Well, as most of you know, we here in this part of Louisiana have had a very wet summer to date. Usually by this time of the year, we are searching the skies for rain clouds, watching the grass and plants wither in the mid summer heat. This year has been a real exception, as we have had tropical, almost monsoon like storms since the spring. We went for a period of 35 days where it rained for 29 of those. We are still in that cycle, but the daily chances of rain have gone from 60% - 80% to 30% - 40%. We literally had to pump out water from under our pool fence, and instead of the grass dying from LACK of water, it is drowning from TOO MUCH water!! We planted a couple of potted tomato plants, and they grew to over seven feet on our deck and were producing 3-4 tomatoes per day until they just petered out at the end of last week. What follows is a series of pictures I took this morning of our yard as it looks after this wonderful period of rain and sun. The the growth spurts have been phenomenal.
Our little Oil City cottage -
Our front cactus garden is being overgrown with the grasses this year.
We travel to Marshall Texas each spring to get the Boston ferns from a special grower. They always do very well in this area. This year, we have a bird family in one of them, with the little ones getting ready to leave soon we think.
This is the usual picture we show of our front entrance way. Everything is especially healthy this year.
This cactus plant started out life as two paddles Thom swiped off the plant of a neighbors when we lived in Belcher six years ago. It was transplanted to this spot after moving here, and has subsequently gone mad.
Two more crepe myrtles on the road.
We just had to "de-foliate" the deck, as it was getting to the point where we could not walk around on it for all the overgrown plants. This great fern started out as a small leafy plant several weeks back.
These are the two original Ellis Nelson sculptures we got a couple of years ago. Bob picked them up at an estate sale at the home of someone on his mail route.
We've had this palm since our first year here, a gift from our neighbors, Billy and Karen. It has grown tremendously this year as well, and the trunk has swelled in circumference, due we are sure to all the rain.
This is another Ellis Nelson sculpture. Thom picked this one up during his visit to Milwaukee earlier this year as a birthday present for Bobby. Its also kinetic. Since Mr. Nelson saw a UFO last year, he has started doing more "spacey" things. (A-hem)
The palm tree at the rear of the pool has doubled in size since last year and continues to get taller.
This is the Ellis Nelson sculpture we got on our trip through Wisconsin last summer. It's kinetic, moving about in the breeze.
Another view of the crepe myrtle. We have 6, the only trees (other than two live oaks) that remain from the time we purchased the house.
The crepe myrtle tree in the rear is gorgeous this year. They start blooming here in July, and remain in flower until the fall. After three years with the pool in place, it has grown into a very nice highlight for the pool area.
