A setting for zoomies

Zoomies delight Nellie in particular and Rascal for a nanosecond. Rascal does appreciate it when doggie friends are invited over, as their people are too busy chatting and relaxing to bother him and he can hang unencumbered. In order to make it more comfortable for all, I've been trying out new placements for chairs and tables, and even broke down and bought a new patio umbrella (mostly to keep leaves off the table, but the shade is nice too), So far so good. The yard is slowly getting into shape.

If the people who accompany their dogs want snacks, our staff will accommodate them by holding a bowl of caramels or brownies, depending on whether I'm in the mood to bake. Staff are on duty 24/7 and don't really care what snack is available since they are so busy, they don't have the opportunity to eat regardless. That is their choice, by the way, as I strongly believe in treating all with respect and care.

Other staff members are expected to keep a close eye on the dogs so they don't get into any serious mischief. Buddha naturally takes a zen approach and the alien insect frankly doesn't care about shenanigans as long as no one pees on him.

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.

 

A swale is a swale

There is practical, and then there is elegantly practical. Walking past gardens with giant rock areas that were depressions like pools or streams, but not pools or streams, made me curious. A little research and I found out swales were a thing. They can be grassy or rocky, and their purpose is to control and capture rain water to add to the water table (aquifer) instead of merely running off. I really like the look of swales with giant boulders and pebbles, but knowing my limits when it comes to spending big bucks on something, I decided to look around at the junk I've collected over the years and do something similar. Let's call it the frugal person's version.

Don't ask me how I had a stack of roof tiles just sitting around waiting for a purpose. We don't actually have tiles on our roof so they weren't surplus. But have them, we do. We have a house water filter system that gushes out gallons of water every other week. I initially made a pipe system to get the water to a garden area so it was useful. Trouble was, it flowed into areas that didn't need it and wouldn't sink into the soil. It needed a solution to control the flow to actually benefit the area. Instead of gorgeous large boulders to edge the swale, the roof tiles (free of course) filled the bill nicely, forming a pool of sorts which is filled with river and pond pebbles (super cheap from Home Depot). Practical and beneficial to the Crape Myrtle tree and the hedges that line the property. It took a little fiddling, but it finally did the trick to capture the flow from the water filter. 

Then there was the problem with runoff from the rain barrels that overflow with even a short, light rain. Mud was flowing underneath the gate to the backyard patio. This was a bigger project, but with some of the roof tiles, free patio tiles, and river pebbles, we now have an area that helps maintain the mock orange tree and keeps the area clear of mud.

Those nice big rocks you see are courtesy of a neighbor who generously gave them to me. I pay for them in brownies and dog treats.

Now to show you how it is supposed to be done, the original inspiration for the swale madness:

In my neighbor's defense, there are usually no leaves in his swale, but we have had a series of unusual rain and wind storms and he lives on a street with multiple camphor trees which shed like crazy in the spring. He also has a stunning native garden. Sigh. One of these days I may learn a thing or two about gardening.

A peek at the unexpected

Since Nellie and I wander the neighborhood twice a day, you might think we've seen it all. Been there, done that. That's where you'd be wrong. Every now and then, we come across something that looks new. Something we just never truly appreciated before. Some examples: a glass mosaic house number in the driveway; a rock sculpture in a beautiful garden; and last but not least, something I never thought possible -- yellow irises. Enjoy.

 

 

Setting the scene

Only an earthquake, nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, or a doctor's appointment would get me up, dressed, and out the door before 10 a.m. Well, maybe as early as 9 a.m. would be acceptable, but not advisable. If people think I'm a cranky old fart at the best of times, you don't want to see me when when coffee and wasting time was not on the menu. 

This morning was one of those mornings where a 7 a.m. departure was required. I set about making it as painless as possible: shower and wash hair the night before, have purse, clothes and appropriate paperwork squared away, planned ahead with long-suffering partner for morning dog walks, and overall felt confident this was going to go smoothly. I'm pleased to say, yes it did. Even the parking garage gods were looking out for me and a spot near the elevator had my name on it. HOWEVER....

Yup, you knew something was going to go awry and I can only blame my lack of research prior to the visit. Any of you ever have a EEG? If you haven't, let me warn you -- it involves a whole lot of goop in your hair. First thing the tech asked me to do was to unbraid my hair and remove the barrettes. Okay. Inconvenient, considering it takes a bit to get the braids just so. Now I haven't been to a hair salon in over 14 years, but I'm guessing parting your hair and using an alcohol wipe to clean an area so you can stick something on your head with seriously sticky goop is not recommended. And it's not just one or two sensors that need to go on, but more like eight. My head looked like squirrels had nested on it when we were all done. For those curious, of course another shower immediately upon arrival home was in order to get the gel out.

Fortunately, the rest of the day went smoothly with our perfect weather, suitable for bathing dogs outside and enjoying the sights of flowers in bloom. This is what spring is supposed to look like:

My friend's garden and I'm envious!

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

As I've mentioned multiple times to anyone who will listen, knowing anything about gardening is not one of my skill sets. As a result, it is always a complete shock when plantings take off. For instance, the African daisies in the Critter Café have grown over the path to the second bird feeder and it grieves me to ever step on any of the blossoms. Humming Tiptoe Through the Tulips (anybody remember Tiny Tim?) helps.

Then there's the garden bed with a lovely marble topped table at the foot which is so smothered in the ground cover that refuses to grow in the direction it should and instead, creeps over everything else -- beautifully, but none the less.

That same ground cover was planted in a corner with the intention of spreading out to add color and replace grass. The spreading stopped, but the color is fantastically intense, and I'm not even fond of pink and think it's glorious.

 

And now here's what is going to give true gardeners cause to shake their heads and do a lot of tsk tsking. There is one area of the front yard that is completely overrun with, dare I say it, a weed. Thing is, it provides food for bees and cover for other beneficial insects during the late winter/early spring. No matter the side eyes from actual garden pros, this happens every year and makes the bare dirt a thing for the hot summer. It's called Oxalis, and there are good reasons to get rid of it in your flower beds, but, sorry, not sorry for leaving it alone while it flourishes. Come summer, it will go.

 

 

It's true I let things get out of hand, but starting in April, after most of the rains have stopped, then it's trim, weed, transplant, and generally get serious about trying to pretend there is a method to my gardening madness.

The Divine Ms. M strikes again...

My post about lightweight, kink-free hoses that don't work caught The Divine Ms. M's attention and she solved it. Doing her Christmas in July thing (at the same time she gave Kuma his new monkey), she gave me a hose to try. It actually works! The water pressure is a smidgen less forceful than the awful hoses I've been using, but close enough. For the icing on the cake, the nozzle that comes with it is truly wonderful. Those who want to give it a try -- it's TheFitLife Flexible Metal Garden Hose. She also mentioned that if you order through smile.amazon.com, charities of your choice will get a small donation without affecting your purchase price. Win-win.

But The Divine Ms. M didn't stop there to solve an even peskier problem than kinking, heavy hoses. This problem is far more grave. 

I'm a new convert to Louise Penny's Armand Gamache mystery series. Totally and completely hooked. I also really like reading on my tablet through the Libby app libraries use. Especially during lock-down, with closed libraries, Libby circumvents the problem very neatly. A series as popular as it is, even with hold times being ridiculously long, I had hopes it would be easy to access. Imagine my surprise and dismay when I realized the entire series was not online! How could that be? My go-to library is ENORMOUS. Surely they would be well-stocked. NO. Of the 16 and counting books in the series, they only have around six. Others are audio-books, but I prefer reading. So naturally I complained. Loudly. And naturally, Ms. M came through. She is letting me borrow her hard-copies so I don't have a fit. It is always good to have friends, but even better to have friends who understand reading obsessions. As she wisely says, "it's not hoarding if it's books."

Well said Ms. M, well said.

Frogs on guard

When Nellie and I set out today, I allowed her to lead the way and I'm so glad I did. She decided to to go UP a street we usually walk down. OK - interesting choice. Then she took a sharp left and we were on a short street that had some eye-popping yards. My favorite was a house with guard frogs -- well that's what it seemed like from the way they were placed at the entrance to the home. Now I have a real fondness for frogs - both living and statuary - so I had to share:

In addition to the wonderful sculptures, that block had a garden that was a vision in purple:

And not to brag, but my garden is no slouch in the purple department:

But back to the fun street, one of the most vivid hibiscus blossoms I've ever seen:

On our next walk, Nellie should lead the way again. She seems to have an eye for fun stuff and wonderful gardens. Or maybe she just wanted to explore a new street. Whatever - it's all good.

Bicycles and blossoms

 

This magnificent craftsman style house has the most wonderful set of neon bicycles in front -- not for riding, mind you, but for garden art. I'm just guessing here, but could it represent the occupants?

Of course, I couldn't resist taking more pictures of the wonderful blooms around the neighborhood too. Enjoy:

 

 

The next three are what my aloe, bougainvillea, and lantana are supposed to look like and never do:

And these are just exquisite:

And thus endeth the neighborhood garden tour.

FINALLY blooming in SoCal

As if this year hasn't been bad enough, we're really behind on rain, which is pushing already dry areas into serious drought territory. The news, which used to spend every broadcast on rain levels, has pretty much glossed over the other apocalypse SoCal faces on the regular. I get it -- people are tired of bad news, the pandemic has frayed capacity for dealing with multiple bad scenarios, and water shortages have always been a hide-your-head-in-the-sand issue anyway. 

The good news is, we are finally getting some rain, and though California gardens will never rival East Coast or Midwest gardens for lots of lush color, some of the gardens in the neighborhood are starting to pop. Though mostly succulent and cactus gardens are merely different shades of green most of the year, we do get some striking color combos in spring. Here are a few:

I had to laugh when I saw this picture -- note my 2 canes I use as walking sticks:

Now, completely off the subject of gardens and bright colors, the Divine Ms. M, to whom I email my daily trips around the neighborhood, both near and far, suggested I post pictures of all the dogs I meet. But here's the thing: the majority are behind hedges and weird fences, so I don't actually get a good look - we just chat through the fence. By chat I mean they are barking/yipping like crazy and I'm telling them what great dogs they are and that they're gorgeous. BTW, that sometimes even works to stop them from yelling at me. They like compliments just as people do. Other dogs I meet are being walked by folks who are often in a hurry and think it's a bit weird that I want to stop and meet them (the dog that is). Most folks are obliging, and some even enjoy telling me about their fur-babies, and pulling out the phone for pictures seems a bit over the top, even for me. But today I got lucky. I ran into an old friend. She's gorgeous, sweet as they come, knows I always carry cookies for her, and at 17, has still definitely got IT. Meet Sydney:

If you think she looks a bit like a daintier, sweeter version of my big bear, you're spot on.

Front yard styles

My walks are good for many reasons. All the usual stuff like getting exercise, taking in fresh air, and seeing adorable dogs being walked by their guardians. And, of course, discovering treasures people put out for passersby. I have another secret though, and it's that I judge how well people are paying attention to the water situation here. The situation is we don't have water to spare on waste. Luckily for all the yards I go by, I only grade on a pass/fail scheme. 

Fail:  The sweeping lawn in front of a house. Even in parts of the world where water is more abundant, lawns take an inordinate amount of water to maintain. In semi-arid regions which experience frequent drought, they are...unwise. Very nice to look at, mind you, but require too much water.

Pass:  All the people with drip irrigation, rock gardens or drought tolerant plantings that reflect our water situation. 

Minimalism with fun curves:

Hardcore desert plantings that show beautiful forms:

 

Drought tolerant succulents and native plants that can withstand serious heatwaves still look lush without sucking up so much water:

 

And last, the people who just try to grown their own veggies (which is a post for another day since the squirrels around here pretty much destroy everything, the little scamps):

And with that, I shall sit back and enjoy the bit of rain we're getting today.

Mosaics are so much fun

The weather has turned mild and sunny. Perfect for working on the planter box mosaic. Being old and creaky, I can no longer hunker in for a 10 hour session, but putting in an hour before the sun set felt so good. It's coming along. The tricky bit will be integrating the background to the main design. But here it is so far:

 

  I promise not to post on this again until it is finally finished.

Smoke and heat make for lazy days

Though the major SoCal fires near us are reaching acceptable containment levels -- meaning they are not in imminent danger of burning down more towns and destroying acres of wildlife habitats (not to mention wildlife) -- they are continuing to smolder and burn. Plumes of smoke rise above the hills, smoke awakens us from restless slumber, and the heatwave continues to add to the misery. Projects that should take one day outside are put off in hopes of better air and cooler temps. Always lazy, my go to excuse now is heat and unhealthy air quality which is confirmed by TV meteorologists only to happy to be complicit in my goofing off. 

I should be doing indoor projects at the very least, and I have managed to start the very tedious task of backing up photos and actually labeling them (for a change). This was partially inspired by the very fires that are making it impossible to be motivated to go outdoors. With evacuation warnings in place, suddenly saving things seemed to be important. So yes, putting together a bug out kit made me think of all the things that should go in it. Important documents, check. Clothes for a week, check. Dog items/food, check. Electronics, check. But did I REALLY want to lug around a huge desktop in addition to other devices. Probably not. Hence the backing up. Not to mention the desktop is very old and probably going to die soon anyway. 

Now backing up and labeling photos isn't all bad. Going through the pictures of my month long trip to Japan was a real treat. Reminded me of all the fun I had getting hopelessly lost going down intriguing alleys or the wonder I felt at the magnificent art and architecture. A sample:

 

Then there are the photos of the garden that prove how much work has gone into it after every disaster (wind storm damage/tree removals) or change of heart about the direction of the plan. It's rather fun and encouraging to realize that, though the work will never be done, so much has gone into the look of it so far. 

The devastation of 2011:

The replacements:

 

And if you're wondering, most of my non-garden photos are of cute dogs and (now) a chicken.

When not pretending to being faithfully backing up photos, fortunately my library cards allow me to enjoy digital copies of books and I'm back on the mystery books kick. I prefer English type mysteries with a wry tone, though I'm also partial to almost any mystery where helpful dogs or cats are involved. 

Reading has made me even more conscious of words and how they affect thinking. For instance, authors who are true animal lovers often refer to a dog or cat as "it." People are referred to as "owners" even though "guardian" would be more apropos. And before you go there, I am aware that animals are property under the law. It makes me wonder, though, how much of our language shapes our thinking about how things work in our society and how they should work. 

See what being trapped indoors and reading too much does to one? It hurts your brain!