{Going Green with Pallet Mulch}

Husband Pieter did haul many loads of Pallet Mulch for using in our garden. That is excellent for water holding capacity and it looks neat. It will keep the weeds down somewhat, but not entirely of course. Going green pays off! Are you using some Pallet Mulch too?

Photo is from June 26, with a happy rose!  It looks very nice with this contrasting color.

Pallet Mulch often is used in hotel gardens or around corporate office buildings.

Here you clearly see the natural soil and the Pallet Mulch with its reddish color.

These are our roses, they look pitiful but it is tough in such a hot climate for growing roses at all.

Probably in the fall they will come back and grow a bit more.

Some Crinum lilies are benefiting from the Pallet Mulch as well.

They seem to be far better heat resistant!

{GNOMES and Rose Stepping Stones}

As promised in my previous blog, I will tell you more about our GNOMES! Also about our Rose Stepping Stones... Glad to know now, that I am not alone having to deal with difficult to reach windows for cleaning. As read in all the comments. Well, this is a chore that is not done very often but once in a while we have to tackle it. And thanks for the well wishes about my sciatica. It did go away after a couple of days. A hot tub and staying inside, that means, staying 'dry' did cure it. 

But now about our GNOMES... As I wrote already about them, they are LAZY as hell! Really, they don't care at all. You have met them in a previous post about: HEAR - SEE - SPEAK NO EVIL. Well, that is great but if they are needed for pitching in and doing some 'little' chores, they DO NOT HEAR! So what do I do? The link to the previous posts you will find below the last photo.

It gets even worse than NOT wanting to HEAR. We received one more GNOME from our German 'son and daughter-in-law' (yes, we have more adopted children...) and grandchildren. This fellow looks cute but have a look at him:

He lies on this wall and is too lazy to even climb down! 

He could, if he is careful but no: he lifts his legs and 'FARTS' at us when asked to help with little chores...

What do you say, how would you handle that?

The other three stand there and dance; YES they bounce around on that wall, they are wobbly DWARFS or WACKELZWERGEN. 

I did not HEAR you; I did not SEE you... I don't SAY anything about the big one farting at you!

Is this common for this time or is it only here that they show such behavior?

PLEASE let me know what you are encountering with your GNOMES.

I just cannot stand anything THAT LAZY...! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Maybe our boot scraper dachshund will get them!

This is our Patio with the private entrance door to our Rose Suite...

Okay, let's forget about them!

Do you see those weathered bronze Rose Stepping Stones to the right of the patio?

They are made of cast stone and we got them from Home Depot.

First we had them in a single row, shown here (before that last GNOME arrived in the mail...) Grrrrrrrrrrr

This photo is from May.

In a previous post I've shown already the Rose Stepping Stones, see link below...

Our cat-man Spooky is not LAZY and you see him here inspecting Pieter's painting job in the weathered bronze color. 

A clear coating sprayed on, makes them really shine.

Now we can reach the gazebo as well as the planters with jasmines without soiling our shoes.

Under the huge live oak tree the grass is not growing due to the shade and to the lack of nutrients and water, that the tree takes away.

Related links:
{Cleaning Windows} | previous post by me
{HEAR - SEE - SPEAK NO EVIL} | previous post by me
{ROSE STEPPING STONES} | previous post by me

{Cleaning Windows}

Sure, all of you have to complete chores like Cleaning Windows. At times, this is not easy... For instance in the brutal heat of a July 5 day, even so if done in the cooler hours of the evening. But it looks great; literally, as it gives a better 'outlook' into the garden! Do you have a two story home for taking care of windows? Can they be opened up from the inside to do this, or you have to handle it from the outside like I have to? Please read towards the very end, for some revealing tidbits about work around our home.

Starting off with the 'relatively' easy ones. I JUST can reach, by standing on my toes.

Please don't laugh at our planter boxes as their contents have DIED from the heat in July.

For some nice views with flowers in them, you can click on any of the three links below this post.

This is the bay window from our kitchen, you can still see our IKEA Nordmyra chairs through the window.

Now some more stretching needs to be done in the back of the house...

Climbing on our LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) tank.

Since our subdivision is just outside of the City limits, we have no natural gas for our artificial logs in the fireplace.

I did it... however my telescoping window cleaner had to be trashed.

We got a replacement already!

And as a bonus from working in the heat I got a bout of sciatica in my right thigh...

Still, it was worth it for having a clean 'Outlook' 

Are you balancing the act yourself or do you have somebody doing it for you?

Or do you have GNOMES that do the work?

We have some gnomes but they are LAZY as hell...!

More about them in next post.

Related links:

{Our new IKEA Nordmyra Chairs} | previous post by me

{OUR FIBERGLASS WINDOW BOXES} | previous post by me

{My Old-Time Spun Glass Halloween Ornaments} | previous post by me