Around the Yard
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| The cacti put on quite a show this year. There was a lot of color and the one picture with pink and yellow blooms on the same cactus - last year it was all pink. Didn't know cacti could do that. | |
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| This year we decided to try something different - three grape vines, 2 Marquette and 1 Monukka. There were previously three Marquettes but one promptly died so we tried a Monukka from Lowes. I have no idea how these will fare. They are supposed to be cold hardy but I suspect the problem will be the summer winds. | |
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| The Russian Olive out back that spent several years dying finally gave up the ghost. | I replaced it with another crab whip from the mother tree. This is experimental. If this works, I will probably be the only one in the valley with a spiral trunked crab. |
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| Question: How in the world does someone manage to kill a Russian Olive? Answer: Buy on that has spent too much time in a 5 gallon bucket. A forensic examination revealed roots so wound around and twisted up that it's no wonder it lasted this long. Yet another reason to start your own trees from seedlings or cuttings. On the plus side, put this on the lathe and it might yield a very nice piece of work. | |
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| And boy, I haven't felt like such a heel in a long time...... We had two Catahoulas who occupied the back porch and and back third of the yard. We had an underground fence which kept them out of the yard. Stopped using it several years ago because they knew where the boundaries were. The Cairn primarily hung out on the back deck, which was just fine with the Catahoulas. Well, we lost the female Catahoula several months ago at 13+ years of age and several months later we brought a poodle pup into the home. The poodle pup spends the majority of his time on the deck with the Cairn terrier when not out exploring. One day we were out on the deck talking, the Cairn and the Poodle lounging out on the deck when TC the Catahoula came slinking across the yard towards the deck which he knows he's not supposed to do. I had the hose on the deck (usually reserved for the worlds most obnoxious neighbor dog) and hit him with a stream of water which always sends him off in the other direction, which it did. Several minutes later we were still talking and TC came slinking back again and I hit him with the hose again and he kept coming, albeit more slowly. And then it dawned on me.... TC's primary companion died and the rest of his pack were on the deck, leaving him by himself. He was trying to get back with his pack. We amended the rules after that and it is working out quite well. Sorry about that, T. | |
