8:49 a.m. - 2005-07-23
Life among the trees

Birds, Bees and Plenty of Trees

Birdie, Birdie in the sky,

What's that white stuff in my eye?

I'm a big girl, I won't cry.

I'm just glad that cows don't fly.

My backyard is a shady respite. Not a drop of sunlight penetrates the tree canopy. I was marvelling the other day that we have the shadiest yard in the neighborhood, yet our yard only contains one huge tree. All other trees border our yard and join in with our one tree to completely shade it. There is a giant tree that grows next door at an angle and grows completely over our yard shading it like a giant cantelevered unmbrella.

There are a number of small saplings and overgrowth of brush and a smallish tree with a fairly large canopy that aids in the shading and this fall I plan to rip them out by the roots in an effort to get enough sunlight in the back to grow a proper heirloom veggie garden. A veggie garden was the primary reason for wanting my own yard after all.

I ordered seeds from Ebay for all kinds of goodies like striped tomatoes, little baseball sized melons and even a tiny head of lettuce that fits in the palm of your hand....I will have enough seeds to plant 20 acres, but will be grateful to carve out a 10 x 50 foot section of the back yard.

I always want to smoosh too much into a space. My gardener's mind has me dreaming of grapes along the back fence and espeliered dwarf fruit trees growing on trellises and I have already placed my order for my "Doyle Thornless Blackberry" bushes, promising 20 quarts off of each bush.

The yard needs some work. A tree house needs to come down and be disposed of. The deforestation must occur before rototilling the whole mess into the ground and building my raised beds and trellises. It has been a hot dry summer and we have barely been able to enjoy our back yard despite a new barbeque grill and patio set.

Last night was a beautiful, dry, and temperate, 75 degrees. We took the opportunity to throw a couple of burgers on the grill and eat outside. One benefit to the dry desert like weather is...No Mosquitos...YAY!!!!

I had just finished my last potato chip when, "SPLAT"! I felt something hit my styrofoam plate. The logical conclusion was that the sky was falling. I looked up into the tree canopy and had to think a minute before realizing that some bird that was way the hell up there, so high up that I couldn't even see him.....had taken a dump and it landed right smack dab in the middle of my empty plate.

"Maybe we should have bought that umbrella with that patio set." said Mike.

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