Bottle Tree in full bloom!

Gemini and Love are the roses blooming near the tree and Artemisia is the silver plant under the tree.

MuRdEr On ThE WhEelBaRroW ExPrEsS

Rats, Mice, Snakes or just about anything that runs from Jack is history. He hates little varmints. These pictures were taken with a camera phone so they are not to clear but you can see how he does his work. He could make a lot of money in the exterminating business. Yesterday he caught two rats and three mice and a couple snakes. I really don't like him to kill the snakes because they do help in the garden but by the time I see him its to late. He is fast as lightening and he can smell a critter from a great distance away too. Or maybe he hears them. Whatever it is he just goes nuts digging whatever it is out. He never eats what he kills but he does kill it rather fast so it does not suffer.(-: All in a days work for a Rat Terrier!

Snow Balls in April

The snowball bush is just blooming like crazy. Had to share this picture with you all today(-: I use to have this pruned into a tree form. Last summer it all died back to the trunk. I am not sure what happened. I thought it was completely dead but then all of a sudden it started growing new shoots from the ground. I just left it alone. I think I will just leave it be now. I might prune a little here and there but I think I like it in a bush form rather then the tree form it was in. Especially in this location. I have another snowball bush pruned into a tree in my front planter. It seems to do just fine there. Both were bought at the same time. The one if front might get more water but that's about it. The blooms sure are pretty though. Happy Monday!

Everythings Better with Blue Bonnet On It

California Lupins is what we call them here. I just had to post that picture for all the Texan bloggers. I know your Blue Bonnets are so much prettier there. It's to dry here this year. Does anyone remember that old margarine commercial? I had thought of that as I was snapping pictures today(-:

Hen Chat

The wood duck was checking out the chickens so I had to get a quick picture. She is quite the little character.(-: Its hard to get her to stand still long enough to take a picture. I am going to go down to the pond tomorrow and try and see if the eggs have hatched yet in the wood duck boxes. There are two boxes and there were two mated pairs there. Its been about 28 days now so maybe I can see something. Hopefully they all hatched and have survived. I will let you know.

Update: In 6 nests I checked this morning 0 were used this year )-: Thats not good. I have several more nests to check. I will do that soon and post it here. Pictures of pond below:

Scentimental Rose & Unknown Name Rose

I think this rose is just beautiful. I really enjoy it when it blooms. The fragrance is very strong. The flowers are shaped nicely too.Striped Roses are one of my favorite types.


The next rose is an unknown to me. It was given to me by a woman who moved to California in the 30's and carried a start of the rose bush with her. She gave me a piece to start about 20 years ago and when I moved to my new home I took a piece of that plant to start in my new garden. I have also given many starts to friends over the years. So I guess its a real heirloom rose.(-: Anyhow heres the picture.


I also have a few other varieties of striped roses that are not blooming yet.
Update new pictures 4/29

4th of July Mini

Fall Festival

Another Fall Festival

What's a Person to do with all those extra Bones?

Cow bones that is.
Hip/Pelvis bones (ilium, ischium for you aggies)in particular!
We live where there are range cows. They of course pass on quite regularly. Their bones are left in a "bone yard" type place. I wont even go into why I don't really care if they die.(-: I do care, but that would be another story for my blog...(-:
Just picture a cow smorgasbord and a herd of cows...Fences are "open doors" to cattle. They love this place. It gets a four star rating!
Anyhow, I thought, what could I do with them? Well this is one way I came up with.

Is it over yet?

A big, windy, rainy, storm blew in last night.
Of course there is debris all over the place. I have yet to get it picked up!
Maybe later today when it warms up. I thought this little face said it all.
He looks like he is carefully peeking out to see if everything is still there!
Well the roof shingles aren't. They have been partially gone for a few months, covered by plastic.
Soon we will have a nice new roof. Hopefully sooner rather then later.
I am getting tired of looking at the tarp covering the roof. It is kinda
distracting(-: We really needed the rain though. Things were drying up like a
desert. I noticed big old cracks in the ground when I took the dogs for a walk
the other day. Usually don't see those until the summer. So rain is good(-:

Cookin' with Semps

I got this old stove about three years ago from my brother,
but, I didn't know what I was going to do with it.
I thought at first I would plant it full of flowers! Well... they fried in the metal stove like bacon!
So... I thought, what about Semps? I tried a few and just like magic they filled in and absolutely loved their blazing hot new home! Heres an after photo.

Wash Day?

I planted the old washer tub today that my brother rescued for me and brought to me at Christmas. It was snowing that day!!! It looks a lot more at home now after planting...several Semps..Sedums and a silver falls Dicondra! I can't wait to see how it looks at the end of the summer! Stay tuned!

I Can See Clearly Now!!!

And that is no lie...WOW is all I can say about this stuff. If you have water spots on your windows this is the stuff to buy. I got some at ACE Hardware and it is amazing. It is non toxic. I guess originally it was for car glass but it worked like magic to remove the hard water stains on my window. I used the ultra fine steel wool pads with the cleaner and just scrubbed in a circular pattern. It took me two hours to get my one window clean but its like brand new. And that window was completely hazed over from hard water stain build up, about 17 years worth!. I thought the window was history because it had been on there for so long. I even called a glass company and they told me there was no way it was going to come off. So I tried ACE and someone there suggested this stuff. I was so happy!!!!You do have to work at it. Its not a spray on and wipe off type cure. But its so worth the outcome!!!!
I can now enjoy the beautiful flowers blooming in my yard by looking out my sparkling clean, clear window!!!
Anyhow just wanted to pass on the info in case anyone needs to wash windows…(-:

UPDATE: I've been asked where to buy this besides ACE and I am going to post the info here:
Watkins of Sacramento
P.O. Box 38301
Sacramento, CA 95838
1-800-668-2887 Toll Free Or...
916-925-8451 Local number in Sacramento

Natures Bounty

I just gathered the daily eggs from the "girls" They did pretty good today as you can see. I have 21 hens and I have 18 eggs today. So that's not to bad(-: I have several Araucana hens that lay green and blue eggs. I also have one White Leghorn that of course lays a white egg. The rest lay brown eggs. I have several customers who buy eggs from me which pays for the girls food. So basically its a free hobby and we have all the fresh eggs we can possibly eat!

The Lady Is Blooming

I love when the Lady Banks rose blooms. I have pruned this into a small tree and I have had good luck with it so far. I have to prune it after it blooms and then a couple times throughout the summer. To bad it only blooms in the spring. Oh well it really does put on a beautiful show for a short time!

Leaves A Plenty

Yippee I received my violet leaf order today from Bluebird Greenhouse
I also received several gift leaves too. I decided to get them planted and tagged so when they grow I will know what is what(-: O.K. so that is wishful thinking I guess, but I am hoping they all grow!! I plan to share some with my friend and I know she will be hoping they grow too. So the little violets need your good wishes so they can plant their roots and bloom!