A Tiny Pepper

The ground squirrels ate every single leaf on the pepper plant outside the kitchen. Now they're starting on the basil.
It would seem that they don't like peppers, because they didn't touch the tiny jalapeño.

Jorge removed every single stalk of bamboo from our back fence. It looks like a disaster right now, but as Dana says, it's a perfect blank canvas. OilMan is going to put up a sail for a little shade. The collage in extras shows the progression...

You can tell when people are retired because they don't have to save the parties for the weekend. We had a great time at Fran's birthday party. The food truck served delicious tacos with lots of fresh fixings. Fran's husband even brought wine for those of us who don't like beer. There were loots of people there and the weather gods were definitely smiling on Fran for her birthday. I was perfectly comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt until we left at about 9pm.

Today OilMan and I will be seeing our former Italian neighbor who moved to Southern California almost a year ago. We still miss her and her wonderful home cooked Italian dinners at their house at the end of the road. Somebody else lives there now, but we have no idea who it is. It will be fun to see Daniella again.