Feather Art

A few months ago I found a red tailed hawk feather in my backyard.  It took me a while to decide how to display this gift from above, but I finally got around to mounting and framing it.  I already had the Ikea box frame so I just had to buy some pretty teal scrapbook paper for the background. Voila!

Landscaping: The Corner Garden, Part 1

The back corner of my yard sits under 3 giant oak trees where grass doesn't really grow and it's difficult to plant anything because of all the tree roots.   I attempted to make it cute by making a bird bath out of a stump, planting two azalea shrubs and ground covering vines, and laying down mulch.  However, my dog uses this corner to visit with the neighbors and she also decided it was her favorite spot to bury her bones. I figured it was time for a new game plan after she killed one of my azaleas and dug up all the mulch.

This is a work in progress since it's September right now and it'll be frosting and snowing before we know it, but I wanted to get a few things started before next spring.

The retainer wall stones I got at Home Depot for $1.88 each, the small pavers in the center were $1.84 each. Not cheap if I was doing a huge wall, but for this I only spent $35 - totally worth it and plus I had a gift card.

I I moved around the ground cover vines, and moved my German iris and hostas from another area in my yard. Lily had destroyed one of my rhododendrons to practically a nub, but it's still alive and growing so I planted it behind the hostas.  Hopefully it'll have a growth spurt in the spring.

Plans for the spring:

• complete a small path through the center of the garden so Lily can go visit the neighbor
• lay down cedar mulch
• encourage vines to creep up the bird bath stump OR make a modern bird bath like this
• move small fence and create another level of garden area

Container Gardening

I'm still working on the new raised garden beds, but got a good start on the container herb gardens for the deck. 

French tarragon, rosemary and dill

I also started my seeds for the vegetable garden and realized that plastic disposable forks and knives are perfect for garden labels.  They might not be super cute, but they're waterproof and stay in the dirt easily.

Da Birdz Wuz Here

We have this little breezeway between my kitchen door and the door that leads to the deck. We kept the storm door open all winter because our dog, Lily, is afraid to use the doggy door.  The breezeway is tiny, but big enough to fit our recycling bins and our mops and brooms.  It's also a total dumping ground for all things that don't belong in the house, but also don't belong in the yard.  However, it seems like a little family of birds didn't mind the clutter.

Not sure what the protocol is with bird nests.  How do I determine that it's abandoned?  We have a family of birds in the gutter and another one in the bird house.  I think I need to have a talk with the yard creatures and see if we can rearrange some of the housing options.

Labor Day Weekend 2010

My sister, Ezra and Wesley came for a quick visit and we had a campfire in the backyard and hiked up Mt. Beacon. We had other visitors on Sunday night, but the camera didn't make it out - sorry Tim and Sabrina! We had another campfire and went on more walks.