Dave and Dave

Sunday definitely wasn't a day of rest for anybody around here. Dave and Dave have worked their way around to the back of the house, and things are going more quickly since Dave the Elder got mad at his brother-in-law (the tree trimmer) and quit. He has now joined Dave the Younger here, and they have worked all weekend and hope to finish by Tuesday. The combination of a terrible paint job, heavy winter rains, and hot sun all conspired to require a lot of prep work before they could start panting, but it's amazing how quickly they can spray a coat of paint on the house once all that scraping and sanding, caulking and priming is done. 

It's funny that when you have a house on a hill with 'soil' that is 40% rocks, 40% clay and a mere 20% dirt that you would use so many rocks in the landscaping. I put a picture in the extras of the rocks that are everywhere here...between flagstones, between squares of pavement in the patio, under plants and in mounds in the front of the house. They are not the naturally occurring rocks that we constantly dig up or find lying around everywhere; they were purchased at one of the many landscaping 'rock stores' around here. We have spent countless hours moving them around from place to place and cursing them heartily.  

OilMan bought two citrus trees which he wants to plant in front of the house, but the rocks must be moved first. We spent the day carting buckets of them up and down the stairs. Well, OilMan did, and Dana came over to help, even though it is her birthday. After carting one bucket of rocks down the front steps, through the garage and up the back steps to dump them at the side of the house, I decided to concentrateI on picking paint chips as big as my hand out of the bushes and pruning off the branches that got broken when they were moved away from the house to make way for painters' ladders.

Dana is designing a 'rock river' ending in a 'rock pond' where the giant Blue Agave used to be. Some of the rocks can be used for that and won't have to be carried down the stairs.l of As always, her vision is wonderful, her strength endless and we wouldn't be able to do it without her. Happy Birthday, dear Dana, and thank you again for spending your birthday dragging rocks around our garden.