tz_garden

I was on pins & needles Friday morning, wondering if I had cleared enough space for the forklift to drop the rock. Or if it would be left on the driveway.  Just before 1pm, I could hear a big truck arriving! I ran outside to meet the driver.  Could he fit the forklift through the pathway?  He responded "well, the forklift is 9.5' wide".  Oh no!  I let out "I don't mind if you run a few things over".  That's all he needed to hear, he actually grabbed a shovel and popped a salvia out of the ground he thought might be in the way.  I liked his attitude immediately.   It really was a wide machine.  Although moving the rock ourselves via the winch anchored by the tree stump would've been effective.  I was happy to have some of the work done for us.  Heres a video of the actual drop, if you are interested. I worked on putting a few things back, then had to get myself cleaned up. James' office Holiday party in San Francisco. The ve...

 I'm awaiting a delivery from Cochran Landscape here in Livermore, a BIG rockin' BOULDER.  Ivan and I have discussed at length how to maneuver a large boulder over to where he took out the tulip tree. This pathway is 3' wide, not wide enough to accommodate Cochran's forklift.  I drove over to Cochran yesterday, to choose a rock-not too wide. While looking I was laughing hysterically, worried and also thinking what in the world are we doing - we CANNOT POSSIBLY MOVE THIS.  I believe in Ivan, he's had several grand and clever schemes for my garden.  And if ancient Egyptians can build pyramids, uhhh - well they did have a greater workforce.   I think these particular boulders have been at Cochran for YEARS.  So I did get a little bit of a discount 4 cents off per pound.  The total weight is 3,740 lbs.  *More hysterical laughing. Also, I wanted the delivery Saturday morning (Ivan and Sophia are coming over tonight, Friday).  They could ...

This morning, while reading the news/blogs & enjoying my coffee, I felt an earthquake.  Small, but still enough to make my stomach do a flip flop.  It seems like we've had quite a few lately, so I looked it up.  24 in the past 24 hours, although it's California and quakes are common - that doesn't feel very reassuring!   Livermore has had:  (M1.5 or greater) 24 earthquakes in the past 24 hours 27 earthquakes in the past 7 days 131 earthquakes in the past 30 days 580 earthquakes in the past 365 days *Livermore would be just inside the second outer ring, pretty much to the right of epicenter (San Ramon) We do have earthquake insurance, does that cover large tree aloes?  My first instinct was to go outside and take a few videos.  Well, really I've been meaning to document the garden - not my normal too "focused in on one plant" style. This diary blog of sorts, I'm still very much learning how to do it.  So for a change of pace, it's video da...

On our return home, we had 2 days of dense FOG blocking out the sun.  Very rare for around here, we're inland from the Bay. It was chilly, so I kept myself busy by spiffing up the house for Christmas.  Banksia, acacia & eucalyptus branches made a nice holiday-ish messy display.     When the skies cleared Tuesday, and the sun was shining LET ME OUT -ahhhh, pure joy!   I untangled a couple of strings of Christmas lights for the outside, covered the walls of the shade house- and snapped a few shots to share.  Golden barrel. Yucca linearfolia.   And another light catching grassy thing, xanthorrhoea preisii.  Slow growing Western Australian grass tree.  Banksia integrifolia, these are so hard to photograph.  The underside of the leaves are very silvery.  Nope, doesn't show in photos. Well, I keep trying - lol. Nothing better than backlit Cleistocactus strausii, I'm a fool for fuzzy plants. a beacon for slugs & snai...

 I'm back home in Livermore, and it is cold enough to flip on that furnace! During our short trip to Portland, we stayed at "The Asylum" apartment building in the Hawthorne District.  In 1861, James & Loryea Hawthorne opened the Hawthorne Asylum. None of us had heard of the asylum before, and were slightly confused why the building we were staying in was called that.    Oregon encyclopedia  for James Hawthorne history. Back in May of '96, we bought a house in the not as sought after Creston neighborhood.  When we stay in Portland, I take a nice leisurely run outside to visit what we refer to as the "little house".  This may or may not be interesting to you, but I took some fun house photos during my run- houses I used to dream of owning. Ladd's Addition area Loved this peek-a-boo gate. I like modern architecture, but a new build stuck in this neighborhood felt real stupid  out of place.  There were a couple gardens loaded with everything....