‘Plants and Flowers’ Category

  1. The Yard Before and After

    August 11, 2013 by myeye

    Here’s the yard before the guys came over.

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    And after 9 hours — still a long way to go . . .

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    Will they come back and finish?


  2. Lilacs Grateful for the Snow

    April 5, 2012 by myeye

    When I arrived home after work yesterday, there was plenty of sunshine.  The lilacs were so happy because that wet snow equaled an inch of rain.


  3. The Perfect Day To Plant — Except . . .

    May 11, 2011 by myeye

    My worker-guys cannot do math (apparently).  They were 13 rolls shy on the erosion pads.  However, it rained today for the first time in months.  Those little seeds that are down should be drinking it up.  Meanwhile back at the ranch, another batch of rolls have been ordered and will be installed next Wednesday.  Nola went to the office with me because I do not trust her at all.  With humans just on the other side of her fence, I figured she would find a way to go play with them.  So, instead, she mugged the other folks in the office.  It’s lucky we are a dog-loving place.  So this is what the back looked like when I got home.  Notice the glorious rain clouds.


  4. It’s Plant the Meadow Day

    May 11, 2011 by myeye

    This is the back-40 at 9:30 this morning.

    Tonight I’ll post the new view.

    Meanwhile my baddogs see this as a social opportunity.  As soon as the worker-guys’ foreman Peter walked into the yard, Nola charged him and threw herself into his arms when he bent down.  She seems to like people — A LOT!  So I locked them into the smaller yard and called them in.  Here come Holmes and Nola.  They are definitely here to help (NOT).


  5. Planning — Some Fun Stuff

    August 25, 2010 by myeye

    Budget! How much of what I want to do can I do before the townhouse is sold?  My sons swear that I have a DNA strand (that I passed on) which forces me to make over a house — any house.  So, the new house is now squarely in my sights.  The fencing must be completed before we move in, and the drywall re-do and flooring must be accomplished before we move in.  I’m replacing the sliding glass door to the patio with a French door (that’s a lark — not necessary, but I love the look).  All the window coverings must go.  They are original and in really bad shape.  I don’t know what I’ll replace them with and probably won’t decide until the drywall and flooring are done.  I need to get back down there and take room by room photos before any construction/make-over begins.

    The back 2/3 of the acre must be scraped — it’s just weeds and discarded “stuff”.  There is one decent tree near the house that will stay, but everything else goes into a dump truck and away.  (This must occur before the fencing is completed so we don’t damage the fencing).  New Mexico is famous for its sand storms, so I can’t leave the land bare.  I turned to my search engine (I use Dogpile) and found native wildflower and grass seed.  In October, I’ll have a tractor come through and till the back-40, then blanket it with about $600 worth of seeds.  The dogs and I will then demonstrate the Welsh version of a rain dance so the seeds take hold.  Hopefully, from next spring into the late fall — and forever after, the back part of the property will be blanketed with native wildflowers and grasses.

    Once the townhouse closes, I will build a 2+ car garage.  It will be extra long so that in the back 12′ I can have a walk way and four small 6′ x 6′ indoor homes for the dogs, each extending into a 6′ x 10′ covered outdoor run.  I’m going to use the rock base, gravel layer, sand layer, paver top method.  Although the baddogs are house dogs, there are times (like last week when I was moving the office) that having runs in which they could spend a day would have saved us all a great deal of grief and money.  The garage/runs will be on the side of the house next to the vacant acre.  I’m going to take an option on that acre.  Perhaps I can prevent anyone from ever living on that side.  Behind the house is ranchland — so no one will be living there, and on the north side, the neighbor has placed his home nearer the main road than my property (that gives me shivers — “my property”).  We should not be annoying or disturbing anyone when the plan comes together.

    The other project I’m hoping to fit into the budget is to cover the back patio and surround the patio and some of the yard with a privacy fence.  That will have landscaping, a fountain, and be the place to spend evenings watching spectacular New Mexico sunsets.  I’m hoping some of you will come enjoy them with me from time to time.