A Walk On The Wild Side

Every morning when I get up, the first stop is my wild back yard.  Not for me of course, but for the puppies.  As beautiful as it is, it's a constant reminder that I no longer have horses in my life.  To counteract that feeling, I always check out the rose bushes.  Notice the difference in height?

My gardener saw fit to trim the bushes back ... a good thing.  Unfortunately, he has also chosen to do that once every two weeks.  Thus I have a stepping stone variation of rose bushes.  To the left out of the picture, are six more that are taller than the fence which he has not trimmed at all.

There's a reason for that I guess ... since I caught him dumping OTHER people's trimmings in MY trash can (I'm the only one in the area that pays to have a trash can), I put a stop to it.  I put my can in the garage.  Now he has to haul off trimmings on HIS dime, so he doesn't do much at a time, unwilling to fill his trailer to the brim at just my house.  And so on and so on .......

Amazingly, as I walked about the yard yesterday admiring the four things that flower, I spotted a first ever event.  My bottle brush tree that I planted last year, knowing full well it would probably die, has survived.  It is even blooming!!  When I spotted a touch of red at the bottom, I lifted the little branches to find beautiful blooms.  YAY for my black thumb that seems to have turned slightly green.

As I listened to the little bird who sits in the exact same spot on the roof every single morning singing his praises to a sweetheart who has yet to fly by, I glanced over by a bedroom window and saw MORE red!!  It's no surprise that I can't for the life of me remember what these are, but they are blooming like crazy!!

The last thing flowering, which I absolutely LOVE, are the two honeysuckle bushes.  They smell devine when you walk by.  Why the little flying dog?  It's supposed to be for my Mandy girl, a black miniature schnauzer who flew over the rainbow bridge and waits for me to join her.  Best little dog ever.  Yes you are right, the ornament is a scotty dog, not a schnauzer!!  It was a gift, so it's the thought that counts.

That's when I heard the buzzing.  Honeybees flying around the honeysuckle.  Of course!  So I got real close and took a picture with my phone, barely able to tell where it was.

Wasn't I surprised when I made the picture larger and found this guy!  YIKES!!  Yellow jackets around here are MEAN!  If you walk by, they will fly right out and nail you!!!  I can't believe I got within three inches to take this picture and didn't get stung.  It was my lucky day!!

Making it even luckier, my girlfriend from Sacramento came down yesterday afternoon to take me to dinner.  I can't argue with that, so off we went to our claim to fame, Applebees.  Instead of my usual salmon plate, I decided to walk on the wild side and have bourbon chicken and shrimp.  

When they set the plate in front of me, it looked nothing like the picture on the menu.  The shrimp were less than one inch around, all three of them.  It showed loads of mushrooms, but all I could find on the plate were four little pieces along with onions which were not pictured at all.  

Truthfully, it tasted just like regular chicken.  I KNEW I should have stuck with the salmon.  Live and learn .. it was still a very nice dinner with a long time friend.  Tonight I'm dragging her off to the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  My return treat for her will be a dungeon hot dog.  Won't she be thrilled!!