Glammin' Up the Backyard for Pink Saturday

Thank you for visiting today. Be sure and visit Beverly at howsweetthesound for more participants in Pink Saturday.
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Our son and grandsons were here for a couple of days this past week. The 2 on the right are our grandsons, 20 and 11, and the young man on the left, 13, is a "sort of adopted" child. He takes him whenever he and his wife can because his mother isn't a good influence on him and he loves our son and boys. He is treated just like his sons in everything: trips, cruises, punishments and college when he is ready. His mother won't give him up because......well, just because. He is a sweetie though. Keith is doing much better but, of course, he will have to repeat the surgery on his leg that the gang injured when they beat him. He is very optimistic about everything though.

Here is hubs planting 2 grape plants for us. I suggested we use this metal arbor since the clematis' have all, but one, died. He transplanted the clematis. We'll have a lovely place to view from our patio door and have the grapes to eat. The arbor will definitely hold them.

I have looked at every garden and hardware store in town trying to find a window box I thought was pretty enough. There was nothing available and then "POOF" an epiphany! I had two french vintage wire window boxes in the house—one in the living room and one in the family room under the faux mantel. Another "duh" moment for me. *Sigh*.........

Anyway, out it came from the wall and I put it under the window in my office with the faux ferns (I can't grow any other kind). Then...........

We went out to Michaels and Joanns and found some lovely silk peonies and roses and I stuck them in there with the ferns. I absolutely love looking at it from the front of the house and I can see it out my window seat.

The peonies are really very pink. I took this picture just after a rain storm and it was a bit dark but you can see underneath how the water stayed out from the box a bit. (Notice the rock underneath in the above photo.)

Here are the other faux roses and dahlias I purchased today at Michaels and Joanns. They are truly lovely and 60% off!

While I was out there I snapped more photos of the new crop of roses in the rose garden. Aren't they lovely? I have finally succeeded in growing something!

Just absolutely stunning to me, chicks!

Have you ever seen anything as gorgeous as a rose except for a newborn baby? I think not!

Ooooh, I almost forgot to mention th' thumb! This is what happens when hubby and son take me and grandsons target practice at the local shooting range and they neglect to tell me my thumb is in the wrong position on the semi-automatic handgun for the sliiiiIIIIiiiide (slide)! These are 2 Marines who know and taught Marines how to shoot but neglect to tell th' wife and mom. They're just lucky they weren't standing in front of me after I dropped the gun. *Sigh*........it hurts!!!!

And...........*sigh*........the fluorescent ear plugs you wear when shooting???? Well, I tried one pair and they fell out of my ears so I tried the 2nd pair and they got stuck in my ear! I tell ya, it was not a good day for me, bloggerettes. Thank goodness my son is a nurse. Hubs tried to get them out. I finally got the right one out and I couldn't hear out of my right ear. It was strange because it seemed that I could hear out of my right ear through my left ear. Then Keith tried pulling the left one out and he couldn't get a hold on it. He said, "Mom, why did you put them in so far?" I said that they kept falling out. He used his fingernails to grab the very edge and started pulling and boy, did it hurt. Felt like he was sucking my ear drums out! I had to tell him twice to stop as he was pulling. Well, I can hear out of the left ear but the right one is still plugged up badly. I can hear it trying to pop but I've been going around for 3 days "yawning" to pop it but so far nothing. I think I'll give up shooting.........unless it's a hubby and son! Target practice just could be hazardous to their health, ya know. :-)

Wordless Wednesday Signs of Spring

Il Est de Finition

We started out friday evening going out to dinner (nothing and I mean nothing interferes with my going to a restaurant!) and then picking up a trailer we borrowed from a friend to haul the stone for the gardens in our front yard. I thought I'd show you the stone at the nursery and how it contrasts to the other stone.

This is the trailer we used. It took two and a half yards of stone to cover these small garden beds. We both couldn't believe it took that much.

This is some other types we could pick from.

Here is the contrast with another stone next to it. See how pinkish it looks.


The one in the middle here is the one I first wanted because of the cheaper price tag. Then hubby said he liked the pinkish stone better and that it would look great in our yard. Squeeeeeeeeeallll.........I had no intention of arguing with him. He earns the money and I spend it and sometimes I let him spend it on things he wants. We're an equal partner marriage..........uuuuhhhhhhhhh, leaning heavily to my side.

My choice. Errrrr, his choice!! *Wink*
Let me say here and now that I would never ever make it as a hole digger or construction worker. I give them a lot of credit because it is a lot harder to dig a hole than it looks. I started out digging a spot for my rose bush and gave up after hitting wire. I can't imagine any part of construction in this house that would have required wire but here it is in this hole that I assume is trash dumped there during construction. Love Bunny had to take bolt cutters to it that night and then planted the bush for me. You'll see it later in the photos below.

This is where I got before I gave up.

My man can do anything............that I can't!

As you can see from the spots on the concrete it started raining just as we finished saturday afternoon.

I have plans for a window box under my office window.

Planning on putting some cone type baskets on the porch railing also. They'll be faux so I don't kill them by not watering. (Hubby's suggestion!)

This is my daughter's back yard in California. She's coming down this summer and is a garden-aholic. When she comes we plan on doing a similar thing with stone to our back yard. I can't wait!!!

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While down in California in May my daughter gave me this little TV and a security webcam to monitor our front door. Recently Love Bunny installed it in the corner of our front porch. It is really handier than the peephole we have now. I can see from my office who is at the front door without even leaving this chair. Handy dandy little gizmo and I love not having to answer my front door to strangers.

I tried it here in the window seat but couldn't see it very easily due to my JBL Creature speakers.

So I tried it here on top of the shelves but it was a tad too wide for it and a bit shaky.

I put it on the shelves on the other side of my office and it works well here. I can look up at a glance and see who is ringing my doorbell. Total cost: $30.18 for the receiver and the webcam was free. To purchase the cam would be about $45.00. A good deal all the way around I think, even if I had to purchase the cam. Very, very easily installed also.

I can also hear the audio in here so I have the soothing sounds of my front yard fountain and the wind chimes just by turning the volume up or I can have quiet by turning the sound on the little television off. BUT I can also hear if someone is talking while walking on the sidewalk or a car goes by. I keep it low volume.

I sure hope the neighbors don't talk about me! I don't want to know. ;-)

Summertime Yard Projects

Let's face it, chicks, life is not leisurely in the summer time when you want to plant some new roses front and back, change the bark that washes out with each rain and gets blown into the neighbor's yard 1/2 block down the street when it's windy with 2 1/2 yards (that's the big machine with a scoop) of Wild Rose Mountain Stone which you and hubs will shovel out of the trailer into a wheelbarrow and put into each garden area in the front of the house, the back yard looks like Grasszilla's yard, planned trip to see granddaughter in Washington state and hubs is running for a state position, has a convention and you want that new security camera for the front door put up "on your time frame" and not "hubby's time frame!"

One of the roses I bought to put into the front rose garden.

The "grasszilla" back yard. I'm hoping the quote we have asked for from a lawn service to weed and feed or whatever it needs goes easy on me or I may faint!

The first of my rose carpet on the back fence.

Another one that needs to be planted about 8 feet from the above one.

Second carpet rose we planted on other side of an archway. I have another one to plant about 8 feet from this one also.

This one will go in the rose garden in front also.

This is my neighbor to the east of me or left when looking at the front of my house. You see that tree???? It's only four years old and humongous! It's a Navajo willow or something like that, but it grows tremendously fast. It was in a 3 gallon pot when the previous owner planted it.

The honeysuckle on our garden shed is growing just fine this year.

Okay, okay, I said I was giving up on my star jasmine. I lied. I am going to try 2 more and see how it goes. If nothing else, I'll have had it for this summer and that's okay too.

Do you understand "grasszilla" yard now? Plus the guy came to see what we could do and found out we have a fungus on our pear tree (not pictured here). So we did what he said and hope it will be fine. We'll have him spray to weed and feed in a few days and then need to cut the grass down as low as possible, de-thatch, and then plant some other seed. Apparently this was a cheap seed when we had it sprayed on 4 years ago. So we'll go with a better seed this time. This stuff is pathetic.

My pathetic little garden for tomatoes, peppers and cukes. My gardenia is still alive though and that's a miracle. I haven't killed it yet.

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Random Thought:

Cajun style food in any other part of the world would be called "burned and blackened!"

Gardens Are Looking Good So Far

Does this look good or what? I am so impressed by the man who came the other day to "fix" our yards up. The back yard needs weed and feed and de-thatching so I won't show that to you yet, but here is the front yard.

We call this the porch garden. Two hydrangeas in front and rhododendrons in the back. Soothing water effect comes from the fountain against the garage wall.

Hostas, a bright and fragrant lily 2nd on left, hydrangea and another hosta in back. In front, 2 more hostas. I may plant more. I just love them.

Rose bush will go in round spot.

Bilbugs got hold while we were in California but it has been treated and going away nicely.

I bought 2 more David Austin rose bushes to go in here.

Bush on right hand side will stay to kind of balance out this area.

And here is the biggest surprise. Pinkish/lavender rocks! Yes, you heard that right. When we were at a nursery the other day we were looking for medium sized rocks. Hubs came across these and said he liked them. I pointed out that the "Oregon Trail Rocks" were $34.99 a yard and these were $119.99 a yard and he gulped. Last night I asked him which one we should buy and he said the pink/lavender ones would look so pretty! I almost fell over in the doorway to his office. BUT I sweetly said, "Yes, they would be beautiful." I had him at that point, chicks. He wants them! I told you guys like pink! Do not doubt me on this, my friends. So we will get them in a day or so.

Now, this is hard to believe and the photos don't show it well but the nursery lady told me they get even more pink/lavender when wet! Be still my heart. They do! When we get them down in the garden spots I'll try to capture them again, but they are called "Wild Rose Rock." And they really are a different color from regular rock. Just gorgeous. I am sooooo excited.