Long walks, rose pictures and stuff

 Haven't been out to the garden since I watered might go out there a bit alter. It's a wonderful fall day and went out for a long walk in a park near the San Diego river. Large amounts of flat land and yet fall color was to be seen as the poplar trees were turning yellow.

I was taking photos for possible paint projects but it was hard to see the screen on my phone and just hoped the framing was good. The chaparral bushes were in full fluff and it made a good contrast. Watching shows like This Old House which is filmed mostly back east it definitely shows a difference in the weather. The last show we saw had snow on the ground but they swept the snow off the new sod they put down. Funny that... 

Whenever a customer would ask about what to plant in the winter here or how to take care of a plant for the winter I would remark, 'what winter?' We get cold and what mountains we do have get some snow but it has rarely ever gotten down to the lower elevations. Cold is tolerable for most plants and even preferred so they can properly go dormant but here again we get 80 degree days in the middle of November or December which drives the plants crazy.

Tiffany?

Fragrant Plum?

Hard to say what variety the lavender one is but it might be Fragrant Plum but pretty sure I'm wrong. I used to know roses so well and now it's another fading knowledge bank. Perishable skills due to memory loss. 

Anyway, the roses are blooming and that's because it feels like spring. Cool nights, warm days, occasional overcast. If they had been taken care of properly and fed they would have more flowers but was happy to see these nonetheless. I'm thankful for the place we have and would like to think I could do so much with an actual yard.

As soon as I get some more money in I'll definitely get another bag of compost and dig it in the tomato bed. The tomatoes I don't think are going to be ripening very quickly so that will be my workout this coming week. I said that a few weeks ago didn't I?

Oh another small thing about liability with neighbors. A former coworker from HD messaged me and asked if a 50-60 year old pine tree that was 90% burned from a neighbor firing a bottle rocket could be saved. My first reaction was 'umm say what?' It was a huge old pine tree and the idiot neighbors killed it with a bottle rocket. It could have been so much worse but he sent me a picture that another neighbor had taken and I was flabbergasted. Now pine trees are faster growing than say and oak tree thankfully but still, 50-60 years old is venerable for a pine tree. I told him sadly no, it was not salvagable and if he wanted to replace it or there were other damages his neighbor was entirely responsible for getting a replacement and paying for damages. Good luck trying to find a decades old mature pine tree for sale.

He wasn't going to sue and the neighbor was turning the stump into a love seat. That isn't enough compensation for being reckless. That could have turned very bad very quickly due to it being a pine tree and has sap that can be explosive. So it comes down to anything you do to vegetation on a neighbors yard or vice versa is the responsibility of the perpetrator not the home owner. Even if the roots or branches are infringing on a neighbor, you are liable for damages your tree or bush does to your neighbor. 

The house I lived in while I was married was built in the early 80's when we got it it was about 10 years old. It had a full grown Chinese Elm between our house and the fence between the two houses. That space was about six feet, a Chinese Elm gets 20-30 feet wide. So needless to say it was covering most of my front yard and overhanging the neighbors, clogging their gutters with leaves and seeds. We never trimmed it as it was about $200 to get someone to do it properly and ex did not want to spend that much money on the yard. 

Well finally we had to move out and the neighbors asked if they could chop of the branches on their side, I told them sure, go at it, we won't be here. They did a straight line at the fence and chainsawed it off. That was decades ago literally and recently saw a picture of the house. Most of the yard was now cemented in, the front hedge is gone and the tree is no longer there. Knowing what used to be there it saddened me but owners changed three or four times over the years since we had it and that's what happens.

A home is what you make it and that includes the yard and what you do with it outside as well as inside. Realtors call it 'curb appeal' I call it making a house into a home starts with landscaping that shows your personality a bit. Don't ever let a real estate agent tell you to plant something because it looks nice. I had to deal with that a few times as well, trying to put a bush in a shady spot where I know it would die. Is your RE agent a landscaper? No? Then pick something else that works better.

Anyway... that's my reminiscing rant for today. Might go out to the garden and see if there's a tomato ready. Might wait until tomorrow. Went for a 40 minute walk today and am pooped.