Showing posts with label yard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yard. Show all posts

Monday, November 24, 2008

Squirrel

I took this picture on November 15th with thoughts of blogging about it. Look! I'm almost caught up.
Assuming some physiological similarities between squirrels and humans, it would appear that if I were so inclined to eat the mysterious orange berries growing in my yard--now identified as firethorn berries (thanks, Shannon)-- I would not die. Good to know.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

My Yard the Twilight Zone

In my blog description, I claim to write about things flowering in my head, my yard, my life, blah, blah, blah. The yard's been pretty neglected for awhile and for some reason, I feel the need to share now. Last spring, my father-in-law gave me some tomato seedlings. I found out later that these were seedlings that he started from a grocery store tomato's seeds. An heirloom tomato, but a grocery store tomato nonetheless. My father-in-law has a special talent for growing all sorts of things (and, ahem, we're not going to go into that too much) and he also has a fantastic greenhouse. He managed to get a few (I think 3) tomatoes from these particular seeds. I, being possessed of neither gardening superpowers nor a greenhouse, figured my chances for getting tomatoes from these plants were pretty slim. My tomato plants got big and busy, popped out a few flowers, and then started a slow, dramatic death. This is how dramatic:

Somewhere around the first of this month, I decided this was a lost cause and quit watering the plants. Two nights ago, Moses called me outside. This is what he found:

One renegade tomato. A survivor. The little stinker--now I have to water this plant again. After taking into account the price of the pot, the compost, and water for three months, that there is probably the world's most expensive tomato.

Other weird things have been happening in my yard. Apparently in Flagstaff there is this season called Autumn and this is what happens to trees:


Notice that reddish tinge? I understand that shortly the red will prevail, all the leaves will fall off the trees, and I will be plunged into arctic hell until about June 1st of next year.

We also have a bush that produces copious amounts of a beautiful orange berry:

There is some little kid part of me that really wants to pluck one off and pop it into my mouth just to see what it tastes like. Don't worry, I have resisted. Perhaps though, I will find out what these are and see if, perchance they are edible. Mmmm, random-orange-berry jam.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Catus Wren


Last night while discussing the fate of our front yard, we discovered we have a nest of catus wrens. The babies make a noise somewhere between a screech and squawk (a scrauwk?). The mama wren appeared to be feeding them olives from the tree in front yard. Which leads me to wonder, are olives really the best food for growing wrens? Does the mama wren not know about the dangers of olive pits? Has she never read "What to Expect" for the nest set? Anyway, here's a picture of the mama wren and the saguaro hole. Later I'm going to see if I can stand on a stool or ladder, far away from the nest of course, and zoom in to get a shot of the babies.
I am so looking forward to this weekend. My parents are watching Garion and Moses and I get a whole weekend to ourselves in Jerome. It is our 7th anniversary, already! We are going to be so grumpy and crotchety by the time we get our 50th--I'm sure we'll be one of those couples who turn their hearing aids off when they get annoyed by the other one. Garion will proably have to move to another country. Unless we go senile--and then it'll be like the first date everyday--and Garion will probably still have to move to another country.
Before I go (off to play a little WoW, still can't believe that's something I do on a regular basis), thanks to my friend Anali over at Grumpator for the shout out today and for all the bloggery advice. Soon, this site should be looking ship shape.