Enough, already

For over a year now, B and I have not finished many projects. Normally, this might not matter, but we bought a fixer-upper house. And it sure needs some fixing-upping. Every time we think we're ready to get going again, something happens. One of us gets sick, or Saul gets sick, or we have visitors, or we go to visit people, or I get crazy busy at work. But we're finally starting to get some work done on our landscaping. We actually planted a section!

I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but keep in mind, we live in the hill country. Digging a hole of a diameter larger than my hand usually involves a pick axe, limestone boulders, and a serious backache for B. I, of course, am too delicate of a flower to do that kind of work.

So while B was doing back breaking manual labor last weekend, I tripped off to my favorite nursery and found a muscular young man to accompany me around and display trees for me. Since this was for the front yard, and would hopefully cover up an ugly part of the house, we decided to shell out the big bucks for 15-gallon trees. I ended up choosing a Texas Mountain Laurel and a Flameleaf Sumac. Along with a couple of gallon daisies and some tropical sage, my total was over $300.

Big money and big work. And how did it turn out?

I guess it seems like for $300 of my tax refund we ought to get a little more tree, you know? It's hard to avoid the impression that we just stuck a bare stick in the ground on the right. And it annoys me that I paid over $100 for that stick.

Since these pictures were taken, we have covered everything with some nice dark Texas hardwood mulch and added some travertine stepping stones to the faucet. But it still looks kind of bare. I'm thinking of adding some Turks Cap bushes here and there.

Up for this weekend: planting the vegetable garden in the back and, more importantly, putting up a deer-proof fence around said garden.

More pictures to come!