Shortly after my mother's visit in July, the big cacti by the driveway and garage bloomed-- but only for one day! The huge buds appeared overnight, and then the blossoms the next day. Gorgeous but too short-lived. Maybe we can coax them into blooming again with a little water...
The fruit tree in the backyard has two trunks, and one definitely has spines. Maybe it's a lime tree? I cleared out some dead branches and accidentally cut off the only branch with any fruit growing on it. Brilliant. It smells like citrus, so hopefully it's lime or lemon.
The real mystery tree sits at the southeast corner of the house. It looked feeble when we got the house but has bounced back nicely since we started watering in July. Even our local landscaper and arborist could not identify the tree, so we are waiting for the fruit to give it away. Some buds have appeared, and they still don't give us much of a clue. Pomegranate? Your guess is as good as ours.
UPDATE! The tree is a cherimoyas, a Peruvian fruit also known as a custard apple. You can find them in the supermarkets nearby for about $7/lb. They grow as big as grapefruits, so we will keep watering it and see what happens!
The old washing machine that escaped the dumpster is now a planter for geraniums, and the bougainvillea is blooming nicely. Watering certainly does wonders...
Before all the digging began in the garage, we worked on framing and strengthening the interior of the house. Russell finished the hangers on the rafters and the skylight cutouts, then closed up the old kitchen door and moved the old door to the deck over a few inches, where it will serve as the entrance to the addition/master suite.
After an unusual week of wet, cool weather, the yard has sprouted a lot of flowers, leaves, and even grass. Maybe a real lawn will be possible after all. The pomegranate bush had an adverse reaction to the rain and lost all its leaves. I crawled under the bush to retrieve four old basketballs that became visible without the foliage.
The large cactus has hundreds of new blossoms, many more than the one day it bloomed over the summer.
Russell spent a tedious two hours patching up the hole in the fence from the sewer connection. We replaced the crosspiece with a plastic pipe that I spray painted silver-- much cheaper than the metal alternative.
