Progress and Miracles...

So first off I'd like to share the progress that was made this weekend with our yard... very exciting things.  We worked quite a bit in our yard this weekend.  To preface this, let me tell you where we/I've been.  It all started this last winter when I took a soils class...


I found that our tiny yard is so polluted with animal waste that its phosphorous levels were astronomically high.  I happened to do my final project on this issue so that I could help to deduce what could be done to improve the health of our yard.  The dogs not only helped to eradicate grass in areas with their paw traffic but our naturally acidic soils combined with way-out-of-balance other chemical levels made a difficult condition for grass to grow to not only make the yard more attractive but to also help mitigate the phosphorous problem.

I must interject here, this whole issue produced a great book/research idea... it would make a lot of money if someone did the research and wrote a book to help the average lawn-caring dog owner better manage the pollution problems that come with animals.  That would have been handy for my report!

Anyway, aside from the yard-wide full-summer re-seeding plan, we also had some other beautification projects that were goals for the summer.  Let me just share some "lovely" photos of how our yard looked this winter.  Please be ever-abundant with grace... ;)

The "trashy" distant view would be the neighbor's yard, an unfortunate sight we have yet to overcome.

The view as you enter our yard.

So my lovely girl Fynn likes to look in our main window seen in the first picture to monitor where we are and if we're going to rescue her from being outside.  So pitiful.  That has caused a depressed area in the yard to become even more so with compaction.  This has turned into a semi-hydrophobic situation in the summer when the soil completely dries which is not ideal to say the least.  A long time ago I dreamed of putting down pavers to create a small patio.  So we got to work making the magic happen and here's the result...

Of course, it helps to have things growing in... I'm just sure Fynn loves her new platform.  And the hope is that this will reduce the mud tracked inside during the fall/winter rainy season.  The plan is to put mosses in between the pavers to help with erosion and beauty.  Next step after finalizing the mini-patio... re-seeding this sadness.

And can you believe my classmates suggested to just cover the whole back yard in mulch? Preposterous!

In other news...

When I first moved to Seattle seven years ago, I got an orchid that was used to brighten up my windowless office.  I've done such a wonderful job keeping the leaves growing this whole time but alas no buds graced my presence.  I had many people give me advice over the years.  I finally started a fairly regular 4x/year regimen of fertilization and low and behold it paid off!  Here she is in bud...

And voila, here she is in all her glory!

So proud.  Look what can happen with a little patience.