Getting some yard work done!
Today was the day for trimming shrubs and getting mulch down, and no, not by us! We have a great guy who does this for us and he has recovered from a broken shoulder. Normally we get the shrubs trimmed Spring and Fall but we missed having it done this past Spring. And we have been having rain this summer so things needed to be trimmed.
While his one guy was trimming he went for a trailer load of mulch.
The 2 of them worked well after lunch time getting it spread. We have a lot of beds that get mulched. Interesting these beds were all grass, but the trees grew and too much shade for the grass. These beds are all in the back of the house.
These help keep the rabbits from having a meal. Also a little protection from Lady when she starts running like a nut!
Our Mexican Sunflower is blooming and bringing in the Monarchs. The Butterfly weed will soon be in full bloom. It is outside the fence where it gets more sun.
We had a brief rain shower after the guys were finished. Good for the mulch, helped to wet it down a little. I took the girls out. Tiki did get a little wet, Lady wanted back in the house. She doesn’t like rain or storms. If we get a front coming through she heads for one of her safe places. She was about 1 1/2 when Harvey hit the Texas coast and we got her close to Houston. When we got Tiki she didn’t like thunder etc. but she was never like this. So we are blaming some of Lady’s actions on Harvey.
They didn’t have enough mulch to finish the beds in the front. They will get to those later this week. Since we lost some shrubs there is more to mulch.
Mid-August 2021
Not much to write about. Have not been upstairs to sew at all since my last post. Mostly doing things in the downstairs-general clean up, putting things away as well as getting rid of some things. Will start getting back up stairs but need to do it in the morning hours to avoid turning the AC temperature down too much!We did plant more perennials outside the fence where the Lady Banks had been. Should say Galen planted! Our center bed in the back is bringing in the butterflies and hummingbirds. Love being able to watch them flit around the flowers, going from one to another.
We did receive some unwelcomed news yesterday; some residual tree damage from our unusual storm in February. Our Lacebark Elm in front that we planted shortly after moving in 22 years ago needs to come down. The bark is falling off and that’s not good. Will get diseased and then rot from the inside out. So while we could leave it standing for several more years we run the risk of a good size branch falling and possibly hitting a car or people. So for risk management sake, it was suggested we take the tree down now. We know all about risk management. My Dad was Risk Manager for the telephone company before retiring. We were hoping that cutting off the dead branches would be the solution, but not with the bark peeling off.
If you enlarge the photo you can see the problem. 
He is pretty sure our Red Oak in the back will make it. Will keep an eye on one spot on the trunk where the back split just a little but not bad. So a hair cut should do the trick for it. Will look strange when all the leaves are off but that’s alright. Will show pictures later.
He also explained what happened to our Cotoneaster shrubs. Galen had cut them way back and they were getting green leaves. Now those leaves are all dead. We’ve had a few hot days and that was not helpful for the plant to survive. I told Galen this was Mother Nature’s way of telling us it was time to rethink our shrubs etc.! It could have been worse. He told us of one subdivision on the west side of Round Rock. They had 120 Lace Bark Elms in the median that had to come down! I can’t imagine that bill the HOA had to deal with! We will be happy with landscape problems. Friends are still trying to get back into their homes after water damage (pipes bursting) from the February storm.
Until next time
A Rainy Monday August 2 , 2021
We have had lots of storms but most have gone around us or was just a little bit of rain. Nothing that accumulated! Today is different. It has been raining most of the morning and should until early afternoon. We will take it. Any rain in Central Texas in August is welcomed!! Our plants are loving it!
One of our many Mandeville Vines. 2nd-our Oleander. We didn’t expect it to come back after our February freeze. 3rd-Butterfly weed is flourishing. This is just a small patch outside our fence. 4th and 5th-we didn’t know if our Pride of Barbados would make it. It was a warm Fall and winter up to the blast of Artic air so it had not died back at all. We are so happy it made it through.
We did lose a few plants, some succulents. We have not replaced any of those yet. This is giving us a chance to rethink plants and what do we want to put in the yard.
I did manage a little sewing since my last post. Not as much as I would have liked, the upstairs does get hot. We have the upstairs AC unit set to 86. Don’t want to pay anymore than necessary for AC. With fans it’s not too bad. I try to get upstairs in the mornings but that doesn’t always work. With the fans running it’s doable.
I found a started project-snowball blocks. I finished making those. It’s an eye spy block for kids. Don’t have a picture of those yet. I wanted to sew but not have to think about it much. Someone posted a picture of a scrap quilt on one of the Facebook sites I frequent. She used 2 1/2 inch squares. I am using 2 inch squares. Wanted to lower the level in that storage bin. My blocks are 12 1/2 unfinished, hers were 16 1/2 unfinished.
Groups of 2 
4 patches and 16npatches 
one completed block
So far I have enough sewn for 8 blocks, but only 2 are completed at this point. Maybe in my next post I’ll have more pictures to share!
I also found a new home for some Christmas fabric. Sent some to my sister in law (Donna). They will be getting to work on Christmas Bazaar projects this month. This helped me and helps them. I certainly had too much here and still do!!
Until next time…..
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