Level with me....

OK, I need you all to level with me. In the below photo does the base of the concrete bird bath look straight or tilted?

If you said tilted...I agree with you. But...and isn't there always a but....the level says it is level. Is it an optical illusion or am I delusional?

Let's say for the sake of argument, that it is most definitely level. Do I leave it the way it is or do I adjust until it appears to be level???

I would hate for people to leave "The Gear" saying "Oh my gosh...did you see how crooked her bird bath was?"

On to the other hosta bed. After clearing out little stumps and sod the bed was ready to be filled with sorted varieties of hostas.

The photo below was taken after we planted most of the hostas. All that is left to do is plant Patriot hostas around the edge, put the bowl on the bird bath base, and paint the bird bath.
Since it is "Chase" time for Nascar's Nextel Cup Championship, I would be remiss if I didn't give out a gratuitous "Gooooooooo Smoke"! Tony Stewart is currently in second place and only two points behind the leader, Jeff Gordon.

Granny has been grabbed!

I planned to pick the other 50% of the produce at "The Gear" today. I rested and performed some stretching exercises so I wouldn't pull a muscle. I walked out into the yard and what do I see???? Nothing!

My rather smallest Granny Smith apple was gone. I believe a varmint has absconded with my apple. My produce has been poached. My Granny Smith has been snatched, stolen, and seized. No doubt a squirrel has squirreled away my lovely apple green Granny Smith apple. Yup, he climbed that little tree and grabbed my Granny. He then bolted, bailed, hot footed (pawed), made off, skipped town (well at least skipped the yard), scampered away, and out right skedaddled. All before I was able to produce a photo of my produce. All I wanted was a pair of photos of my perfect petite pear and less than ample happy apple. Now all I have is a lonely pear, perfectly placed in front of purple posies and perched atop a pink phone. Pathetic.

See the sedum???

The area just to the left of the porch step gets quite hot. I have tried several different plants but I think I have finally hit upon the right combination in both appearance and durability.


Remember the photo of the plant I posted with all the hail pellets??? Well here it is now.......along with some Autumn Joy sedum I brought over from the other house.

Disregard the peeling paint on the house in the background. How come every photo I post of Gear Acres shows peeling paint????

Today I harvested half of the produce grown at Gear Acres. One Asian pear!!!! Tomorrow after I rest, I will harvest the other 50%....a rather smallest Granny Smith apple.

I have to tell you I really like the looks of the Asian pear trees. I like the structure of the tree and the color and substance of the leaves. It appears that the Japanese beetles are not attracted to the tree either. I couldn't find one leaf that had any areas of damage.

I should rest so I am capable of completing the harvesting at Gear Acres. Makes me tired just to think about it.

Buried treasure?.....

I'm always reading about people finding buried treasure in their yard or finding something incredibly interesting or valuable in their attic...well guess what??? We found something. Buried. In our yard!!!!!

Using your best Jim Nabor/Gomer Pyle voice say "Surprise, surprise! Shazam!" Look at what we found!!!!!!

A sidewalk!!!! Yea!!! What the heck, you say??? Well if you read carefully, I said other people find buried treasure. I didn't say we found buried treasure, I said we found something buried!!!!

While Roger was tilling the dirt on the north side of the house and he noticed that at some spots the rototiller was going over something hard. I took the shovel and starting poking around and could hear it hit something. I shoveled a little and then realized it led in the direction of the gate. Hmmmmm. Sure enough it turned out to be a walkway that wraps around a large Norway pine. The walkway also has the same embedded colored slate as the walkway in front of the house and behind the sun room. I think this will be a perfect spot to plant more hostas!!!!!

This photo is a little dark, but it shows the embedded slate.

In other developments. Planted 22 lilacs last weekend. Dark purple, light purple, white, pink, pinkish red, and burgundy. We also finished our rock circle and planted Guacamole hostas around the tree. Tomorrow we will plant the final two bushes....two snowball bushes. Then we should be done with the planting in the front yard. Except for the hosta beds.

Here is Roger cutting down one of the two Hawthorn trees that were growing on top of the walkway.

Back to the race. Tony is in 4th after 344 laps. Gooooooo Smoke!!!!

Don't even ask me about the change to Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing. Scuttlebutt is that Tony is not happy about it but has a contract through '09. Home Depot also has a contract through '09. I look for Tony to take Home Depot and go to RCR. That's my 2 cents worth and my prediction.