Another backyard visitor...

Early this afternoon, I headed to my backyard with a bottle of Round-up to kill the thistle weeds threatening to take over the back fence row. It's a shame the bottom half is so ugly cause the blooms are actually kind of pretty. Make a note - get the large size next time. I had a lot of them. I hit the side of the yard where big green grassy weeds are growing. These aren't really bothering me too much; I was checking for lurking thistle thingys. I almost missed my little visitor. But, there it was, nestled among the tall grass - a young rabbit. To my amazement it didn't do anything. Just stayed put. Naturally I didn't spray that area and I kept a close eye along the rest of the fence for little rabbit buddies. Alas I didn't see any.

And, birds seemed to have found one bird feeder. For some reason they don't like the other one. I think they might be Robins as they have red breasts, but I can't tell for sure. I'm just happy to see a little wildlife back there.

I spoke with an independent yard guy last Friday and he should do the initial cut and weed and feed next week. Thank heavens - an yard intervention won't be required.

Trees and other good stuff....

A week ago this past Saturday, I went tree shopping. I had a goal - a Little Gem Magnolia for my backyard. My friend LH went with me. The first nursery, which I had such high hopes for, was a dud. So, we toodled to Home Depot. Great sale price for a nice looking tree. Didn't include delivery or someone to plant it (it was about a 22-24 gallon tree; no way was I planting it, at least not properly). We heard a guy talking on the phone and he sounded like he would be the person to talk to about who to contact to get a tree planted. So we did. Very nice guy. Brother-in-law does landscaping on the side. His advice was that the trees look great, but people have had problems with them. He recommended a tree farm. We had a couple of hours till they closed, so we went. What a fun place! I like plant nurseries anyway, but this was bunches of trees in one place. Plus some yard art. Just lots of fun. The did have Little Gem's. They were a bit higher, but about the same size tree and their price included delivery, planting, mulching, and staking. Well worth it!

And, yesterday it was planted. My little backyard just seems complete. Of course, the two added bird feeders, bird bath, and twirly thingy help also. I added those on Saturday. Still waiting for the birds to discover us. Now the backyard doesn't look so empty.

The other good news is something that was expected, but came early. The same Saturday, I bought the tree, I got what I thought was my monthly car statement from Toyota. I opened it to find that it was the title to my car! My loan is paid off and I am now the total owner of my car. Woo hoo! Now, I can start putting that money in the property tax fund. Ahh, the joys of home ownership.

Good things...

Well, as of last Thursday, my yard has been mowed! Woo hoo! It's so much nicer to look at now, especially the back yard. Gone are the almost knee high grassy weeds. I've also put out the weed and feed, so in about a month, the weeds should start slowing down. We had a lot of rain last week, but I realized when I was leaving for work this morning that I need to kick those sprinklers back on.

I also spoke with a landscaper, who had some good ideas for the backyard. Very quiet though. He said he'd draft something up for me, but I'm not sure he thinks I'm worth the effort, meaning I may not be spending enough money at this time to justify his effort. We'll see. I'm coming to realize that unless you can (or want) to spend thousands, you might be on your own. A small disappointment though relates to the back patio. To extend it any decent length out from the existing covered porch will require moving a sprinkler pipe. Yikes.. not something I can do. Probably means I'll definitely wind up doing the patio last. And, of course a lot of it depends on him actually getting back to me. :)

The good news though (for me anyway), is that my not dead shrub is a Dwarf Crepe Myrtle! I'm so excited. If I got to choose shrubs that would be one of my choices. They bloom all summer long and then some. I'm just so darn pleased about that. Can't wait till it blooms.

Exercise last week was a bust. I did make it to one step class and then a normal workout day. Near the end of the week though, I was just exhausted. Couldn't really think straight at the end of the day and realized a workout probably wouldn't be worth much in that state. Given my itchy, itchy eyes, I think it's allergies. I did do yoga this weekend though, so that's three days total for exercise. This week I'm hoping is better.

And, in the "cool" department. We had tiny snow flurries last Saturday. Makes sense - it was Easter. It always gets chilly on Easter. Now, Spring can come.

What a week...

Well, the Texas drivers license arrived on Monday, so I guess I'm officially a Texan again. And, I realized that Texas has an ugly driver's license. Arkansas has a really pretty, rather cool drivers license, but not Texas. You'd think the Loan Star State would have something less bland, but I guess they put their effort into the license plates, which are cool, rather than the drivers license. And, this puppy doesn't expire till 2013.

It was a dreary day, with a lot of rain. I don't mind the rain, but Kitty Cat has managed to get a bald spot on her tummy, which I think is basically a hot spot. But, at any rate, I needed to make sure. So, I put her in the carrier and off we headed to the vet. She wasn't happy about the trip. It was her first car ride in rain and it does make a different sound in the car. I'm sure she was wondering if I knew what I was doing. After all the hair that wound up on me, I'm surprised she had any left. The vets were okay, but the displays in the office were all about stuff you could purchase - from id tags to senior check up packages. I did get a spray and so far I think it might be working. At least the "spot" isn't getting any bigger.

Exercise wise, I did okay. I did the step class on Tuesday, but because of the heat and humidity in the room, I opted to not do the core board class and instead did free weights. I'd done yoga on Monday and that included quite a bit of abs work, so I skipped the sit-ups and stretched. Thursday was my last session with the trainer. I think it went well and was worth it. Total this week at the gym was the 3 days plus yoga.

To top it all off, we got rain. A lot of rain. Not just Monday, but several days. Friday just poured buckets on the way home, but I still ventured out for a Pampered Chef party. I tried not to spend, but I did. Hopefully, good investments. At least I didn't have to venture out of the neighborhood in the rain. I'm also really appreciating having a garage again.

The rain though has really spurred the growth of my weeds. And the grass, but what I see now is mainly weeds. I've had the dickens of a time getting landscapers and yard services to call me back. But, I got a quote today and they are willing to do bi-weekly. So, they'll hopefully get it done this week and then I can get a lawn mower for the weeks in between. They'll do the edging, etc. I'm really very terrible with that. And, they'll go ahead and do the weed and feed treatment. Hopefully, the dead spots in the backyard will go the way of the dead shrub and not be dead. I've got such visions for the yard, but right now I'll be terribly excited just to get the first mowing done.

It's not dead...

Well, currently, the yard is a disaster. The back more so than the front, which I guess is good as no one but me sees the back. I don't have a lawn mower yet, or at least not one that will more the very high weedy grass that is back there in spots. I tried and woke up my allergies in the process. So, my solution was to get a lawn service in there to do the initial mowing and edging. Then I take over, having purchased my mower, and possibly have them come in once a month to mow and edge (I'm lousy at edging). I'd also like to get some thoughts/estimates on expanding my patio, planting my trees, perhaps enhance the front landscaping a bit, and maybe even some type of water feature. They must have crystal balls or something and know my budget isn't grand, because getting businesses to call me back has been difficult. I can understand the landscapers. Obviously, they probably prefer you spend thousands of dollars or it's not really worth their time. I'm hoping the lawn services are better. I spoke with one and it was positive, but she hasn't called back with an estimate. I'm going to the call back today.

The good news. While I was pulling the larger, more overbearing weeds from the front yard, I also pulled the random ones from the front flower bed. I got a very pleasant surprise. The dead shrub isn't dead! It's got all these nice pretty green leaves on it. I broke off what dead branches I could and will go trim it up better this coming weekend. I've never heard of shrub that died down in the winter. Perhaps it was too cold and it's just now coming back. At any rate, I'll pull out my trusty gardening book and see if I can identify my now alive shrub.

Now if that tree in the front yard would start getting some leaves....

Yards and Moving

One of my favorite shows is House Hunters. This week they are doing new episodes all week from Florida. Last night they were in Naples. The couple chose the house I would have - great interior; exterior needs a bit of work. I moved into a new house when I moved to Texas and the backyard definitely needs landscaping. And the front a little as well. The builder called it a "deluxe landscape package." Ummm... I don't think so, but that's another post. Anyway, for the house the Florida couple picked they estimated $14,000 for the landscape. Ack! Granted they needed a fence and a good one will probably run about $5,000, but what would cost $9,000 in landscape. It had grass, so no sod. It needed some trees, but a screened porch was already there. They gave the figure for what they spent at the end and it wasn't quite that and it did look nice. Maybe trees run it up. I tend to plant small ones and watch them grow. Anyway, my budget is MUCH smaller than that, so we'll see what I come up with. The good news is that the show that followed, My House is Worth What? did say that landscaping in the back gives a very good return for the investment. Good to know.

Now, the moving part of this post. When the movers deliver your stuff, they are supposed to put the beds together for you. Generally, I was taught if they take it apart, they put it back together. Now, I have moved A LOT, including two cross country moves. I am not unfamiliar with moving. In the past, the movers have taped the hardware for the beds to the bed frames. Not this moving crew. We found the bed frame hardware in a dresser drawer wrapped in paper. But, we couldn't find the hardware to attach the bed frame to the bed. We looked in every drawer in the dresser and any other drawer we could think of. The driver was frustrated. He couldn't understand why it wasn't with the other hardware. My Mom and I wound up getting new hardware (bolts and nuts) at Home Depot. We knew I'd probably find them - someday.

Well, apparently we missed a drawer. Last night I found the hardware wrapped in a paper towel in the drawer of my nightstand. And, it was basically out of curiosity because I couldn't remember putting anything wrapped in a paper towel in there (we didn't have to unpack drawers for the move). I looked and there was the hardware. Guess I'll count it as a spare set for any future moves. I still haven't found the glass that goes in a lamp table and think it got delivered to the folks in Oklahoma (the delivery before me).

Personally, the load crew in Arkansas was a bit haphazard in my opinion. I almost think he did it on purpose. He was so very sure he knew much more about moving than I did. We were put off by his almost snotty attitude. The Texas crew that delivered was much better.