Snow in Denver

Wheat Ridge got 8".  There was a lot of crashing and banging and hissing all day Friday as the snow brought down every single leaf left on every plant, including the giant ash tree Joel parks under.  It was quite dramatic and at one point Jimmie was minding his own barkety business when a load of snow and leaves conked him on the head...He came in hissing and spitting and shaking.  Very not happy dog.  Don't blame him at all either.  Quite a shock to a little doggie system with miscellaneous stuff falls on you when you're minding your own business in your very own domain.

Today is tree planting day.  I'm sure everyone is raring to go.  Phyllis and Jim already have their trees here - Emily and Dave are going to pick hers up this afternoon.  Trees!  The kind that won't break when they are hit with 8" of snow and still have their leaves.

Lost in Blogland...

Google seems to have redesigned all the aspects of Blogger - and in their infinite insanity screwed my blog up royally.  I only just logged on to change its name, address and everything else...and suddenly it is all working again.  Must have heard my bitching from their exaulted tower of shame.

So lets just try to post this and see where it shows up.

Something (Wicked) Cold This Way Comes

Cold weather is approaching.  Joel has been working hard to put the gardens to bed, since I've been banned from gardening.  It is also hard to garden when you are lying down on the sofa with a heated wubbie on you (and also maybe a small dog).

Ginnala Maple in my front yard

On to the Johnson's landscaping:

The good news:  They are starting with pretty much a blank slate to wit:

A new paint scheme and revision
 of the fascia board trim is in progress

View toward the corner

View of corner of house
and existing forsythia

 Jim works hard with a bobcat (I kept wanting to call him Bob as in Bobcat) to scrape off all the old bluegrass.  It needs to be watered a couple of times, though before it can be rototilled.  Then, it will be mulched with neighbor's leaves and the old sod (if we don't start a compost pile with it) for the winter to help create a planting layer.


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And here we have the scraped yard:

I think that a good time must have been had by Bob-Jim with his scraper!  Good job, man!

The good news about the cold weather is that everything is starting to turn colors.  If we have a true fall, we will get some great color this year.  Or, Colorado could just blast everything with freezing cold and every leaf will freeze, turn black and drop off the plants.  I'm hoping for the former.




Miss Emily's landscape got a big boost when she drove us out to the Tree Farm, where we were chauffeured around their 38 acres in a golf cart. She bought two beautiful trees - a multi-trunked service berry and a ginnala maple - also multi-trunked. She and Dave will return to pick up the trees and my black and white sweater that was left in the golf cart next week. Then we will have some help to plant them in her yard.

I love to get plants in the ground in the fall so they can get their root systems established before next spring. We saw many many beautiful trees - including some Japanese maples that would have broken the bank, but which would have looked incredible. Maybe in time.

Ms Em's place, as it exists today.  Cute, cute, bungalow, no?  So classic and beautifully constructed to boot.  I especially love the contrasting brick belt course on the portico and around the base.

And in her backyard is the real prize - a custom built wrought iron cover for a large patio!!!!  It will be delightful next summer.  I thought I had a couple of photos (one with Ms Em herself in it) but they were evidently of the opinion that they were videos and not stills and wouldn't load.  Well I will get you my pretties, never fear.
Oh, and if anyone has some NM pinion pine to donate, my fireplace is ready, willing and clean to start burning it!  Here's to fall...and cold weather.

Eclectic Women

There is a new meetup in town.  This one is a great, great, group of wonderful girlfriends...just what I was looking for.  The organizer, Meg, is a kindred spirit for me and, I suspect, many of the others, because she is smart and energetic and into doing things and getting to know new people.

Here are three of the members making homemade green and red chili in my kitchen. We are stripping the red chilis on the ristra in this photo and despite having a 4' long ristra we ended up with just under a gallon of red chili.  I hoard it because I love red chili and think it keeps you healthy.  With their help we made the best red chili EVER!

In this picture we are making lemoncello!!!!  Sheila was so nice to volunteer her skills and kitchen to make homemade lemoncello - it totally rocked.  There were only three of us, but we made the lemoncello and two kinds of sauces for pasta.  Joel and I both think the sauce was the best ever Bolognese sauce either of us had ever had.  Ever.

We left Sheila's with a bottle of limoncello and the batch we made is "cooking".  It has to sit for 40 days (and nights?) after which more vodka and sugar are added.  Then another 40 days (so biblical) and viola!  Limoncello!!!!!!

This is Emily; she is the youngest of 9 kids and has mad peeling skills.  That is the thing she was allowed to do while the rest of the family cooked.  She can peel a lemon faster than you can blink.  Then she asks for another one.  Emily will always have an invitation to any limoncello party that happens.

Sheila is ladling the finished sauce into containers for us to take home.  Best.  Sauce.  Ever.

I couldn't resist this photo of Sheila as a kid.  She hasn't changed much, eh?

So I loves this group of women - they have been wonderful to get to know.  Thanks to all of you.

Decorina's Blog

Well, Google, in their infinite wisdom has somehow focakked my former blog into the ethersphere and I can't post anymore.  Not that I was posting anyway.

So I'm starting over with a slightly different address:  www.decorina1.blogspot.com. So there you go.

First up:  Jimmy

Man, did that little dog find a nice place to live.  While we still miss Skylar every day, we are inordinately fond of Jimmy and his loveable ways.  He is very lively and fun and greets each day with some big time enthusiasm by leaping off my bed and heading for the door.

His favorite toy, a stuffed lobster, suddenly disintegrated and it took all of an afternoon to find a replacement.  I had to stand in front of the mega-rack at the pet store and squeak each one until I found one that had the squeaker in the right place....   So he was a little disconcerted that his prize toy disappeared for a few hours.  That night, when he went to bed we looked over there and he had placed both of his new toys right next to his bed.  I think he was planning on sleeping with one eye open to make sure that we didn't disappear any more of his toys...   Here is a picture:

 So here he is on his favorite chair in the morning, I have to move it around the room to catch the sunbeam that he craves.  He will lay on the floor, if necessary, but he prefers the chair because it is just the right size and he looks very nice against the upholstery.

He also loves the cushions on the yellow sofa; I believe he thinks they show him to his best advatage and are oh, so soft and comfy to snooze on.

After all, custom pillows with custom trim, made by Mom, what could be better????