Blake Tries to be a Lapdog...

...but hardly a snuggly one. It's never clear what Blake has in mind. He was trained to be a companion dog. He didn't quite make the grade, but not due to lack of enthusiasm. In fact, his irrepressibility was pretty much the problem...OilMan didn't seem to mind.

A couple of neighbors, dropped by this morning. We all decided on the spur of the moment that a cappuccino in our garden would be far preferable to a walk. One of the main topics of conversation was what to plant in the place of the giant Blue Agave when it meets its inevitable demise.I have been taking a picture of it every day at about the same time. It's stalk, like a huge asparagus spear, has grown several feet since I first noticed it five days ago.

On the way back to the front door I decided that the streletzias needed deadheading (is that the right term for cutting off the long stalks of the decidedly raddled looking birds of paradise?) Everything was planted in that spot for maximum effect when the house was for sale. Since we bought the house everything has grown a lot and the streletzias are doing battle with the Meyer lemon which in turn needs pruning, so I dived in with my pruning shears and gloves.

The Meyer lemon tried to kill me, precariously perched as I was on a low wall trying to avoid the nasty spiky plants planted at its foot I hope I didn't kill it. I harvested a bucketful of lemons, balanced a dozen more on the wall when the bucket was full and set about trying to prune out a good portion of the thorny branches within the bush,. Scratched and bleeding, I retired for the day but I have a hunch I'll be returning to the fray....