Different Garden Attempt - Guests

After trying, and failing, to establish some wildflower gardens areas in the back of the backyard I've decided to try something else.  I dug up the garden areas, tilled in some compost/manure, and planted 8 hibiscus bushes.  Reading just a bit about them I will be pruning them as bushes, not trees, but I guess I'll just be glad to have something growing.  Wildflowers... how can wildflowers NOT grow?!?!?

My 4 little flower garden areas each with its own 2 new plants :)

 

Now the 'guests' part of this blog.  The last couple of weeks there have been a number of times when I've seen 2 deer meandering around the property.  They seem quite accustomed to seeing people and they don't just take off running if you are seen by them.  This is good and bad, I guess.  Last week they were standing just outside of the open big garage door just looking in as I was going to go out.  Scared the crap out of me!  I'm thinking bear or lion or something.  The last few mornings I've noticed them as I sit at the kitchen table and this morning I grabbed the camera.

 

You're going to have to click on this photo to see them.  One is sitting down just behind the flower bed, just to the right of the tall grass.  Her friend is standing to the left, back in the woods a bit, right above the left end of the flower bed.  Kind of cool :)  Not cool will be if they make breakfast out of the plants I put in this afternoon!

 



Stinkin' Moss

Maybe because of the wet summer followed by a wet winter... don't know... but whatever the reason my back lawn became covered in moss.  The dirt... what they call dirt down here in Georgia... is really crap and is more clay than dirt so maybe that contributed to the situation as well.  Regardless, the stuff had to go.  I did learn that to kill it you can spray it with dish soap so I did that a couple of weeks ago and it did work somewhat.  Now I have to get it torn out so today I started.  I got through maybe a third of the yard this afternoon and that wore my arms out enough to let me know that I am not going to like going after the other two thirds.  Stinkin' moss!!

I wasn't kidding when I said it was covered in this crap.  That pile is what I pulled in a section as long as the dethatching rake.

 

Looks like sod, doesn't it?  My son David suggested that I just let it become my lawn.  If it happens again, I just may take his suggestion!

 

New Beginnings

Just back from a trip over to NC to help the kids and grandkids move into their new home!  Quite the work but all the possessions got moved over to the new place over the course of four days and quite a bit of unpacking got done as well.  Of course it's going to take them a while to get totally settled in but they are certainly well on their ways.  Hannah and Riley have taken to the new playroom with gusto and while it was a bit chilly to be outside too much it appears that the very big backyard is going to provide quite the adventure area for them.  Joshua, of course, pretty much went along for the ride.  The new location is closer to just about everything for them and Samantha is particularly happy that grocery shopping will no longer require an all-day drive to her favorite grocery.  David gets moved around locations a bit at work but the new location should make for a shorter drive for him as well.  All in all... pretty good!  A couple shots of the happy family in front of the new house:

 

An added bonus of my trip was acquiring some new art work.  While David and Samantha were at their closing I asked Hannah to finger-paint for me on a poster board I had brought along.  The instructions to her were pretty simple:  lots of color!  Well, Hannah did an exceptional job including lots of color while choosing the subject matter all by herself.  This delightful painting has a rainbow, a rainbow cross, a drawing of the new house, and the faces of all the family members.  I asked that she fill in the whole thing and she did quite beautifully as you can see.  Now the painting sits on an easel in my bedroom so I see it the first thing every morning and the last thing at night.  Thanks, Hannah!!

A close up view of this colorful painting.

The painting resting on the easel... perfect :)