Groundcovers

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I am repeating myself.

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There is an awful lot going on in and outside of here…

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an awful lot indeed.

I put on my backpack, grabbed some

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and embarked on another expedition, this time into my circular planting bed.

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Hacking a path with my machete, the foliage at ground level was dense and foreboding, not much sunlight made it through the dense larkspur upper canopy.

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There were occasional breaks in the foliage where water had, over thousands of years, eroded deep gorges and holes into the ancient rocks.

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I observed Sedum reflexum growing as large as pine trees on some of the rock faces and massive tarp-like hoja santa leaves that offered protection from the sun.

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This particular rock face had vertical drop-offs and treacherous pathways.

I passed what I assumed to be some of this regions indigenous tribes-folk, strangely they did not say a word.

At the summit of this mountain I was surprised to find

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these exotic tiny frogs, basking in the filtered sunlight. I observed them for some time until the silence was broken by a loud whooshing sound over the other side of the rock face.

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Jings, crivens help ma boab!

What was this place that time had forgot? (Overly dramatic score)

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In the next valley there were

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towering toadstools and

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groves of these “Jewels of Opar”,

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though their “jewels” had a lot of growing to do…ahem.

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High up in the distance I could make out the silhouettes of more monsters,

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monsters that had…RETRACTED PROBOSCIS!

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And you all know how I feel about those.

Of course there are other monsters that roam down the decomposed granite pathways in the Patch.

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This one has a green thumb.

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Yes it was time for me to exit this small patch of land that time had forgot before things got any more ridiculous.

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Back to my normal size:

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These star gazer lilies sit there most of the year doing absolutely nothing. They burn at the edges in the middle of summer, require some trimming, but once a year, for a very short time they do this:

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Which makes it worthwhile…I think.

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The bluebonnets have also done amazing well despite the worsening drought situation in central Texas.

I even have one white one…just the one.

White bluebonnets are the result of a mutation in one of the genes responsible for producing the blue pigment of the flower, they are quite a rare phenomena, pink bluebonnets being the rarest.

Finally:

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Now the neighborhood kids are getting in on the climbing the hobbit gate act.

The “Oh, I don’t think so” image of the week:

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Stay Tuned for:

“Darkness Returns”

 

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All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Biddy from Sligo”

I thought this week I would start off with something a bit different, like a wee tune on my practice chanter just to put your nerves on edge. Someone told me recently that the chanter (a learning and practicing instrument for the highland bagpipes) sounded like an old Atari video game!

A keen observation.

“Star Raiders”…one of my favorites…oh yes, it had…radar.

The tune is a 6/8 jig by P/M G.S. McLennan called the “Biddy from Sligo” and I believe it was adapted from an old Irish fiddle tune. Sligo is located in the northwest of Ireland, about forty miles from the border with Northern Ireland.

And if you are unsure what a “biddy” is, it is a woman, usually a garrulous old one, a great word – garrulous.

Note to self:  You really must work on developing a circular breathing technique.

Cold fronts have brought with them some amazing sunsets this past week.

Calm down Alex, they are just street lights!

And the ominous green glow I am sure is not a competitor Mr White…

….though they were on campus…everybody, calm down.

No sooner had Thanksgiving day arrived, the “can we get a Christmas tree now Pa, can we?” (repeat x14.5 more times) started. The .5 interruption was for a “oh for heavens sake…YES, lets go and get a Christmas tree!”

Okay there was no “Pa” involved in the conversation, but it seemed like there should have been.

Returning with the tree, I had the usual scrummage to get it into the house and supported in its incredibly annoying (too big for the tree) base. Clawing and orbiting away underneath it for some time, turning annoyingly short screws into the trunk and finally giving an annoyingly dense lower canopy water, I emerged triumphant…covered in sap and needles, sarcastically humming in a twisted key:  “tis the season to be jolly”.

I trudged off in 80 degree weather to get the decorations from my shed.

They wasted no time getting reacquainted with some shiny old friends.

Concentrate.

Kumo is also getting into the spirit of the season,

“Halleluiah!”

I hear him every day practicing his choir solo.

Moving ridiculously along:

“Throw another…

…on the barbie mate.”

And what a great display the langoustines have put on this year.

A shrimp-plant cocktail.

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A great plant for vibrant shade color, drought tolerant, tough and slightly eccentric, shrimp plant is supposedly one of the best hummingbird plants for shady areas, although I have yet to see one on mine.

I really enjoyed this stock tank for a while,

but recently a chunk of the horsetail reed died, the Persian ivy looked like a moth-eaten old rug and well the whole scene had started to generally grate on my nerves.

Digging out a stock tank employs the same strange physics as Doctor Who’s Tardis, it is amazing how much earth comes out of a small tank. I also resurrected a whole bunch of old flagstone and bricks and rocks that I had forgotten about that I had “conveniently” swept under the carpet / tank some time ago. Argh.

I will spare you a description of all the unmentionables that scattered around my ankles as I pushed over the now-emptied stock tank, but I will say this…Brrr.

I believe my impromptu highland dance performance would have won a trophy if under adjudication.

Here is the area all cleared out awaiting a fresh top-dressing of decomposed granite and possibly a future archery target.

“Shhh!”

Finally:

How about this for a celosia seed head!

Thanks for a great day at the Ranch J&W, we all had a blast.

Stay Tuned for:

“Jings, Crivvens, Help ma Boab”

 

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

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