One Year Later

It has been nearly a year since we moved to the ranch. We still love it, despite some fallbacks and countless hours of work we have put into landscaping and improvements.

We now have somewhat of a vision of the landscaping we are aiming toward...which has been a trial and error process. 5 acres of dirt, rock and weeds can be overwhelming and make it hard to envision the possibilities, but we are getting there.

We have started with small sections of flower gardens and tropical foilage; planting different types of fan palms, lavender, garlics and geraniums along with myoporum, which the rabbits do not touch. Summer is the worst, blistering heat and desperate rabbits can easily destroy everything we plant...so we built irrigation out to every section with set timers and electric fencing to discourage critters.

Once we get all the garden sections established, we are going to bring in crushed decorative rock, planters and paving stones. Its gonna look great. I think this winter we will start working on the interior as well.

We have had an exhausting week. My husband had sinus surgery, our dog started having seizures, and then my father-in-law passed away. As you can imagine, we are trying to keep our spirits and our health up as the Holidays near.

Enjoy the pictures of our tropical gardens, I will keep you updated as they grow.

My New Best Friend

Say Hello to my new friend Mr. Pick-shovel. He helped me dig over 300 holes for planting this weekend.

It has been a super productive weekend. No band gigs, so we stayed home and powered out some projects that have been on the back burner until summer is over. We did a lot. We are tired...but it was SOOO worth it.

Electric Fence

My husband built a series of electric fences around the flower beds to help keep our dog and rabbits out of them. It will not be a 100% fix, as the rabbits can easily squeeze underneath if they are crafty enough, but if it serves as a slight deterent, it is worth it. Jenny definitely does not like the fencing, so she has not ventured over to dig holes (which is one of her favorite pasttimes, along with stealing things, chewing things, and sitting on top of our cars). This is a picture of my husband and my son putting together the last section of fencing.

Ground Cover

Myoporum...rabbits won't touch it. That, and lavender are the only two plants that the rabbits did not chew up this summer. I bought 6 flats of myoporum on Thursday, it only cost me $30. I was able to stretch it all around the house and down the front slope. I am very encouraged that this will take off and we will finally have green around the property.

Drip Irrigation

Andy has been researching how to build drip irrigation around the house for the past few months. There are some very informative videos on YouTube, anyone can do it...AND its CHEAP. He ran it to every flower bed and the front slope where I planted the groundcover, and put them on timers, so now I do not have to go out and drag a hose all around the house a few days a week. With regular water and the warm temps we've been having, I think the ground cover will spread fairly quickly. (This is a better picture of the myoporum after I transplanted it)

This week I am going to buy more red bark mulch to spread over the flower beds to give it some instant colr until the myoporum gets established. That will also help keep the moisure in the ground.

Beautiful, isn't it? Most evenings we sit out on the back porch with our dinner and watch these lovely sunsets. We also watch massive flocks of blackbirds fly over our house the same time each evening to go to wherever they roost for the night. After dusk, Andy and I will sit out here with a glass of wine and listen for the owls. This is why we live here. We love it. Its paradise.

Our next projects? Palm trees. Decorative rock. and Man-cave. Stay tuned!

Lessons Learned

SO, this has been a year of experimenting and getting to know our property. You never really know how much is involved until you take on 5 acres. It's a lot, but all in all, we love it. As we learn, we are taking notes about how to handle the seasons and the elements for next year.

Our goals are still in place to beautify the property. For example we want more tropical foilage, flowers and eventually full landscaping. This is going to have to manifest in stages, perhaps over the next 5 years or so. (That's a lot of blogging, eh?) Our biggest obstacles are obviously the rabbits, squirrels and weeds...but we also experience high winds, long bouts of heat and weird things like giant flying ants (don't ask).

As far as the rabbits and squirrels go (plus our sweet doggie who likes to dig holes) we are going to install some low voltage electrical fencing around our flower beds. When next season rolls around (early spring) we are going to put out bait to cut down the squirrel population, and net all of our fruit trees. The owls will probably be in place as well. Hopefully this will allow us to harvest some fruit from our grove and plant some flowers and plants around the house.

We are also noting that the rabbits will eat (or destroy) almost anything when summer hits, simply because they are desperate and the population is high after the spring breeding season (although they breed all year long...sigh). The plants they are NOT touching are lavenders, that weird ground-cover stuff I put out front, the white stinky flowers, and the light green garlics. So there is SOME hope of plant-life.

SO, our planning time-line goes something like this:

October - install electric fencing
November - drip irrigation to flower beds
December - planting (ground cover, garlics, fan palms, lavender, etc...)
January/February - rainy season, sit tight, work on garage and interior of house
March - Spray for weeds, put our squirrel bait, more planting
April - bud break for grape vines, net fruit trees
May - spray for weeds again, plant grape vines
June - mow down the weeds that grew anyway

By this time next year I hope to have the flower beds healthy and in full bloom. The grape vines may have a few grape clusters, if not then probably the year after that. Then we will have a whole new list of things we have learned. lol

Wabbit Twacks

I never thought I would see the day when I hated rabbits. Not indifferent, not dislike...hate. I have definitely reconsidered my position on the whole Elmer Fudd vs. Bugs Bunny rivalry.

Now that the weeds have all dried up and been mowed down (it was quite a feat, but we finally got them under control) the rabbits are desperate; coming up to the house and eating EVERYTHING we have planted. Even the garlic.

This used to be a 4-foot tall Bird of Paradise.

I am just sick about the whole thing. They also took down two of my mini-palms.

So, we are learning. The hard way. Not sure if I mentioned this is a previous post, but the squirrels also ate every last stitch of fruit on our trees. The only fruit we even got to taste were the sugar plums.

In happier news, I think an owl has made his home in our owl box. YAY! Every night right after sunset we hear him flying around the property and landing on the box, we have caught a glimpse of him too. I think it is a screech owl. This is VERY good news.

The vineyard is doing nicely as well. Andy and Roger put up the trellising system for the baby vines and the little guys are creeping up and grabbing ahold already, it is SO COOL.

So, this spring and summer has been a learning experience. Next year we should have a better understanding of the in's and out's of running the property more efficiently. Hopefully we will have a family of owls living here, we will be netting trees and taking a stronger position in "rodent defense".

Another work-in-progress is a website I am building. Check it out, you can view it at www.dilongranch.com

Cheers!

Current Projects

Grapevines.


Meet my little friend. This is Cabernet Sauvignon. He's a happy boy, popping out of his little growing tube, isn't he cute? We now have 25 vines in full bloom. This is project #1.



Fruit.


We are now starting to harvest some fruit from our tree grove. These are sugar plums...tiny and sweet. Next we will start picking nectarines and peaches...yumm-o!



Un-flower garden.



This is my first finished un-flower bed. The mulch is great, it helps keep the moisture in the ground, loosen the soil and discourage weeds from growing. I am growing garlic, cat tails and fescue.

Owl Box.

Yesterday we raised our owl box. It is a beautiful thing. I am so proud of my husband, (and grateful to our friend Roger) for putting this together. Getting this thing off the ground was NO EASY TASK. The box itsself weighs about 50 pounds. The first post we tried to raise broke in half, so we decided to put it on a metal pole. It was a treacherous hour and a half trying to get this thing vertical. I can't believe we did it. Now we wait for an owl to come and move in...very exciting.

So, needless to say, we feel quite accomplished. Most of the weeds have been mowed down, and we are starting to beautify the property here and there. There are times when we feel overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, but this week we are patting ourselves on the back.

Now...its time for a vacation! HA!

Outta The Tube, Baby!

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in a long time. Just look at those glossy baby leaves! DiLong Ranch's first grape vines...wow.

Today is my birthday, I have decided to spend most of it blogging. I love to blog, but life has gotten so busy for us that I just don't have time to do it. So, this is my present to myself. I get to write.

In other ranch news, we are finally getting control over the weed situation, but the rabbits and squirrels still continue to run amok. I have not yet found the squirrel bait, Home Depot was out of stock last week, so I will make another run shortly to see if they got any more in. The rabbits are getting so desperate they are eating the garlic and the dead leaves off of our purple palms. This is NOT good. The men have started joking that they are gonna sit up at night with a pistol, a case of beer and a flood light. Aiy yai.

I am also, slowly but surely, starting to see my ground cover take hold...and I have decided to mostly landscape with garlics, since that is the last plant the rabbits are interested in eating. I also need to go out and look for the little white flowers that stink...I don't know what they are called, but the rabbits DEFINITELY don't eat them.

I have also been working on decorating the kids' bedrooms. Julian's room had NO paint at all, just the white the house came with, so his room has been the first one I tackled. It now has a warm feel, alternate walls painted brown and light blue...today perhaps I will get to the trim. But no promises...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Progress and More Challenges

Guess what THIS is???

Its a baby grape vine sprouting for the very first time in a growing tube. COOL huh?

I was so stoked when Andy came in from watering the vines last Monday and announced, "We have bud break!" It was magical. I never dreamed they would grow so quickly. Now, we have to nurture them and protect them...YES!

This past weekend we finally took a whole day to work on the property. Every weekend something has come up and we have been unable to put enough hours into the projects we have wanted to tackle. Saturday, we cut weeds. I can now say that about half of the property is cleared and we can finally see the ground again.

The fruit grove has hit a setback. Two words. Ground Squirrels. As much as I hate cute cottontail bunnies, I now equally hate adorable little squirrels. I traversed down the hillside to check out all of our lucious fruit, which is NO WHERE NEAR being ripe, but the ground squirrels have already got after it and eaten more than half of our crops. Not that we are so worried about the fruit THIS year, but in the future this will be a big problem for our grape vines. I have been counseling with several pest control experts and I am going to check out ground squirrel bait at Home Depot. GRRRRRRRRR!!!

Oh, and of course, the bunnies are still an issue. They have eaten ALL of my geraniums, which I thought they would leave alone because of the strong scent...but..NOPE. Poof. Gone. I am finding some plants that they are not eating, so I will continue to plant those, little by little...I WILL have a lovely landscape by this time next year. So much to do.

The band project is going well. We are very excited about the music...its still too soon to reveal our creation, but I will say...we are finding a groove, and it ROCKS.

I gotta get back to work, I've been sitting on the computer far too long this morning. Family to feed and chores to be done, you know how it goes. I am grateful to Blogger for designing some new templates, the blog is looking very "pro" now.

Overwhelmed

OK, I admit it. It's a big project. But, what can I say, we are dreamers and do-ers.

This week we are feeling the stress of living out here in the country and the massive challenges of owning 5 acres of property. Last night we had 3 people come out: a handyman to help us understand our irrigation lines and advise us how to make it more efficient, a pergola salesman to give us an estimate to build a patio cover on the front of the house, and our friend Roger to put protective covers around the new grape vines we planted on Memorial weekend. All three drove up to the property at the same time, just as I had put a tri-tip on the grill. The meat caught on fire and burned the outside to a crisp...(that was just a side note to add some humor to the story.) hahaha

ANYWHOOOO...Handyman Wayne was able to set Andy straight on the irrigation lines, I was not privy to this conversation, nor did I want to be. This falls under the "heavy lifting" category that Andy agreed he would manage.

The pergola salesman wanted $10,000. Good-bye!

And Roger...poor Roger! Well, let's just say he got a taste of what we are dealing with. Critters had already started chewing on the vines "stubs" we put in the ground, AND they also chewed up the drip irrigation lines we put down. Little bastards! So, he installed protective covers for each vine and he is devising a plan to get the water line up off the ground.

As for me, I am starting little projects around the house. Later this month I want to start painting the kids rooms, and I am also building a new planter outside next to the carport. It doesn't sound like much, but it something I can handle.

I guess the biggest frustration for us right now is that things keep breaking, we don't have time to get out and do all the maintenance...let alone the improvement projects we want to tackle. Its a lot. But we have time. We just have to keep telling ourselves that.

Back to Reality

OK. It's been 5 weeks since the wedding. So much has happened, so this might be a long post. I will include some pictures to make it interesting. :)

The Wedding Day was awesome, everything we expected and more! Our timing was like clockwork, everyone did their job, showed up on time, nothing broke and it did not rain. The worse thing that happened was the wind blew like the devil for about 2 hours. It started right at the end of the ceremony and we scrambled to get bonfires lit so our guests would not freeze to death. The caterers had a tough time keeping the food warm because the wind was hitting them directly and it was pretty darned cold. Tablecloths blew everywhere, and a few people left early...but our hardcore friends stuck around, huddled in the mancave, on the porch and near the fires.

We have yet to see the proofs, but our poor photographer was definitely challenged to take decent wedding photos in 20mph winds. She told me they were awesome though, and I've had a few sneek peeks...I think I will be pleased.

My son, Dante sang for the masses and received standing ovations. He felt like a rockstar. It was cool to see his face light up as he jammed with a full band. My baby, so precious!

The honeymoon...aaaaaaaahhhhh, the much needed getaway! Very relaxing and romantic indeed. Andy was stunned by the central coast mountainsides and landscapes. We visited 14 wineries in 4 days, we ate like kings, slept and giggled, it was truly a honeymoon to be remembered. We came home with 4 cases of wine, and we are now spoiled beyond repair. There is no going back to Trader Joe's 2-buck chuck. MAN that was fun! I even took Andy to Hearst Castle so he could experience the grandeur. Touring this iconic fairytale castle on the hill makes you realize that visualization works. Anyway...I could go on and on. Enjoy the pics!

Coming back home, and back to reality, has taken us a few weeks to fall back into a normal routine. After all, what's normal? We've been kicking ass on this property for 6 months straight. Well, Mother Nature decided that for us. Two weeks after the honeymoon, our land exploded with 2-foot tall weeds. ALL OVER THE PLACE. Imagine 5 acres of weeds. It wouldn't be SO BAD if our neighbor hadn't told us that the snakes LOVE to hang out in the weeds...and in these two weeks we have had 3 snake sightings. 2 of them were rattlers. YIKES! So, now our "normal routine" is weed whacking. Our neighbors property is perfectly clean...no weeds at all. SO we asked him how he kept it so nice and he said "roundup". He sprays twice a year and the weeds don't come. Wow. Next year, we'll know.

Anyway, there are many other projects on the near horizon. I will keep blogging and let you know what's going on!

"This is Gonna Be Epic"

That's what Andy said after talking to Reverend Don on the phone. And it is...going...to be...epic.

Most of the work is done, just working on minor details now...but we are counting the days to our wedding. 6 to be exact.

I will not be posting anything for a couple of weeks, the timing is just too tight and we have several to-do lists a mile long. I want to take a moment and revel in all we have accomplished:

Landscaping. Four months ago this place was barren. No greenery at all, and the rabbits were running rampant on the property eating everything that popped up out of the ground. The winter was cold, windy and rainy, but when the sun started to shine Mother Nature did her job and painted this place better than Picasso could have. We planted out rabbit resistant flowers and shrubs, plus a few fan palms (our new friend, Jenny the Hunter, is helping us keep the bunny population under control...good girl!) The kids and I also explored the property and found beautiful desert rock to place in the plant beds. The previous owners had left some loose brick on the side of the house, so I used that to line the beds as well. Although we planted clover seed around the house, I don't think any of it popped up, instead we got tons of wild flowers, aka "weeds", that have not only made everything green, but the landscape is peppered with tiny flowers, white, pink, purple and yellow. Who knew weeds could be so pretty! Where the dirt was to hard and dry for the flowers to grow, we placed stepping stones (most of them on clearance at Home Depot!) The fruit trees are blooming and the birds are chirping, its just like a Disney movie, and I am Snow White. ok middle-aged Snow White, but who cares.

Man-Cave. Although its not complete, the man-cave is clean and somewhat tidy. We have one side set up with couch, chairs and TV for the kids to play Wii.

Trampoline. This has been the biggest thorn in our side, other than the rabbits. Apparently it gets WINDY up here on the hill, and our precious christmas present took flight twice during the wind storms this winter. The first time it was completely demolished and we have to order spare parts to put it back together. The second time it flew a football field away, but was not in bad shape...so we put it back together and poured cement in the ground to strap it down. If it blows away again, forget it! Anyway, this will be another form of amusement for our children guests.

The House. The very first thing we did was paint the house and we just LOVE the colors. Once that was done, it laid the foundation for all the other projects.

Lighting. We lined the driveway with solar lights, and bought accent lighting (also solar) to shine on the house and boulders...it looks EXCELLENT! Our good friend, Tom, bought us light fixtures and a matching light post for the front yard. At night when we turn them all on at night, there is a starburst pattern splayed out across the property, it looks spectacular!

Wedding organization. We have our caterer lined up (Mexican fajitas grilled on site), we have tables and chairs and linens being delivered on Thursday, and I ordered 3 packages of flowers that I will be picking up on Wednesday to decorate with. Very exciting. Our friend, Reverend Don will be marrying us, Brenda Portillo of Be Still Images will be doing the photography, our friend Mark Preleberg will be video-taping, and superstar Dave Barrios "Johnny on the Spot" will be keeping everyone on the dance floor.

I have the boys suits, my wedding dress and accessories...Andy has his suit cleaned and pressed...so we are ready to rock and roll.

At first we envisioned perhaps 70 people...but the guest list multiplied and we are now expecting over 100...maybe even 120. Parking became an issue once we saw the RSVP's rolling in. SO we enlisted our friend Roger to figure it out, he's good at stuff like that. He came out yesterday with his little orange flags and mapped it all out...excellent!

OK, my fingers hurt and I have a ton of work to do. Wish us luck and when I get a chance I will post more to tell you ALL about it!

Loves to all!

Its Coming Along Quite Nicely!

I have not had time to post to the blog in the past few weeks. Even that last post, I forgot to publish it and did not have time to add any pictures to it. Today, I really don't have time either, but I am letting my fingers flew swiftly over the keyboard to leave you all a quick note of our progress.

I have nearly finished landscaping the border around the house, it looks excellent, and I decided to use many of the rocks and gnarled pieces of wood to decorate with, it looks excellent. I did go buy some greenery and lots of garlic...I also took some of my potted plants off the porch and added them to the mix as well. I just love it!

Andy has fixed the trampoline...again. It has seen better days, but it is still in one piece and it is now soundly anchored to the ground by cement posts. We also put a light on the side of the garage to shine on it at night if the boys want to jump on warm summer evenings. Totally cool!

Andy also put up a beautiful light post that our good friend Tom gave to us as a house warming gift. It is...STUNNING! He poured a cement foundation for it on the center island in our driveway. Its just...in a word...KILLER! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that yet, but I will get one! (This is a picture of my boys helping dig a trench to run conduit to the light post.)

I am still placing stepping stones around the house, that is time consuming, but once finished, its gonna look GREAT!

The wind has not been kind to our new palms trees, but once they start growing, we can trim them up and they will look good again. I just love the look we are coming up with, its a combination of tropial island oasis and southwest-ranch, really unique and fun!

Jenny is getting better and better at hunting rabbits. In fact, I think she has discovered several dens...she comes home covered in dirt and bringing us several "prizes" a week. It was never my intention to be a rabbit-hater, and I know they are God's little creatures, but I sure wish they would go somewhere else and thrive in one of the many open fields elsewhere in the valley. I still wake up to find that they have destroyed yet another plant or flower...even if they don't eat it, they just tear it apart and leave it on the ground. They have removed several stalks off of our birds of paradise, and there is virtually nothing left of my baby palms on the driveway.

Anyway, we are about 19 days away from the wedding. All of the big projects are done, so we are down to finishing touches and organization. I really should get back to work. More to come! Stay tuned!

OK...Wow.

Our weekend was productive, and fun. We didn't kill ourselves, but we accomplished a lot and the property is really starting to shape up. Then Monday showed up...



Saturday morning Andy and my Dad worked on the trampoline, installing the new parts and making it round again, instead of, you know...pretzel shape. It didn't take long and by noon the boys were bouncing away on it. SUCCESS!



After that, Andy took a nap.



Saturday afternoon we made our weekly trek to Home Depot, and picked up stepping stones. (Its comforting to know Mr. Homer Depot's children will be able to afford to go to college.) Actually we bought some clearance items and did not spend a whole lots of money. When we got home, Andy laid stones in one directions and I worked in the opposite direction. We had a silent competition to see who's stepping stone design would prosper. Mine, of course, was a little more complex...while Andy's was simple yet random, which is the look we were leaning toward...so I reset my stones to match his, and all was right in the Universe.



Sunday our friends Roger and Kathy arrived to help us pick up fan palms at ther local nursery. We all thought this was going to be a monsterous task, but it actually went off without a hitch. The palms look excellent, and I am especially excited about the giant bird of paradise we placed on the side of the house. This would be an EXCELLENT place for a Japanese style zen garden. My wheels are definitely spinning!



I know I posted about the clover coming up, but I am still not sure that's what it is. It might actually be weeds. At this point in time, I don't care...its green, which is better than brown.



OK, so here's the part you've all been waiting for. What happened Monday? All day Sunday a storm was brewing, the wind kicked up and by sunset it was freezing cold outside. It started raining right about bedtime. Monday morning we awoke and it was still partly cloudy and cold. The kids and ran a few errands at noon and came back a little after 1pm. The wind was starting to blow and we all kind of giggled looking at the trampoline as the netting was flapping in the breeze. Andy had tried many ways to anchor it down, but decided that cinder blocks were the best option...



At 1:15 Jenny cried at the door because the wind was really picking up and she was scared...so I let her in. At 1:35 the phone rang...it was my dad. "How's the trampoline holding up?" my son answered as he looked out the window..."oh its fine, we have it held down...by...some...OOOHHH NOOOOO!" All that was left were the cinder blocks. No trampoline to be found. ANYWHERE! We ran outside and looked in every direction, the trampoline had completely disappeared. No shit. My dad came over and drove around the neighborhood and still could not find it. Andy came home completely broken hearted and defeated, and set out to find what was sure to be the mangled mess. He drove up the dirt road to the neighbor's house behind us and he found the trampoline in a gulley, the two of us hiked back there with a screwdriver and a rubber mallet and disassembled the big blue giant, resembling a beached whale at this point, and dragged it home. The irony is...(and you know how much I love irony) although the wind carried it three times farther than last time, it was actually NOT in bad shape. Andy was able to hammer the pieces back into shape, all except one...and we actually had a left-over piece from the last repair to replace it. We might be short a few springs, but that remains to be seen when we start putting it back together.



The real question is...how do we anchor this sucker down so it doesn't fly off again? We bought stakes and wire at Home Depot, but the stakes easily pulled out of the ground when we tested it. Our next experiment is sand bags. The manufacturer wants you to take down the netting when high winds come, but that is easier said than done.



Hm. Anyway, it is now Tuesday and I am falling behind in my duties. I welcome any ideas readers might have about our trampoline issue.

Making Headway! We Have Clover!

This has been a productive week! Last weekend we had glorious weather which managed to spill over into the work week as well, so we have gotten a lot accomplished!!!

Friday and Saturday we had a few gigs, so we weren't really able to get to work until Sunday on our home improvement projects. It was Valentine's Day. I asked Andy not to spend money on flowers or anything, I just wanted to spend the day with him working on the house. He agreed...YAY! So we drove around to Home Depot and local nurseries and picked up our next round of supplies.

In my last post I wrote that the clover had not yet germinated, but immediately after that I took a look around the property and realized I was mistaken. We - have - clover! This week's amazing weather has really encouraged growth too, the combination of rain and sun has really worked its magic. Right now it is very subtle, it looks like a light film of green over the landscape, but up close you can see how many little clover-guys have taken hold, its AMAZING!

I looked for Lantana, Veronica or Verbena at the local nurseries and both places told me straight up, it has been too cold this winter and they don't have any on hand. Home Depot had some of the Lantana but it was kind of pricey and the local growers explained that when it is grown locally it dies out in the winter. I want a plant that will be year-round, AND rabbit-proof...I know, I know...I am asking the world, right? Well, one nursery grower showed me a plant I had never heard of, it is used for ground cover, produces tiny little flowers, grows year round and it MAKES RABBITS SICK. At that point, I didn't care what it was called, I just said, "Give it to me!" hahaha. All kidding aside, I love the cute little cottontails, I think they are adorable...and I invite them with great enthusiasm to graze on the open field of green grass right next door. I will gladly wave to them from a distance, but I am afraid my plantings will be much to bitter and toxic for their delicate systems.

ANYWHOOOOO...I have been planting these new greeneries all week in my "spare time" between teaching my eldest son Quadradic formulas, my youngest son about simple and compound interest, laundry, dinner and wedding organizational duties. Who needs a hobby?

This will be an exciting weekend coming up. Andy and I have the entire weekend off, NO GIGS. We won't have another weekend like this for awhile, so we are going to power out as much work as possible. We received the replacement parts for the trampoline, so my dad is gonna help Andy put that back together in the morning. THEN we are going to pick up river rock, stepping stones and fan palms and hopefully get those put in place on Sunday.

Wish us luck! More pics to follow!

Can Anyone Identify This Bloom?

OK, so no rain in the forecast for awhile. Andy and I have been miserable with sinus infections all week, but we are slowly recovering. So, it's time to regroup.




While taking a walk around the property, we noticed some of our fruit trees are starting to bloom. Most of them, we have NO IDEA what they are. This particular tree is putting out a pinkish/red bloom and it is just gorgeous! Can anyone tell me what it is?





My clover is not sprouting, and the rabbits have claimed my iceplant AND have started in on one of the birds of paradise plants as well. This is quite discouraging.


A friend told me about a ground cover called Lantana, it puts out some pretty flowers and apparently the rabbits hate it, so I guess I will give that a shot. There are a few others that are just GORGEOUS plants and not favorites of the cottontail rascals...check these out:


Veronica











Verbena









How terrible would it be to lace the property with these gorgeous flowers? I am thinking it would be pretty darned cool.


However, I am still scratching my head about the clover. It has not sprouted as of yet and our wedding date is closing in fast. What to do, what to do.


OK, I have much to do...today I am going to meet with an alterations lady to fix up my dress, and the house looks like a hurricane hit. Work, work, work!

Waiting for the rain to subside

We are still having some blustery days, plus we have all been fighting a bit of a cold around here, so it is a good excuse to sit home and rest. This last weekend was sort of wet and cold and although Andy was not feeling well, but he still managed to get out and trim some trees. Other than that, I guess we just let Mother Nature water our clover seed and new plantings. :)

Sunday we went to a Superbowl party at our friends' home in Orange County and we were bombarded with wedding questions. These friends are also hosting our Engagement Party, so they want our input as far as organizing, inviting certain people and coming up with photos and music. It is a challenge to not feel overwhelmed. So, this week (as long as it is raining) I am concentrating on wedding details. I have contacted the reverend about our vows, I found my wedding shoes and need to look for a corset for my dress so I can have it altered. I also need to go to a local craft store and pick up some bowls to make centerpieces for my tables.

There is so much to do, and our number of weekends are becoming fewer and fewer. We should receive the parts to repair our trampoline this week, plus I would really like to plant the fan palms this weekend, but this might be put off for one or two more weeks. We have two gigs this weekend which really only gives us Sunday to work. Luckily, we have a free weekend after that, I hope the weather holds up!

There will be much digging in your future...

Oh boy.

This weekend was kind of a bust (home improvement wise) but we expected that. We had a show Friday, I had a High School Reunion Saturday night and Andy had to fly out to Maryland Sunday morning, so we didn't get a lot accomplished. Saturday afternoon we did scoot over to Home Depot to pick up some solar lighting and a wheelbarrow, then to a sod/landscaping store to pick up our clover seed. We came home and lined the solar lighting up the driveway, raked the ground a bit and threw down the clover seed, watered it and that was about all we had time for.
I'm not sure if I mentioned the clover decision in earlier posts, but I have been researching inexpensive ground-cover that is drought resistant, doesn't need much mowing and won't die if the dog pees on it. The answer was...clover. Other good news, it grows fast and with very little encouragement. PERFECT! The above picture shows what the ground looks like now...barren. We want to green it up in time for the wedding. This weekend it is supposed to rain a little and then we should have some sunshine and it will germinate. I'll take more pictures in a few weeks to let you know how its going.



Much to my chagrin, the rabbits are finding their way in between garlic plants to get to the iceplant cuttings I put down, so...sigh...I am going to have to build a better barrier.



Since the garlic shoots come in pots, I have been moving them around the property as needed, BUT now I have decided I must take them out of the pots and just start lining the property with individual shoots. This is going to be time consuming.



More good-news/bad news...Jenny caught another rabbit, BUT she is digging holes all over the property, including where we have put down new plants. I'm not sure if she is digging out of boredom, to find more rabbits or to bury her treasures...but it is borderline destructive and I am hoping it doesn't become a huge issue. She was SO PROUD today to show off her kill...and I showered her with tons of love and gratitude. She is such a sweet dog...I just adore her.

So, wish me luck with my digging issues. I will be planting garlic until the cows come home, and refilling holes that Jenny has created. YAY! :)

And More Digging!

I'm on a roll. Took the dog to the vet and on the way home we stopped at the nursery to pick up some ice plant. While I was there (waiting for them to bring out the flats) I saw a huge bush with perfect purple daisy's growing from it! "What is that?" I asked Andreas. "Daisy's" he answered. (because he is a man of few words) He took some cuttings off the bush and gave them to me, then showed me how to trim them and put them in the ground. YAY!

Off I went with my 2 flats of ice plant.

As soon as we got home, I grabbed the shovel once again and vowed to remove that UGLY dried up desert sage on the front hillside. I know, I know...it sounds cruel, but the property is loaded with them and I really don't want this one in front of my house. Because of the rain it is temporarily green, but once summer rolls around that thing will be brown and brittle. Its ugly. (did I mention that already?) So, I took it down with branch clippers and a shovel. It put up a fight, but I was determined. Once it was gone, I was able to put down my sprigs of ice plant.

OH! I also planted my cuttings of "daisy's" in front of the house next to the purple palms and bird of paradise. I am so excited!

I surrounded the new plantings with our pots of garlic, hoping the bunnies will stay away. Sic 'em Jenny!

I wanted to get this work done during the week because this weekend we have 2 shows and Andy goes out of town Sunday morning...so our weekend is pretty shot. I'm getting a lot done on my own! YAY!

Mid-Week Report, Digging!

Since moving in here we have had a few serious downpours which has opened our eyes to the reality of erosion. Several slopes on the property are without vegetation and therefore a sudden downpour of rain is going to wash away the dirt and leave huge crevices in the land. Eventually this can become a problem and create sinkholes and irrepairable damage.


My goal is to put a lot more vegetation on the property, this is a difficult task when you know there are about 1,000,000 or so rabbits out there just waiting for you to plant something tasty! The good news is, Jenny caught her first rabbit this morning and decided to chew its face off. (I know, graphic...but it made me happy, thank your stars I didn't take a picture) She was quite proud of herself and now, you can see it in her eyes, she is a hunter...she is on the prowl. My guess is that bunnies aren't going to want to spend a whole lot of time on this property. So with Jenny's help and the trusty garlic plants, I am hoping it will be safe to start planting some vegetation.



Today, I started digging the soft dirt (still soaked from the rain) and filling in the eroded areas the rains caused. Next I will start planting some ice-plant in this area. I am very excited to have this slope fill in with beautiful purple flowers by April.



I also did some research on groundcover for the yard. I really wanted grass, but again, we have a few problems: 1. it is hot and dry here in the summer, making it extremely difficult to keep grass alive. 2. dog urine. dogs LOVE to pee on grass and then you have dead grass patches...not attractive. 3. None of us are very enthusiastic about mowing. 4. it is very expensive to lay sod and we have a lot of ground to cover. 5. rabbits. Well, ONCE AGAIN, I found a wonderful solution! Clover! Apparently, clover is cheap to buy, easy to grow, it is resistant to dog urine, doesn't need much mowing, nor does it need much watering. It stays green even in intense heat. AWESOME! Plus we have the bunny situation under control. YAY!




So, in the next couple of weeks, I foresee us planting ice-plant and clover seed. Green acres, here we come!

Weekend #4 - Project Man-Cave Underway

The rain last week was intense. Thursday was the worst, the winds kicked up to what seemed like typhoon magnitude, it got a little hairy. Our internet went down three times in 4 days and we lost power Thursday for about half an hour. One of our little trees started leaning to a 45 degree angle, our garbage cans would not stay in place and we ended up putting them into the garage. Jenny stayed indoors most of Thursday, and by that time all of us were getting cabin fever. It was the perfect time, however, to address the envelopes for my wedding invitations...another thing wiped off my To-Do List! Yes!


Friday morning came and it was much calmer outside...Dante and I stared out the back window for a few moments and he said, "Mom, do you notice anything different?" and although I knew something was not quite right, I could not put my finger on it..."I'm not sure, what is it?" he pointed to the empty space in the yard where the trampoline used to be and we both said it outloud, "TRAMPOLINE!" Our eyes scoured the property and we finally saw our poor upside down Christmas gift in the field behind the garage. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!! The next morning, Andy pulled it back over the fence and it literally looked like a pretzel. Major bummer! Not only was it an expensive gift for the boys, it has been a hit with them...they jumped on that thing everyday for hours. Andy feels certain he can order parts and repair it...I hope so. Next time we know, trampoline + typhoon = Kite.






Saturday we decided to get out of the house, so we took some friends to Hamilton Oaks Winery in Trabuco Canyon and picnicked. It was freezing, but we huddled under the patio heaters and drank wine...for three hours...it was a fun day. We even explored the vineyard and got muddy. YAY!



Sunday, it was back to work. Andy got outside early and planted our new purple palms and birds of paradise in the front yard, then it was time for...Project Man-cave.



We pulled everything out of the garage, re-organized, threw out, and stowed storage boxes into the
rafters. It was great fun. The garage had about 2 inches of dirt on the floor, so I swept and shop-vac'ed. We set up the smaller side like a livingroom, complete with sectional sofa, coffee table, love seat and television. This will be a perfect alternative "hang-out" room when we have the wedding. It never ceases to amaze me how spiritually cleansing it is to clean out a room, even if it is your garage. The cleaning part is about 90% done, next we will put some drywall, put some old rugs down, set up internet and cable and organize the band equipment. Bingo...man-cave.

Next weekend's goal will be to pick up the fan palms and do some more planting. Very exciting!


In other news, Jenny is officially a hunter. She caught and killed a quail today...which means she would do the same to a rabbit...YES! GOOD GIRL!!!!


Happiness prevails at DiLong Ranch.