We sat on the back patio again today since this is our fourth consecutive day of eighty plus degree temperatures. When we’re outside, there is always something for the dogs to show a lot of interest, like birds, critters, various noises and something to eat. Cabela is looking at the hillside critters and Bear is looking at the Kitchen door. Click on the image to enlarge.
We drove out to Congress today to have a look at the finished courtyard gate at Mike’s studio. Mike called this morning to advise that he would be finished shortly and to come have a look if we wanted.
When we got there, we were both amazed at how good this was looking. I took photos of the gate on the workbench and Bob put this slideshow together. Mouse over to stop and out to resume.
Yesterday, we went to pick up the new compost bin for the Arizona house. Today, we assembled it and put it in the new place on the west side of the house behind the courtyard.
To get the compost going, we added topsoil and a bag of potting soil in the bottom of the bin. We already have put kitchen scraps and such to the mix in the bin.
Image – the new compost bin – click on the image to enlarge.
Bob ordered 250 red worms on-line and when they arrive next week, we will put them in and cover them with more topsoil and scraps. We should have a good compost going within a few weeks to produce our own worm casting garden soil for use in the vegetable garden this summer.
We completed our landscape and sun screen milestones yesterday and today, respectively. The landscape crew finished cleaning up the vegetation and spread the rest of the rocks yesterday. They also lined two small washes that run through the west side of the lot with river rocks to avert erosion. One of the washes runs across the RV pull through, so they dug a small ditch across the road and leveled it out with large river rocks.
The sun screen man came out this morning and installed the screens on all exterior windows. He was done with the job just a couple hours after he arrived in the “screenmobile.” He constructed all of the screens on site.
Although it wasn’t a milestone we named before, Verna’s unique rural mailbox design is also complete and installed. We got our first mail delivered to it today.
Watch the slideshow below to see the entry arch (gate coming soon), one of the sixty six rosemary shrubs planted on the “wall” behind the house, the new mailbox, both washes with river rock, the RV pull through and one of the newly-installed sun screens. Roll over the image with your mouse to stop the slideshow and roll out to resume.
Every once in a while, I get lucky with my Canon SX110 IS camera and get a shot that rivals Verna’s excellent work with her Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I was sitting on the patio today and observed a curve-billed thrasher helping itself to Verna’s seed bell on the other side of the RV drive through.
The bell was about twenty-five feet from me when I snapped the shot using both the built-in optical and electronic zoom features. Click on the image to enlarge.
We drove to Mike’s place in Congress today, to check on the progress of our custom courtyard gate. When we saw the progress, we were very pleased with what we saw. Mike had finished carving the Native American images in the wood. Some of the saguaro ribs were in place with the rest of them to be installed (probably) tonight.
You can see the bear image in the foreground, the image of Kokopelli to the right of the bear and the kachina image above both. At the top of the gate, just above where the saguaro ribs are going to be installed, is the carved image of a quail (not visible). Click on the image to enlarge.
