Unwelcome Guests

Here's how today started. Hello Olive tree and it ended with good-bye Olive tree. The back yard is every shade of brown. Brown dirt, blah brown shed, blah gray wall...I took a walk around the shed. I usually refer to it as the garage/studio. It was the reason I bought my house and the reason I'm staying. I noticed something and I took a closer look.
I AM Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Pissed! Termites! I have Termites! They are going to DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First I will kill them then I will paint the shed red. Yes, RED. The building is in the backyard and only visible to the neighbors above the block walls. I'm not sure about this red. It's a tad bright in the daylight. It needs to be deeper. But the in the evening it looked alright. Crazy light!

The whole termite thing was pretty upsetting. A big unexpected expense. No Jimmy Choos for me this year, I guess. I went for a swim and 1/2 way thru my workout, I'd made peace with the termite issue. Not with the termites but with their impending demise.
Then it was time to get home and wash the smell of chlorine off me in preparation for the rock hunt.
Lookee what we found! The square is the sample of rose flagstone we're using for the patio. The Yavapai Coral was my first choice. Then I wandered and liked at least two other colors of rock.This one wasn't bad but the rock was a bit sharper and perhaps too pink. Pink house, pink rock, pink flagstone....We both liked the contrast of the Saddleback brown against the Rose paver. The idea of looking at this large expanse of darker rock....it left me uneasy. Plus I also worry about the darker rock absorbing more heat. I chose the Yavapai Coral. Decisions, decisions!There were other rocks to see. River rocks, granite, beach pebbles.... here's a piece of rock that was on display showing the veins of different colors. You can't paint something so beautiful! At least I can't but I one day I might try.The rock place is in the North Valley. I couldn't tell you what the name of it is because I was being chauffeured by Ray, the Designer Man. We made some stops on our way back. We thought these stepping stones were hilarious. The pigs were even better. They fall within my criteria of "No sleeping Mexicans." I really dislike the serape covered, sombrero wearing Sleeping Mexican stepping stones, figurines, etc. I have 2 or three of the stepping stones and they are leaving. I should give them to the Blankety Blank Jerk neighbor...We made another detour. This relation to the Mountain Aloe is called Felox and it was huge. I'm not sure I like it although the red to orange to yellow bloom sounds intriguing. This plant looks like it has a bad case of acne. The leaves are also chunkier than the Mountain Aloe. Hmmmm...
Pure love! The red edge of this agave.....Wow! Palo Verde=Green bark, alright! Yum!

Not far from the Felox-OH MY G-D. LOOOOOOOOOKKKKK OUT! Shark ATTACK!!!!!YOWZA!!!! This is called Sharkskin Agave and we were entralled. Really, this plant had us both frothing at the mouth. Well, Ok, I can only speak for myself but this plant has an attitude. If I could put it in crude, male anatomical terms, I say that this agave has b....The plant feels like sharkskin and the edge is a deep gray/blue. It was big and in a 24" container for the price of $499.99. Oh yeah, I brought my new shark baby home....I wish. The nursery manager was going to check on availability of smaller plants. I called around when I got home. Another nursery had a 3 gal. size for $55 and a 3rd nursery didn't have any in stock. I called the first place back and they'll have a 5 gal. size available next week for less than the $55 for the 3 gal.This one also had us hot and bothered. Again, it was a specialty plant with the price to match. I'm going to be paying much more attention when the gardens have their plants sales in the fall.
At the days' end, the walls are up. They've started with the first layer of stucco. The smooth walls look fantastic. Ray and I walked around the yard, talked color, imagined trees in place... We had talked earlier about this design versus the serpentine wall. This is "the one." This design couldn't be more perfect.

This Mexican needs to get some sleep. No sombrero, no serape. Another time perhaps.
¡Buenas Noches!
Marissa