Nothing New

No really. It's been an uneventful week. Our hired help has been making quick work of the landscaping project. One of our neighbors saw our backhoe last week and came up and asked if they could have the dirt we would be removing for the pool they thought we were putting in. I was a bit disappointed that we weren't putting in a pool, too, but we did manage to donate a bit of dirt after all the moving of dirt around.

Let me tell you... the 18 houses between us are just *thrilled* to pieces that he drove his tractor up and down the street picking up dirt from our house and delivering it to his.  I'm sure they're scratching their heads and wondering if they can come up with an ordinance against such redneck activities.

But until then... We've made nice with the neighbor with the apple pies and made them an apple pie to ensure the constant supply of apples landing on our doorstep. I thought apples need a hard frost to grow, but apparently there is some (I shudder to wonder if it's genetically mutated) granny smith apple tree that grows here. And it's a more mushy apple than one I'd love to pick and munch off a tree from New England it's just perfect to make my most favorite thing with apples- apple pie and apple crisp.

And yeah, they're ripe now. I know. Weird California growing seasons.

We discovered we had 2 peach trees in our back yard on the other side of the fence, but the ground squirrels ate all buy 1 measley peach which they couldn't reach. I declare war on them. My old WW2 vet neighbor we call "the warden" admitted to me that you can kill them with the pellets you can shoot from a bb gun. I thought that was a fabulous idea and debate getting one for Joey although the phrase "you'll shoot your eye out" comes to mind and the realization that it wouldn't be his eye that gets shot out.

We still have a leaking pipe or two which will be replaced or fixed this week. Or so I'm told.

I've commandeered the Civic for my own personal use since S and J are spending the month in CT. It's been nice having a zippy little car. Really nice. I wish they made it in a hatch back version with an optional 3rd row seat.  And Larry's been using the truck to get all the supplies and parts at Home Depot that we've been needing this month.

And yeah, the van still needs to be fixed. I parked it across the street and down a bit in front of a neighbor's house while all the landscaping has been getting done. Better than in our driveway and put it on cinder blocks. I'm only partly kidding. 

So with that non update I need to go water my dirt so it'll be easier to dig up tomorrow. If you ever want to understand mudslides here, you need to come play with our dirt. When it's dry it feels and digs like cement- nearly impossible to get through and feels incredibly solid. Wet it turns to slippery sloshy claylike mud. Weird. But you can slosh it into bricks, let it dry and build a house. Which explains why they did that. Cept it's not so great when it rains. Albeit it rains hardly ever, so guess it's a well calculated gamble.