Yesterday Patty and I went out doors to clean up the back yard.  We some of the palm tree trimmed and some of the boganvia trimmed and then decided there was two much for two old ladies to do alone so decided to call someone to come and take out the overgrowth and old stump and rototill the area so it is flat so we can set up the large pool for the kids there.  With the kids getting older and able to play by themselves Patty decided they need more room to run and play out there so the pineapple garden must go.  There used to be a fish pond surrounded by a flower garden there in the back yard but the raccoons killed all the fish and most of the flowers are now gone so that area is where we could set up the pool and taking out the two pineapple beds the kids would have enough room to run and play without getting stabbed by the long sharp pineapple leaves.  There are not many pineapples on the plants in the back because they don’t get enough sun there so those will go and any that have small pineapples will get transplanted. 

This is one small garden that will stay.  It has a waterfall in it so the birds come to get water when it is dry like right now.  We transplanted one pineapple here and an animal dug it up last night so Patty had to put it into the ground again this morning.  I hope it lives but it will take a few days to find out if being dug up twice has hurt it any.  You can see the slide from the swing set is really close so there isn’t much room here but the kids are good and don’t get into the garden when they play and they do love to see the birds come for the water so don’t want us to remove that bed.  

This is the swing set for the kids and they use this a lot but when we put the pool in there isn’t much room left to run so the garden just this side of the swing is being removed for he pool and then they have a nice lot of room to run and play.

This is the live oak that Patty planted 11 years ago when she had this house built.  The live oak grows very slowly but after 11 years it sure has grown into a large tree and it will get much bigger in years to come.  The boys like to run around the tree and you can see two small pine apple gardens on either side so if they anywhere near those they get stabbed and those can leave quite a cut.   In the swing picture you can see Patty working in the back ground.  There was a wooden fence in front of the one garden and Patty took that out also because the posts were starting to rot.  She put that out front for the garbage and some one already took them to use.  Whenever we have anything we no long can use but it has more life in it, then we set it out beside the road and someone always stops and picks it up.  Patty changed the running boards on her truck and put the old ones out and within ten minutes someone wanted them and they were gone.  That is so much better than just putting good things on the dump.

Tonight when the twins come home I want to take James out to see his air plant.  When Patty was a Disney a year or so ago she got an small green air pant and put it on her pine tree.  James just noticed it this last month and he showed me.  I explained to him what an air plant was and how it lived without being planted in the ground, then every day when he would get home from school he and I would go out and look at his air plant and look at the small orchid that hands there also.  We have been so busy for the last week and a half that we had not checked the plant and yesterday when I was out working in the yard this is what I say. 

The plant has bloomed.  James will be so thrilled to see that.  He will get right up close and so I took a picture up close so you can see what the bloom looks like,

It is no longer green and has strange purple bloom in the middle.  The orchid is budded too so he will watch that and be the first to see it bloom.  

Can you see the buds on the left side of the pot?  This too is an air plant.  There is no dirt in the pot only the plants roots that collects what it needs for the air.  They too are not parasites as air plants don’t hurt the tree they grow on, they just use the tree to get up high enough to get the sun and rain which it lives on.

We did not get the job all done and today we are busy visiting with Mali so will try to finish the yard next week end.   Have a great day and enjoy the great out doors.