Cows bellowed all night and into the morning. The valley below the house is a bowl that creates an almost perfect acoustic; the sound could come from anywhere. I looked out at sunset and early this morning and did not see anything on the property. This morning Mike called the tenants to let them know that a flock of ten buzzards were circling around the cow pasture.
I have spent two days digging out the last ten feet of ice plant, mostly overgrown by weeds and grass. I found only a few seedlings still surviving at the far end of the ice plant border, nearest the Citrus Box.
The venerable blue penstemon having finished its latest blooming season, I pruned back its spent shoots and older growth underneath. I hacked back the purple lantana again. I need to work on my pruning style so that every plant does not end up looking like a box. I pruned a little off the top of Grandmother Camellia hoping to encourage more horizontal growth than vertical.
Temperature forecast is 105 degrees for today. I started work late this morning, and the indoor and outdoor temperatures reached equilibrium before 9.00. By then it was too warm to work. While having my Cream of Wheat for breakfast I watched a red headed bird peck at the driveway. I will need to find it the Guide.
Late in the afternoon I applied Preen on the newly cleared section of the ice plant border and watered it in. I laid in four bags of Preen Mulch from Lowe’s yesterday, and spread it over a broad area just below the new retaining wall at the back yard edge. As always, I picked up extra pavers and two concrete blocks to sink the well water pipe running across the pond.
A Year at the Snake 