Knock Knock

I have a joke for you :)

Knock Knock?

Who's There?

Cara!

Cara Who?

Precisely my point.  Hi there, got sucked into a rabbit hole, or in my case a large water feature Dave designed for a client running into a lake.  Did I build it?  Oh Hell No....No one trusts me to do that.  I however had to put on my Landscape Architect hat and design the plant layout.  Evidently they trust me to do that instead.  Then I had to make sure what worked on paper worked on site, and rearrange everything around with the client before the holes were dug in the 100 degree weather.  5gal. shrub pots are twice as heavy when you have to schlep them around in the heat.  I am calling it my Cross Fit workout for the week.

At least this particular client didn't dig up all of the plants after the guys planted them and move them into different locations around the yard they thought looked better after we had left for the day.  Yes, some people are like that. You just smile and nod and say "Well bless your heart," and walk away knowing that in 6 months they will call you frustrated that the bush they planted right next to the front door is so big, they can't get down the walkway and it needs to be pruned.  No shit Sherlock.  Next time leave it alone.

15 trips to 4 different Nurseries to hand pick and pull materials, and I think everything is finally there.  Let's just say it better be.  Went to another job site today to drop off Dave's lunch and came home with only about 1/3 of the 250 pots from the water feature job.  It was all I could fit in the trunk out of the job trailer.

I should also mention I have about 30 plants here at the house that need to be planted after the hail storm hit a couple of weeks ago.  And..... I am pretty sure I am not going to get any help planting them from employees even if I paid them, let alone Dave.

See I have this problem.  I call it the Target Syndrome.  I head to the Nursery with intentions of pulling only the plants for what a client needs.  I leave with 30 other plants for my yard that I think will work somewhere.  Kind of like when you go to Target for deodorant and toilet paper and you come out with a new sports bra, slip and slide for the kids, Country Living magazine, napkins, Febreeze, pillow for the couch, and a new hairdryer even though the last time you blow dried your hair at home was in 2003 right before your wedding. (I can show you my receipt, it happened last week.)

While we are talking about plants I might as well introduce you to the new cast of characters: 

'Koko Loco' rose - starts off tan and then turns a dusty purple, 'Elijah Blue' Fescue, 'Hidcote' Lavender, 'Hall's' Honeysuckle, and 'Bright Eyes' tall garden Phlox.  I love the cool colors of all of these plants.  They will go underneath my bedroom window.  So on a cool night when the windows are open, the gentle breeze will blow in the amazing smells wafting off the blooms.  

'Wheee' Hosta.  The leaves are supposed to be ruffled.  You can see all of the leaves that were downed from the hail storm still hanging out in the bed underneath the apple trees.  Hostas take a huge beating in the hail.  Yeah....  I should probably have the mysterious lawn gnomes who take care of the garden in the night get on to cleaning that up here one of these days.  

Various other perennials to plant in the bed to make it look like a wildflower meadow, and a dipshit dingo dog photo bomb.  Coreopsis, 'Pink Poodle' and 'Tiki Torch' Echinacea, 'Champagne Bubbles' Poppies. 'Rocky Mountain' Columbine, Etc. Etc Etc.  See what I mean.  There are just too many cool plants out there waiting to go home with me, just like polka dot underwear from Target.  Dave is not on board with this look. (The wildflower garden not the polka dot underwear,) I am not on board with this entire area.  It is full of way too many ground covers, wild raspberries and all sorts of crap we installed back when it was cool and hip to have complicated gardens because we have no kids.  Now we have kids, have realized we are not cool or hip, and it is all just too much.  I am trying to work with it and brighten it up a bit seeing as my option to rip it all out is not there until January.  Calla thinks it's great.  And since I ask the opinion of my 6 yr. old daily, and don't forget I am wearing the landscape architect hat..... The plants stay!  

Besides, Matilda says so!  The additional plants mean more bunnies and butterflies.  That means more bunny poop for her to eat.  

Ok enough about plants, lets catch you up to speed and not necessarily in order. 

Spent my birthday up the mountain at the Ameristar Casino in BlackHawk / Central City.  Dave and I had a wonderful time just the two of us.  He humored me earlier in the day while we went to the annual Old Glory Antique Fair in the lightning and rain, and then waited patiently while I peeked into crumbling down old turn of the century buildings once we got into town.  While we don't gamble much, it was somewhere to go.  And a nice place to go at that.  The rooftop pool was great and I did pretty good on the Swan Lake slots, until we decided we needed food, and then hit the buffet.  Note to self, don't watch people eat at a buffet.  I am so not kidding.  Kind of like how you really don't want to look at what people have in their grocery carts at the Wally World Supercenter.   

 Drank pomegranate Mojitos.  (Hey look Dave is wearing his wedding band.  I guess we are married after all.)

 And ate bowls of Pho.  Yes, I went to a buffet and had Pho.  What.... like I was going to turn down that bowl of noodle yumminess to eat chicken fried steak or nachos instead?  Told you it was good casino to hang out.

Came home from the fresh mountain air to the large plumes of smoke from the High Park Fire.  The firefighters are doing an amazing job.  This probably the worst fire I have ever seen.  View to the West.  No mountains to be seen that day, and had to keep the house closed up from the smoke.  We are about 25 miles away even.  

 Views out the corrals to the North.  That night when the sun set, the smoke was so thick it reminded me of "Gone with the Wind" when Rhett and Scarlett steal the horse and buggy to get Melanie and the baby home to Tara with Georgia burning in the background as they were leaving.  

Oh yeah, and I will be shot if I don't include some of these pictures as promised.  Calla had her ballet recital.  One of the moms backstage got real snitty with me when I was getting Calla ready.  (Such a whole other life when your kid is dancing and you are not.  Kind of weird actually.)  She mouthed to another mom, "well I supposed SOME PEOPLE (wink, nod, look over at me blatantly) have lots of time on their hands to do a proper bun and makeup."  Actually no, I didn't have any time that day lady and wolfed down McDonald's in the car on the way to the theater 15 min. before it started.  Hence why she is getting ready at the theater.  I may not be good at a lot of things, but one of the things I AM GOOD AT, is throwing hair up into a bun, shellacking the crap out of it, and schlepping on stage makeup in 5 min. flat. (10 min. if I have to get Ethel ready in her wrinkles or Miss Universe tiara.)  If she had been nicer about it, and not made me out to be like that cray cray Abby lady on the tv show "Dance Moms," I may have offered to help her out.  Next time might I suggest a You Tube or Pinterest tutorial first.  

 I had no idea what she was dancing until we got there.  Since I take class at the same time as her, I don't get to watch her rehearse.  Not that she would let me anyway.  She kept telling me she was a doll.  When the music came on for Giselle, and I realized that is what she was dancing to, I lost it.  She was so stinkin cute, and ahhhh Giselle.  Nice nice 95 lb. six pack abs Peasant Pas and man hating Willi memories of Giselle for Mommy.  "Sniff Sniff" If you did Giselle with me back in the day, you know what I am talking about.  I love you man.  

And last but not least my girls.  Me (sans 6 pack abs,) Calla, my niece, and her little sister who was also dancing too.  It was fun to see both girls up there dancing their little hearts out.  Who knows, maybe we will all be on stage together one of these days.  By then we won't need to draw on Ethel's wrinkles or frost her wig, she will be good to go au natural.  

So that should about cover things.  I have plans for some my favorite things posts, because I know they are everyone's favorites.  Maybe a giveaway too, to make up for being gone for a month. 

Hasta.