What to talk about... there's been so much since I've last substantively posted. I'll start with the immediate.

I had to destroy a friend on Saturday. I have this massive bouganvilla bush in my back yard that has done nothing but bring me joy for the last six years. It's a good 20 feet tall at its tallest, and it is often covered with beautiful slamon colored flowers. Once or twice a year I have to take pruning sheers to it to keep it under control towards the bottom, but otherwise, I let it have its fun.

Right before we left for Burning Man, Graham noticed that the the bouganvilla was overtaking the patio table that it is underneath it again. I inspected further and realized that the massive pecan tree in my neighbor's yard dropped another limb, crushing the bouganvilla. Previous adventures with the pecan tree include the destruction of a market umbrella and the limb that took three hours to hack up and haul away. This is the third massive branch that has fallen from their tree into my back yard. And every time a hurricane comes near, I worry that it will fall on my house.

We thought we'd be able to cut a few of the bouganvilla limbs and the bush would be ok, but the more we investigated, the more bush we had to trim away. It took a few hours, and when we were done, about 80 to 90 percent of the bouganvilla was on my front curb. The pecan limb we weren't able to get to, because it seems to have bounced off the bouganvilla and is now perched on two fences and is mainly in my next door neighbor's back yard.

I have no idea if the neighbors who own the tree have any clue at all how awful it is about dropping huge limbs onto other people's yards. Every few years, I see tree trimmers up there, and hope that the dangerous limbs are taken away, but then another limb drops. We'll see what happens if our friend Ike in Cuba heads this way, as it's current path is projected (click this link, it's a pretty cool projection map). I probably should leave a note.

There are some limbs left on the bouganvilla, but not much. And it looks like there's this massive hole in my back yard. I know that these suckers grow like crazy, but it's going to take a long time for it to regain its former beauty, if it ever does.

I spent the rest of Saturday doing some intended and planned pruning on another bouganvilla and a lorapetalum near my back deck. And I replaced a lot of the dead plants in my deck pots with herbs (thyme, oregano, mint and lavender) and I dead headed all of my basil.

Sunday was a depressing football day, but I did go out and get my toes done with my friends, and then Graham and I went out to a party at my parents' house. The food was good.

Tags: garden, home improvement, weekend update