Still Working on the Front Yard. No, It's Not Completely Done, but Close Enough

This may be the last set of pictures I post of the front yard until the side yard is done. but I'm so excited to see progress. Dan won't be back till Monday and he'll be working on the back yard then. i wanted to get an estimate for windows (and kitchen remodeling) but Bruce tells me I am going too fast. There is prep work to be done. Much cleaning and sorting and getting rid of stuff. He's correct. So I will try to focus on the prep work. If I ever have time! And I say that when I've taken a little time and not touched the prep work. My mom needs attention or something weird comes up or I am flat out so exhausted I just sleep. I'm worried about my mom. She does have a Dr appointment Thursday and then her nephrologist the following Thursday, but she is sleeping so much and she only really eats breakfast. There's more, but it's depressing and some is pretty gross. Anyway I am pretty concerned. I did take her out to see the front yard. I got her as far as the bench. I don't think she was able to see too much but she liked what she saw. She also liked listening to the birds. we sat out there for a good long while. It was pleasant

This is basically whatt it looks like from across the street.

Bruce thinks the bench is hideous. I love it. I actaully wanted it in the gravel between the tree and the rock but it's too big. Oops. Now, the bed we saved to plant columbine and bleeding hearts an other stuff may need to be re-imagined to avoid the current odd, awkward look.

I think Bruce enjoyed sitting in the front yard more than he thought he would. It WAS right pleasant out there with lots of birdsong. Dan has pointed oit to me natural water basins and likely places lizards will move in. We already have lizards and they are fun to watch- doing their push-ups. This will be a more natiral environment for them.
 

When Dan and Seth unloaded the tortoise (the only time I've actually seen Dan breathe had) they were in some dismay as I had them move it to a few differnt places. Not many, I'm not cruel. But the first thing Dan said as he was unloading it was that if I put it too close to the street, kids would ride it. I busted out laughing when Bruce came out the front door, saw the torttoise and, well, you can see what happened. He is a big kid. And I love that about him. I'm trying to think of a name for the tortoise.

Btuce says the tortoise reminds him of a stubborn, Scottish face Max can wear. I can see it. There's something longsuffering in it too.

Part of the flagstone path. I love the path and I love the varigated colors.

Another attempt a a whole front view. I'm not doing that very well.

Primary focal area.

The bench looks lonely without a booty in it. But I love this view of the path. 

Friday June 10,2017

I took some intermediate pictures of the front yard. It should be finished by Tuesday.  I think it looks lots better in person than it does in the pictures and I probably should have shut the garage door.
 I'm very happy with it and it is a very little maintenance yard. Also I like that it reflects the desert where I live.

The gravel in this area will be the purple, but smaller.

There will be a peach flagstone pathway with purple gravel where the plastic is. I found a bench and a piece of yard art. But those won't come in till Tuesday. The bench will go under the tree as much as possible.

The area in front of the two bedroom windows will have columbine and bleeding hearts and maybe some other plants.

This shows the ocotillo up. And the more delicate cacti and succulents that will need to be covered in the winter.

 Ooh yeah. Should really have closed the garage door!

Ocotillo area.

The succulents in the little pot are susceptible to frost as are the 4 little cacti behind them. /they will need to be protected in the winter. but they are so pretty!

Just another view.

Most of the front of the house.  After the back yard is done I will see about replacing windows.

Thursday, June 8th, 2017

We got my mom's bedding changed and I am doing laundry and other stuff while Bruce is tackling the pantry. But since I am taking a break and eating cookies I shouldn't be eating I thought I'd post some pictures of what's happening in the front yard now. I may add more pics to this post later because I see some of the rubble and gravel is here and I am anxious to see how that adds to the look. Anyway, here goes:

These little guys are by the front door now, but that will not be their final spot. A few of them are frost sensitive so Dan is going to leave them in the shallow pot and we will have to cover them in the winter. I love these little guys even though one of them 'bit" me as I restored it to vertical when it fell over.

Well, here you have a pretty good view of the fresh landscaping just completed by our across the street neighbor. But you can also see one view of the little berm and some boulders and plants.

This grouping is near the front bedrooms. The thing that looks like a desiccated Kraken in the upper left part of the picture is an ocotillo. Dan already has it planted and apparently though it looks like there are no roots it will grow. New growth is supposed to be reddish and when it blooms it sends forth rather spectacular red flowers. Can't wait to see that.

Oh, here's a better picture of it!

A couple more purple jasper boulders. I can't wait to see what they look like once they are rinsed! These are sort of in front of Bruce's studio.

Another view of the main formation.

Front view of the main formation. Itt looks quite different now that the ocotillo is up.

Yet another view of that same formation.

View from across the street. You can best see our spankin' new roof! The green stuff coming up on the wndow is trumpet vine. Dan asked me if i wanted to leave it, especially since hummingbirds love it, but in that space it is going wild and our efforts to rein it in are not at all successful so I said no.

Out of the blue I dreamed of Steve, and it was a bad dream but I can't remember anything except that it wasn't a death dream so that's good.

The front yard got scraped today and some big purple boulders got delivered. I was going to take some pictures but there is black landscaping plastic under them so I will wait till tomorrow when gravel and rubble comes. Dan and Clark could not find a pipe going under the driveway so they are going to do a long reroute all around the house. I'll be surprised if the front is done in 3 days and they can't do the side of the house until the back yard is done.

The Frame for the Arbor

In addition to ordering materials for the front yard which included going to a quarry to pick the biggest, purplest, most striated and craggy boulders they had, Dan and Clark got the framework for the arbor up. It will have trellis on the sides and slats across the top to support the roses and a curved double gate. I think it makes a lot of difference already! I've decided to paint the fence and the trellis white. There will be a lot of plants of differing heights in front of the fence so it won't be seen like this for long and I think the white will be better than woodstain. The purpose of the fence to to screen my back chicken and garden area from general (Bruce's) view and to keep the dogs out of that space. I'm so excited to see the back yard taking shape but really glad that they will start on the front yard tomorrow. Dan is estimating the whole front yard will only take about THREE DAYS! I'd be ECSTATIC if that is true! I bet the neighbors would be too!

Front Yard Starts Tomorrow!

Dan came by with the plan for the front yard this morning. It will be less elaborate than the backyard, it is a xeriascape plan meant to be very low maintenance. It's going to feature some big purple jasper boulders. I am very excited to think of it being done! Tomorrow there will be a tractor here to scrape the weeds out of the yard and prepare it for a good amount of gravel. I think the boulders may be coming Thursday. I'm trying to get columbine (my favorite flower) and bleeding heart (Bruce's favorite) put under the front bedroom windows.

Today's work will be to start the arbor and gate in the backyard.

My mom had a taste for cheese this morning, so I brought her a small slice of longhorn and a few green grapes and 2 cherries. I hope she eats some of her oatmeal.

She's Gonna Kill Me Off

Having survived the Onslaught of the Ants and feeling perky, my mom was hungry for breakfast. She wanted hotcakes so that's what I made. While I was preparing breakfast she took the opportunity to go to the bathroom. She won't use a walker or a wheelchair but she's quite fond of my old AT&T chairs (which ARE excellent chairs) Thing is, they are meant for limited distance scootching and she would use them for everything if she could I think. at a distance, they develop a Mr Toad's Wild Ride aspect. I got back in time to see there was a potential problem with her getting into the chair I had set up so she didn't eat breakfast in bed. I cleared a path that seemed logical to me, but it depended on her holding on to me and she seems to feel lessened if she has to do that. I tried to explain that I could see her wobbling (she agreed) and pointed out that I am sturdier than any of the furniture I could tell she was going to use to steady herself. She agreed. She then proceeded to do it her way which, as I feared, resulted in a fall, though better than I thought as she only went to her knees and did not bang her head too hard on the nightstand. I tried to help her up. she said she needed to sit there awhile. She wanted me to go get MY hotcakes. I told her I would only if she promised not to try to get up while I was gone. She promised and she kept it and I was able to help her into a chair. We talked yet again about the dangers of her falling, I mentioned hospitalization and pneumonia and possible death. She understood. She agreed. But she still tries to do things independently. Now. I try to put myself in her position. She has always been a very can-do person. Her mind is still there with only, as far as I can tell the irrational bits she's always had. She wants to be able to do things, but her body just can't. And she's opting for as much independence as she can squeeze out in favor of safety. It's been a good half hour since breakfast and I can still feel my blood circulating and that adrenaline feeling. I really do wonder which one of us is gonna die first. Last night she was asking if Bruce or I would take possession of her new little fridge. I mean, it's great for HER but for now we are both able and happy to be able to walk to the fridge in the kitchen. She said yesterday she wants to die in her sleep. I think she's willing herself to do it. She's grateful an mostly very cheerful and she's sweet an funny but I am worried as I can be. And I can't stop the end. I can only postpone it and try to make it be the least miserable it can be. Like....not being eaten alive by ants. She mentioned that this morning. Since she was so unresponsive I wondered if she could feel them. Oh yes, she could and she did.