Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Our Yard and My Purple Thumb

 I've never really been good with plants, but I keep trying! I enjoy having something living in my home and yard. When we first moved to Pacifica, our duplex yard was in need of a bit of help. 

After clearing out the weeds and lawn, I planted a few friendly-looking samples that were recommended to me by the hardware store florist. 

These turned out to be a banquet for gophers. Every plant - except for the rosemary - was considered haute cuisine by the local ground critters. 

After I posted a photo of our yard on Facebook, we were advised by our landscaper friend to put down mulch. There are many good reasons to cover the ground with mulch, so I took it from there. I had fun buying new plants and positioning pavers and stones. I painted boards white to use as planter set-ups. Looks nice, huh?


Within a month, all of the plants (except for the rosemary) were demolished by gophers. Those plants were replaced by weeds, which grow very nicely in our yard - I don't have to do anything - the weeds thrive.  In time, the yard, again overgrown with weeds, needed help. The fence also needed painting. It took me a week to clear out the weeds.  After painting and clearing the ground, I put down mulch. Mike helped a great deal by hauling the old dirt away.   It looked pretty good...until.....


Another problem arose: fleas. My legs were covered in fleas! The fleas eventually made it into the house. NOTE: we don't have pets. In my naivete', I thought one had to have pets to have fles. Not true, I found out. So, I cleared out the mulch and dirt - 

and used a combination of remedies to eradicate the fleas: flea spray, cedar wood chips and spray, diatomaceous earth, and for indoors, lots of vacuuming, flea carpet powder flea spray, and flea traps. I also dug up the dirt (again) and hired a company to haul away the bags of dirt I had dug up (shout out to Nico's hauling)!

 

Finally, the fleas were gone, and I re-did the mulch. I only plant what gophers won't eat, now - that includes succulents, rosemary, bee balm and lavender. The rest of the plants are in pots. It still needs a little work. Maybe some more plants....what do you think?


Saturday, June 14, 2025

Grief

Grief is just an open wound that truly never heals But life goes on, and live we must - no matter how one feels. Remembrance is a foe and friend - our joy is also pain And hope the stars align someday, for us to meet again.