Kitesurfers at Alameda's Crown Beach - Memorial Day Weekend
Kitesurfers at Alameda's Crown Beach - Memorial Day Weekend
I heard it through the grapevine
Front/side yard...California poppies and an unnamed purple flower
Front/side yard
This palm tree is in a planter box...it will need to be dug up and relocated (or given away to a palm tree lover) as it will eventually hit the deck if it continues to grow.
Plum tree
Back/side yard - all of the groundcover, the wood sorrel clover, has gone dormant in the past few weeks which is much different than what it looked like in mid-winter (clover that was a foot high...you couldn't see the ground!)
Lemon tree
A view from my deck, looking down. The avocado tree is shedding it's leaves..they get put in the GREEN trash every two weekends or so
Here is a new planter I picked up...the hues in it pick up the turquoise coloring of the house
Baby grapes!
It's been one year since I put an offer on my house! I sit and hear the quail birds flapping their wings outside on a cold morning in northern California! It has been nice to see the past 365 days to see how the greenery changes in my yard. The wood sorrel clover starts growing in the fall and it becomes dormant in the spring. I'm raking up the leftovers. The avocado tree leaves are shedding now, in spring, so there are lots of brown leaves to clean up after on the weekends.
The hot tub got drained (I figured that one out, yeah!) and now I will step in it to clean it out and fill it up with fresh water....I was curious to see if I could go in a COLD hot tub on a hot summer day and use it as a small pool without heating it up! That is my next experiment.
Good news, the plum tree is producing...the plums are green. The squirrels seem to love this, as there are several new droppings each day. (My neighbor cut the braches of this tree last year so I wasn't sure how much growth there would be). My fruit picker should reach the plums. The plums were in such abundance last summer that they made a sticky mess all over the concrete. I am hoping to eat at least one of these plums this year before the squirrels get to them!
The grapes which start to grow now are really teeny tiny now and will be in bloom in fall. I need to tack them up so that they don't sit on the ground...last year the possums and raccoons got to them.
I have been gardening! I am using the existing planter box (made with railroad ties) and I had to pull out many a weed of the wood sorrel clover to plant some colorful perennials. I have been checking on them. I think I'm much better at planting green plants versus flowering plants...but I'm not giving up.
I feel very lucky to reside in Alameda. Home prices have dropped for sure, but my house price is comparable with other houses of the same size. 2 car garages in Alameda are very rare. My neighbor across the street has to park tandem on their 1 car driveway (no garage) as did several of my neighbors where I rented a few blocks away. My house started as the garage for the house next to mine in the 1930's and then they must have build my house up...which is why I live on the second story! I like looking out at the rooftops and trees, I feel like I'm in a tree house of sorts.
Thank goodness someone who resided here had a good green thumb...the foliage is great.
Happy one year anniversary!
Enjoy this video of the kitesurfer's on Alameda's Crown Beach Memorial Day weekend...it was a nice, windy day for kitesurfing.
Here is a video of the outside of the house
Here is another video of the outside of the house
This palm tree is in a planter box...it will need to be dug up and relocated (or given away to a palm tree lover) as it will eventually hit the deck if it continues to grow.
Back/side yard - all of the groundcover, the wood sorrel clover, has gone dormant in the past few weeks which is much different than what it looked like in mid-winter (clover that was a foot high...you couldn't see the ground!)
A view from my deck, looking down. The avocado tree is shedding it's leaves..they get put in the GREEN trash every two weekends or so
Nope....the dog is not mine! Here I am with a friend's recently adopted Bijon dog (Little Miss). We were leaving the Alameda Dog Park.
The neighbor has a tangerine tree which happens to hang over my yard, how convenient!
The neighbor has an orange tree which also happens to hang over my yard, I get to use my juicer soon!
My small patch of greenery out front which I just trimmed with a hand-held weeder. It was awfully overgrown.
Last weekend, I trimmed the green patch of clover on the sidewalk bed with an electric weeder.
New composition shingle roof is brown/red.
New aluminum gutters
Roofers at work
Roofers at work
Yay, a new gutter system.
Before the gutters (see photo above and below) the rain would hit the wall of the house (garage) and cause dry rot. Also (below) before a good gutter (& "valley") system was installed, the rain water would constantly hit the kitchen window and stucco wall. The roof above the garage entry door was added too, to eliminate water from hitting the exterior stucco walls and coming into the garage. Bye bye termite and dry rot. My handyman was GREAT. 
