SETTLING IN

Our house is still awesome. I must say I got used to having a dishwasher very quickly. 35 years of not having one and never really wanting one has all been changed in only one month. I can never go back. The glasses come out all so shiny.

Across the street and up a short hill we come to Buffalo Mesa, a big open flat plain with great views of the Peaks and the town. Great place to walk and bike with Darwin though there are evil cactus which stick in and break off into oval nodules. Have to pull them off Darwin least a few times every walk, spiky painful little buggers. Despite that we love our new backyard.

We still have Panda....no we are not keeping him. I taking him back tomorrow and hopefully get neutered so he can go up for adoption by the weekend. He is a total cutie and I know he will find a good home. We will miss him but keeping him would make the whole 'foster' thing moot. We are strong and not at all tempted. Even Darwin will miss him, though she would never admit it.

Hiding from the Thunder gods

Our little patch of green at the front is coming along well. The wildflower mix is thriving and hopefully will start to bloom soon. Landscaping was required there as its on a slope and needed to get some growing things in before the monsoons. So far the front yard hasn't been washed away by the rains.
I planted some Yarrow today. It was from my MIL place, also have some from L's house. Its thrives here and can take over, and despite Pandas best efforts is still in the ground.

Little garden

Mike, Laura and the kids are in Australia for 3 weeks. Doing the family get together on a beach in Qld. So while they are gone we are looking after J's geckos. They are pretty cute. I put 12 crickets in there, and most of them haven't been scoffed yet. They are mad for potato skins and sing a lot. The crickets, not the geckos, they mostly just sit there under the sun lamp.

Gecko

My Mum is coming over in Oct for 3 months. She booked the flight today. She flights into LA and the plan is to drive down, pick her up and spend a week or so driving back via funky CA sites like Yosemite, Monterey, the redwoods etc.
I'll have to keep working but plan on taking time off here and there so we can see the sights.

We booked tickets to see Nick Cave in LA on Sept 17th. Friends in LA convinced us. It took some doing. WOOT.

Buffalo Mesa