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girlgroupgirl

Girlgroupgirl: photos for August (just a few!)

girlgroupgirl
14 years ago

First of all, please let me brag on my "boys".

Here's Chester. I can't believe he let me get a portrait of his face. {{gwi:628706}}

And Monkee who is so silly! He's sleeping on the new grape arbor box. {{gwi:628709}}

This is the blank slate that the work men have been so hard working on - the dry creek, and the "tributaries" (which both control and disburse water over a larger area of "bank" {{gwi:628712}}

Here is a photo by the driveway of cup plant and orange ginger. The rain this year has made this the stand out! Smells fantastic too - like honey in the day, and like spicey ginger at night!

{{gwi:628715}}

Comments (11)

  • plantmaven
    14 years ago

    Chester looks a bit ticked, but I gues it was the way he blinked for the camera. Monkee has claimed that box.

    When my kids were little the neighbors got a cat that looked like Monkee and their 3 yr old daughter named it Cement. We never could figure out where that came from.

    My Marmalade has to investigate any box that comes in the house.

    I am not an "orange" person, but that is really pretty.

    k

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Plantmaven:
    I think Chester is just waking up in that photo. I tend to get the best photos of cats when they are sleepy!!

    I look at the blank slate photo today and see it looks a mess, lol. My property is what has mulch on it. The pile of rock at the very back is where there will be a short retaining wall and then a flat level surface in front of it...6x6 treated wood frame with pea gravel and pavers in it...the eventual foundation of a greenhouse. Hopefully the contractor will have enough windows from the next jobs he is doing to provide us with the materials for the solar greenhouse. This photo is about 1/3 of the land we have to fill. Today the workmen are putting in a lot more drainage along the narrow side of our house (for future covered patio area).
    They will use the broken cement I've been saving to make some short terracing on the weedy hill behind the purple house and remove the shrubs. We can use the saved good top soil (the grader was excellent about saving our top soil) as fill and replant the slope.
    As the summer moves to fall we'll be making a patio and a simple outdoor kitchen together with the contractor. We can't find patio stones we want so we are going to cast them ourselves! What fun. Purple patio stones!!

  • gottagarden
    14 years ago

    You're good - my cats do not pose for photographs.

    Your new dry creek area looks incredible!! All that open space for plants! Love the design, it really flows with the site, so appropriate. What are your plans? (or have you posted and I missed that one?)

    Just got cup plant in a trade this spring, so that is what it's going to look like? What a great combo, must try that.

  • PRO
    Nell Jean
    14 years ago

    What a tremendous undertaking, but it looks as if you're about to get it under control, GGG. We need to see more photos, don't we always? You live in an interesting part of the city. I remember when there was a dirt street that crossed Ponce de Leon -- probably before you were born, LOL.

    Nell

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I'm going to try and get some more photos. The biggest issue this August is that I have no shade anymore, and the entire house and yard are hot as blazes. It's so hot to go outside in the August sun!

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Here are some more photos for you all. I tried to show parts of the house/yard that some of the older members might be familiar with from other photos (and you can see reference to these places on photobucket)

    Here is the pink house veggie garden. The width is about a regular lot size. But look past that porta potty and see that the entire lot is really a lot and a half! Yep, we had to clear out some front space too. It's hard to see, but that has a strip of newly planted summer veggies I'm hoping to get something off of in September and October!
    {{gwi:628718}}

    Here's the half lot, our lot line goes back to the green vegetation you can see.
    {{gwi:628722}}

    Now we are in the back yard of the Purple House. You can see the plant shed and on the left, the part I would never show anyone in photos! This was an alley of weeds, now it has lovely drainage, the retaining wall I've always dreamed of and will soon be paved with patio stones!!
    {{gwi:628727}}

    This photo is just to the right of the photo above. You can see where the old bouncy chair is...that will be the patio area, just in front of it. Our lot goes way over to the taupe house, just this side o' the weeds!!
    {{gwi:628731}}

    Here's a shot of the dry creek. It's not glamerous like others previously pictured on this forum. Most of mine will be filled with plants most of the time, so I'm not as concerned with appearance as I am function. Plus the rip-rap does actually blend with my concrete retaining walls (not pictured yet). {{gwi:628734}}

    It is amazing what they have done. The entire area behind the pink house was forested two years ago and with very dense weedy underbrush. It took us a year to tame that to mow it. Then a tornado came thru and tore out the trees. Then the weeds grew HIGH and the errosion was horrific...that side area of the pink house would be flooded with FEET of water....now it stays moist and yes, muddy but we can deal with that. I no longer have a 30' wide river of rushing water up against both houses....it's just wonderful!

  • FlowerLady6
    14 years ago

    GGG ~ The veggie garden looks terrific. Just wait until you have these new areas planted. They are going to be colorful, wonderful, eclectic, fantastic. Love what you have done so far. Really inspiring. I just don't have more room. I've got enough to handle as it is, but looking at what you have going on is still inspiring for me to get out and work in my gardens.

    FlowerLady

  • token28001
    14 years ago

    I thought I was undertaking a lot at once. Good grief. It's a gardener's dream, a homeowner's nightmare.

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    "It's a gardener's dream, a homeowner's nightmare." LOL Token. My mom said "Well, you got what you paid for" :) Luckily the purple house was initially a very nice deal. You are right about it though, the water has been a nightmare for the house, but it is being funneled within the landscape now and things are looking good. We've only got one nasty swampy sticky part now - and I'm keeping it for some stuff that likes a nasty, sticky clay swamp!!

  • Annie
    14 years ago

    Wow! What a project!
    I have been following this with great interest. I would have been terrified to do anything that drastic. You guys have guts!
    It is looking good, but will be awesome when you get everything done.
    I love the looks of the purple house. Cool design.

    Your "boys" are beautiful. I have a Monkey cat too. His real name is "Unkle Elizabeth", but that got shortened to Unkle, and then Unk, and from that I started calling him "Unkie Monkey", because he climbs on us (gads) and on EVERYTHING like a freakin' monkey! He is so silly and so smoochy! He is also a gray and white Tabby. :)

    Do you know the song about "See the Monkey in the zoo; Gee he looks a lot like you"? Well, I sing that to him with these words:

    "Unkie Bunky, Monkey, Boo,
    Gee, he looks a lot like you;
    Unka Bunk, Bunk, Bunk,
    He's a Monk, Monk, Monk;
    Unka Bunka, Monka, You!"

    (and variations of that)
    He loves it!
    He is our "talking kitty cat". He is very verbal. :)

    Your Chester is beautiful and he knows it. Look at that face! (hehehe)

    Extra special thanks to you, GGG for the get well card and wishes to Pinkums. It is an adorable card, too.

    ((HUGS and XX))
    ~Annie

  • girlgroupgirl
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Annie, thank-you. You are so sweet.
    Our Monkee HATES to be sung too, lol. My other cats (OK, except for Baby Kitty) LOVE to be sung too. Miss Kitty even BEGS to have music on the stereo (so you can sing to it, of course) and flips her lid when my DH's record is played (well, they all like that...except for Monkee!).
    Monkee does not like songs or music, he HATES tv. He can't stand yelling or loud talking outside (which happens a lot here, and he runs in to let me know that THEY are at IT again!!)....
    Chester is a mamma's boy. Monkee is only mine if we go on vacation - then he's "mine" for several months until the novelty of my presence wears off and I am just a singing, TV watching nuisance again... :)

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