Back to the Birthday

This was back just before we packed up to leave for Baltimore. It was one of the best days that I had had since we moved here and it was all because I got to head out to do what I have treated myself to for the last ten years or so, a trip to the nursery and the promise of a new garden. This year we headed up to Camino and the wonderful small nursery up there just at the snow-line. The couple that own the place retired from the SF Bay Area and followed their bliss to open this small place. They specialize in plants that have adapted to the climate in this region and especially plants that will go happily through the winters. Their neighbors out the back are a small winery and I was extra happy to get the last two barrel halves of the season. (who knows WHEN a winery will cough up a used barrel, after all.) I was THRILLED to buy enough plants and planting mix to fill the two barrels and a couple of big plastic pots, to make what I thought was going to be a STATEMENT beginning of my raised bed gardens. When we got home with these BIG things, well, they were dwarfed by the reality of the fact that we live on almost 8 acres. In Lafayette, this would have made a nice chunk of a garden...here, it is peanuts. Point taken. :o)

The barrel halves were extra fragrant and full of crystalized wine.

Let me tell you, when Rod finally drilled the drainage holes for these beauties, the fragrance of the winery was everywhere. I made my modest beginning with these three pots here and one nearer the house, which contains a Hibiscus that has flowers the size of saucers...and you thought they were just tropical. :o)

The dogs have been keeping us hopping and I SWEAR...even with the dousing of flea and tick stuff, these two keep coming up to me grinning with something or other attached to their big faces. TICKS! The joy and bane of the woods. Tank seems determined to crash around through the bushes and is the champion at having those yucky little critters riding home with him. Eyelids, people...GROSS! Ah well, it is all part of our new lives and even though I think that a particular country song that keeps coming out of my mother's radio (this woman sang grand opera...WHY is she stuck on Country all of a sudden?) is mighty STUPID, it is stuck in my brain. The last line of the chorus is..."I'm gonna check you fer ticks". Lovely.

Sasha is slower and less likely to crash headlong through the bushes but has had a couple of riders. I love this picture. Even though she is a LOT slimmer than her time lounging around the tiny house and yard, she can still make you stand still when she wants to feel one person and look at the other. We like to call her Lean-ah Horne (bad, I know...apology to MISS Lena)

One other family member that has yet to be photographed in her new digs is poor Sadie. Visitors knew her as the Kitchen Cat, happy in her old grapefruit box. Now the poor kitty is relegated to the big closet and the master bathroom. She loves to hang out, looking out the big picture window by my tub.

Rod built a new shed, in honor of the two that we left behind at the little house. We can begin putting all of the stuff littering the outside of the house inside the shed, before the really bad weather hits. He did it all by himself!

One last thing tonight...Amazing Race is BACK! I am over the moon for one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I still think that Rod and Lauren should do it...he is getting in shape, after all. :o)

Comments

[Sheila E]

It's great to see you and all the critters...including Rod...having a good time on your land. Your flowers are lovely!....putting down those roots!!
I Hate Ticks...ick ;)

[AlisonH]

Ah, he was just going as an Irish Sitter for Halloween.

[AlisonH]

She, sorry, she--oops.

[MsT in Rockville, IN]

Oh, the joys of country living, Miss Leese! You've found the ticks...we've been seeing more and more of the deer ticks the past couple of years, in addition to the wood ticks...do they have chiggers in California?
They sure do in Indiana! Not to mention poison ivy, oak, and sumac, as well.

I can deal with those things, what I find hard to deal with are the snakes. I don't care what their pedigree is.....I don't like them; Sam I Am! The Indiana skinks are kind of cute; but I want LEGS on my critters.