The Weekender

It has been too long!!!

2010-08-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Our Cocker, Sidney

Our shietzu, Baby

The newest edition to our Family, our Doxie, Tyler

Ty was a rescue. Her human died and her children were unable to care for her.

We have enjoyed her company very much

All three of our babies are girls and somehow two of them would end up with boys names. Go figure.

Well we have not posted anything in our blog for almost an entire yr now. Just couldn't bring myself to move Grandaddy. But we must go on.

Jimmy has been hard at work in the yard, but the heat and dry summer are not cooperating with him. I know he is frustrated by this but he continues to plug away making our backyard an oasis for us to retire to in the evening. He is one of the hardest workers I know.

I am posting a few pictures that I think are new since the last post. Hope you enjoy them.

2009-08-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

One of the saddest days of my life...

Friday, August 21, 2009

This past Friday, we lost Granddaddy, he was 86. He and Grandmama had been married for 67 years. On Thanksgiving day 1998, he suffered a debilitating stroke that made life for him very difficult. He lost his ability to speak and walk, but he was still the same great man the following ten, almost eleven years. He never complained, never seemed to feel pity for himself, but continued as he had the previous 57 years of his and Grandmama's marriage to want the best for his lovely bride.

He and Grandmama had three children, Sue Ann, Jerry and Gerald. We lost Sue Ann in 1995 to bone cancer and sometimes I wonder if he ever really got over Sue Ann's death. Jerry is my Daddy. Granddaddy was so much more to my brother, Raymund, and I, he was truly a second Daddy. We grew up across the road from them and were at their house more than we were at our own sometimes. Raymund still works in the family business in south Alabama that was started by our great-great-granfather in about 1903. It is a water well drilling company that has only changed names through the years, it is now called Edgar and Jerry Hughes Well Drilling. Given Granddaddy's impact on the water well business in that region, I wouldn't foresee a change in name. I even spent my time working in the business, although I never had the knack for it Raymund did and does. Raymund seemed to take his death harder than most of the grandchildren. I am sure that is because granddaddy took him under his wing at an early age and began teaching him the formations of the earth and which types of rock and sand would give up the most water.

He was such a jovial man. Loved to listen to your jokes and would laugh at the ones that were funny and even those that weren't so funny. The picture at the end of this post is the one that we chose to remember Granddaddy by, he was always laughing, seemed to be in good spirits and wanted those around him to be happy as well.

So long for now Granddaddy. I love you and will miss you terribly.

Wade

You always enjoyed life and wanted those around you to enjoy it with you.

We did...

To visit the Memorial site for Granddaddy please visit www.MEM.com

type hughes into the search engine, scroll down to his memorial and watch the tribute to him.

Been Awhile Since We Chatted....

2009-07-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

I realize it's been awhile since we had time to sit down and catch up on everything, so here goes..

We have both been extremely busy around here, me and work and Jimmy at work, in the yard, and at work. I have been out of town on some meetings and actually took my daughter to The Grand Hotel in Point Clear for four days. My it was nice, we both hated to leave.

As I mentioned earlier, Jimmy has been busy in the yard. First of all every stitch of grass in the back yard died, you heard me, it died. We think it may have died from the heat and maybe we didn't quite get it enough water, but at any rate it died. Thankfully, Randy and Jamie, were putting in another bed and we were able to get the grass they were getting rid of. It is St. Augustine so it is more drought and heat tolerant. We have noticed Bermuda Grass coming up and that was what was in the first spreading of seeds we lay down in the spring.

Aside from that development not much has changed. The most exciting thing that has happened is Jimmy did build a trellis and fence at the top of garden. Here are some of the pictures that he took of it shortly after he finished.

This one is looking back up at the back of the house, just ignore the messy porch.

Don't you just love the little fence he built.

This one is looking down on the fountain with the neighbors swing set in the background.

And yet another view of the new addition.

I want to thank everyone for checking in and looking at this blog, we will try to keep it updated better in the future. Keep checking back and happy gardening.
Wade and Jimmy

One More Step Along The Way...

2009-06-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

Is it only Wednesday? :(... It seems like it should be next Monday already. Things at work have been "crazier than a run over dog." (hope that doesn't offend anyone, but if you have ever seen a run over dog you know what I am talking about) At any rate, we are proud to be able to share with you the completion of our latest edition of the lower garden. We (Jimmy mostly) finished the trellis/retaining wall in the lower garden. We thought we would share those pictures with you today. As usual, Jimmy in his own resourceful way found a way to build this with nominal cost to us and using wood that they had left over from construction jobs. I hope that you enjoy and maybe get some ideas for yourself.

The picture below is a picture of the trellis from the corner garden and the stairs that lead down to the trellis. This new work is the proud home of a honeysuckle vine given to us by Randy and Jamie of http://jandrgardenblog.blogspot.com/ . We also did some late planting of several varieties of glad bulbs that I hope will come up and be as nice looking as the pictures on the packages.

And finally below is the finished project. I can't believe the difference it has made in this area of yard. I actually don't mind fighting the mosquito's to venture into this area of the yard. We had one friend that was taken away by the mosquito's, fortunately he was returned safely.

Finally, thanks to Maggie of http://mamawhatthe.blogspot.com/ for her award to Jimmy and I for the recycling of many of the items in our garden. People really can't believe it when we tell them that we have less than $1,000.00 involved in the landscaping. I don't have the eye for re-purposing that Jimmy does, but it amazes me how he can take someone else's throw away items and turn them into something so wonderful. We hope you all enjoy this post and are inspired in some small way. Good night and happy gardening.

Wade-N-Jimmy

The New Wall

2009-06-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a few days since out last post, but time has just not been our friend lately. We haven't even had a chance to celebrate Jamie's Birthday with he and Randy yet. :( Jimmy did begin another wall in the lower garden on Saturday due to the need to stop the run off water from continuing to erode the garden. It looks pretty good so far(was there any doubt with him doing it.) He is again using left over lumber from one of their jobs. I have posted some of the before and during pictures below, during because it actually isn't finished yet, we need more lumber

The pictures below are pictures Jimmy has taken over the past week. As you can see the Canna's are in full bloom and many more beautiful blooms are waiting to bust out.

Loved these hydrangea. The colors are so awesome this year. The lavender is just so deep and there is a pink one that is so pink it almost looks lavender. I don't think I uploaded that picture yet.

Below is a picture of the mimosa tree in our back yard. I know hate is a strong word, but I literally hate this tree. It is by far the messiest one tree I have ever seen in my life. We have decided to take it out this fall. I do admit that it is attractive when it is in bloom, but man does it make a mess.

Well, bye for now and happy gardening.

Do we need to start building an Ark?

2009-05-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday started off like a lot of days lately, with rainy skies. It is as if the good Lord has decided to give us the rain that we had been missing over the past several years.

As I said earlier, our good friends Ronnie and Lee from south Alabama came up for the weekend. They had ordered several statues from the concrete man Randy and Jamie introduced us to in Clanton, Alabama. He really has great prices on everything he has. In the pictures in today's blog you will see the lady in the first photo and the large fountain in the second we purchased from him dirt cheap. His motto is "its only concrete."

This is one of the new additions to the garden at the back of the yard. She is a welcome addition to the garden family. Not sure if she will stay here or move more to the center of the bed to be surrounded by the beautiful blooming lilies and glads. Any suggestions?

Here is the most exciting addition to the garden since we finished the second retaining wall. In this photo you see the bowl and top of the fountain. Notice that the pump housing has not been finished yet. He didn't have one to match the finish on this fountain so he gave us the pump housing at not cost.

Here I tried to get the whole fountain up close. Not too pleased with this picture. You can see the water cascading from the lady at the well to the bottom bowl. (Can't tell we love this fountain can you) We didn't even wait until we got the pump housing stained.

Here you can see the fountain in its current position. We did have a reason for setting it up, we wanted to see where we wanted it. It has replaced a seldom used bird bath.

"Jimmy's Plant Hospital and Adoption Center."
Most of these plants were rescued from others cleaning out their beds, found while trekking through the woods on his work sites, and even friends giving them to him after they had almost let them die. The fern that that you see in the upper left was pronounced DOA by Dr. Wade when it arrived. With Dr. Jimmy's patients and persistence it is beginning to come back to life. Randy and Jamie of http://jandrgardenblog.blogspot.com/ gave him the cork screw willows that you see planted, and growing i might add, in the red solo cups in the back.

...

Included this picture, not because it was that impressive of a picture, but because of the way it turned out. We noticed how it looked as if we had photo shopped the rose into to picture. Just thought it was neat.

I think this one is called the "Blue Eyes"

Love this one: "Wild Horses"

Well in closing let me say thanks again for all of the comments and the visits. We are still trying to figure this whole blog thing out, so please be patient.

Also, I almost forgot, if you want an agave, please let us know. We have 12 babies now and need to get rid of them. If you want one let us know and we will send one to you absolutely free (is this the part where I say, "call now, in the next ten minutes, cause we can't do this all day"?). Just don't want to have to throw them away.

Happy gardening until next time, Wade and Jimmy

Yet another rainy day weekend

2009-05-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

We are here at home this weekend with the rain pouring down outside. We are blessed to have our friends Ronnie and Lee here to spend the weekend with us. During a break in the showers this morning we walked through the garden and were able to take a few pictures to share with you. Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Saturday.

Even the squirrels were looking for cover from the rain. This little fellow was resting in one of the trees in the backyard.

This is my, Wade, curly airplane plant. It has really come on from the little baby it was at the beginning of the spring

Here is one of the baby agave we have. We have twelve of these babies in various sizes. If you need/want one let us know. We will be glad to send you one as long as we have them to send.

Don't know the name of this little beauty, but, here it is in all its glory.

Here is a picture of one of the asiatic lily's. They are blooming throughout the yard.

We finally are seeing the canas begin to bloom. Love the large blooms they produce

In looking back over the previous posts I realized that we had not shown a close up of the stairs Jimmy built on the north side of the yard from the recycled concrete.

Here is another on Jimmy's recycle projects. A neighbor was throwing this strawberry pot away because if the break and it also has a crack. He asked if he could have it, pieced it together and glued it. You see the result, we use it as a succulent dish.

Lightning Bugs Galore

2009-05-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

We haven't had much time this week to spend in the yard working or to just sit down and enjoy it for that matter. So for your entertainment, LOL, we are posting some of the pictures we took on Sunday after the rain had left the area. Their are a few I have included that Jimmy took today.

This is a photo of the chipmunks home. Before we bought the house this tree had apparently fallen and they did not remove the stump and left it laying on its side. We though it had a certain natural appeal to it and left it in place. We have English Ivy growing on it now and covering most it for the most part.

This is our Princess, Baby, she has decided that her place in the yard is atop the stump. I noticed Sunday that she was missing from the patio area. I looked down the hill and there she was, perched atop the stump.

Here is a picture from the lower garden looking back toward the house. You can see that the lilies are blooming and there are more coming. The Glads are starting to bloom as well.

The matins did not come to the garden this year. It is the first year we have had a place for them so we are hopeful that next year they will choose us. For the time being we do have a full house.

The Lantana is beginning to bloom and show its beautiful blooms.

These two pictures are of the hydrangea we have in the garden that are beginning to show their true colors.

In closing tonight I wanted to tell you about the Lighting Bugs we had tonight.

There were hundreds of lightning bugs. If they had all decided to light up at once it would have probably made the street lights go out. LOL. It was neat to see.

well bye for now and happy gardening.

Wade and Jimmy

2009-05-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

New Camera

(Front entrance to our home)

Jimmy and I woke up this dreary Sunday morning hoping to be able to get some things accomplished in the yard. Guess what. What you asked, we didn't. It rained most of the day so we went to breakfast, only it was lunch by the time we got out of the house. I had told Jimmy that we needed a new camera, so off camera shopping we went. We settled on the Fuji FinePix S1500. Like Randy http://jandrgardenblog.blogspot.com/ we got tired of being beaten out by the camera dealers that buy their stock off Ebay. At any rate take a look at the pictures we took after the rain today and let us know what you think.

This is one of the favorites of Jimmy and I both. I think it is because you can see the droplet of water about to drip from the petal of this "glad". Did not even see this until we downloaded the photo.

Just to show you more of Jimmy's creative mind, he used this old seed spreader that the previous owners had left here when they sold us the house. We had tried to use it when we moved in to broadcast the grass seeds and found that it was just easier to do it by hand. The fern planted in this planter is a "tiger fern". We bought this from Southern Homes and Gardens in Wetumpka, Alabama.

I think we had posted a photo of our praying angel in a previous post, but I wanted to show you all how she looks to be crying. I noticed this a couple of months ago one afternoon when I arrived home after a long day. I just think this is cool.

The picture above is a bloom from the "walking iris" given to us by our friends Ronnie and Lee. It was a house/garden warming gift.

Jimmy took this picture this afternoon with the new camera as well. It is of an "Asiatic lily"

He told me that is what this was, I had not a clue what it was called.

Here is another of Jimmy's ingenious ideas. It seems that one of the going things now in gardening are the concrete or gazing balls. He frequents the thrift stores looking for ideas. He came home one day with two bowling balls that he had bought for $1.00 each. I thought he had lost his mind. Turns out I shouldn't have questioned him. I love how the bowling ball and the "purple heart" seem to have been made for each other.

We added two new additions to our front entrance last night. The "fox glove" was irresistible. Jimmy says that it is the color. He says that if I had my way I would probably paint the house Purple. I don't think so though.

This is Sidney, our Cocker Spaniel. She is standing in her favorite spot. She likes to stand on top of the wall watch for squirrel's. It is funny to watch her when she sees one. She goes flying off the wall and chases them around the yard.

And not to be forgotten is our little princess, Baby. She really doesn't have a favorite spot, just wherever she can be under foot.

I have most likely kept you far too long today, so I will sign off by saying that I hope you have a wonderful week and happy gardening.

Wade & Jimmy

2009-05-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday Everybody, another day to work in the yard for Wade and I. As you can see in this picture Wade was walking around shooting pictures while I was trying to contend with the chipmunk! problem we have. I really don't mind them living under the fallen tree in my bed but they are tunneling under my flowers and causing our girls, Baby and Sydney, to go crazy trying to catch them as they pop their head up. As a result of the chipmunks tunnels our girls trashed one of my day lillies today which threw my blood pressure into high gear.

Wade and I were talking this morning about how funny it was to have a Saint Francis statue in the yard, The patron Saint of animals, and having to contend with the squirrels and chipmunks. I guess they feel at home in our backyard because we love animals as long as they don't destroy what we are trying to build here, Oh and definitely the ones who slither on their bellies. That thought just sends shivers up my spine, because we have a tract of woods behind our property that seems to be home to all sorts of creatures, including yes you guessed it snakes .Since we first moved here in August of 2008 I have dealt with 7 so far, none all to big but a snake is a snake to me. Some people say leave them alone but my ability to imagine them slithering through my yard is something I cannot bring myself to contend with ....

In this photo is an ongoing progress of me (Jimmy) trying to improve the front of our house .The three pots of plants you see on the sidewalk are a few of my Clearance finds as I strolled through Lowe's this morning. I am all about finding deals on plants so that we will be able to have more for less these days, as I know many people out their realize everything is rising except the money we receive for the work we do. I am all about reusing things also recycling instead of having to buy new everytime and filling the landfills with more debris, my way of doing my part to save the planet I guess.

Milk and Wine Crinums Oh how I just love to see those bell shaped blooms open up and reach for the sky. We have about 12 of these in our yard that I (jimmy) dug from our neighbor from the past yard, they were going to mow them over with the grass and told me to dig them or they will be gone. As you may have guessed I took my trusty shovel and the rest was history so to speak .

This picture is of the bench garden made from recycled concrete, the cracks in between the larger sections of concrete pieces were excellent for planting succulents, the plants in the foreground are Agave and will get too large for the bed but for the time being they look good to me if for nothing but filler, as some have told me I change my mind like the wind.

This is another section of the same bench. I know it may look a bit thrown together from the top, but the overall look of this bed is good I think .

These ( I was told to be Hen and Chicks ) beauties are delicate looking and if a dog tramples them they will lose leaves although they will throw new plants from the fallen petals which in my book is a very good thing indeed.Sun loving as these plants may be I think they enjoy the bit of shade that hits them in the hottest part of the day here. I have to admit something to everyone who reads this blog, I have a problem not watering something when it looks too dry, yes it is a funny thing. Reason enough for me to have to put all the plants that don't like much water as far away from the hose as possible, although I have gotten better at dealing with that thankfully and Wade has laughed at me so many times saying just wait and see how they fare after you drown them. Well it is time to go mow the grass and plant a few things, there will be more to come as we progress. Enjoy the weather and we will be writing new entries and reading all your blogs, because all you have had some very good ideas and very beautiful pictures to share .

2009-05-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well since starting this blog we have already been encouraged and motivated by many of you. We have no new photos as I write this, however, I feel this will soon change. The Lillies are blooming and even some of glads are beginning to bloom. (I don't know why but glads are one of my favorites. Wish the blooms would last year round) We missed getting a photo of the Dragon Lilly last week. It was awesome. (use your imagination) It was a deep, deep burgundy with an almost black spire coming from the middle. We had purchased it from Petals from the Past on an excursion with Randy and Jamie. I am personally excited that my Donkey Ear is having babies. We love the succulents as well. Our Mother of Thousands didn't fair to well over the winter. She was apparently very temperamental when we brought her in. I did manage to save a few of the babies and they are beginning to get a little growth to them now.

If the rain holds off this weekend we are going to be taking some pictures and posting those for all to see.

By the way, if you have a suggestion on how to keep the squirrels and chipmunks from terrorizing the beds and devouring the bulbs of a plant, PLEASE, PLEASE give us some advice.

Until later,
Wade and Jimmy

2009-05-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well I actually was able to get the other computer to allow me to download these pictures from onto a zip drive. I am still learning how to download so these are actually not in order.

This is one of the beginning photos of the pond you saw in the previous post.

Notice the waterfall Jimmy built. The rocks you see around the base of the pond are the concrete sacks that had gotten wet at a contractors place.

Another of the pond and waterfall

Jimmy went scavaging through the woods behind our home to find some of the rocks you see in the bottom of the pond. Most of them came from the yard though in our clean up efforts.

The pond was originally going to be placed in the Northeast corner of the yard. Jimmy decicded that it would look better in the Southeast corner. Turns out this was a better choice because there is less sunlight in the area he moved it to.

The picture above was taken shortly after the first terrace was completed. You should notice the drop off from where the top of the wall to where he was standing when he took the picture.

Picture of the lower portion of the yard before any work had been done. You do see one small section of a bed that Jimmy put in shortly after we moved in. He did this because we had so many plants that we were moving from the other place. Only took one moving van to move everything in the house, but it took two trips in the moving van and one with Randy's pickup to get most of the plants and flowers.

I don't want to bore anyone with redundant descriptions, but I am so proud of what Jimmy accomplished.

The area above is now where the pond is located. He had marked out where he wanted the base of the second retaining wall to be placed.

Sidney is our Cocker and she was a constant overseer of the project.

Now we get to the first photos taken when we moved into the house. Looking back up the hill you see the slope we were dealing with. Looks so different now and are we both glad.

Another angle in the backyard prior to any work being completed.

Another picture of the lower section of the yard prior to any work.

And another....

This one was taken a few days after we moved in. Jimmy had cleared the fence line along the back of the property and placed an old bench we had brought with us from the other place.

This section of the yard gave us fits with runoff. If you look closely in the bottom left corner of the picture you will see our little pricess, "Baby". She is our Shitzu who belonged to Jimmy's mother before she died.

This final picture gives a kind of overall view of the yard prior to our beginning any real work. In fact if I am not mistaken this one may have been before we actually moved in. Well. I hope I have not bored you all too much with these pictures and again I apologize for the order... Just look from the bottom up and read it again. LOL

Have a great day and wonderful evening...

First Edition

2009-05-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

Jimmy and I are not the most prolific writers in the world so do not expect too much in the way of daily updates. I hope that we can update a couple of times a week. We are also new to this blogging idea so be patient.
I have been wanting to start this for awhile now to show off the hard work that Jimmy has put into our backyard. We purchased this home in August, 2008. When we saw the house we fell in love with everything about it from the neighborhood to the yard. The front yard is quite small, however the backyard is very spacious. The back originally was a hill that went almost straight down. When looking at the property we could see the amazing potential that this home could offer.

In this picture you will notice the slope to the left of the pond. This was my least favorite area of the yard. Each time it rained we had rushing rapids going to the bottom of the yard. Now thanks to hard work and dedication we have been able to stop the water from carrying the yard into the alley behind us.

You can see the one of the two benches that were built using the concrete given to us when one of Jimmy's friends grandmother had to remove her pool, patio and walkways.

In this photo you see Jimmy taking a break after some hard work. This photo shows the two sets of stairs he built from railroad ties coming from the patio. Where I am standing taking this photo is about nine feet below the patio (if not more). The work in the yard was slow at first because of the slope. We fell down more than once.

This shot is of the rear of the house. We had been working on getting grass to grow, this is why

you see the straw spread on the hillside. The stone work you see was

placed by Jimmy. The interesting thing about the stone is that it actually is not stone.

Jimmy had a friend whose grandmother was removing a pool, patio and walkway.

They needed to get rid of the concrete and a large amount of dirt. We told them we would take it and the rest is history.

This is a shot of our fish pond that was constructed from a garden tub that

was salvaged from a home that was being torn down.

An interesting note about the stones that you see surrounding the pond is actually

concrete that had been allowed to get wet by a contractor. Jimmy in his

all seeing eye saw the possibility of making something from someone else error.

Second Stair case leading to the lower garden

Jimmy constructed the two center staircases from railroad ties purchased at a

local lumber yard.

The swing set you see in the photo is not ours, it belongs to the neighbors. Jimmy has begun

working on hiding the yards to the left and right of us for privacy and the atmosphere of

out garden.

This is the beginning of the entrance to our garden leaving the back patio.

In closing this first blog entry, I want to say thanks to our GREAT FRIENDS Randy and Jamie http://jandrgardenblog.blogspot.com/ for being a constant encouragement during this process. They have offered many outstanding suggestions and many of the plants that you will see in future posts. The yard is much prettier now that things are blooming and the beds are beginning to establish themselves. We are in the market now for a camera that will take quality photos for all to enjoy. All of the above photos were taken with my phone. We have photos of the yard from before we started on a computer that we seldom use any longer and we will share those eventually.

We almost immediately began terracing the yard. I will upload the photos of the yard before we began working later.