New Blog (a.k.a. Cutting My Losses)

I lost administrative access to my this blog some time ago. I can still write new posts as a Contributor, but I cannot update settings or make any other changes to it and have failed to break into my old Administrator account despite my best efforts, so I am cutting my losses and starting fresh.

I guess this old blog will remain on the interwebz in perpetuity, so posts prior to 2021 can still be found here, but everything new going forward will be housed at Emmy Girl's Garden.

Redoing the Grass in the Back Yard

Redoing the grass in the back yard between the patio and the rock garden beds. Turned all the soil manually with with a shovel to dig out the weeds and loosen the soil.

Seeding with Scotts Turf Builder Bermudagrass (Highlander) WaterSmart Plus:

Seeded the back yard in two parts.

• First planting on 5/12/2021 - first signs of growth on 5/21/ 2021 (9 days)
  
• Second planting on 5/22/2021 - first signs of growth on 5/30/2021 (8 days)

4/23/2021 - partly dug

5/21/2021 - first signs on sprouting on the right, left side still needs to be dug

5/26/2021 - first seeding

6/2/2021 - 3 weeks out from first seeding (NW quadrant is second seeding, 11 days out)

Doing My Rock Garden

This used to be my old fish pond. I filled it in many years ago after a snake ate my fish and the liner cracked. Since then it's been nothing in particular, but it still has the old rock border around it which was concreted in. I've grown tomatoes, watermelons, and weeds in it. It is highly visible from inside the house, and I was tired of it looking like crap, so last year I started a concentrated effort to make it look nice.

It gets full sun ALL day long. The soil holds water well, but "normal" plantings still have a tendency to wilt every afternoon in the summertime because of the intensity of the high-summer radiant heat, so I am doing it all in desert rock garden type materials.

Back when it was a fish pond:

2000

2004

 

2016 (home to a tomato plant): 

Black Cherry herloom tomatoes - prolific and delicious!

 2020 (even the cosmos fried last year):

2021 (so far, and granted it's been raining like crazy):

'Moonshine' yarrow

 

Purple Ice Plant

Pretty Parsley Going to Seed!

 

Garden Helper

 

Red Cabbage

 Growing from the root end of one I bought at the store last year!

Redo of Backyard Flower Bed

 Ripped out the ratty, old nandinas and replaced with agave pots, Petite Knockout roses, and lantana.

Before...

After!

Before...

After!

The Century Plants (agave) in the pots are pups from an overgrown plant that originally came from my grandmother's garden.

I filled the pots with crushed cans before planting to reduce the weight and keep the roots from staying too wet.

'Robinson' Crab Apple & Collards

'Robinson' Crab Apple blooming tonight.  It's beautiful!

This is last year's collards blooming, hee hee...!!

Asparagus starting to make an appearance over the weekend...

And lastly, strawberries starting to show some new growth!

First Day Canning Peaches

Today was my first day canning peaches this year.  Last year I made 22 pints.  Today, 4.5 pints from my cling stone tree.  The ants have been horrible on the peaches this year.  Because of the droughty weather...?

 

Blackberries have also started to ripen up in the last week or so.  (from a few days ago)

 

Passion Vine

Passion vine were particularly beautiful this year! This was a gift from one of my nursery customers, and I didn't think it would be hardy here in Lubbock so I planted it in a protected space by my front door but it has handled the our Lubbock winters just fine!

Click HERE to learn about the symbolism of the passion vine!

Sunset

 

2015 "Goliath" Blizzard

All total, it was the third largest amount of snowfall in a single event in Lubbock's history.  Officially, we ended up with 11.2" of snow, and 50 mph winds for the entirety of the storm resulting in 8'-10' drifts in places.  The was some variability in the impact around town depending on the wind patterns in any given area, and places near open areas such as parks and fields were hit particularly hard.

SUNDAY

4:00 p.m. - Just got done shoveling my sidewalk!  Surprisingly, there was no snow or ice on my windshield (yea!).

About 8" of snow...

Drift against the garage door.

There's my little helper (inside!)...

MONDAY

It started back up again Sunday night after I took the pictures above.  By Monday morning there was several more inches of snow and traffic stuck all over the place with vehicles blocking Slide road where it goes under the loop.  Did not leave the house.

TUESDAY

Attempted to go to work, but the roads were still horrible and could not find a good path out of my neighborhood.  Could see vehicles still stuck and abandoned Slide road towards the loop.

WEDNESDAY

Made it in to the office today, but it was slow going.

Below is a through road between Frankford and Slide.  These people got hammered by snow blowing out of the field to their north (50 mph continuously on Saturday/Sunday during the snow).

Driving in the turn lane on Slide.  Southbound on Slide was blocked by stuck and abandoned vehicles and could not be plowed.

Navigating back to the southbound side to go under the loop.

The drive down 19th Street on the way to work.

Arriving at the bank...

View of the drive thru from inside the office.

19th Street on the way home.

"Da-da-DA-DA-DA, I'm lovin' it!"  (McDonald's on 4th & Slide)

The southbound traffic on Slide was really backed up because the road conditions were so horrible going through the intersection.  There was only one lane open and probably 8" of really rough ice under the overpass so only four or five cars could get through on each green light.

These people in my neighborhood were still snowed in.

THURSDAY

Thursday morning - Someone finally liberated these people (sort of)!!

There was a lot more ice this morning, and cars were sliding around all over the place including one that did a 180 in front of me at Slide and 19th!

I think this should be our new logo.

Back parking lot facing south towards the annex.

South side of the main building.

Parking lot and drive thru from Ave. Q.

There are walls of snow on all of the main roads, and some still have only one or two lanes open in places.  This is near 4th & Quaker where all lanes have been cleared.

The giant mound of snow and ice on southbound Slide approaching the loop (I'm in the northbound lane).

The finally plowed the road out of my neighborhood that I usually take.  I discovered that there are huge potholes lurking beneath the puddles, so I will not be taking this road again for a while!

A cold New Year's Eve with friends!

 
SUNDAY

Today I went for a walk on the street that was snowed in so badly.  It's still like walking the gauntlet in places.  :)

Dexter, my little walking buddy!!  (I talked to a man who was shoveling the driveway you see cut in to the right, and he said the people on this street hired a private contractor to dig them out.  He said some cars and two-wheel drive trucks are still getting stuck in some of the areas you see here.)