Wordless Wednesday: A Backyard Afternoon

"I was this close..."

"Was it over here?"

**editor's note**
I am not implying through this post that we condone letting house cats roam around outside without a leash. The events pictured here represent a very rare, well-supervised and controlled outside experience for our cat in an enclosed backyard. In fact, I believe all domestic pets should be kept leashed or under strict voice command (that they actually respond to) at all times while outside. Remember, save the birds: keep your cat inside!

Anyway...yeah, that's all I wanted to say. Carry on.

Spring Has Sprung

As evidenced by the sunny 78 degree weather we experienced today. So, I decided it's about time I got rid of a rotting eyesore and beautified the front yard today.

The New Arrivals: (L to R) Spanish Bayonet, Autumn Sage (Salvia greggiai), Thompson Yucca, Arizona Firecracker (behind the yucca).

The Culprit: a rotting cow-tongue prickly pear that had been run over by a truck several times and been frozen quite solid from some pretty heavy frosts. It was now oozing a nasty orange liquid. It was time for it to go. So I dug it out and chucked it.

This is where that prickly pear used to live. It's right on the corner of our yard, so it's the first thing anyone who visits us sees when they arrive. It took me a couple hours of hauling rocks, moving dirt in a wheel barrow with a flat tire, removing prickly pear spines from my fingers, and digging holes...but I got it done.

Voilà! Didn't turn out too bad, if I do say so myself. I even worked up a good sweat, something that I am sorely in need of doing more often. I was able to salvage a few paddles from the rotting prickly pear. Hopefully they'll take root and we'll have a nice cactus growing there now.

Here's a more artistic view of our little cactus garden. Quite satisfactory.