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.

Don't Know, Don't Care

During our morning walk, big Akita guy and I noticed a tiny brown Chihuahua scurry across the street and disappear down a driveway. We peeked, couldn't see the little guy, hoped he found his way home, and moved on. Nearly an hour later, we noticed him again. Instead of looking like he was home, he looked cold and unhappy, so chancing upon another dog-walking neighbor who lived across the street from the escapee in question, I asked if she knew where he belonged. No luck. Hoping to lure the little guy toward me, I tied the scary big dog to a nearby fence and set about trying to dog whisper - which, in spite of my avid love for all things scaled, feathered and furred - I'm not very successful with. Little guy scurried around a hedge into the adjacent driveway. Just as I'm about to follow, a woman comes out of her house. Relieved, I ask, "Oh, is that your little tan Chihuahua?" and her response completely floored me. "Don't know, don't care. This is my property and I don't like people on it." Yes, I was trespassing by being two feet down her driveway. OK, I was just hoping to help the little dog.... Again the response, "Don't know, don't care." Well thanks, you're a lovely person.

Turns out, she admits she does know the dog and knows the dog lives next door. Great, sez I, and proceed to knock on the door. No answer. I leave. The whole time she berating me for being nosy and I couldn't understand what else her tirade was about. So in the interests of thought experiments, here's mine:

It's Christmas eve, and everyone else I met on the walk was cheerful and wished us well. Maybe her Christmas is going poorly and she was feeling super cranky.

She sees me everyday walking my dog past her house and her two dogs who like to hang out in the window and bark at us. I always say hello to the dogs to acknowledge them and she's decided we make her feel guilty she never walks her dogs further than her front yard to do their business.

Maybe she is having issues with her neighbor and the dog and decided to take it out on me. 

Maybe she's just batshit crazy. Merry Christmas and ho ho ho.

Cold Weather Heats Up the Imagination

For SoCal it's cold, though normal people don't find this daunting, of late, I do. So, if it isn't conducive weather for having hands in ice cold water getting labels off bottles or puttering in the garden, the next best thing is getting ideas for future projects. There's still a good deal of tile work to accomplish and it's always nice to curl up with a good book or a computer for ideas. The side stoop and back porch need doing/finishing. This is what the front porch looks like:

For the back and side, it seems something less formal is in order and a day spent with pictures is a good way to start. While in Japan, I noticed the train station had the most amazing mosaic wall. It'd be fun to design a sun motif and use the asymmetry to good effect. On the other hand, as the sidewalk brickwork shows below, geometrics can look amazing too. Decisions, decisions. 

Pinterest and Other Addictions

I realized the other day that I have a serious addiction. Whether Pinterest found me or the other way around, is not certain. No one can accuse me of being an early adopter for things Internet, though I do try to stay informed of the latest apps, social media sites and all the wailing that surrounds them. In the main, however, mostly I try out what I think is of practical use and pretty much ignore the rest. And then came Pinterest. As the person responsible for my work's social media, I've made a fair stab at Facebook, Twitter and blogging. All pretty straightforward. When it was suggested we open a Pinterest account, I groaned at the idea of more work. Even though I was happy enough strolling through the site for program or craft ideas, it really didn't grab my attention away from the all the other things that called out for immediate action. 

And then, it seduced me. I was looking for a mortar recipe for cementing wine bottles through Google's image search (who here doesn't start out that way?). Those searches kept linking me to Pinterest, and that kept linking me to other Pinterst boards or pins or whatever the heck they're called. As I descended further down the rabbit hole, I told myself what all addicts say, "I can quit at any time." And that must be true - though quitting is not on the list for today. The siren song of flitting from one image to another in rapid succession is just too strong. Discovering another blog of like-minded eco-nuts is simply too tempting. So I set limits: "Only 10 minutes at lunch. " I mutter. "No more than 1/2 an hour after work," I exclaim. And, like most addicts, those limits get blown.

Well, it could be worse I suppose. I could also be addicted to taking pictures of gardens all the time. 

Whoops! Yes - more pictures of gardens.

The garden is still very raw as it is newly planted, but the 2 tortoises with the wind vane as the centerpiece of this front yard was just to good to ignore.

Did I mention I'm a sucker for shiny cobalt blue?

Too bad they aren't ready to pull up the lawn yet,
but making the wonderful border reduces overspray
to almost zero.

This charmer with one ear is the only cat I can keep at my house. He keeps an eye on the front door for us.

And, just in case you're wondering, we still don't have a Pinterest account at work. If we did, I'd never get anything else done all day and that would be very bad. Mmmm....

Successes

It seems I'm usually writing about projects in progress or projects in my dreams. Well, there are finished bits around the yard, so don't think I'm simply incapable of finishing anything. Though --- truth to tell, there is always the prospect of endless tweaking - a little detail here - a bit added or removed over there. Though friends kindly refer to my work mode as "organic," Attention Deficit Disorder would probably be more accurately descriptive.

So let's look at some successes. I did manage to get the pile of broken concrete sorted and installed by the edge of the footpath, along with a large portion of the brick pile. With dollops of black river rock in between the pavers, it's a successful start. The challenge is to figure out what to do with the rest of what I've got. The biggest concern is the curve in the footpath (not shown) as that happens to fall at a critical section that needs to be sturdy enough for the yard waste bin rolling over it. No doubt something will come to me...I just hope it doesn't take another ten years to materialize.

Many people walking by comment on my side yard, which is set up for the local critters to enjoy. Years ago, what little lawn remained was torn out and mulched with free, I repeat, free, wood chip mulch from the tree company. They are only too happy to dump their chips at your house rather than pay to dump them. Anyhow, the side yard is our buffer to a busy street. Since it is somewhat private because of the large hedge, squirrels, banded pigeons, crows, songbirds, doves, the odd coyote or two, and any other critter who happens to need water, nuts or seed is welcome. The bed frame was hanging out in our back yard for a long time. It seemed so obvious that it needed to be a vegetable bed (get it?) that it was put together in one day. The joke is that nary a vegetable has yet to grow there. Maybe this coming year? The table at the foot of the bed was also hanging out unproductively in the back yard, so naturally it was pressed into service to complete the vignette.

It seems that just when I need something, I manage to find it on the street waiting for trash pick up. The bird feeder is hanging from a birdcage stand someone was throwing away. The bird bath is on a discarded plant stand and the pot with seed in it is on a stray garden stool. Seriously, if you're into recycling at all, just walk a dog around your neighborhood and you'll find the most amazing things to work with. 

The banded pigeon is one of my favorite visitors and I've noticed some amazing things about them. At first we only had the one and unlike the garden variety city pigeon, they are very large and heavy. After a few weeks, more of them came and now we have 20 - 30 at a time. One arrives first and scopes out the place. Then, as if they all got a text that it was safe, the others come in looking like a B-52 bomber squadron. They are so heavy you can almost hear the Crape Myrtle groan as they land on its delicate branches. They hold their own against cheeky squirrels and commanding crows. It all makes for happy viewing out the kitchen window. Frankly, it's more uplifting than the morning news and makes a great start to the day. That and coffee.

So there are a few of the successes that will still get tweaked and fussed with, but are really done and everything is working. At least the critter population is happy.