Life as we now know it

For the past three months, I've been concentrating mainly on the other blog I write, that being a public rather than a private effort.  I won't link to it but you can see it in the blog list to the right.  As of today, I've written 27 posts for that.  It's fascinating to watch it grow, and to wonder if it will hit a mini-tipping point, and if so, when and for what reason.  But of course all that blogging gets both tiring and time-consuming!

BUT back to my original effort here, I thought I'd do an update as to what's going on in our little pee-pot corner of the world, especially with respect to the continued evolution of our home.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and we're now at 13 months and counting on the dream home project, and we ain't fully built yet, either, but it continues to progress well. 

Spring has sprung, and the back yard landscaping is being nurtured along.  Remember, we wanted the instant gratification of mature landscaping so this is what we have now, after only five months in the ground. 

Aaaand of course, this is why the instant gratification was required.  We are rapidly advancing toward a condition in which the rear houses are screened out by the myrtles - a few months from now, they should be tall enough to do the trick.  That dark-brick house in particular has always given me the creeps, and guess what??  The cops were called to that house this past January because the guy who lives there allegedly beat the crap out of his wife. I have ALWAYS gotten a bad vibe off that house, so this did not surprise me.  I told Lawrence as soon as we moved in here that that house needed to BE GONE, and so it will be (at least visually).

And here's the best news: 
My wine-sipping view persists intact,
and in fact no buildings or houses can be built in the future to impinge upon this view.

But here's the not-so-good news:
The lot adjacent east of us has sold,
and the house that's going up there is MONSTROUS in terms of size! 
We lose our view to the east, and now we have obvious privacy issues on THIS side.

Fortunately the privacy impact from that house's window distribution is minimal (notice that our patio cannot be seen from this, its closest window).  I will be adding some punting pole bamboo between the houses as a screen (in fact, I've waited all this time to see what would be built on this lot, so that I could plant the screen in the proper place). 

The GOOD news is that I've met the family who is building the house, and they seem like very nice folks. I'm betting that we can collaborate on landscaping to maximize our respective privacy.  Where there's a will, there's a way.

Nyx did not appreciate me being on the second floor of that build-house without her.  This is her focused intently on me from our work patio by the garage. 

Those are buckets of lettuce beside which Nyx is standing.  I over-planted lettuce, and now it's growing everywhere.  I can't eat it fast enough.  Who knew that lettuce would survive just about any growing conditions??  It looks so dainty.

Cherry tomatoes are doing well.  The profile of the new build house will not block the best spring and summer sunlight, I'm finding.  This is a relief because I'd hate to have to move this planter!!

First cherry tomatoes are on the vine.

Onions are also plumping up.  They tend to want to sit on top of the soil, which is curious.  But I've never grown onions before - perhaps they are SUPPOSED to do this (??) 

I've got various generations and races of basil growing out of everywhere but my ears.  We could never have too much basil - we gobble it like pigs.

Oregano is proving to be another of those plants that just grows of its own accord, I find.  Here one of the species is threatening to spill over the side of the stock tank, which would be very pretty.

Jalapenos are another mysterious thing that just seems to grow of its own accord with very little care.  They've obviously bred this cultivar to produce mostly jalapeno and very little plant.  I guess the fruit itself photosynthesizes, which is why this plant can afford to devote so many resources to it, instead of to leaves and stem.

Even a tiny yard can be developed into a private and productive sanctuary, and the pooch agrees.
:-)