Rock Garden

I've shared before about the awesome fort I have in my backyard. Unfortunately there always seem to be weeds that grow underneath it in an area I can't get the mower. So I started brainstorming ways that I could utilize that space and prevent it from becoming overgrown. Since the whole area is shaded by trees and the fort only very hardy plants (like weeds) will grow, so it needed to be something I wouldn't need to try to keep alive. I settled on a rock garden.

Fun Fact: The year I moved in the uncle of one of my neighbor's kids offered to buy the fort from me. He would have come over to tear it down and moved it to their yard. I just wasn't sure how much to ask for it and couldn't decide if I wanted to lose my fort. This was right after he chased their pet rabbit through my and two other neighbors' yards.

The first step was to clear out all the weeds from beneath the fort. I did that and covered the whole area with landscape fabric to prevent them from growing back. Then I went shopping!

I chose to go to Lowe's to see what landscape rock they had available. My dad gave me a medium sized sandstone rock to put in the garden so I wanted something that would go well with sandstone. I had also purchased a ceramic owl from Pier One back in May for the project. Eventually I'll need to find other sculpture to add.

My dad has dozens of sandstone rocks of varying sizes. The day before my 16th birthday party we had someone out to work on the sewage system and they dug up almost the entire yard--unearthing tons of those sandstone rocks. We used a lot of them in the landscaping at Dad's, but he had plenty to spare.

I settled on lava rock (despite Dad saying he thinks lava rock looks awful). I felt it would go well with my yard since I have the red brick house and reddish stepping stones. My only other option in that color family was a pea gravel with mixed color stones.

I bought eight bags of lava rock, Lowe's had a few bags available at half price since the bags were busted. There was nothing wrong with the rock and I got a deal! I started dumping the rock into the wood frame of the fort and used a rake to distribute the rocks evenly. Despite using the rake I still managed to make a wreck of my fingernails during this process. If I had gone with the pea gravel it probably wouldn't have been a problem, but lava rocks are very rough.

Once I dumped all the bags in and raked them evenly I was pretty happy with the result! I will need to buy about four more bags to fill in that back section and maybe one more for the main section to fill it in a little more, but overall I think it looks great!

As I mentioned I'll need to find a few more sculpture items for the space, I'm considering getting a couple of those glass globes in fun colors and maybe something in iron that has a little height. I may also hang a bird feeder or something from the bottom of the fort's floor. I'm so excited about how much easier this will be to maintain though!

Warmer Weather

This month has finally seen the temperature creep into the upper 60s to 90s with fewer freezes. Which meant I could finally get serious about planting things in my new flowerbeds!

You may remember me posting about Dad helping me build flowerbeds with landscape timbers and re-bar. Until now they've sat empty except for some dirt and weeds.

This weekend I went to Southwoods Nursery with my mom and grandmother and they bought me some azaleas to plant in the flowerbed against the back wall of my house. Of course, the planting couldn't be done without hitting a few snags. Apparently my sewage pipe is located in the flowerbed. Right where my perfectly spaced azalea needed to go. So instead of perfectly spaced plants I adapted my plan and planted the pink azaleas closer to the azaleas on each end.

I've heard that azaleas are hard to maintain, but the one I planted two years ago couldn't be happier and has required practically no work. To plant them I just dig a hole a little bigger and deeper than the plant. Fill it up loosely with peat moss (azaleas like acidic soil which is what the peat moss is for) and add water until the hole is filled with a soupy mixture. Then you plop the plant in, cover the edges with dirt and you're done.

The next flowerbed we built is at the end of my deck and I haven't gotten it filled yet, but my grandmother did bring me some jasmine from her house that I planted in it. Eventually it will grow up the side of the deck.

Before I could plant anything though I had to line the edges of all the flowerbeds with landscape fabric. Because we used landscape timbers to build the beds the soil can wash out the spaces between the timbers without something holding it in. Since the plants need to root deeper than the beds I couldn't cover the bottoms which made cutting the fabric to size a little tricky.

The last bed we built is in the sunniest corner of my yard and is for vegetables. It's funny that this is the sunniest area since when I moved in there were bushes growing along the back fence that made that area one of the shadiest parts of the yard. After cutting down the bushes and finally digging up the roots to prevent them from growing back the bushes are finally gone for good. I want to plant something else along that fence eventually, but something that won't destroy the fence.

This was actually the first bed I planted anything in since I went to one of the local herb festivals and stocked up on tomato and pepper plants. We have a lady in Tulsa that grows and sells heirloom tomato and pepper plants, The Tomato Man's Daughter. She has a great selection and I almost always buy my tomatoes from her.

Once I had everything planted the tricky thing was rigging a fence that would deter Ollie from jumping on the plants while he barks at the neighbor dogs. That corner is where my yard meets up with the others so Ollie likes to race through it, which may not matter once my plants are bigger than him, but for now I don't want him stomping on my plants.

I barely got my tomato and pepper plants in the ground before we had another freeze though! I cut the bottoms off of some milk jugs to cover the plants overnight so they didn't die. It actually didn't get as cold as the weathermen predicted which was good.

I'm excited to get everything growing, here's to hoping I actually get tomatoes and peppers and even blackberries this year! The last few years were so hot and dry so early in the season that everything dried up too fast.

In the front yard I bought some bushes to replace those that died a couple summers ago and Grandmother bought me a couple of new plants to go in the pots on the front porch with my silver sage.

Hopefully they'll survive, I think it looks pretty nice all together!

Other pictures from this spring:

St. Francis looked pretty nice with my tulips
blooming this spring. Irises and dahlias
are starting to come up now.

The garden bed has some sort of purple flower
that grows along the fence. Lovely (and invasive).

Ollie thinks he's a rabbit.
Or at least runs like one.

Titan, my brother's cat, enjoying
geraniums at my mom's house.

I know dandelions are weeds, but don't they
look pretty making a path to the forsythia?

I hate to mow, but Ollie loves a freshly mowed yard.

Winter Wonderland

We experienced a white Christmas in southern Arkansas for the first time that I can recall. My grandparents live on about 60 acres near Hope and on Christmas Day we looked out to see snow coming down--a big change from the years that we've worn shorts and t-shirts to play outside on Christmas. Luckily the roads were clear for the drive home the next day. Snow is a beautiful treat when you have no where that you need to go.

My cousins ran outside for a photo shoot as soon as they realized that it was snowing. My mom and I waited until the ground was white.

Ollie came to Arkansas for the first time this year. As a result he got to experience snow for the second time. I don't think he's any more fond of it now than he was during the blizzard Tulsa got a couple years ago. At least it wasn't as deep this time.

Ollie wasn't sure what to make of the snow.

Christmas Spirit

I spent the month of December before Christmas in a decorating and baking flurry. I bought a rosemary tree at Reasor's and wrapped red ribbon around it for my table centerpiece. And a big red pot to plant it in.

I modified an idea from pinterest where you take a pretty cake plate and use garland and glass ball ornaments to create holiday decor. On pinterest they used a tiered serving tray.

I made "crack", a recipe from my gramma that is so addictive. It involves lots of butter, saltine crackers and chocolate.

I also made sugar cookies with crushed peppermint in them, cherry coconut candies, buckeyes and apricot horns. I also made a few prune horns since my dad prefers those for some reason.

Most of my recipes turned out in the end, but I had a few challenges throughout the process--mainly with the horns and the cherry coconut candy. I won't get into the details, but by the time I finished those candies I didn't even want to try one. I froze a few in case I finally decide I want some by spring.

Everything was a big hit with my family though. If the buckeye recipe didn't make so many my brothers and cousins might have come to blows, luckily we didn't run out!

I set up my nativity scene, which I still love. Jim Shore makes some of the most adorable pieces, I only wish I had the full size nativity instead of the miniature since so many of the pieces on his site are too big for my set.

I put up my tree! I also culled my ornaments and gave away those that I didn't actually care for--although I opted for just lights and the star to decorate this year. I really like the plain white lights and I just bought the star for the top so I've enjoyed showcasing it.

When I first got my tree a few years ago I didn't have any ornaments. My mom and grandmother both gave me some of the ones they didn't use anymore. However, I've collected more over the past few years. I'm going to try to build my collection with pieces that mesh well moving forward.

I had a lot of fun shopping for everyone this year. I got some great gifts, mostly things I needed for around the house. One of my cousin Macy's favorite gifts was her American Girl doll. It made me wish I had brought one of my dolls and the clothes I've got stored in my attic so we could have played with them. 

A Few Miscellaneous Pictures

I'll end this post with a few random pictures that I took over the holidays this year.

My mom's neighborhood has a flock of wild turkeys.
They made me wait while they crossed the road.

My gift for Macy. A lady at one of the
courthouses I go to makes and sells them.

Ollie finally calmed down on the drive home,
the whole way to Arkansas he kept
jumping around the car every few minutes.

These lights make me wish I had a central walk
so I could do something similar.

Ollie's Famous!

Well, maybe not famous, but he was featured on the blog Design to Inspire a few weeks back.

The blog has a weekly "pets on furniture" feature, check it out. Oliver is the last picture in this particular post. Of course, you can also see the picture in this post about my couch's updated look.

The Reasons I Don't Have a Cat

This last month has been a whirlwind as we slipped into the final weeks of preparation before our annual fundraiser at Dillon International (where I work). I'm afraid I haven't had the time to write! Tonight I thought I'd share a couple of lessons I learned about pets and a photo of my newest acquisition.

Our Lunar New Year fundraiser includes a silent auction. I won a couple of items, including these awesome Indian coasters!

These coasters are marble inlaid with semi-precious
stones from Agra, the same place where the stones
decorating the Taj Mahal are from!

Dillon International is an awesome international adoption agency that was founded in 1972. We've touched thousands of lives through international adoption, humanitarian aid and educational events that we offer. We currently work in 10 countries. Our Lunar New Year fundraiser benefits our humanitarian aid programs and our other programs. 

Cats
Over Christmas my dad stayed at my house to take care of my dog. He also introduced Ollie to his cat, Kringle. Dad moved to a new place and wasn't allowed to keep pets, I agreed to take his cat until we could figure out a more permanent solution.

Meet Kringle, his eyes aren't really that creepy.

The idea was for Kringle to live in Spencer's room since I'm not a huge fan of cats or animals shedding all over my house. Plus Kringle is a lot bigger than Ollie, and Ollie kept trying (unsuccessfully) to befriend him. However, we quickly discovered that Spencer is badly allergic to cats.

A Family History
Kringle actually has a long history with the Getchell clan. My dad found he and his brother around Christmas time when I was in high school. I remember the kittens climbing our Christmas tree and sleeping in the bathroom sink. It was a lot of fun having kittens, but we had so many pets at the time that my dad found other homes for both of them.

In the past year, however, the family that adopted Kringle began some home renovations and were unable to keep him. At the time my dad offered to take him until the renovations were complete, but somehow Dad found himself with a permanent pet.

A New Home
Luckily we found a new home for Kringle and Spencer is finally able to live in his room again.

What I've learned is that I need to stay away from pets who shed and I don't have enough time to offer two animals the socializing they need. I felt bad for Kringle while he lived here because most days he was by himself all day. Hopefully he's happy in his new home!

What kind of pets do you prefer? What pet problems are your pet peeves?