Overgrowth solved and order restored

In a previous post about the overgrowth from our abnormally bounteous rainfall for the past two years, the sidewalk was covered, couldn't get past the full blooms to get to the Critter Café, and it generally felt as if Nature was in such high gear it was taking over everything. While I'm all in favor of Nature taking back what's hers, there does come a point where we have to compromise. 

With soaring temperatures, not to mention my soaring age, you'd think that reason would prevail and yard work would wait. Think again. Not only am I a cranky old lady, but obstinacy is one of my more endearing traits, at least when it comes to certain chores. While the aches and pains that come later remind me to slow down a bit, some things just cannot wait. Hence, the big clean up.

The trash can that has it's very own hidey-hole (custom made by yours truly ages ago) is now open and ready for business. The agave and huge weeds are gone so the bin is happily at home. The sidewalk is now actually walkable and the brickwork that took forever to accomplish is back in view.

The path that was blocked with an overgrown pot of sea lavender on one side, and run amok African daisies on the other, is now open for a clear shot to the side yard and the Critter Café. It took two of us to get the huge pot on the dolly, but as it was a short trip to it's new home, it wasn't that difficult. My friend K kindly came and helped with cutting down a large agave that was suffocating a pot of geraniums and the irises trying to live beneath it. The effect of opening the area once again was magic (at least to me who has fretted about this for a year now).

Of course, the Critter Café has always been accessible through other avenues, including the side door to the house, but there are actually two separate bird stations. Without the path, getting to the second area was a brave adventure to squeeze through Firestick and nasty, pokey agave. Not fun. It even made me skip days to avoid being stuck. That didn't make the customers happy.

Station one:

 Station two:

Of course, knowing my customer base (who NEVER tip BTW), they will only become more demanding. Which is fine with me. Anything to please those who choose to grace the yard with their presence. Feathered, furred, and scaled only get to be this entitled. I don't put up with that from humans.

 

More interesting house features

If you have a chimney facing the front of the house, why not make it interesting? In this case, the owners chose to have exposed brick and stucco, which gives it an ancient feel.

This house has a true carpenter's touch. Yes, the man who lives here is actually a carpenter and it shows on some of the details on his house. He made arched (you knew that had to be a draw) window frames over the existing square frames. To be honest, don't know why he didn't remove the original frames, but I suspect it may have created more damage than was worth fixing.

While arches are my thing, in this case it's can-you-spot-the-doggie-in-the-window? Yup, there's a dog looking out and wondering why photos are being taken. Click on the picture to make it bigger to spot the ghost dog.

Though the arch of this gate is nice, it's not why it caught my eye. It is so ornate it should be at the end of a driveway to a mansion. Instead, it belongs to a modest house in the neighborhood, and adds panache.

This is what is so amazing about the 'hood. Always something to catch the eye and either make you think about some choices or admire the creativity.

More architectural oddities (and niceties)

Once again -- guilty of having passed by a place multiple times and not seen the obvious. In this case, there is a brick "patio" in front of these beautiful windows (because arches, duh). Thing is, the patio is only about two feet, or less, wide. Soooo, not good for a nice chair to enjoy the evening breezes, and not a way to get to the driveway or front walk. Just there. The front door is to the left, and there are stairs, etc., but one wonders why that narrow band of brick is in front of the windows.

On the niceties side, their mail box is beautiful copper with a lovely bird embossed below POST.

Farther down in the neighborhood, there is a house that has always struck me as utterly out of place in this area of cute Craftsman, Tudor, and Prairie style homes. It is so stark and featureless, made more so by lack of any landscaping to soften it up. Every time I go by, I think of it as an abandoned mini-market or gas station. Maybe a nice mural would perk it up.

But to end on an upbeat note, found at a house far from the above, this bit of cuteness just must be shared.

An artist in a bold medium

They say that art is in the eye of the beholder, and this beholder watched this happen. The finesse, the casual artistry, was awe inspiring. It's not every day a dog using a pee pad creates such a masterpiece. Behold:

This perfect heart formed in one shot. Phenomenal. Nellie congratulated Nick, the artist, on his performance.

Every day with these two is another day of wonder.

Making changes -- reluctantly

Sometimes you just have to realize that though you have nurtured your garden to do well, you just didn't know enough to think it through perfectly. In this case, I've mentioned that the rains have done wonders for our environment and did so much to ameliorate the drought, but they have brought on too much of a good thing in terms of growth in some areas. Had I done my research, some of the foxtail agave would have been planted farther back from the footpath so as not to overwhelm the space. But here's the dilemma -- I hate cutting back beautifully growing plants without having a plan for replanting if possible. Sometimes that's easy to do; sometimes not. If I can foist off cuttings onto neighbors, terrific. Just trashing them makes me feel wicked.

Take the case of the ugly trash bin. It's supposed to be tucked into a specifically designed space so it is accessible but hidden from view. Note the foxtail agave to the right have exploded in their growth so the footpath is hardly visible. Straight ahead where the bin is supposed to go, another plant (don't know the name) has gone crazy as well. Beyond that, what you cannot see, is an absolute mess of weeds and other outsized growth. There's no tucking of the bin possible. Add to the dilemma, the ground cover on the right was supposed to expand into the yard. It has, to a degree, but decided to also cover the footpath. One has to practically tiptoe to get through. So what's the plan? Alas, cutting back is the answer. Things have just gone too far.

Then there's the path from the front yard to the critter café where song birds, squirrels, ravens, crows, banded pigeons, and doves dine on only the finest seeds and nuts. They can also quench their thirst and bathe in the ample bird bath. Though, if you look, all you see is a mass of blooms and greenery that have taken over. What to do? Well, the sea lavender is in a pot that will be moved. The African daisies will be carefully cut back and planted in another area to thrive. That's the idea anyway.

Once the path is open again, it will lead to this open area which is leads to the critter café.

While decisions that I'm not particularly happy with do need to be made and executed, there are areas that the wilder they grow, the happier we are. One such spot is this:

Human hubris has devastating consequences

I'm currently reading Our Kindred Creatures by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy and confess that even though I've always had a dark view of human capacity for cruelty, lack of vision, and utter lack of brains, this book has rattled me to my core. Just getting past the first chapter was true hardship. Yet, I'm encouraging everyone to strap on and read this book. It's not just about animals and our relationship to them, it's also about our relationship to other humans and the very planet we live on. You can be the judge whether we are capable of change or not.

Though I knew that passenger pigeons were extinct by 1914 solely because humans made them so, I had no idea of the extent of the slaughter (five billion birds). It wasn't for survival at all. It was for sport. Just because. Bison would've met the same fate if some reasonable people hadn't stepped up and reined in the the the forces behind their mass killings. And when the reasons for killing millions of bison are explained, you'll truly wonder how people can live with themselves. During the same period, millions of wolves, bears, and other mammals were driven nearly to extinction before conservationists stepped in. And I won't go into the absolute cruelty of livestock like cattle, sheep, chickens, and pigs because that really hasn't changed.

What changes did occur were the result of the formation of SPCAs and their like. Though it was slow going and not perfect, Henry Bergh of New York modeled his ASPCA on the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in London. You might think he started out rescuing dogs. You'd be wrong there. It was horses and vivisection of animals for medical research. And when you find out why, it again makes you wonder how human beings can think they are supreme. 

The book gives a very clear and learned history of the forces of change in America, and that is encouraging, but it is far from over. It describes the rise of veterinary colleges and a more scientific approach to animal care. It talks about the very good steps toward laws concerning animal abuse and what actually constitutes abuse. Though it always takes decades to pass laws that seem a slam dunk, like banning steel-jaw leg-hold traps, the US persists in using them in all but six states (and they have exceptions). One hundred countries ban them outright. Why are we so behind? It wasn't until 2006 that California adopted a law which prohibits tying out a dog for more than three hours in a 24 hour period. EXCEPT -- and then they list the ways you can get away with that very thing. The majority of other states have no prohibitions for that at all even in searing heat or blizzards.

Of course, while the focus of the book is the US, worldwide, animal abuse is still prevalent and sickening. We need to focus on changing how we view our relationship with other creatures on the planet, and do it sooner rather than later. In fact, today would be good. 

After that discouraging news, here's a bit of a pick-me-up of two smiling faces:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the prize goes to...

The prize for largest ears and floppiest long tongue goes to Scotty:

 

This is one tired dog after we wore him out playing fetch at the dog park. Good times.