Going Yard: Pat on the back goes a long way
By Tom Peterson
When it comes to their yard, Gale and Ty Wenzel are swinging for the fences at 104 W. 13th Street in The Dalles.
Their roses? Blooming. Their lawn? Manicured. Their planters? Homemade.
“Your yard and home are always so well-cared-for- a lovely spot in the neighborhood! Thank You! City Beautification Committee,” read a postcard the couple recently received in the mail.
Mayor Rich Mays formed the committee after taking office.The intent is to support and bolster improvement efforts in The Dalles.
The committee’s idea of catching somebody doing something right and letting them know it with a nice note makes quite an impression. Dozens of the postcards are sent every year to residents who are making The Dalles look good.
The words of gratitude to the Wenzels redoubled the couple’s efforts.
So, weeds, if you’re trying to get in the lineup at the Wenzels, you’re about to strike out.
“You see that weed,” Gale said of his front flowerbed. “If I go in the house and sit down, I’ll keep thinking about it and have to come out here and get it.”
Ty brings in a creative touch.
“Pinterest,” she said of her inspirations for using hubcaps to create decorative flowers on sheds in the back of the house.”
And when they were visiting Ty’s mother in Burley, Idaho, they spotted a hubcap on the side of the road. They drove past it once, and when it was still there on a return trip, it was too much to resist. They dropped Gale off to retrieve it and made plans to meet him around the corner in the event someone “came out and started shooting.”
“It is Idaho,” Ty laughed. Gale scored the cap, no shooting.
A hubcap spotted near Rooster Rock recently started Ty’s phone ringing, in case she needed another. She doesn’t... yet.
In addition, the couple went Henry Ford on their planters, a tapered design Ty found online that they mass-produced for a total of five. Two now adorn their front walkway.
They’ve also added stepping stones, flowerbeds, a concrete back porch, and a rock river trail with ornamental turtles and a fish.
Gale even called friend Kory Hendrickson of Clarkston, Wash., for some tutoring on the roses.
“He told me at what height to cut them, and, oh man, they look great now,” he said of the “ketchup and mustards” in the front yard.
The downside? Gale said Ty had been sending photos out to friends.
He’s been getting some tough phone calls in response.
“All the husbands are calling me and saying, ‘damn it Gale, now I have to make my yard look good like you did.’”
Gale, 74, who has had both knees replaced and suffered other health problems, isn’t letting any moss grow. He plans to put in a 30-foot by 2-foot flower bed next to the front yard retaining wall.
“Please don’t send another one,” Ty said of the beautification postcard with a wry smile. “He can’t take another heart attack.”
The Dalles City Beautification Committee recently sent Gale Wenzel, seen here, and wife Ty, a postcard thanking them for their well-cared-for home and yard.
Ty Wenzel created some whimsy with these colorful repurposed hubcaps on the shed behind their home.
Here’s the postcard that has Gale and Ty Wenzel keeping after the weeds, feeding their lawn and busy in their shop.
One of these homemade planters looked so good, they built four more. Ty Wenzel said she found the plans online and then she started putting her math skills to work. And yes, those are real flowers.
