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Sunday, July 1, 2012

A Pictorial Sunday with Sheebie

Friends & Kitties!

Sheebie here, with the State of the Yard report. 
Do you see the two tree/bush thingies on either side of the entryway?  After the landscaper put them in we discovered that they were two different varieties.  This bugged Scott endlessly, and no matter how he pruned them he was never happy with how they looked.

I freely admit that most all the decorating decisions at my house are up to Scott.  I may pick paint colors and voice an opinion, but he's got a far better eye than I do for how things should "go".  (Which doesn't explain his cluttering prediliction, but whatever.)

So I came home a few Saturdays ago, and the trees were gone!  This sort of project always happens on Saturday--we have Weird Garbage (our term) pickup every other Monday so a Saturday tear down allows for Sunday clean-up and Monday takeaway.

We lived with the nude look a few days, to see how we (Scott) liked it, and he decided he wanted an trellis archway over the walk for a creeping vine.  He also determined that the box plants in the foyer were not getting enough light from the Eastern exposure to thrive, and they were going to have to go.  Our neighbor took one box, but none of our friends wanted any, even when Scott offered to plant them.  Able to chop offending bushes down but unwilling to kill several innocent box plants, Scott had to devise a new scheme.

He decided to move some of the box plants forward to the empty front areas.  There are still some in the foyer, but they are doing okay for now--Scott's thinking of vinca or some other ground cover with low light requirements to grow in and around around the remaining plants.

And he bought an arbor for the entryway!  He took the bottoms out of the planters (on the sides) and put plumbago directly in the ground.  It should fill in the arbor completely; and we hope it will flower most of the spring and summer.

On the right you can see that there are box plants along the knee wall as well--they are a different species than the replanted ones, so they'll be different shades of green.

I promised to show you the progress with "our" park this week, but I got terrible photos.  There's no contrast between the concrete curbing and the desert soil (by design so it blends in) and I thought I'd wait another week and see how much further along it gets.  It appears that the roads are ready to be laid, and several pallets of bricks are on site for the rest area building.  I get to eye hunky construction men every morning, too!  Life is good.

The pigeon that we rescued last week did not survive.  Crystal took him home, and named him Golda (after our street).  He ate and drank and roosted--but the next day he was lethargic again and wobbly--and the next day he passed.  She thinks he may have sustained a head injury as he was in good shape physically.  We were all sad, but at least Golda wasn't bullied to death by the rest of his flock and had palliative care at the end.  Sometimes that's the best you can hope for with a wild animal rescue.

My Mom and Dad are in the Frisco Bay area this week--you west coasters keep an eye out for them.  They'll be the cute couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!  The actual date is July 10th, and I'm flying down that day for a few days to visit.  They have all kinds of fun things lined up.  I swear, they wear me out.  Naturally my Mom will have some killer desserts for me and my Dad to eat as slowly as possible.  My newest strategy is going to be asking for a really large piece to get an edge through sheer volume.  I'll keep you posted.

Happy Sunday!
Have a good week everyone-

XX  Sheebie  XX

37 comments:

  1. Great report! Sounds like a lot of work. Whew! At least the horde gets to take it easy on Sunday.

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  2. Your yard is lovely and l really like the wrought iron arbor!

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  3. Wow, that's a lot of work! We have big plans, but they never actually happen.. MOL
    Happy Anniversary to your parents!! Have fun with the dessert thing!

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  4. What a gorgeous entry to your beautiful home!!! Love the trellis!!! Can't wait to see it all in bloom.

    RIP Golda xo.

    And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!
    Wow 50 years???
    What, were you BORN married???

    ; ) Glogirly & Katie

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  5. How wonderful for your parents. That is a fantastic marriage.
    Eat slowly! heh

    The plantings look lovely

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  6. Yer place sure isnt like MD! But we like it. Well, its differnt an differnt is good sometimes.. Change of place, ya know?

    (TBT: Isn't that "change of 'pace', Iza"?)

    No, it int! I meant change of place. I'm like Horton, I meant what I said an I said what I meant an a kitty is er, "something or other, a percent. Whatever."...

    Great, now he has me confoosed... ~ Iza

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  7. I really like that arbor and think it'll look fantastic once it's covered with flowers!

    Poor Golda, RIP!

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  8. That is a cool arbor! The Shepherd has many of his plants in pots, so when he wants a different look, he changes the plants around, just like moving the furniture! T.

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  9. Looks great! I can't wait to see the plumbago over the arbor. I had a mounding, creeping kind at my home in Boise, and didn't realize there was this type of variety.

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  10. Okay, so there's all this yard work, but you have not explained how this is going to enhance the cats' lives!

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  11. Your garden is so amazing, its going to look so pretty when the plants grow up the archway. So sad about Golda, but at least his final days were comfy. Your pawrents sound amazing, I bet they will have a wonderful time and a fantastic anniversary. We look forward to seeing some of those amazing puddings :)xx

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  12. It's the plumbago that's got me worried! Shouldn't you see a vet or something?

    Happy Anniversary to the Aged Ps. The dessert eating could become an olympic event!

    RIP Golda x

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  13. Scott certainly does have an eye -- looks awesome. Love that arbour!

    Happy anniversary to your parents, Trish. We hope they (and you) have a fabulous time. I'll expect to see pics of the desserts--before you eat them. LOL.

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  14. Neat, neat post. So cool to get an insight like this. LOVE the arbor and WHAT a fella you got there! Aesthetic sensibility, knowledgable, PLUS he really puts his back into it?? The clutter thing looks paltry next to all that . . . Has he got a brother? Kidding. I got my hands full with the two boys here, in the male dept. Thank you for putting Golda's passing in perspective -- my heart shrinks every time I contemplate our wild things dying. And congrats on all the rest, like that's less important -- happy parents and dessert? Come ON! Life looks pretty good over by you, I must say. I'm glad to see it.

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  15. The garden looks great!! The most I can get Gordon to do is move wheel-barrow loads of mulch for me. :)

    Happy anniversary to your parents! 50 years is wonderful.

    And I could do with some young construction-butts to ogle...

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  16. I love seeing the house and the yard and what was done and about to be done. I am always interested in how friends think/design their homes.

    A very happy anniversary to your parents and I know they will be very happy to have you there with them to help celebrate this wonderful occasion.

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  17. Your entry looks fantastic and Happy Anniversary! I hate that about sweet Golda, fly free sweetie.

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  18. Wow, Scott sure is ambitious! The landscaping is looking good! Being married to a man that owns a garden center and does some landscaping, I know what it's like to come home and find things in the yard moved around our new stuff planted!

    Happy Anniversary to your parents. 50 years is something to celebrate! Heck, 10 years is something to celebrate!!

    And I'm sorry Goldie didn't make it. Recently I found a nest of baby bunnies in the yard. One day they seemed fine...the next day I found them all dead except one. I called a local woman here who does wildlife rescue and she told me to bring the surviving one to her. But before I could get there, the the poor thing died...right before my eyes...it was so sad...there was nothing I could do. When I called the woman back to tell her what happened, she said, well at least you tried...and that's what you did with Goldie. But for some reason, losing those bunnies left me in a bit of a funk.

    Sue (aka Island Cats' mom)

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  19. Your yard is so pretty, so neat.
    We can't have things like that here, as Bob and Patrick would consider them salad :/

    We are sorry about Golda. Our Mom volunteers at AWARE wildlife rescue and sometimes it is very, very sad.. but it also has good days when rehabbed critters are turned back out into the wild.

    Congrats to the grandpawrents!! Our Mom would have made it to 50 years if her ex had not been cheating on her.. She's over it.. Thank COD.

    ~ The Bunch

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  20. Your yard looks terrific. Only thing I'd recommend are some pink flamingos. They make every yard look better.

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  21. Mike makes most of the decisions around here. He always asks my opinion but generally does what he wants anyway. That sounds mean but we have pretty similar tastes, although as I get older I'm getting a bit more flamboyant wanting color and pattern and he's not fine with that. Oh well!
    Sad to hear about the pidgie. You are right, you made his last day a good safe one.
    Hunky construction men.....Mmmmmmm.

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  22. The arbor is so pretty, I can't wait to see what it looks like when the plants cover it up.

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  23. The arbor is wonderful and will look even more terrific when it is covered with plumbago. I wasn't familiar withe plant so had to google it - lovely blue flowers!

    Congrats to your folks on 50 years...that's a long time to put up with one another. Enjoy the desserts.

    Sorry to hear Golda didn't make it, Have to agree, at least he was able to be cared for, in the last few days.

    Have a safe trip!

    Eileen

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  24. Your yard is so beautiful! It's such a contrast to the overgrown green jungles we have around here, but I love it!

    Happy anniversary to your parents! Good luck with your slow eating of desserts :)

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  25. Aw....happy 50th anniversary peeps! Amazing stuff!

    Lovely garden btw (and the weather there looks great compared to chilly London)!

    P.s. You actually "look after" pigeons.... Mmmm.... Very interesting....I wonder if my humanoids would let me do that...?

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  26. Your garden lookes great !
    At our house it´s my dad that takes care of all green stuff.
    The only thing my mom is capable of is killing them !
    HAPPY 50th anniversary to your mom and dad !

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  27. WOW--you got alotta things in your yard! We do too--but I think they all died. :) I think you guys have the better end of the deal!

    Noir

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  28. Love what you've done with the entry to your home!

    So very sad about the birdie. I mean...I would have eaten the birdie if I had a chance, but I wanted it to survive.

    Purrrs,

    Cory

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  29. We think that Scott did a great landscaping job. When can he come here??LOL. Too bad about the pigeon. But like you said, it is better than being bullied to death. Animals do pick on older animals when they know they are in trouble. I had that happen with a goat and a cat. Take care

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  30. Sorry about Golda. You did your best for her.

    Your yard looks fabulous! Love the trellis.

    Spitty is sharpening his nails for my impending surgery, ha ha meow!

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  31. Oh dear, such a lovely post, well designed, well written, humorous even; right up until you wrote the word 'Frisco'.

    *sigh*

    Oh how I hate crossing folks off my friends list, but since you are a lovely Kat person I have decided give you leeway. Just this once. And a wee education if I might be so bold... Never; I repeat, N.E.V.E.R is the beloved City By The Bay ever spoken or referred to by anyone who loves her as; oh dear, I can't even type it... *gulp* Frisco.

    Which coincidentally rhymes with 'Crisco' so you get the connection there of slimy waste product of the ebil Monsanto empire and on those grounds alone should be cause for instant environmental rebuke! **deep breath**

    But I digress, we are friends and fuuriends so I give you leave. Just this once. And all our love!

    That Woman

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  32. So inviting, so when are we invited? We promise not to say Frisco!

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  33. I think the entryway looks marvelous and with the flowering plants that will grow up the archway it will be exquisite!

    Congratulations to your parents! Wow 50 years!!! That is one heck of an accomplishment! Have a great time!

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  34. Great job! Your desert kingdom looks amazing! You should do something about that evil pincer dragon however=^Y^=
    PS, how is the heat treating you?

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  35. The yard looks better. :)

    Sorry about the bird friend. :(

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  36. That really looks nice. It will be so pretty having blooms in the entry way. Your place is so pretty. Happy Anniversary to your mom and dad. Hugs

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  37. Man you are busy! We love the plants you've put in.

    Shame about that pigeon. We're cats so we have to ask - did you eat it???

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Oh Boy...this is gonna be GREAT!