Looking like Medieval instruments of torture the hooks on these

Opuntia ellisiana

 

paddles (spineless prickly pear) have been keeping someone very busy this week.

First comes the paddle selection…

…there is no shortage to choose from,

then the picking,

and removal of ‘select’ hooks.

“The beauty of suffering.”

Like little voodoo dolls I keep finding them all around the house, dangling where ever there is a free nail.

https://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/08/pressing-along/

They are like Cactus Man’s…

 Moving Less Disturbingly Along:

Plants are very happy after our rain and sun.

My post oak has finally leafed out and stopped raining its catkins everywhere.

Inland sea oats are quick on the rise, and one of my favorite tropical-looking shrubs,

Nerium oleander, 

 

‘Hardy Red’ is putting on a, well…red show on the edge of my Hell-strip.

‘Hardy Red’ tolerates temperature extremes better than the white and pink cultivars, it blooms sporadically through most of the year.

Prefers sharp soil and good drainage,

as do most things in the Patch, like this

back-lit sotol, and these barrels:

I contemplated picking off last year’s old blooms, then decided better of it. I will wait until I have my pliers, besides there is that stubborn piece of Bermuda grass that I always have to work on, (bottom-right) but I do not want to talk about that.

 

With the discovery of the first tadpoles of the year, the netting began.

Not so little fingers went fast to work,

their catch and release policy even included a few baby goldfish which is a good thing considering recent events.

Finally:

My landscape design portfolio finally outgrew the page that it once inhabited in here, so for the past few weeks I have been busy learning Thesis 2 and building a new home for it in here:

http://www.leveridgelandscapedesign.com/

Stay Tuned for:

“Test of Courage”

 

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

 

Feel better soon Dad!