Landscaping the Hardscape - Outside the Fence

Landscaping in progress at The Gallery at 1318...check it out....

Hardscaping the Landscape

Check out the progress - The Gallery at 1318!

Oh, Cedar!

Buying on the greenbelt was one of the best decisions we made when we bought this house about 10 years ago. The trees, fully clothed in summer, screen the neighbors and provide refuge for animals. We hear owls and coyotes, we see evidence of armadillo, and we are frequently visited by rabbits, various birds (hummingbirds, cardinals, flocks of doves, blue jays, mockingbirds, and others I can't name), butterflies, wild turkey,squirrels,lizards, and the inevitably hungry deer. Less often, we find snakes, scorpions, opossums, raccoons, and once we found a ring-tailed cat. 
The grandchildren love the greenbelt. Although it is within calling distance, they view it as a vast wilderness and have creatively tailored it to their own imaginative views.

 Here is picture of the "fort" which they built with the help of some adult muscle.

 

There is a path nearby, worn by children's feet,  which wanders into the "woods" and diverts down the way. One direction leads to the "Indian Village" and the other to "the pioneer settlement." Dewberries, mustang grapes, and wild plums are available seasonally. Other, nonedible, nuts and berries provide "food" and a sometime creek (runs when it rains) adds to the elements of adventure.

 On the edge of the greenbelt is a large cedar tree. It was a lovely, well-shaped tree when we moved here. It reminded me of Christmas every time I looked at it and I have even seen snow on it a couple of times. It became such a part of our lives that I never even took a good photo of it, although it is often viewed in the background since it made a nice backdrop.

Visiting deer often hovered near the tree, and it grew and grew. The poor tree did not age well. It provided many walking sticks, hard as stone, when branches broke off and lay aging on the ground. These were rescued by the children and used in a myriad of ways. Branches grew too heavy to be supported and limbs began to droop. During the season, we were inundated with yellow pollen. The tree strived to produce and spread.

I peered inside the spreading, drooping branches, and saw the heart of the tree.  A strong straight center which would likely reach skyward when relieved of its burdening offshoots. With some trepidation, I made the first cuts.

It is not easy to cut a cedar limb with a bow saw. I spent a couple of days and manged to clear some limbs, but the challenge was increasing. My neighbor's friend took pity on me and cut a few more limbs, but we mad little headway. Not only was the wood hard to cut (they make fence posts out of limbs like these), but we were faced with the dilemma of disposing of an ever increasing mound of cedar cuttings. I snipped and snipped at the geen needles and smaller pieces so they would fit in trash bags to be hauled away, but the mound just seemed to grow. I was concerned it would take several months to dispose of everything.

I finally opted for professional help from someone with a chain saw. He worked steadily for a total of 10 hours to cut the agreed-upon limbs and haul the excess away. He also cut the limbs into lengths suitable for campfire use. I have about 1/2 cord of wood.

I was amazed how much room the tree was occupying and how much it had spread since we moved here. plants I had placed near the branches' ends some time ago, were 3 feet inside the area of occupation. I am left with a large circle to be cared for. There are a lot of rocks and weeds are sure to proliferate now that they have sun. I may indulge my dream of having a rock garden.

Anyway, the tree looks happy and healthy and its future looks bright.

A Garden by Design

Work is underway on the garden at The Gallery at 1318, commonly known as 1318. Work is almost completed on the house and addition, too. This is exciting when you understand we started the renovation / rehab / addition of the property over 4 years ago. I reasoned that similar projects in the area were completed so slowly because the occupants were doing the work themselves. Since I am not that handy, it would be reasonable to hire the work done and that would also speed completion. NOT! The trials and tribulations of the project have been sporadically journaled.

NOW, we have moved our attention to the garden and I am SO excited. There again, the start was slow as I sought a landscaper to help me develop a plan and implement it. After phoning SEVEN landscaping businesses, NOT ONE returned my calls. I perceive this as a symbol of some of today's / this generation's root problem.

The eighth call was made to a young man with a business called Garden by Design. He was one of the ones I called from a "rehabber's list."
"He won't call back," my daughter told me.
"Yes, he will," I insisted.
"What makes you think he's any different from the others?" she asked.
"He is my last hope," I replied.

Stephen did call and was incredibly nice, professional, and knowledgeable.
"I won the bet," I told him.
"Why?" he queried.
 "Because you returned my call!"
"Why wouldn't I?" he asked in disbelief.
What could I say?

Stephen came with ideas that lined up with ours exactly. We were on the same page! DD checked his references - Impeccable! She looked at gardens he had desgined - Awesome! He and his crew have started and we look forward to the results!!

The old 14th Street Mall just a couple of blocks away is now close to being finished. Things are looking up in Old North!

RAOK

There was a lot of rain on the drive home from St Louis! Those 18-wheelers throw a lot of water when you try to pass, so it takes concentration to get past the wall of water with the car intact. In fact, the whole drive took a lot of concentration so I listened to the various stations on Sirius and relied on Nellie to navigate me through the freeways. It worked quite well.

Another activity to help keep me alert, was looking for Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) as I traveled. You know, those little things that are not required, or expected, and that often go unappreciated because they are not really overt enough to notice unless one is making an effort. Here are a few I recall:

• An 18-wheeler that made a turn on a changing light causing us to wait even longer for our turn. As he turned, he slowed more than necessary and I found myself getting irritated. Then I noticed a bicyclist turning with him, hidden by the end of the rig. The driver obviously saw the danger of leaving the cyclist exposed to aggravated drivers waiting anxiously to gun the motors of their cars, and slowed to prevent a horrible accident. I have a great deal of respect for professional "big-rig" drivers, but very little for drivers of gravel and dump trucks.
• The drivers of cars in Missouri begin to carefully merge when they see the see a sign noting one lane merging into another. Therefore, there is an orchestrated flow of traffic feeding into the merger. Even had I not seen the sign, I could tell I was in Texas when the cars began speeding up to get to the front of a merging line and force their way in. Traffic tends to come to a standstill as all the cars jam the merging lanes.
• A driver stopped to help another driver who was stopped by the side of the road...in the pouring rain...with his hood up. You just don't see that anymore.
• A man actually held the door open for me and acknowledged my "Thank you".
• A clerk spoke to me with kindness and smiled. That is getting to be more and more unusual.

It's the little things in life that make us happy. ...like, no matter how much fun you had, being home.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I found this today and wanted to share it.....

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you will never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of your arm.

As you get older, you will discover you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the care she lovingly gives and the passion she shows. The beauty of a woman only grows with the passing years!

                     - Sam Levenson 

"Suffrage Stirs Up Missionaries"

"San Francisco Chronicle" 17 October 1911

Miss Harriet E. POLLARD, a missionary leaving tomorrow for Corea[sic],stated she had voted in Colorado and found nothing disagreeable in the experience. A woman is no more exposed to objectionable intrusion, she explained, while waiting to cast a vote than waiting to purchase a ticket at a railway office. She further gave assurance that Colorado did not repent of its woman suffrage privilege. 

Women of the West Museum

In 1914, taking lessons from their sisters in Kansas, California and Colorado, suffragists lobbied Progressive legislators until they offered a bill to enfranchise women. They spoke into bullhorns from Model T's and organized public parades, undaunted by taunts or threats to southern womanhood. A formidable two-thirds legislative majority posed too great a barrier to passage, however, and the bill was defeated.
Female Texans joined Arkansans and Oklahomans as the first women allowed in polling places in the South, when they won "primary suffrage," the right to vote in state primaries and political conventions, in 1918.

Our foremothers fought hard for the right to vote. Have you exercised that privilege today?