Backyard, Revisited

I know I mentioned recently that we like our backyard. We do. It isn't perfect, and if you catch us on an off week it's a puppy-poop land mine, but STILL - We love it. So I thought that I'd share a bit more.

I'm not entirely sure why the pool is so vivid (I didn't enhance it), but here's the view from the patio.
And then a view from inside, looking to the left of the yard. You can see the patio and palms.
We were hoping to sell the fountain (visible in the gourd/Alfred H. post, but not this one) this summer and use the money to create a really nice outdoor living space. Apparently no one wants a fountain that would look at home in front of Caesar's Palace. What's that all about? So the upgraded backyard dreams will have to wait. For now, we are content with it as is.

I think mostly that we love it because it is a tiny bit of green. We only water for about a minute three nights a week, which obviously seems to do the trick. Plus, there are trees, so we have some privacy from neighbors on the back and on one side. Ooh, there is the pool, which makes me happy. Yeah, it isn't perfect, but it makes us happy.

Anyone else have a backyard that they love?

Seriously, What is This?

If you know what this is, you win a hundred AZ points. They aren't really worth anything. It's like an AZ driver's license or the speed limit signs. Just for show.

But seriously, what the flip type of shrub is this?
It is blooming like crazy and I love it and it smells like hay (which is weird - totally sweet smell, not at all floral). You can see that it is slightly powdery greenish/blue in color.
So please, help a sister out. If you can identify it, please do. De-lurk and tell me, just this once.


p.s. This week I worked on teaching my third graders how to tie their shoes. And we are learning our phone numbers and addresses. And lastly, we learned the hokey-pokey. You know, left & right, body parts, etc. That's really all I want to say about this week at school.

Les Fleurs

I took some more pictures yesterday of my beautiful tree...Which of course, Jeremiah pointed out as soon as he got home - the flowers fall off, too. So I still don't think he digs it. Those flowers? They fall into the pool, which I thought looked all romantic, but not so much when you've been assigned yard-duty and pool-duty (he got pool duty because I didn't want to do it) permanently. As in, forever. Plus, see the pretty flower? Guess what likes to nibble on them? Slugs. Guess where the slugs fall? In the pool. Don't worry, dear friends & family, I am uber helpful in pointing out all the slugs on the pool floor as I float around on my floaty. "Ooh, there's one! There's another. Get that one!" That's what I say while I follow him around as he vacuums. That is how helpful I am.
For the above picture I used my fancy macro feature on my camera. Jeremiah told me to try it, which started a loud discussion on the finer points of shooting pictures using the macro feature. Our neighbors love us, for sure. Between my teacher voice (you go right on ahead and teach eight-year olds for even just one day and then we'll talk - loudly) and Jeremiah's drum playing (which has left him nearly deaf) any basic conversation is already loud. Outdoor voices. All the time. And then when I get all huffy (it's not just a bike, people) it is even worse. It's like we're Italian. Except we're not. We're deaf Pollacks (By the way, I know that many consider the word Pollack to be derogatory. As a smart, sometimes funny Polish girl, I can use the word. If you aren't Polish, you can't. I won't make fun of your heritage if you don't make fun of mine. Okay?) There's hand-gesturing, too. Just to get you in the moment.
So the tree is really in full bloom now.


That's all.

The Flower Says "I Wish I Was a Tree".

There's this tree at our house. Poolside. The only real tree in our backyard. Jeremiah hated it because the leaves recently started shedding and falling into our pool. Bleh. Pain in the bootay. Then, look what happened after the leaves fell:
Seriously one of the most beautiful trees I've seen. Gorgeous blossoms. All. Over. I don't know what kind of tree I have, but I'm so excited to have it! The hummingbirds are, too. Itty-bitty cuties flying all over my yard!
Close-up of my flowers...
...which brings me back to Kimya Dawson's song, "Tree Hugger":

And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert.
And the desert,
So dry and lonely,
That the creatures all
Appreciate the effort.

Rather fitting lyrics, no? 'Cause I live in the desert and it's all dry and ugly. And I truly appreciate the offering. Of love. From my tree.

Side dish:
I also have this shrub thing, which flowers in the fall - purple - and I need some advice on pruning. Or whatever. Boyfriend will be doing it, since I've been banned from gardening.
There's also this:
Is it dead? Is it living? I think that's part of the fun. The brown makes it look like it is dying, yet it continues to flourish. I appreciate its effort.

You don't know (cont.)

Here I am taking care of business. I really did cut two chunks off. This is not just for show, people. The picture above shows Jeremiah taking the grande cactus chunks into the back yard. Dollie (sp?) compliments of Mary-Next-Door. Frank-Next-Door-on-the-Other-Side also offered to help. Aren't they nice.

You don't know what you got till it's gone...

So we bought a saw from Lowe's. I now recognize several employees at the store. That's completely off-topic, but it tells you how often we end up there. Jeremiah did most of the sawing, I tried it out, too. When cut into the cactus released what can only be described as ectoplasmic goo - like in Ghostbusters. It was otherworldly. And it didn't taste great. I know. I tried it.



Here are some of the cactus rods. We're going to try and save some. My cactus, my cactus guts.




























Next we have the close - up shot of Jer cutting into the cactus. I just really like this picture. I think my camera and I did a nice job. Pat on the back for my camera and me.






Manly.

Death of a Cactus

Sadly, our cactus met his fate. During the storm of '10. It was about two weeks ago-ish. It was a Thursday. Night. Stormy. Rainy. Windy. I thought of me mum telling me that I should park my car in the garage in case the cactus fell. I sort of thought, "yeah, right". After all, how many tipped over saguaros do you see on the side of the road? Well, in Michigan, none. But none here, either. And we do have saguaros. Anywho, we were watching a movie. Charlie Wilson's War. When the movie ended, we did our nightly ritual of checking to make sure that everything was all locked up tight. It's my OCD ritual, but Jeremiah willingly takes part. He checks the front door. As he is checking the screen I ask him jokingly if the cactus is still up (we had heard a low BOOM during the movie). He turns to me with huge bug eyes and says, "NO!". Holy Moly. He wasn't kidding, people. The cactus had, in death as he did in life, treated us kindly. He fell in the only clearing possible. Didn't hit our cars. Or the garage. Or the house. Or the neighbors cars. Or the street sign. Or the pole. Just went down. I believe there was some Subaru intervention, too. Cacti do not fall on Subarus.

Outside pictures

So pretty!

On the outside looking in and vice versa

One of my favorite things about the house is the low-maintenance front yard with beautiful cacti. After I snapped the picture of the saguaro, a flicker flew out of one of the holes! The backyard is also looking lush and green! I can't wait to add more plants.