Here is Paul chasing a squirrel up a tree.  Squirrel was caught in the new cat head bird feeder.

If your fascination with vampires inspires a trip to the Red Cross to donate blood, are you just a fang away from becoming a vampire?   Carrie and I have always been drawn to any and all vampire movies and TV shows.  The darker and more conflicted the vampires are, the better.  Vampires attempting to […]

Earlier this month, for the first time in my life, I had cryosurgery!  It’s less exiting than it may sound.  No futuristic sci-fi suspended animation frozen cryostasis; just cryosurgery, the Dermatologist spraying a spot on my face with liquid nitrogen.  Doctors have been removing unwanted growths from my body for almost 50 years, so if […]

We realized that our new neighbors’ Chihuahua would be able to step through our fence’s nine inch openings.

This dragonfly enjoys the bug hunting afforded by our ponds.  Here he is pausing between strafing runs.

Carrie was in the Studio and I was nearby washing fishpond filters.  When I stopped spraying the hose, I heard an unfamiliar buzzing and looked up to see bees, lots and lots of bees, swarming in the pepper tree only 12 feet or so over my head.     I summoned Carrie.  We crouched on […]

Carrie has planted this year’s garden which included setting out newly sprouted plants as well as starting many from seed.  I think we have at least one of every herb and vegetable that will grow in Southern California. Carrie has followed previous years’ successful “Four-Square” farming approach in the garden layout. The beds are made […]

Hawks and falcons visit our backyard regularly.  Usually they come to drink from and bathe in the birdbath.  Today Carrie watched one having lunch. We have a couple of birdfeeders and bird baths that attract the usual suspects: wrens, finches, jays, doves, starlings, etc.  When the hawks or falcons arrive, everyone else leaves and stays […]

Here is a preview showing Carrie hard at work. The fence is cedar and replaces the chain link that used to separate us from our neighbors’ driveway. It is seriously neighbor-friendly in that it looks the same on both sides; no ugly stringers on either, and we put the boards’ best side toward the neighbors. […]

Here is how the purchase process worked.

Realizing what a lift in quality of (yard) life there was when we completed our first replacement of chain-link with privacy fence, we have embarked on the next phase of fence building. And these pictures tell most of the story. This was the only place in the backyard with no privacy fence. We fixed that […]

The side yard space that we enclosed with our new fence got an exciting finishing touch last week. Between the trees and bushes drinking all the water and the shade they produce, the ground is not well suited for grass. Here is the “before” shot so you can see the dirt. We had planned to […]