This member (I think) of the rudbeckia family produced a two-headed monster. The flower heads somehow fused, and the resulting blossom resembles a yo-yo on fire.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Summertime
Ain't nothin' easy about the livin', though. Our yard presents some special challenges: notably a dogleg strip of uncultivated ground that runs about 40 yards east and west along the back property line, and another 40 yards north to south along the east property line. Takes a lot of work to fill it up. The right-angle strip has been mulched with pine straw, and we're gradually filling in as much as possible with flowers and shrubs and a small vegetable garden. We have a few pretty things growing.
This member (I think) of the rudbeckia family produced a two-headed monster. The flower heads somehow fused, and the resulting blossom resembles a yo-yo on fire.
This member (I think) of the rudbeckia family produced a two-headed monster. The flower heads somehow fused, and the resulting blossom resembles a yo-yo on fire.
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Beatiful. I miss gardening, but I couldn't do it anymore and our grandson wanted to buy our house, so winters in a trailer house on a sandlot in Florida (which I hate), and summers RVing now. I once had a purple coneflower divide like your yellow rudbeckia, two heads in one. I like to think radiation from an alien prowling around the yard one night caused it. Or, it's an argument between genes.
Maybe we have radioactive rabbits. Radioactive or not, we have a lot of them. A neighbor told us that someone (The HOA? County government?) got rid of our coyotes, so that explains the large rabbit population. Next year, I'll try to trap them (to borrow from Sydney Greenstreet, in the Maltese Falcon, "Legally, if possible, but at any rate, expeditiously").
Wow Rebecca, you're living the dream!
Rebecca: Keep me posted on how the RVing is working out. I'm giving some thought to that, myself. I yearn for the southwest, and since it's not likely that I'll ever have a second home there, an RV might be the best bet (btw, do you rent or own an RV?)
RV living is okay, but RVs are not meant to be homes, they're meant to be used for a few weeks at a time. They require a lot of upkeep when you stay in them for long times.
My buddy tried that. He bought one that was very nice, the previous owner took great care of it. After a couple years the thing was falling apart.
My neighbor has a beautiful yard, he spends hours each weekend day taking care of it and has to water it constantly. Ugh. He hates my yard I think.
I love my yard in AZ, it's all rocks. My yardwork entails spraying weed killer every now and then.
Which is for the best, I have a black thumb. I actually killed a cholla.
My favorite AZ plant is the bougainvillea. It flowers in July when it's 110 degrees and hasn't rained since February. You chop it to the ground once in a while and a couple weeks later it looks the same.
Other than that, I prefer rocks.
If you want to see where I live, my house is up the hill behind the trees from this fancy place, but my house is a dump which will probably be bulldozed after us:
https://www.belleproperty.com/listings/772538/43-47-charles-street-lawson-nsw-2783/
You can't see my house luckily, but I can see all that from my yard. Bushfires? We've had a few, every 20 years ('prepare to evacuate'). I still have a dozen original gum or other trees in my yard, but have had several dozen cut down to make some space, one near the house needed a huge crane. It's getting expensive here now as people flee the city, but we got ours real cheap in the 1990s after selling our tiny city apartment. We were lucky.
V: One of the things I loved about living in Arizona was the low maintenance yard. All we had were rocks, cactus and a couple of mesquite trees. We managed not to kill our cholla (although I believe the neighbors had one that died).
Bruce: Lovely views!
Beautiful flowers!
Alas, similar to Veeshir, I have a brown thumb. I can sorta kinda make grass grow. I have one bush that I planted several years ago, Callicarpa americana, recommended by a friend. I planted 3 originally -- one didn't survive shipment, and another is fairing poorly.
I'm pretty sure the last one is a Triffid.
Paco, we have had the RV going on three years now. It's a 31 foot Thor Windsport, so we have most of the comforts of home: shower, toilet, stove, heat, air conditioning, queen sized bed, two TVs inside and one outside, as well as an outside small fridge, and plenty of storage. We're also towing my old car. We've made a number of small trips in it, but this time, because we were sick to death of being imprisoned by the Wufungoo, and because it's probably our last hurrah, we left Florida on May 5, and have been traveling ever since. A week in South Carolina to visit the Marine grandson and his family; Memphis, Tennessee; Auburn Alabama; Branson, Missouri; Hot Springs, Arkansas; a long haul to Medora, North Dakota; Spearfish, South Dakota (visited Deadwood there); West Yellowstone, Montana; then to Arco, Idaho, and now in Boise, Idaho, all with some overnight stops on the way. We plan to go all the way to Tacoma, Washington, then down to Mt. Shasta, California, stop in Utah to see some friends, stop a week in Las Vegas, and then back across until we get back to Florida on September 1st. We've hit as many National Parks as possible, have seen some magnificent scenery, and met a lot of people (most of whom are also travelers and think, while the Wufungoo is real, the way it's been handled in purely political. After a month-long stop in Florida, we'll spend two months in Ohio to visit with family and vote (because we maintain our legal residence there, even though we don't own the house anymore). We had thought to go all the way to Alaska so we could say we hit all 050 states, but there isn't time, and Canada is not being exactly cooperative. Also, we were going to San Diego, but decided not to. The thing about RVs is that they start to depreciate the minute you take possession, so you'll never make any money reselling them. As for technical problems, we haven't had any major ones, just small annoyances that were easily fixed, and there are repairmen everywhere. We've been staying in KOAs, which are way cheaper than RV resorts, and have all the same amenities. The dog, luckily, is a great traveler, and welcome at all KOAs. If you're interested in RV travel, what you should do is rent one and take a couple of small trips to see if you like it. What I like is not having to haul suitcases into motels, and no chance of bedbugs. I've been posting pictures and paragraphs to Facebook, Rebecca Harris, if you care to look.
Wow, RebeccaH.
Sounds like real life, Travels with Charley.
Thanks, Rebecca. Really good stuff to know.
Also, sounds like a heck of a good time!
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