Hello everyone. We have been working hard on our yards and grove in preparation for hosting our family here for Easter. We had some trees trimmed on Friday. The kind of thing I hate to spend money on!! But sometimes we just can't do some of the stuff that has to be done around here ourselves. Like this very tall palm tree. Greg like to scare me to death a few weeks ago when we was standing on the roof with an extension pole trying to cut the fronds and pods from this tree!!
When we bought this house 20 years ago, there were 4 large palms around our pool. I despise these trees! They grow fast and are a mess when they bloom! They constantly need trimming. They shade the pool and make it cold! Yuck...I do not like these trees. Greg loves them. I had the one closest to the shallow end of the pool removed years ago. I have been working on Greg to have the rest removed for about 18 years now!!! The one good thing about the tallest tree in the above picture, is that it provides shade to the back side of the house where we get fierce afternoon sun. Our summers are hot here, so I guess that is one plus for the darn tree!!
We also had another large tree that was hanging over from our neighbors house removed. It was growing into one of our orange trees and choking it out. And ivy had grown up into the tree and was all tangled up. We had a gigantic mistletoe growing in the sycamore out front. Way too high up into the tree for us to get.
That made me nervous just to watch. But he was all harnessed in. Too bad we didn't have this mistletoe cut down before Christmas!!
I had them trim up the bottlebrush tree in the back since the bushtit nest had been abandoned.
They were here all day, and when they drove out, this is what their truck looked like.
Things are shaping up here at Grover's Grove. Our plans for the weekend were to do a brush burn from the tree pruning we had done several weeks back. We knew we were racing the rain, but we started early, and wrapped it up just as the first rain drops began to fall.
Genny and the girls came over to pick some fruit.
You could see the threat of rain coming in over the hills.
This is at the very back of our property, looking into the neighbors behind us. They have a dead pine that needs to come out.
Greg pulled a couple of chairs up underneath the canopy of the avocado trees, and we sat there watching the rain fall, having a sandwich and making sure that the fire was completely out before going inside.
After nice hot showers, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing this.
And watching the rain fall outside.
I made tostadas for dinner, using the taco seasoning that Gennifer made for me using a recipe she saw on Pinterest.
They were delicious!
I got a couple of fun packages in the mail last week. I won a giveaway from my friend Sinta. Go check out her great blog!!
http://www.pinkpincushion.blogspot.com/
How perfect is that, it is even a MOUSE!!! Which I collect!!! I love it Sinta...thank you!
And then I got an early birthday gift from my friend
Holly
Holly lives in Arizona. Way too far away. We have become very good friends, and I miss her all the time! I am hoping to get to go visit her soon. She made that card. Isn't it cute!!! I love the scent of this candle Holly! Thank you!!!
My friend
Jill has given me a blog award. I want to say thank you for thinking my blog was worthy of mention. Instead of selecting other blogs to award, I will do a post soon to share other blogs that I have found of particular interest to me. It is always fun to find new blogs. Thank you Jill!!!!
I have a fun and busy week with birthday celebrations!!! Last night I had dinner with 5 of my gal pals for my birthday. We went for Chinese food and it was such a great meal, and great time!!! I have known these ladies since jr. high!!!!! I am having lunch with my girlfriend Sue tomorrow, and dinner with my fellow birthday girl Jae on Friday night. On Thursday, my actual birthday, we are all going to my daughter Gennifer's house for dinner. Looking forward to all of it!!
That's about it from here. What is going on in your neck of the woods?
XO Kris
17 comments:
what nice pictures Kris and you clean a lot (lol) when we arrived (about 7 years) we dont have grass and trees, but I need to this year make something before the next spring,some of trees are sick:( but still I have wuinces and apples. Im sure your yard ill be nice!!
Oh my goodness, I just love your palm trees! I also love rainy days. Those rain photos are so pretty and peaceful to look at. Yum on those tostadas! Hope your week is going well.
ps.
Boyd says thanks Auntie Kris for the birthday wishes. :))
Happy Birthday, Thursday! Your fruit looks so yummy, and your trees very tidy. We burned some of our downed branches yesterday before it rained again, too. I'm celebrating life with you, Kris. Thanks for sharing. <3
Wow they sure did a lot of work on those trees! :-) I have always thought palm trees to be pretty...but then I've never had any in my yard ;-) What sweet goodies you received and it sounds like a busy week ahead. Happy birthday early!! You are so welcome for the award, you deserve it :-)
Reading your blog at times makes me miss my mom so much. We don't live close by and I really miss the time together. We cooked, did crafts and shopped etc. all the time together. I am missing those days lately.
Have a wonderful day!!
Blessings,
Jill
Waving down to California.. from Oregon! You sure had some good workers to do your tree trimming. I'm glad we had some trees taken down a while ago, but hubby has lots more work to do to get the rest cut up and split for fire wood. We had fun with our littlest boys yesterday. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
Hi birthday girl, I'm so glad someone else is celebrating all week too. Loved seeing all the work in the yard-I'm with you about trees blocking the sun and making the pool cold. You can hold onto the rain if you like-we don't really need it here. Wish we could celebrate our b.d.'s together.
Have a great evening.
Hugs, Noreen
Oh, there you are killing me again with those avacados! They were on sale here yesterday for $1 each...so I splurged and got 2!
Sounds like you're making a whole week of your birthday...going out with friends....good for you!
PS. your comment made ME teary! Thanks for your kindness. Although when you said we will probably never meet...that made me a bit sad. :(
I'm not a big fan of palm trees either, they are just too messy and don't provide enough shade. I just can't believe how many oranges and avocados are in that wagon. I just paid 87 cents for an avocado. Grrrr. I hope you have an amazing birthday, wish I were there with you to celebrate. Miss you!
The yard is looking so nice and pretty!
Fun pics.
Thanks again for the yummy fruit!
Glad you liked that taco seasoning!
Good morning! At our old house we had the neighbor behind us trees shading our pool. It drove me crazy for years. Gorgeous to look at, but not very practical around pools. I would love having all those avacados...loving those recently. Happy birthday Kris! I love a week long celebration. The only way to do it! haha. HUGS to you!
Your yard looks so so gorgeous and relaxing!! I wish I had a family members house to go and pick all that amazing fruit!
xoxo
As I read your bog I think of several comments to make along the way. Then when I get to the end I try and pick just one.
Today: What an adorable mouse pin cushion. Lucky you!!
Happy birthday tomorrow, Kris! I hope you have a really fun day and a nice birthday cake to enjoy!
I know all about plam trees from my sister-in-law that lives in Arizonia. She always complains how messy they are. I'd trade the plam tress for fruit and avocado tress ... you got some nice haul from them!What do you do with all the avocados? can you freeze them?
Your little mouse win is adorable, and the card and gift from Holly is very sweet.
Enjoy your day tomorrow!
Happy Birthday, Kris! Years ago, I gave my dad a palm for Father's day...it made such a mess by their pool, and it cost them a fortune to have it taken down...great gift, huh?
Some dolphin came swimming by me this morning on my beach walk. He stopping and whispered to me that I had a sweet friend with a birthday today. I had better get to blogland and figure it out. And there it was my reminder that it's you today. Sure hope you are enjoying your day. I also have my fingers crossed that the bill from the tree guy does not arrive there any time soon. It will be a doozy that's for sure, but it looks great. Oh, I'm so jealous too that you can get all the fruit right out your back door. Yum-o.
Happy happy day.....
Happy Birthday today! When I read this before it didn't click, but today is my mom's birthday too. Hope you have enjoyed your day so far.
xo.
Happy birthday Kris. We have trees that need trimming but I think we can still do them ourselves. Not so many and as big as yours. Have a great weekend. Coop building for us.
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