy all folding furniture for outdoor use and store it inside at night because of the pigeon poop problem.