The previous owners abandoned a porch/patio glider because they said it was too far gone to save. We kept it and Jeff and I refinished it in April, 2006. It looked practically new.
Two years of rain and wet winters took a toll on the finish. Once I had sanded it down, the wood was too weathered to varnish it again. I decided to use Rustoleum Outdoor Furniture finish (paint) instead. I think it came out fairly well. The next time it needs finishing, I’ll probably replace all the wood with redwood and start over. The frame is still in excellent shape.
Well, OK; Birds in the backyard.
We have many varieties of sparrows, finches, jays, robins and such that hang out in our back yard. Two of our favorites are the American Goldfinch and the Humming Birds that visit us frequently. Both are bright and interesting visitors.
OK, it’s June I tell you. This afternoon a cold front wandered in and proceeded to dump 2 inches of rain in approximately 1 hour. Not good! We’re only supposed to get such weather in December.
The weather men and women better get it right.
It’s SUMMER!!
We had a plant sprout this year that was planted by the previous owners. For some reason it did not grow last year. Its formal name is Dracunculus Vulgaris. Its common name is Dragon Arum or Dragonwort. It is a most unusual plant as shown below.
It comes from Greece, the Balkans, Crete and Greek Isles. It looks tropical and its pollination technique is definitely tropical. When the flower opens it smells of rotting meat for a day. Its away from the house so we didn’t notice the smell. However, I did notice an abundance of flies day before yesterday. It is odorless today.
The previous owners left an artsy-fartsy bird bath for us. It’s made of solid copper, so it couldn’t have been cheap. The person who designed it may have been an artist, but he/she had no concept of physics or engineering. The bowl was held by one thin copper strap to the upright. When full of water, the weight of even a sparrow would tilt the bowl causing the water to slosh out scaring the bird in the process.
A brilliant thought, some brass chain and copper wire and the bath is now stabilized. It looks pretty sharp if I say so myself. (Which I do.)
The front garden has come a long way in just one year. Last year we dug out grass, weeds and a stunted cedar tree to create a flower garden in the front of the house.
This is a picture of the construction of the garden in July, 2007.
The following are pictures of the front garden from various angles taken today.
This is a twofer. I got Bonnie a new point and shoot digital camera today. It is a Kodak 883, 8 megapixel, SD Card memory, 38 - 114mm zoom with facial recognition software and the ability to charge the battery from any USB device. It was on sale at the Exchange for $90. While it’s not a Cannon or Nikon, it shoots pretty good pictures for a P&S. Of course it’s red.
The Lupines are bee and humming bird magnets. The clematis climbing the rose has flowers almost the size of dinner plates this year.
We’ve planted our tomatoes in Topsy Turvy Brand hanging planters that have the plants hanging out the bottom. No staking. No tying.
It was amazing to watch how rapidly the plants started turning their leaves over to capture the sun. We’ve planted Sweet Millions, Sweethearts, Momotaro and Fantasic.
All photos in the Blog have been replaced and minor editing of spelling and formatting have been accomplished. I was able to do it in about 3 hours. Windows Live Writer saved the day. I was able to fix everything without having to go to the WordPress Dashboard.
As I ALWAYS chided customers: Back up everything before attempting a software upgrade. Do as I say, not as I do.
Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa
During an upgrade of WordPress, I did the penultimate stupid thing. I didn’t back up all appropriate files/folders on the server. As a result, all my uploaded images were vaporized.
Bear with me while I reconstruct all the images for the last three years.
SOB!
