Yesterday morning I busied myself watering plants - everything seems to have done well in my absence.  Even the new baby oleander (by the garage wall, where it doesn't get much sun) continues to blossom.  The hedges on our western wall (which took a hit during our winter freeze and had to be cut way back, to about 2') now almost cover the 6' block wall.  

Tom was inclined to keep them cut back from now on once they hid the wall (they were probably 15 feet high before the freeze) so he could enjoy our view of the mountain; I rather liked the (very welcome) shade the tall hedge cast from the afternoon sun, not to mention the privacy from the street that they afforded. However, now that our neighbor is erecting an extremely tall structure of some sort (which will effectively block our view of the mountain), it now makes sense to just let the hedge return to its former glory height and block that building from view. 

At least that means less yardwork for Tom... trimming those hedges isn't easy.  But lest you're worried he might get bored (and Bailey's comment of years ago notwithstanding) the size of our property and the amount of things planted upon it (which is what makes it such an oasis!) DO require lots of work/upkeep year round on our part!

It's almost time for bulk trash pick-up, so in the morning while it was cool(er) he dragged all of the trimmed hedges out to the street from their staging area in the Back 40.  I swept and then hosed off the back patio and around the pool, so it's looking nice and spiffy out there.  Our grass is a little crunchy in places, but irrigation tomorrow night should help fix that.  Made a few phone calls (arranged for house cleaning and also the exterminator's next visit) in hopes of putting off unpacking a little longer.  At least I only had 2 to unpack, and not this many!

Estera delivered some of the birthday cake she make for Benny (yummy, like a strawberry shortcake) and I also had a surprise for her - some adorable baby clothes (yes, virtually all baby clothes are adorable, so that adjective was redundant) for Julianna that I had found at a yard sale.  The first item I pulled out of the bag was a dress that (aptly) had strawberries on it, but little as it was, Julianna will still need to grow a bit before it fits her.

I know my vacation is over - I went grocery shopping yesterday.  For dinner Tom whipped up his delicious BBQed chicken on the grill (as good as anything we ate in France!) Afterward we were getting ready to watch the National Geographic Geography Bee (if you're already experiencing feelings of inadequacy, you do not want to see how knowledgeable these 4th-8th graders are about the world!)  Out of the blue, I got a nose bleed (my first ever?)

But the evening's excitement wasn't over.  The next show on was about Rain (all sorts of stuff we learned in school just wasn't correct) and it was very interesting - but when I'm tired, I'm tired.  At some point I fell asleep on the couch (should have asked Tom to tape the show.) When I woke up, I decided to head off to bed, first making a 'technical stop' in the bathroom.  I was (sleepily) minding my own business, when a scorpion (first sighting of the season) rounded the corner into the bathroom at a pretty fast clip, heading right for my bare tootsies.

With a scream for Tom (and hoping he was wearing shoes) I leapt up in midstream (TMI?) So between the blood I missed from the earlier nosebleed, and some leftover pee I may also missed (hey, I was half asleep), the bathroom floor 'probably' needs to be mopped today.

Betty, I always think of you on these 'exciting' days!