Outside

So, it's been about six months and a bit since we moved into our home.  It's certainly been an up and down ride and most definitely so in what happens outside the house.  Here are some highlights of our outdoor adventures.  Sorry if this bores you to death.  I'm (obviously) dreadfully behind in posting about anything going on.  Enjoy!

Our first failed attempt at growing something.  This was an unfortunate green pepper plant that we tried to grow in the "spring."  It didn't last much into the month of June.

And the other failed attempt to grow something.  I think this was a cucumber.  It shriveled and bleached nicely in the sun. 

This is a lovely example of the kind of downpour we can get during the monsoon season.  You can see the back yard flooded (the four "hills" are where my four failed attempts to grow zucchini and melons were). 

The view from the front - the gutters are not designed for that much water at once.

Oh, did I say failed attempts?  Before this downpour, nothing had sprouted.  I guess it just needed a bucket-load of water?  (Unfortunately, it didn't last much longer than this tiny sprout.)

I know I thought Arizona was going to be a dull, ugly place with no green and no beautiful plants.  I've since been impressed with the gorgeous flowering desert plants that thrive here despite the dreadful heat and lack of water.  Here's a view of several bright flowering plants.

You can see our poor (and somewhat yellow and sun damaged) orange tree, soon after it was transplanted.  The makeshift sun shade we put up didn't do much good (possibly because it blew over every. single. day.)

Also, the lime tree that somehow made its way from Utah here to Arizona and now is struggling to figure out what's going on...

But here's a more recent photo of the two trees and you can see they are both doing much better - growing even!  Despite some of the crazy things we've discovered on our orange tree (thrips - who knew?), I think it will survive.

And here's a bit of random for you.  When we were working the ground out back, we discovered something poking out.  What's that, you say?

Well, it's some dumbbell weights, of course.  I honestly was a bit worried we'd find a body buried in the back.  But I don't even know what possessed the previous owner to bury these...

And this lovely bit of dirt was our first attempt at making a somewhat raised bed to try and grow something in the fall (because spring didn't quite work out for us).

Nice little rows with loads of delicious dirt.  However, I've had only about 5 things sprout, 3 of which I'm not quite sure I planted. :)  I may actually have success with a cucumber, though.  Turns out, this spot only gets about 3-5 hrs of sunlight in the winter.  Go figure.

Next, Vince worked on making our rock pile outside the door look nicer - like putting a puzzle together.

Here it is with the sand between the cracks.  Looks pretty good!  If only we managed to keep it looking that swept clean :)

More proof that beautiful things grow here - this sage blooms about every 6 weeks all spring, summer, and fall (we'll see about winter).  I love it's gorgeous purple blossoms!  Also, you can trim it back to a nub and it will flourish again in no time.  Easy plantings are the best.

After some trimming - still looks good.

We also have an Oleander.  this is not the best it's looked either, but when it's covered in those bright pink blooms, it looks very nice.  And I think I forgot to water it most of the summer.  Resilient, anyway :)

We still get those nice gorgeous sunsets too - love it when there are clouds making things look extra fiery.

And that's all for the outside right now.  Maybe I'll update on the inside sometime.  Or my summer vacations.  Or anything, really.  Or maybe not.