Progress in Paradise...

Progress in Paradise...  Yesterday was the first day that the lawn was dry enough to even think about mowing – and the grass was nearly 6" high on average.  The rains over the past 10 days really pushed the growth.  So I mowed the whole yard, which worked better than I was expecting – the mower never sank into the soil, and the blades never clogged up with wet grass (though I did eject a few truly magnificent grass blobs!).

After I finished mowing, we headed up to WalMart to buy fertilizer.  My brother Scott (aka Mr. Green Thumb) recommended Ironite, but the price of that (for our 3 acres of lawn) stopped me.  We went for this stuff instead, for a small fraction of the cost.  Strictly by the numbers, it should be good stuff, with nitrogen, potassium, and iron.  We'll see.  I spread 300 pounds of it yesterday afternoon in less than an hour, thanks to the tow-behind-the-mower fertilizer spreader I bought last year.  That thing works great!

While I was doing all that, Debbie went to work getting our balcony ready for use this season.  You can see the result in the photo at right, which I took just a few minutes ago (just after sunrise this morning).  The view is to the southwest, over the Little Bear River's bottom and into the Wellsville Mountains.  The little red cafe table you can just barely see comes with a couple of matching chairs, and there are four pots with roses and some other flowers.  This is a very pleasant spot to sit and enjoy our morning caffeinated beverage, or a glass of wine in the evening.  This morning we were visited by a hummingbird checking out the roses – and that immediately prompted us to order some hooks to hang hummingbird feeders off the balcony rail.  If we're lucky, we'll attract some orioles too.  We've seen a pair of Bullock's orioles along the irrigation canal on the south side of our property.  If we keep food out, maybe we'll attract some more, like we did in Jamul!