It seems like all I have managed lately has been the Tuesday memory challenges. The more overwhelmed I get, the harder it is to post. I’ve never mastered the short little updates but maybe things will change come November.

The short version.

I’m working the day job. Still. 11 working days left. Which doesn’t sound like many and it isn’t but still, I have to be there and that is hard. I’m not really involved in anything and everyone who is left is working to build the “new” company. I’m very much on the outside which is tough, even though it isn’t a company I want to continue to work for anymore. Sigh.

I’m cramming in all the doctor and dentist appointments I can before my insurance changes and also because we need to use up the flex care reimbursement or else we lose it. Sigh. Which means next week I am having oral surgery. Yuck. But there will be pain pills. Yeah! But the day after the oral surgery when I will loopy on pain pills I have a meeting all about something to do with the layoff and the Trade Adjustment Assistance that I may or may not be able to get help from. I don’t know. Lots of stuff to concentrate on when I will be either in pain or on pain pills. Neither sounds good.

I’m worrying about both my kids. For different reasons. Never-ending sighs.

I’m working with our new dog. Which is wonderful. And time consuming. And exhausting. But wonderful. 🙂

But mostly I am working on the yard. This is the perfect time for planting the native plants. Here are a few pics of what we’ve been doing all day every weekend during daylight hours. When I am home and not planting and not working with the dog I’m researching plants and second and third guessing myself. But that’s okay. We’re having fun.

The backyard corner outside my office as it was when we bought the house.

The same area now. The blue stone patio with woolly thyme in-between the stones. On the left, in the front, is a hazelnut. Back in the corner is a spice bush. The pile of rocks is the base for what will be one of the bird bath boulders. Those are rocks that I have collected from the yard. One by one. It sounds like hard work but I’d rather pick up rock than battle Bermuda grass.

This is the rest of the backyard mostly as it was when we bought it. We took out all the plants at the fence.

This is the yard now, after the planting. (shot from the other end of the yard.) The fence line is planted with toyon, coffeeberry, ceanothus and mountain mahogny, 2 to 3 of each. Lots of good stuff for wildlife. There is space, I hope, against the back of the fence for Cassie to run as she chases the squirrels. Against the house are a pair of Catalina Ironwood. I’m still trying to decide what to do in the open area. For now it will likely be mini bark with some native lawn area. At the far end are a pair of coyote bushes and a pair (yes I am insane) of Blue elderberries. We have overplanted and probably make master garderners everywhere scream and thump their heads against a stump but we are planting a yard we love. We want dense privacy at that back fence, not just for critters, but for us too. My only worries is the battle we will soon start to fight with the rats that are under the gazebo in the yard next door. The people won’t do anything about them. So let the trapping begin. Rat zappers really do work.

This is Cassie’s “hill” that I hope I don’t regret. If she figures out she can jump before the fence area gets filled in, she could go over the backside. That’s a wax myrtle in the corner. I hope it lives but I won’t be surprised if it doesn’t. We tried one at the rental house just a few miles from here and it fried. Quickly. But it is great for the birds so I hope it lives. Not that you can really see it but there is black sage that will be coming down the hill.

This weekend is a bit about rock and digging a hole for the front yard water feature. The weekend after that will be bark. And planting the meadow in the front yard.

Then we hope for rain.

And maybe next year we can be certified as a Wildlife Habitat.