Getting Dirty

So, there's more than just dirt--there's soot a-plenty.

Saturday was a fabulously beautiful day. While I really can't justify just lounging around in the sun, there are plenty of excuses to get away from working on the house...like working in the yard! Pretty much all of it burned except for the part right in front. Amazingly, though, native plants around here deal really well with fire. Ceanothus, for example, apparently explodes seeds everywhere. We had about a dozen of those plants, and now there are several hundred tiny baby ones sprouting in the same area.

Also, baby Coyote Bush was sprouting up around the charred remains of its forebears. It was determined that the old skeletons had to go, preferably before the fresh green plants were completely entangled. So I attacked them with clippers. And a handsaw. Our neighbor to the North came and offered me a limb saw. I already had a saw. ("You can keep using what you've got if you want, but what I have is maybe 100 times easier"). He was right. Ah, the satisfaction of physical labor on a beautiful, warm sunny day! Poor J. was inside working and wishing he could be out, too. BUT...

That morning, he went to the hardware store with Bud and Wombles, and came home NOT ONLY with tomato plants and various seeds but SIX ARTICHOKE PLANTS! I did a happy shrieking dance in the driveway (not unlike when we had our electricity turned on) and then had to explain to the bemused neighbor.

We figure that artichokes are basically thistles, and what better to grow on the hill out back? The native weeds and thistles are certainly having a field day. Beating back the tohu has become a daily hobby. I weed while the munchkins play in the yard. Speaking of which--

Here are the first shots of my attempt to get a photo of Wombles this morning. When I called him, he shrieked with glee and ran, thinking we were playing chase:



He rounded the corner toward the back, passing the overstuffed green waste bin and pile of weeds that won't even fit:


While chasing, I finally held the camera out in front of him, although I was still behind:


And I caught him as soon as there was loose dirt to distract him (Ah, the better to play with!):

Somehow, the combo of his T-shirt with the mud-streaked face tickled me.

As far as life details, we are officially wrapped up with our cleaning & restoration company. Whether we hire another one to finish what remains to be done, or do it ourselves, is still an open question. It will probably be a little of both. We are so relieved, though, that it is done and amicably.

OK, I am off to fold laundry...and finish the amazingly auténtico glass of sangria that Jesse made for me! Hooray!

Oh, I forgot...my bridesmaid dress came and I LOVE it!!