Thank you very mulch.

Whilst my boys were having a good ole' time up on the roof, I was doing what I do best - unloading mulch from the WTMC.
We finally did it. We bit the bullet and decided to mulch the whole damn front yard. All of it. No landscaping (anytime soon), no nothing. The yard has a gorgeous canopy of shade from our two Texas Live Oaks so very little will grow there. Our two 100 lbs. dogs were kind enough to remove any last vestige of grass. I highly recommend this method of grass removal. That or goats. If you put goats in your urban front yard, please let me know because that would make you stranger than us and I'd like to send some folks your way. (Those folks being the several who stopped by today to inquire as to whether we were really mulching our entire yard. ) It took a couple of years for the dogs to do their job, but, voila!, no grass. Natural Gardener put their bulk soils on sale and we moved on it. Here's how it was looking with the "landscaping" provided by the dogs (you can click on the photo to enlarge it and get the full effect of a yard with no nothing):

Here's the old F-150 with the WTMH attached. I got 1/2 yard of garden soil and 3 1/2 yards of mulch. Those guys out there in the soil yard get such a kick out of me and my mulch rig. They apprciate wabi-sabi out there and, trust me, this get-up is way wabi. At one point Jackdaddy was kind enough (ahem) to point out that our yard was going to look exactly as it did before except the " new dirt" cost money and the old dirt did not. I suppose he has a point. If you're into points, that is. I, for one, am not. Especially when it is 4 in the afternoon and all I have had to eat is one small taco and 400 glasses of water. Hrmpf.

Now, here's a damn dilemma I've been dealing with. Surrounding my two lovely old oaks are these mammoth concrete rings lovingly (I assume) installed by old man Luetkenholter some many years ago. He then put down a layer of plastic and then filled it with soil and then planted succulents in there. Bad, bad Mr. Luetkenholter. They looked nice and tidy and old-fashioned, but they were choking the trees! I didn't get a photo of the other tree when I removed the ring, but, man, oh, man that poor thing. The surface roots were unable to escape the cement ring so they grew in a circle, round and round and round, basically choking the tree. I had to remove all the plants that had been planted in the top, gently, ever so gently loosen some of those entangled roots without breaking them and then mulch the hell out of the roots that were now exposed. You do not envy me that job. Now I've got to do it to the other one. This one looks like it's in better shape. Most of these roots appear to be from the decorative plants. I know the surface roots are tangled some, but not nearly as bad as the other ones. Both trees are sending millions of distress suckers all over the yard. I brainstormed with the arborist and I think our plan will work. I've got my fingers crossed. I let the first one sit for a couple of months before attempting to do the other one and it's looking good. I had them pruned as well and I'm sure that helped. This lovely drought hasn't done them any favors either, although I've been drip watering them when restrictions allowed. Poor babies.

Moving on to the bright side - here's a shot of the new walkway with the mulch in place on one side. I'm kinda digging the look. I think I'll like it better when it's settled a bit. I'll get the other stock tank pond installed next week and style you with a better picture.

After a hard day in the yard FinnigantheCurious and I were out on the patio watching a movie. He went in to use the bathroom. When he came out he informed me that he couldn't pee because there was a roach in the bathroom.
"It appears to be meditating."
His exact words.
I leave you with that. What more could you want on a Sunday night? Musings on goats and meditating roaches.