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Spotted Tomatoes & an Upside Down Tree

So as I was pulling out of my driveway this morning I was shocked to see that a very big branch was almost but not completely broken off of one of our old beautiful trees.  It had cracked in such a way as to flip upside down but not break off. 

I returned home 12 hours later and it is still hanging on by a thread.  My upside down tree reminds me of my childhood when I would spend hours outside laying under our huge old willow tree dreaming up  new ways to entertain myself and my six siblings.  There was always something peaceful about looking up into the branches of a swaying willow.  Then when I was a young adult someone told me that willow trees attract snakes and I freaked out a bit about how close I possibly came to death by gardner snake.  I don't even know if the snake thing is true...but I've never been able to sit under a willow tree again.  Overly dramatic scaredy pants that I am.

In other outdoor news....Bob and I planted tomatoes for the first time ever.  We have not had much success in the outdoor/gardening arena so far in our adult lives.   So this was a big deal to us.  We've watered and put those cages around them and faithfully look at them everyday to see if tomatoes have magically appeared overnight.  Well, recently the green ones started popping out and then today I noticed that they seem sickly.  They look like this..............

Can somebody tell me if this is normal or do they have worms or some other dreaded disease.  I'm so bummed.  Any advice is welcomed.  But if your advice  is to just buy some tomatoes at the grocery store then you are just mean :)

And lastly, I promised a few pictures of our landscaping projects begun this spring.  Here is a photo of one of our newly built columns and some of the urns I planted.  We've still got a ton of work to do in our yard and no matter how many hours we put in we can't seem to keep up with the weeds.  And when I say we I definitely mean Bob.

I've Been Waiting 11 Years For This!

Ever since we moved into our old dream house (read as neverending money pit) I have almost been brought to tears many times by the overwhelming mess that our yard is.

I can truly say that neither Bob or I is remotely good at anything to do with landscaping or gardening.  And I will admit that I don't even want to try.  I just don't like it.  Bob has tried and I love him even more for that....but please refer back to sentence one of this paragraph.

So...after 11 years in our home we are finally getting a couple of things done that will drastically improve the sorry situation.  One of my old antiquing friends' husband is a landscape architect and I have always loved his style and personality so I am happy to be working with him on this project.

Basically as it turns out, a lot of what we need is the removal of old scraggly stuff.  There are old hedges that run the perimeter of our corner lot and we have tried everything to get them looking ok.  They never do.  They are about a hundred years old and they are tired and raggedy.  Can you blame them?  So out they are coming..to be replaced with a new fresh hedge ( I'm so sorry old hedge...you did your job so well for many years but now it's time to say goodbye).  Here is a picture of the removal mid-stream.

We had also tried to do a corner planting near the sidewalk ourselves.  It never amounted to much.  Jim recommended we build a jumbo corner planter out of brick which will really define the space and make it easier for us to have a foundation to work with.  I agree and here is a snap of it in progress.

Behind the corner planter they are currently working on making a wide brick path around the tree and creating a nice little area for a bench.  I am not sure if I will ever sit on the bench in the corner of my yard with people walking by....seeing as I am so shy....but I know that it will look nice and who knows....maybe other people will sit on it.

It makes a big fun mess when you work in the yard....

In other parts of the yard the very saddest part of the project is going to happen soon.  We have a very dead old tree in our yard.  We were told when we bought the house that it needed to come down.  We couldn't do it.  It breaks our sappy tree loving hearts to even think of such a thing.  But now we are told that it could come down any day and most likely right on top of my van which is always parked right next to it. 

We had 11 wonderful years with you old tree and we will miss you dearly.  We promise to plant a new tree friend in your place.

Rest in Peace old friend.

It is probably wrong on so many levels, but I actually am a little teary eyed right now even writing this post.  But what do you expect from the girl who could not once make it thru an episode of Little House On The Praire without blubbering at some point during the show.  Oh Pa......

I will be excited to show you all a few more pictures of this project when it is completed.  Wish us luck!

Ice Cold Shower

Considering the fact that the house I live in was built in 1898, and that half of the essential equipment in it was brand new way back in the late 50's early 60's,....it really didn't come as much of a surprise that the dinosaur we call our water heater finally gave out for good. 

I knew it was risky last month when we had Steve (our know him by first name) plumber come out to service it and even he called it a relic.  But last night it konked out for good.  I'm declaring it to be for good because my optimistic husband Bob will keep paying 125 dollars to get things serviced over and over again without really adding that up in his head.  Sometimes old and broken just needs to be replaced. 

As I just wrote that I realized that I am getting older and definitely more broken down and definitely don't want to be replaced with a younger shinier model....what should I do?? I will have to ponder that philosophical question some other time because right now I am still cranky from my ice cold shower.  With this being a holiday weekend, I can look forward to at least 4 or 5 more days in a row of ice cold showers.

So this morning I warmed up 3 pots of water and poured it over my head in between standing in the ice cold of the shower spray to try to make it better.  It worked out ok.  It took a little of the edge off.  The upside was that I realized I could take a shower in about 1 minute if I try.