Report from the front yard

Today was the first day since, oh... April?, I've really wanted to work in the yard. It's been hot, it's been dry, we've been gone, I've been otherwise occupied... I got a million reasons (excuses?) why.

But today, and tomorrow, promise wonderful work-in-the-yard weather. I chose to start in the front flower beds.

First off, I notice the armadillo, absent for a few days, is back. Really, really back. Ten inch deep holes back. This is not encouraging and it looks like I shall have to go on the armadillo hunt again. The trap is still on the front porch and I'll lock and load tonight. This could be like getting out the flyswatter: the armadillo, just like the fly, will disappear.

That would have the same results, I guess.

I transplanted the sorry-looking Gerber daisies into the area around the sorry-looking gingko tree. I tried to remove the redbuds and weeds by their roots, not that that will discourage them.

I realized that if you want a lesson in resilience, you just need to look at pecan and hackberry trees. Rarely can I get them up by their nut or root. I cut them off as far down into the ground as I can, but they come back. And come back, etc. Ad infinitum. It's a battle I have been losing for 30 years.

OTOH, I had a very pleasant and unexpected surprise in the side yard. There were two green-cased pecans. This is how pecans often drop, attached by twos. Maybe it makes the fall less scary. Anyhow, they were GREEN. All I've seen are dried up pecans. So I rolled the case off and stepped on them. They were filled with nutmeat!

I may have pecans this year! Real, genuine, grow-my-own pecans! Amidst this drought--pecans!

Or perhaps I sacrificed the only two survivors.