Another Neighborhood Inspiration Tour

Another dog walk, another opportunity to steal gather ideas for the garden. Between weather, lack of days off and not feeling quite up to snuff, I have been slack around the house. Basic maintenance and not much more of late. So the walks are imperative to keep the creative juices flowing. Sometimes it's the little touches and not the grand sweep that catch the eye. Today yielded these nuggets (and clicking on the picture lets you see them larger):

Mostly the color scheme is what caught my eye. Then the grouping. It's a gift to the street.

Dry river beds are nothing new, but I liked the jumble and flow of this one

Almost missed this little ceramic bunny hiding in the lilies. As least I think they're lilies.

Smart Phones Are the New Heroin

This blog is called Cranky Little Old Lady for a reason. I see things that make me cranky. My latest crank rant is about people on their phones. Now before your eyes glaze over and you go "Yes, grandma, how many times we got to hear about people on their phones?", I will point out that until people stop doing inconsiderate, dangerous or just plain stupid things with phones in hand, there will always be other people who point it out. Today is my turn.

We've all seen the parent so engrossed on the phone while their precious toddler is running amuck in a store and clueless parent doesn't give a bee's behind. Or people walking down the sidewalk so busy texting they don't see the oncoming bicycle or the huge dog about to get up in their business. We've seen the videos of people walking into traffic, fountains, lamp posts. And of course we've heard the horrors of drivers killing or being killed while texting and driving. Well, I've got a new one for you.

Big black dog and I walk a regular route most days. And in the last couple of weeks, we keep running into the same situation. Some backstory: If I hear or see someone get into their car, I'll wait until they pull out of the driveway. Why wait you innocently ask? Because people don't look until they've nearly run you over. They are either so sure no one would possibly be walking (what - no car?!), or they honestly can't see for the shrubs, fences and other obstacles in the way. I've just learned that in the interests of safety first, it's easier to wait until they come bombing out their driveway, enjoy the absolute look of shock when they see us standing there, and smile and wave as they sheepishly drive off. I make bets with my big guy on who will wave acknowledgement, who will pretend we don't exist, and who will actually mouth the words "I'm sorry." Now for the latest wrinkle.

One woman gets in her car, starts to back up, and then stops. She's on her phone. The perfect time to scoot past you think. No. Just as you hope she's so absorbed you can go by, she starts to back up again. Ah, you muse. This time is for real. Foiled again. She stops. Fiddles with the phone. At no time has she looked left or right to notice pedestrians or other cars. And she's one of the few who has a clear view of sidewalk and street. You wait some more. And wait. And wait. Just when you're about to brave the attempt to make it past the driveway, she starts up again in earnest. And EVERY SINGLE TIME, she she is shocked - shocked - to see us there. Now you might reasonably think she would get a clue and resist the urge to repeat this behavior. You would be wrong. Like heroin, phones make us feel good. They make us forget that just yesterday, we did something not so smart while we were on them. Or we ignored something or someone we shouldn't have ignored. And like heroin, that feeling lures us back into the glow of the seductive screen. 

I'm not blameless. I nearly never watch TV anymore without phone in hand. I answer texts promptly and I'm a total sucker for the lure of a new incoming email. But I also believe that one should be aware of one's surroundings, and one should certainly put the dime bag of heroin away before putting the car in reverse. 

El NIÑO'S POWER PUNCH

I have been remiss in blogging - mostly because there haven't been any fun projects to speak of lately. The reason for that is quite simple. El Niño has decided to make good on its promise to deliver large quantities of rain to California. That has resulted in the mad scramble to de-clutter gutters of the massive quantities of leaves our beautiful, but high maintenance trees bestow everywhere; look for potential flood points around the house and come up with novel, quick and cheap solutions to avert any potential problems; and mostly just try to keep from floating way. Fortunately we are not in imminent danger - just pesky pooling of water that can make its way under the house or into the garage. 

Now no self respecting house in the Midwest or on the East Coast would have these air wells which can also catch water. But then, admittedly, when it is so dry the majority of the year and the average annual rainfall can fit into a Champagne flute, I guess builders were lulled into a false sense of security. So, using a few bricks and some mortar I built up the sides of the air wells and found some plexiglass from old picture frames to create a cover so the majority of the rain slides off and away. In my haste, I didn't get as tight a seal as I thought, but with another layer of concrete, that should do the trick nicely.           

In other news of the opposite kind, the majority of the time, especially during times of draught, water retention is the problem. And I lucked into a way to line some areas of the property to keep water escaping over the curbs and into the street. At one point in my rambles about the neighborhood, I happened upon a construction site. They had just finished installing a massive fence and had cut off the tops of the dog-eared boards to make them straight. The end cuts were going to the dump. I asked for them and the foreman was only too happy to help me load them into the car. Initially I thought to make bird houses from them - they're the perfect size, they're redwood, and they would be cute and beneficial placed about the property. Then reality hit. With no fine carpentry skills, it all turned out to be more time consuming and ham-handed looking than anticipated. So I kept them around for ages before lightening struck. If I used them as edging, making an overlapping double row, they would keep water where it belonged. Not to mention, looking rustic and neat. So that's what happened. It actually came out very well and the look is exactly right for the areas. Compared with the serrated brick edging, it's far more subtle, but the brick, handsome as it is, doesn't do anything to retain water.

Interestingly, when I put the wood edging curbside in front of the house, I hadn't counted on people on the passenger side willfully damaging the edging by slamming their car doors against it. I had naively assumed that drivers and passengers would assess the situation, allow the passenger to disembark in the driveway, and then the driver would neatly park the car. Apparently that idea escaped the brain neurons for everybody. So I had to take defensive action and put logs and stones behind the edging to discourage idiocy. Sigh - people still don't get it. Maybe when the pointy, nasty succulents behind the logs grow up a bit, they'll see the light. Though frankly, as I watch a father allowing his daughter to jump up and down on my beer bottle border with abandon, I don't really have much hope for those people who are so entrenched in car culture, the idea of not being able to pull up and get out anywhere just doesn't compute.