The Big Catch-UP

I've had a friend visiting, and haven't taken time to post.  Time for an update.  While we were prepping for Father's Day dinner, Ivan got to work!  I had arranged for big 4 trees (diseased) to be cut down on the Monday following the Dad's weekend.  Ivan made quick work of removing several LARGE Queen palms. You can see him removing the orange safety strap from one of the palms.  This was to further open the area between the properties, and make room for some stairs leading up the slope.  

No way I could've removed those, I would've caused damage to surrounding plants and most likely myself! This looks misleading, they are incredibly heavy.  The tree guys said they would grind up a few no charge,  if I had them removed and ready to go. Well 6 was more than we had talked about.  An extra $20 took care of that. 

Sophia, Ivan and I made a quick trek out to Harbor Freight in Tracy.  They had a farmer's jack in stock.  Ivan used that to start removing fence posts with cement footings.  Again, I can't imagine how long each one of these would have taken me, digging an hour around one post most likely. 

Dr. Feelgood pretending he took the palm down himself. 

Monday, tree removal day.  You can see how the palms being gone opened up the space.  I'm adjusting to the house up there looming over us. 

The tree guys were fearless. The 4 trees took about 6 hours.  The pepper tree is humongous, yellow shirt guy climbed up taking small chunks off-working his way down.  The pieces were directed away from my plants in the slope, I was relieved they didn't damage anything.  

Topped. A thick layer of sawdust fell everywhere.

All 4 trees gone!  Now it's so open, our back garden feels exposed. 

Up there, looking down.  

My friend arrived, so I switched to vacation mode.  We spent a huge amount of time in the pool, enjoying some beers and the sun.  One cooler day, we were off to the Alameda County Fair.  It's usually 100° during fair days, it was so nice to be there when it was 75°.  Sophia, Tina, me, Olivia. 

A friendly cow.

Pig races, Sloppy Joe for the win!

We had a wonderful 5 days of relaxing.  My stomach hurt from laughing so much. Back to real life, stump grinders were here yesterday (Tuesday).  He controlled the large grinder with a remote. I wonder if Zamboni's have remotes now?

All clear, except a few more posts.  

The current view from our side.  This would be way too close for comfort if someone lived there, but I'm glad for the clean slate. 

This is a long post, but I can't resist a few other updates.  The chunky Aloe 'Yemeni Orange ' I purchased from Dy Oasis earlier this year (from San Marcos Growers close out)... I noticed a bloom shooting out the other day, how exciting!   

 It doesn't look very orange yet, but I'm seeing a tinge of orange on the edges.  These blooms are reportedly quite large when they open.   

Dyckia hebdingii has sent out a bloom.  

Such a cool plant. 

And this Sinningia tubiflora sent out it's cheerful tubes. 

The short back retaining wall is covered with "ladies in waiting" plants, and I'm dying to put them in the ground in the newly cleared space.  Although I should wait until Fall, I doubt I will.  I'm too anxious to get things started and will happily put up shade cloth.  Plus, they dry out so darn quickly in the pots, they may do better in ground.  That's what I'm telling myself anyway 😉.