Roses in bloom

Stupid thorns! Sorry, I just had to get it off my chest. Monday was the day to prune the rose bushes. Juan Carlos and I went out to the back to do some work on the yard and work we did.

If you know us and have been to our back yard, you know very well, we don't do a whole lot to make it look good. The only reason I can give is that our cute little MONSTER pups took the thrill away when they decided it would be cheaper to get to China by digging their way there instead of paying for an airline ticket. Time and again we tried to educate them in the ways of back yard beautification but being the MONSTERS they are, they merely dug in deeper.
Then came the pool. The pool only made it through two Summers. You may or may not be asking why, I'm gonna tell you anyway. The pool was a fight saver. It kept the kids busy during those long summer vacations. They may not have seemed long to the kids, but for us adults it was an eternity that is, until we purchased the pool. The fighting subsided and appetites went up but aside from a couple of hair brain ideas of jumping into the pool from a still moving swing seat, everyone was happy. (I can still hear harps and angels voices when I think about it) After the 2nd Summer we took it down and set it to the side to make sure all the water had drained. Penny (aka Penelope Ann) decided it looked quite tasty and well....made a meal of it. I'm not sure if she ever swallowed and quite frankly, had no desire to look for evidence. Not in a million years. Whether she did it out of hunger or fun, I'll never know. I only knew we were out of a pool.

If you've ever put up a pool, you know it leaves a big round dirt dip in the ground because it kills the grass under it. So there we were with what otherwise might have looked like an alien space ship landed in our back yard while we were sleeping. I considered calling the press thinking we might make the front page of the local newspaper if it hadn't been for my concern that they'd send out an investigative reporter and he'd discover pool pieces in where I refused to look.

Then came the gofers. Since the girls gave up on their trip to China, they found other reasons to dig. It took us a while to figure out why they would bark and stamp their feet on the ground. At first I thought it was some type of tribal dance and immediately started looking for a animal talent scout. However, after a few days of finding very large holes in the back yard. We soon discovered we had company. Thank God for experienced neighbors who educated us in the way of getting the pesky little creatures to move on to other grounds. The digging stopped.

And just when you thought I'd forgotten about the roses. It hasn't been all that long since they've been pruned but I have to admit, my fight to keep the yard looking like a million bucks dissipated along with the lawn. It's now become something we do because we have to.
Alas! Just when all desire was gone, the lawn mower gave out which forced us to purchase a new one. And you know all it takes is one step inside the garden area of any home improvement center when visions of castles and green islands dance in your head. All I can say is, get me working quickly, because if I think about it too long before actually getting started, I can promise you, roses or not, it will not happen.