Wildflowers

I FINALLY had a Saturday when I wasn't too exhausted to go visit the horses and it was an amazingly beautiful day.  There were clouds spilling over the Santa Rosa mountains, so I was eager to get going Saturday morning.  It had rained on and off all day Friday and there were puddles everywhere along Highway 74.

The horses were all calling for food when I got to the ranch.  (They will NEVER turn down an extra free meal!)  So, first I fed all of them.  Their corrals were way too muddy to do anything and rain was forecast to begin again in the afternoon.  In fact, there is a travel advisory for the mountains all day today.  MORE rain is already happening.

I stopped along the way and took some photos of the creosote and some wildflowers.  The lupines are long gone, but desert marigolds and other plants are in bloom right now and the hillsides are covered with yellow blossoms.

I'm GLAD and thankful I had an opportunity to drive up to the horse ranch.  (SECRET:  I took Friday off school...Frankly I was too tired to even THINK about putting up with "rainy day schedule").

Nothing going on...

There's really nothing going on right now.  We had our other eucalyptus tree severely trimmed back and it tooks so much safer!  We actually had two of them out front~both silver dollar eucalyptus trees that I planted back in the early 1980's.  At some time, we are going to HAVE to do something about our cottonwood, but that could be a few weeks off.  Apparently it is FULL of bees and the bees will have to be removed or killed before a trimmer can get up into the tree.

So, I'm pretty much on a holding pattern right now, at least until I retire at the end of this month.  After that, I'll have plenty of time to get out and take photos.  Hopefully I won't be babysitting every day!

I haven't seen my horses in nearly a month and that, too, will change once I retire!  BELIEVE ME!

Only 15 more days of school, and then I'm DONE!  I can hardly wait!
~Cheers~!
~Cheryl Ann

Summer's comin'

We are having a preview of summer here right now.  The last 4 days temps have been up into the 90's.  Now, 92 isn't too bad, but yesterday and today and tomorrow they will be in the high 90's.  Our neighbors on one side are already running their air conditioner.  We aren't.  Honestly, I don't like to even turn it on until temps hit the dreaded triple digits, and that won't be happening this week. By Thursday, however, our temps start going down back into the 70's.  Phew!  If we run our air conditioner during "non-peak" times (like now), Southern California Edison REALLY packs you a punch!  I know some folks like to keep their houses at 78 degrees, but we have two large shade trees out front which shade the living room, and we just turn on a fan.

Al, over at the Bayfield Bunch, was talking about how he is getting tired of snow days and staying inside.  We basically have that same situation, only here it is summer days.  From about June 15 - the end of September, it's too dang hot to go anywhere or do anything, especially mid-day.  That's when the animals take an afternoon nap, and so do we.  It's just too hot to be moving around.  I recall a few years when we didn't have to turn on the a/c until July 4, but I don't see that happening this year.  We're thinking we are probably going to have to replace our whole unit (compressor and fan inside) this summer anyway.  The inside unit is 17 years old and our compressor is 12, and in this desert heat, they are WAY OVERDUE for replacement.We DID have another compressor which wore out just shy of its 5 year warranty, so the company DID come out and replace it years ago, but 12 hot summers is a LOT of abuse for any air conditioner.

OY VEI!

The front yard is pretty much cleaned up now, the porch is cleaned off, and the dumpster will be hauled away tomorrow.  We got our insurance check, so we'll have the crew back to trim out other eucalyptus out front and then start on the cottonwood out back.  It has a lot of dead branches which need to be thinned out.  We won't take it completely down, however, and neither will we completely take down our remaining eucalyptus.

Wish us luck.  Both are HUGE trees.  Our crew was actually next door yesterday afternoon removing a pine tree from their front yard.

Getting into a routine

So, with all the damage to our front yard (fence, broken water line, tree down...) I've been staying home this Spring break.  I haven't even been up to see the horses yet.  10 days off school and I've spent the last 8 of them at home.  My mornings are spent TRYING to fill in the huge hole caused by the eucalyptus tree's roots breaking our water line to the house, which then flooded the entire front yard.  We were fortunate, however, that NO water came into the house!

A neighbor of our daughter's has come the last 2 mornings and helped with the destruction of the fence.  It is now completely GONE!  We have had that 6' fence up for 23 years.  I miss it, but, on the other hand, I enjoy being able to have all the sunlight out in the front and the view.  We live, not on a cul-de-sac, but at the end of a street with only one way in and out.  The city closed off the road that goes back to a main street in town about 10 years ago, so we have very little traffic.  Ours is a quiet neighhorhood.  However, we put the fence UP 23 years ago because we DID get a lot of foot traffic, especially at midnight, with people wanting to come to our house and use our phone!  WFT?  I think not.  So, we'll see.  If we go back to getting foot traffic, we'll put up a stucco 5' fence along the outer walkway.

Right now I can't let our dog out into the front yard (due to the lack of a fence).  I do, however, take her out with me and I attach her leash to one of the trees out front.  She likes to be near me, so she's happy.

I can still feed all the birds and hummingbirds out front and I still have my little flower garden (for now).  But, once the REAL heat some, it will be gone.  I like that area because (1) it is right outside my office window and (2) it provides some relief and color to our now grassless front yard.  We haven't been able to grow grass there for 20 years.

So, we'll see.

And, that's been my spring break.  We are going to our granddaughter's 3rd birthday party today and tomorrow I'll FINALLY get to drive up and see the horses.



Side fence is GONE.


The destruction below.

Yard update

The dumpster arrived yesterday and a 4 man crew did also.  It was their job to cut out the eucalyptus tree roots and get the stump into the dumpster.  Good thing they brought a Bobcat with them!  I was at the dentist's office while they did this, so I don't have photos.  There is a huge hole out front now where the tree took out our main water pipe into the house.  I honestly don't know HOW we are going to fill it!  I imagine we'll have to order a couple of tons of rock.

We have a friend coming today to help us load some of the heavier items into the dumpster like the old fence posts.  He's going to take some of the lumber with him.

Frankly, I'll be glad to return to school Monday for some peace & quiet!
~Cheers~
Cheryl Ann

Dinosaurs, oh my!

I made this video yesterday and finished and published it last night.  I wanted to do something with some of the photos from the Ricardo Breceda metal sculpture garden in Aguanga.  I think the theme music from "Rome" was quite appropriate, don't you think?

Anyway, here's the YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJG6YV5gaNI

I hope you enjoy it!  I mean, come on!  What 7 year old wouldn't like this?
~Cheryl Ann~

KAPUT!

We had HORRIBLE winds here yesterday afternoon and last night.  The good news is that the storm front dropped fresh snow on our San Jacinto and San Bernardino mountains.

The bad news is that it toppled one of our two eucalyptus trees out front.  This was the one next to the street.  We didn't even hear it go down~that's how strong the winds were and how LOUD they were!  I went out at 5 a.m. and the front yard was completely flooded.  It broke our water main when it fell over and there is water everywhere out front.  Fortunately, the water did NOT come into the house!

So, we have NO water, no coffee, and the water district truck is on its way.  Plus, we have a call into a gardener to come chop up the eucalyptus and haul it away.

Our fence is KAPUT, too.  The tree took out half of it and the city wants it GONE, so they get their way.

Ugh.  It's still windy today and it is COLD outside!  I went out and fed the birds, so at least they are happy.

This eucalyptus tree was about 25 years old.  We have another one which is going to HAVE to be severely trimmed because if it falls down, it will take out the neighbor's house (or part of it...)