The cobras are hissing at lesmel in 2018

A friend always likes to joke that the cobras are hissing at the windows whenever her grass gets too long. Thus, my topic subject.

Last year, for my bday, my dad bought me a Toro leaf blower/vacuum. Well, I used it today. I blew out all the crap in my garage (after an unfortunate incident with a dirty cat litter box) that keeps accumulating in the corners and under the shelves. Then I decided since I was blowing out the garage, I should make an effort with the leaves in my flower beds. Which also lead to some weeding because two seasons of leaves caught up in a full season of weeds does not blow well. I also had to rake some of the leaves loose because I seem to have more than two seasons of leaves in my main flower bed where the azaleas are in full, glorious bloom. I collected two huges bags of leaves...and filled my garbage can in the process. I still have a little more than 1/2 my lawn to clear of leaves. If I hadn't had other things to be doing, I would have probably spent the entire day weeding the front lawn and raking leaves out of the flower beds. I probably would have tackled the spindly Bougainvillea dead wood and the monster rose bush in the backyard.

I'll leave that for next weekend. Maybe I'll also tackle the Sago palms that look sad; but continue to thrive (damn it). And then there's the ever growing viburnum and Chinese privet that need some taming. Ahhhh, Spring!

Good times!

Lawn guys are coming today. I'm pretty sure all the work I did to clear leaves out of the front beds will be undone. However, I was too focused on running some errands after work to worry about trying to suck up two more bags of leaves.

The yard guys did not ruin all of my progress. However, I did discover that my fence (where my one working gate is) is falling down. As in, DO NOT OPEN THE GATE OR ELSE. Have a guy coming in the morning. Not sure when, though. Which means no work tomorrow. Only upside to that is getting to work on my wall hanging and maybe an afternoon nap.

Found your thread!!

>1 lesmel: I loved your description of blowing stuff and pictured a litter box incident, ha!

My chores seem to avalanche as well...one chore leads to another..."uh no, now I've done it: I made a clean spot!" :grin:

Do you compost the leaves?

>5 fuzzi: I did not. I had so many I just said a small "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!!" and stuck them in the trash. Normally, I dump all my leaves behind my maple tree and let them decay naturally.

>6 lesmel: I would have taken them...::sniff::

My neighbors rake their leaves and place the bags by the road, for me. However, they include a lot of pine straw and sweetgum seeds (caltrop-like, ouch!) so I stopped bringing the bags home.

I wonder how much it would cost to ship a big box of leaves??? :D

>7 fuzzi: Caltrops. Great imagery! I had never considered it that way but I like it.

I would stick the caltrops under our hedge where the neighborhood cats sit and watch the bird feeders.

>8 bernsad: thanks!

>9 MarthaJeanne: you should see what those seed pods do when you run over them with the lawn mower...projectile weaponry! Sometimes the drive belt will come off the mower due to those nasty things.

>10 fuzzi: (and others) I loathe those evil trees that you are calling Sweet Gum, and that have other, unprintable nicknames as well. Their more official name is Liquidambar, and they were planted along the strip next to the street in my old home in the San Fernando valley (in California). They look very maple-like, until the fall, when those seeds start hitting the ground.

I had a mulching mower, which could handle the seeds, but I always wore a long sleeved shirt, and safety goggles, when I was using the mower to clean them up. My front yard would disappear from the carpet of leaves, and I would curse the city fathers for ever planting such an item in such a small space. The root system is incredible, as well. It's not as bad as a Sycamore, but it's up there. It invaded the main pipe from the house to the street for sewage, and I had to replace it just before I sold the house, and escaped to where I am now.

The view from the camera that the guy used to find the problem was incredible. There really wasn't a pipe left; it was just all tree. He was a miracle worker, by the way. He made a sort of "U" with the pipe, and then connected it back up to the sewer system. He's still my hero, and that was in 2005.

Beautiful trees; just not meant for landscaping along city streets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidambar_styraciflua

>11 Lyndatrue: I didn't know that about Liquidambar roots. Daughter's new neighbor has one growing near the property line. Good info to index.

>12 2wonderY: me neither, good to know. Our sweet gums are in the backyard, out by the septic fields...and we've a sycamore by the road in front.

Nothing happening in the yard this year. Unless you count the ant bites I got while trying to save my fig. I think it's doomed.

>14 lesmel: our fig is probably doomed. We had some really cold weather this past winter, and our fig only has a few leaves on it. The kumquat usually doesn't lose it's leaves, but it did this year. It finally put out a few leaves near the top, but they're shriveling and dropping off now. I think both trees are going to die.

I did manage to save my gardenias, but that was probably due more to the heavy straw mulch I'd applied last fall, and to my watering them almost daily with buckets of water siphoned from my aquarium. They're finally putting out some new leaves, no blossoms though.

My fig is dead. No leaves, no sign of budding.

Two of the three citrus lost their leaves just before we brought them out of the tent greenhouse, but they are recovering. Towards the end night temps in there were single digits (Celcius) but daytimes up over 30. They both have blossoms and are getting new leaves. Soon I'll cut the two suckers off the seville orange that are coming up from below the graft. Not yet though. Not while they are the majority of leaf area.

I gardened! No one faint!

I went out (just before a half-day of rain) to "pull a few weeds" and ended up clearing the entire northern flower bed. The weeds were five feet tall. The rogue crepe myrtle whipped me in the face about eight times. The dead wood from the Bougainvillea stabbed me or scratched me about one million times. And then I fell while trying to dig out the crepe myrtle roots (I know this will be a thankless, endless process) after two previous near wipeouts. I declared the war a draw and went inside to boil off the sweat and dirt in my shower.

Yesterday my bum ached from where I fell -- since losing as much weight as I have, my bum is kinda boney in unexpected places. Today, not much bum ache. Though, I am sore in my hamstrings from bending and pulling and squatting.

This is the bed I keep thinking I'll expand and maybe add a raised level. Right now it looks a little sad and I don't have the time to run to Lowe's or Home Depot for some cheapie pots of pretty color. I guess it will just have to stay sad for another couple weeks.

In other news, my lawn (front and back) is outgrown. We have had a LOT of rain. The lawn crew wasn't able to mow last week. I doubt they will be able to mow THIS week.

In more other news, my fig lives. I'm shocked. It really needs to be repotted or put in the ground. Maybe if I can get the crepe myrtle out, I can plant the fig on the northern side of the house.

>17 lesmel: Congratulations on getting out, and getting things done. Fortunately, I don't faint easily.

The past couple of years have been a wash as far as progress for me, so you have my sympathy.

I'm happy to hear about the fig; it's always good to have things survive, even if it seems to be in spite of us.

>17 lesmel: Of course you gardened. You will drag yourself out there on sticks or wheels as long as you live. Eh? Soil is life!

>17 lesmel: I decided to pull "just a couple" weeds in my pond area...and wound up clearing a good section of unwanted growth in about 30 minutes.

So glad I just edited my condolences for the loss of your fig tree! About half the branches on our tree need to be removed, and we have some tiny fruits on the top limbs!

Two weekends ago (barely), I took the pruning shears to my monster rose. I know. I know. Wrong time of the year, etc etc. You do not understand. This rose is on steroids. It will not die. It will not submit. It THRIVES in the face of my disappointment. It also has thorns that will kill. Or at least maim.

I dread having to clean up the dead wood in another weekend or so. In fact, I've considered calling the tree service and seeing if they would do some clean up on my trees and a few of the bushes (and the dread Monster Rose of Death). Alas, my A/C bit the dust yesterday and now every penny I have will be going to replacing the entire system. Yay.

my A/C bit the dust yesterday and now every penny I have will be going to replacing the entire system

sounds like the Monster Rose wins again... Suspicious timing.

>22 Darth-Heather: OH GOD. Now I'm going to have to stop plotting it's demise!! IT'S DEVELOPED PSYCHIC POWERS! Duuude. That is just a terrible thought b/c I have terrible terrible thoughts about this rose.

>23 lesmel: shhhhh.... it's on to you... Who knows what lurks in the mind of Lesmel? The Monster Rose knows...

Make sure you don't let it watch Little Shop of Horrors, you don't need it getting any more ideas.

>24 Darth-Heather: Well, the Monster Rose should have known I meant business when I came out with the hacksaw. lol

My A/C is out (as I mentioned in >21 lesmel:). Right now (since about 8, actually), I'm waiting for the HVAC people to bring portable units to cool the house until Saturday when they are installing a new system.

Since I was going to sweat anyway, I figured I should earn it. So, I took the clippers, shears, and hacksaw to the viburnum, privet, and Monster Rose. I stopped about 11. I kinda ran out of gas. It's 88* with 68% humidity. I think I'll call the lawn people and ask if they will clear the brush for $100 on Friday when they should be here to mow.

>25 lesmel: Well, there it is. I confess that I use a hedge trimmer on my largest roses. I also wear a long sleeved sweatshirt (no matter how hot it is), and gloves. I clean up the debris with a small pitchfork. I always win. My only error is that I also fertilize the roses. I guess I like the battle...

What kind of rose is the monster rose? It sounds like a shrub rose of some kind.

>26 Lyndatrue: I've no idea. It's your standard "grafted to make it less thorny buy it at the garden center" rose. It makes beautiful white roses.

This is it after the other rose in the bed finally died. I blame the Monster Rose for it. And the heavy shade...but mostly the Monster Rose:


This is it in the night a few years ago:


As you can tell, I'm not a fan of roses. I think they are pretty; but I've never been fond of them. I like daisies and sunflowers. Roses are...picky and take effort and apparently defy the laws of nature when you resent them taking up space in your yard.

27> Definitely not a shrub rose; most likely a very aggressive tea rose, of one kind or another. Does it have a scent (not all roses do, surprisingly)? I need to think about it for a bit. I do have to admit that if I don't like a plant (or I'm tired of it), I will dig it up, and put something else there. There are only a few plants in my yard that have been safe, over the years. A rose like that might have a serious root system, though. It would be easiest to dig it up in the early spring, when it's busy thinking about growing.

Roses do send out chemicals that prevent other roses from growing in their space. When we moved in here I took out a bunch of roses that were sick and had no scent. I figured that that way if our landlord wanted roses there he could replant healthy ones when we move out, because by then the soil would be clean. I left two that were fairly healthy and sort of smell like roses, but they are too close and the lovely pink one does less well every season. I need to cut the big red one back again as it is taking over path area again. These are both bush roses of some sort that bloom most of the summer. We also planted climbing roses next to the shed supports. Those only blossom once, but fill the garden with their scent when they do.

The results of yesterday's carnage:


You can just see on the faaaaar left, the giant pile that is the Monster Rose.

>28 Lyndatrue: I can't smell roses. I think we have talked about this. I was born with nearly total anosmia. Yes, it affects my sense of taste -- but ask a blind man to describe the color yellow. My mother is still learning this 26ish years after our discovery of my anosmia. Just recently, she discovered that I have a hard limit on distinguishing sweet tastes.

More than likely, I will be figuring out the best way to get rid of the rose sometime in the next year or so. My plan for now is to keep it as trimmed down as possible. Same with the crepe myrtle from >17 lesmel:. My biggest issue is I have a sprinkler system, so I can't just wholesale dig giant holes wherever. I need to know where the pipes are so I don't break one. Especially now when I will be A/C rich and cash poor.

>28 Lyndatrue: Huh. I was right! It is the Monster Rose's fault! I always assumed it had to do with nutrient theft via the root system.

>30 lesmel: It looks a thousand times nicer. I'll have to file the anosmia away in my brain, in some corner or other, and remember to recommend plants for their physical beauty. That's a pretty severe cutting on the rose. It might not come back (which would make it an interesting piece of wood that you could hang things on).

>30 lesmel: enjoy your new AC, and make sure you get one that's big enough. When our unit died, we found out that it was a 1.5 ton, way inadequate for our house. Plus, it was always running and the electric bills were high. Once we invested in a new unit, 2.5 ton, our house became cool during the summer and my electric bills plummeted!

>32 fuzzi: I am getting a 4 ton unit. That is the current size & seems to work very well with my 1981 square foot temporary Hellgate. It was 88* in the house at 8pm tonight.

Good news, though, I may have misheard the tech when we talked financing. I have to call tomorrow to confirm. I am REALLY hoping I misheard the length of the financing b/c the research I've done says I won't need a part time job to maintain my sanity & my savings while I pay off the a/c.

>33 lesmel: that sounds about right. Our house is 1087 sq ft.

Hope that financing works to your advantage.

Turns out, I _did_ mishear the financing...in my favor. It is a huge relief.

I've taken to weeding late in the afternoon and well after dark. Yesterday, I pulled a bunch of weeds from the
pots along my north fence. I discovered one of the pots is a giant fire ant mound. Almost realized it too late. Luckily, I didn't get any on me and beat a hasty retreat (after throwing a bunch of Amdro in the pot). I don't mess with the fire ants in Texas. I'm pretty sure they are awful anywhere, but they are known to kill livestock in South Texas.

After dark, I pulled weeds in the south bed along my patio. That was actually really soothing.

More later...a/c people just showed up! Yay!

>35 lesmel: fire ants are pretty bad here, not sure if they've killed livestock, though. So glad you weren't hurt!

The house has been cooling since about 4pm. It's glorious. There's even been some rain in the area to help drop the outside temp. Even better, it is 10pm and the house is quiet. The roar of the window unit is gone. The central a/c is making a comforting shhhhhurring every once in a while. And now I have a cat that is determined that every second of my attention is on her until...well, now. When she ran off. HA!

While I was outside last night, I had a visitor!



Anyone recognize what it is? I got two other shots (click the pic to go to Flickr). I was going to move this guy into the yard so Crickett wouldn't try to eat him. However, when I slowly eased my hand down to him, all it did was taste me with his tongue and give me the stink eye. So, I let him be and when I turned around again, he was gone.

Today, while the techs were installing the HVAC, I was working on more trimming. I trimmed back all the crepe myrtle suckers. In the process, I dislodged the ring of brick around one of the crepe myrtles and discovered two snakes...maybe Rough Earthsnakes or Flat-headed Snakes. They bolted off into the grass before I could try to find them some cover or get a pic.

https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/494762 -- Rough Earthsnake
https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/494851 -- Flat-headed Snake

Pretty sure they weren't Texas Browns. They were solid brown and had this odd "glowing" look -- like they were lit from the inside. I'm leaning toward Rough Earthsnake (Virginia striatula)

I'm absurdly delighted that I have snakes in the yard. Non-venomous ones, that is. I see it as a good sign that my little backyard ecosystem is healthy.

That looks like a skink, we have lots of them around the house. They eat insects, so are welcome.

I have been told that having snakes in your yard is a very good sign of a healthy ecosystem. I just hate to lose my frogs to the Black racer that frequents my pond area.

>38 fuzzi: I was pretty sure it was a skink. After some moderately intense Goolging, I'm thinking either Scincella lateralis or Eumeces septentrionalis obtusirostris

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/194068-Plestiodon-septentrionalis-obtusirostris
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/60349-Scincella-lateralis

We have both Broad-headed and Five-lined skinks, the young which have BLUE tails!

http://herpsofnc.org/lizards/

To add to the snakes in the yard, now I have a confirmed Tlacuache sighting!



Since I have all the brush along the fence, my crazy dog can't get to him. Not to mention, she never even saw him. She just smelled him. Although, the day before this photo, I nudged him away from the fence where she was digging madly. He wasn't thrilled about that at all.

And I am using the appropriate pronoun. I got a clear view when he finally got up enough courage to amble along the fence for the rest of his evening. Up until then, he seemed pretty terrified; but I just talked to him softly and stayed still and kept the light out of his eyes.

>41 lesmel: You confused me with the pronouns, and while I was being confused, I looked up the (new to me) word you'd called the little fellow. I just found a wealth of information, and feel obligated to share. It's early for me, I'm still on my first cup of coffee, and I love your picture.

https://mcallenlibraryblog.com/2015/05/14/el-tlacuache/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum

I had never encountered the word "Tlacuache" before today, and have been (it turns out) wrongly naming "opossum" as a possum. I'd always just thought that the "o" in front was just an affectation. The only useful fact I know is that the opossum is extremely nearsighted, and has no depth perception. I'm a pretty much live-and-let-live person with the wildlife, which is mostly vanishing as the city moves out to surround me, but some things manage to fit themselves in. Little tlacuache folks are one of those that do. I much prefer them to squirrels (which are not natural to this area).

Okay, I've now made a pest of myself, but it's just the best thing I've seen in days. Thank you.

We have 'possums here in the Carolinas. Some fellas go a huntin' them critters, but I just leave 'em be... ;)

>42 Lyndatrue: Tlacuache = he / my crazy dog = she

I've seen tlacuache in Australia. In fact, we scared the crap out of each other on a hotel balcony.

My yard is a swamp. I have a work project that is eating my lunch. By the time things dry out AND I have any energy to "garden" -- it will be Christmas. The year is pretty much done for me.

>45 lesmel: *Hugs*

>46 Lyndatrue: Thanks

In less morose news, yesterday was GORGEOUS and I did some unplanned weeding and may have unintentionally killed a huge begonia by dividing it up and replanting everything. I can hear some of you gasping; but this area of Texas has a REALLLLLLLY long period of cold fronts/warm ups that others might know as "Fall," but Texans call "Not Summer."

>47 lesmel: begonias root easily in water, though you probably are already aware of that. I've a huge Angelwing that was given to me about five years ago that is close to five feet tall! I need to do something...