What I Did Today

I love to garden and have done lots of really fun projects, but today I finished my all-time favorite. A couple of weeks ago, we had to cut down an enormous pine tree in our front yard. We were left with a drab stump.


We decided to put an ornament of some sort on it, so we went to our favorite garden decor center. While I was looking at the gargoyles, the KH noticed a huge concrete fountain basin leaning against a wall. What caught his eye was that it was marked down from $540 to $85 because it no longer held water.

I figured it could hold potting soil.

We dug a depression in the stump. Be warned: this is no easy task. In the end, it involved gasoline and a fire extinguisher. And note: it's probably a good idea to notify the neighbors if you're going to be sending up great plumes of black smoke from your front yard.

Today, the basin was delivered--all 300+ pounds of it--and we put it on the stump.

And, naturally, I couldn't wait to plant it (or to show it off).

(Not a great picture--the sun was setting.)

I love it, and it adds much-needed color and interest to the front yard!

Garden Tour

[Picture heavy post.]

The garden looked so pretty in the early morning sunlight that I just had to take some pictures, so I thought I'd share them. I garden in a small yard in suburban San Diego (zone 10) that is dominated by a swimming pool, so most of my garden is in raised beds and containers. It's still pretty early in the season, so the garden isn't quite in full swing yet.

Starting in the corner by the house and moving clockwise:

The structure on the left houses the pool equipment, and those stepping stones lead to the fenced dog run/utility yard on the north side of the house.



That rocky looking bank is a waterfall I built for my husband. It has a recirculating pump and a small pool at the bottom.


We installed this umbrella over the hot tub a couple of years ago to provide shade for lounging. It's one of my favorite additions.

This is the bed behind those red chairs.

And this is a picture of the waterfall and hot tub from the other side of the garden.

The space behind the pool is only about four feet deep, and there is a street behind the fence, but the thick vegetation disguises both those facts pretty well. Gardening up there is a challenge; I have to inch along the bricks, dodging the dangling vegetation while carrying my tools. One of these days I know I'm going to fall in

A closeup of my favorite garden ornament, which overlooks the pool.

This picture shows the deck the KH and the boys built last summer after the puppies destroyed the small lawn that used to be in that space. I absolutely love the deck. The lawn never looked good, used too much water, and didn't get used for anything. The deck is a perfect lounging spot for dogs and people and gives me tons of space for containers. And thanks to the composite material we used, it is completely maintenance-free!

This is my cooking/dining area. We cook and eat out here often during the spring and summer. I want a counter to put at a right angle to the (covered) grill for a prep area. I also have a storage bench in the garage that is going to move out here to hold pool towels and provide more seating.

The chicken garden is located in the side yard on the south side of the house.

It is gated to keep the dogs out and the chickens in.

I used to grow vegetables here, but growing trees have shaded the area too much for most vegetables, so I am now filling the raised beds with flowers for the chickens. They like to eat brightly colored blossoms.

The right side of this garden is still in full sun, so I have dwarf citrus trees, tomatoes, strawberries, and herbs in pots growing alongside the house. You can also see the chicken coop with the ramp coming down. The chicken coop is actually a rabbit hutch which the KH enclosed with plywood on the sides. I made curtains for the front which fasten down to keep the heat in at night. The KH built that cute ramp so the girls could get into the coop by themselves. They go in after the sun sets, and then we close the door and fasten the curtains to keep out predators and cold. They have nesting boxes in there, and it's very cozy.

I grow lots of fruit trees in containers. This grouping has a weeping mulberry, a kumquat, a miniature peach tree, and a miniature nectarine tree, among other plants.


The tree in the foreground here is a Valencia orange. Not a good choice for a container, but I planted it several years ago when I was still new to gardening. It does give me a few oranges every year.

This corner is my favorite hangout spot. It is almost always in part shade, which is perfect for me. That is a solar lantern. I have five of them on the deck, and they're wonderful. They provide a surprising amount of light, and it lasts from dusk until dawn every night. The "birdhouse" in the back corner is our old mailbox, which we had to replace with a locking mailbox after a rash of mail thefts.

This is a loquat tree--producing fruit for the first time this year!

If you don't live where loquats grow, you've probably never tasted one. They don't keep well at all once they're picked and I've never seen them at the grocery store. They are about the size of a large apricot, with a smooth, thin, tough skin. You have to peel this off to eat it, unlike an apricot. When they're ripe, the skin strips off easily. Each fruit has two or three very large, smooth seeds, so there isn't much fruit on each one. The flavor is a little like an apricot, but stronger and more citrus-y, with a sweet-tart zing. They're delicious!

The loquat anchors Molly's memorial corner.

The boys and I made this stone to commemorate her life. The other dogs like to lie in the shade of this bed. It always makes me smile.

Where Chickens Roam

Dog and Chicken Show

This is what happens when the husband and Older Son are left to their own devices on a sunny Sunday.

Meet the newest additions to our crazy household. This is Izzy:

She's definitely the boss. Noisy little cuss--she never stops cheeping. She is a Delaware chicken, and should grow up to look something like this:


This is Maggie:

She's tiny and very quiet. She is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, and will probably look like this:

Both types are supposed to be sociable and good layers. They are less than a week old at the moment, though, so the laying won't start for a few months. For the time being, they are housed in an old fish tank in Older Son's room with a heat lamp and a steady supply of chicken feed.


Eventually they will move to the vegetable garden, where they can be "free range" backyard chickens.

Several years ago, we had a chicken named Patty. She came to us as one of our many rescued critters. She started out as an egg in Older Son's 2nd grade class. The original plan was to return the hatched chicks to the chicken farm, but Patty had a clubbed foot. The class was distraught at the thought that the farm would likely put her down, so the Class Mom--that would be me--agreed to take her home. As soon as she settled in, her foot magically healed, and we ended up with a pet chicken. She was an awesome pet: friendly, cuddly, personable, and laid a fresh egg every day. (All I've ever gotten from the dogs is poop.) She was a neighborhood favorite, regularly escaping from our garden and visiting various friends along the street. She especially liked our next door neighbors, who would leave a plate of sunflower seeds for her on top of their pergola every morning. They live slightly downhill from us, so it was only a short hop from the top of our fence down to the top of their pergola. Unfortunately, one day Patty overshot the pergola and the neighbors' dogs thought she was some kind of cool new toy. She didn't make it.

My husband has wanted another chicken ever since. But first the tortoise came to stay with us, and then all the dogs, and there wasn't really any place to put chickens. A few months ago, the tortoise went to live with a friend who has a huge yard and no dogs, freeing up space in the vegetable garden for another chicken. Or chickens. And while Younger Son and I were at the Natural History Museum, hubs and Older Son seized the initiative and brought home Maggie and Izzy. They have agreed to install some chicken proofing along the fence with the next door neighbors to prevent any more unfortunate incidents with the neighbors' dogs. As for our dogs... let the games begin!

FO: Chevron Scarf...and a whole lot of excuses

I realize I owe y'all some actual knitting, and despite my lack of blogging, I have been knitting, so let's get right to the FO, shall we?

This is my Chevron Scarf, which I started about two years ago. Apparently, I am not a scarf knitter. This one would probably have sat for another two years without any further attention from me, except that Suzanne blogged about her new Signature needles and showed them in use with a Chevron Scarf, and I am nothing if not corruptible. My excuse for ordering a pair of my very own was that the only size 3 needle I had was a 40" Addi circular, and knitting a 6" wide scarf on it was driving me crazy (I know, I know...it's not a very long trip). But the theory seems to have been correct, since once the Signatures arrived, I finished this long-suffering UFO in a couple of days. It's not very long, since I only had one skein of Koigu and one of Fly Designs Monarch, but since I'll probably never have a reason to wear it, the length doesn't really matter. It goes perfectly with my brown faux lamb coat--which I'll probably also never have a reason to wear. (Gotta love the land of eternal summer.)

Now for the excuses. You may have noticed my lack of blogging. Mostly I'm just lazy. But there have been some extenuating circumstances. Such as, I got a new laptop! No, not a Mac, although I considered it. I got a Sony Vaio. I used to have one, and I loved it, but when it was time for a new one, I got an HP. It worked. Sort of. But I've had it for three years, and it was starting to fall apart. Literally: the hinge on the top broke and now it can't be opened or closed, which kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop. Also, there is a short in the screen, so that it only gives a picture if the screen is opened to exactly the right spot. It if moves while in use, the picture disappears. This is a little scary when you're in the middle of putting together a gazillion forms and documents and you're not quite sure when you last hit "save". Much as I love the new computer, it takes time to install applications and move files, and...well. You understand.

Second, the kids have been busy, ergo, I have been busy. Some of it has been not so much fun, but some of it has been great. Like this:

That's Younger Son on the left, intently setting up his team's Lego robot to compete in the regional FLL qualifying tournament. (In case you're not interested in clicking the link, FLL stands for "FIRST Lego League," which is an international engineering competition for 9-14 year old kids. They use the Lego Mindstorms robot kit to build robots to complete a variety of preset tasks. They also have to come up with and present a unique project to a panel of judges based on a given theme, which was "smart move" (future transportation). They are judged on robot performance, robot design, teamwork, and presentation. At the end of the day, awards are given in a variety of different categories, the finale being the presentation of trophies to the three teams that earn the highest total points.) There are about 15,000 teams internationally, with about 200 in California. There were 22 competing this day; the top teams qualify for the state competition, which will be held next month at Legoland California. Younger Son's team consists of nine 9-10 year olds. They've been working on their robot and project for several hours a week for the past couple of months. They have awesome coaches and are sponsored by BAE Systems. And I guess it paid off:

Here they are at the end of a very long day, collecting their awards!

They took second place for Robot Design, and first place in the overall competition! They were so excited. They were also exhausted, as the day began before dawn and went until 5 pm. Now they have three weeks to recover before the next competition.

And that brings me to my third excuse for poor blogging performance, which may be a little startling to those of you suffering through storms and cold weather. This is the peak of fall gardening season here in San Diego. I love to garden. Although spring is my favorite season, there is definitely something to be said for fall, with its cooler temperatures after a long, hot summer, and the chance to clear out all the summer overgrowth. This year, there was even more to do, since the puppies ate my entire yard over the summer, and we had the pool redone and built a deck. After several weeks of work, I've got it just about under control:






This is one of those times when I really appreciate living here. Because, really, how many people can do this in the backyard in the middle of November?