el rancho cactus

Today Sarah and I drove out to Reseda to a gigantic old cactus ranch.  It was total cactosity!  It was so cactusy, I just had to share some cactographs with you guys.

One of the first things we noticed about this cactus ranch, right off the bat, was that there was a whole ton of cactus there...

What else was there?  Some crazy iron dinosaurs

They had a saloon...

And an uncovered wagon...

And a big truck with a flying saucer alien painted on the side...

Maybe back in the 1960s when they opened, cactus were considered "exotic plants"?

If you got thirsty and wanted a Coke or a Pepsi, you were pretty much out of luck.

This cactus was rated X (avert your eyes, PG-13 people)

This cactus was punk rock heavy metal, "to the max"

Let's face it, they had a ridiculous amount of succulents.

This monkey was holding his very own cactus

When it was time to get out of there, I was like "let's boogie"

Goodbye el rancho cactus!

Front me some

Here's the latest front view of 335 Laveta, the cutest shack on the block.

Oh, the curb appeal...

Come up and see it sometime, now that it doesn't look like this anymore!

The longest yard

Gentle reader, stroll with me down memory lane.  Perhaps you may recall what our backyard looked like back at the beginning of this blog.  First it was a tornado stricken disaster area...

 

This bit was no laughing matter neither...

So then we got the house fixed up, but the backyard was still a godawful sea of yellow dirt and weeds for a very, very long time...

After much blood, sweat, toil and tears, we have finally achieved a yard fit for human habitation.  We dug up the weeds, tilled the soil, and put in sod and sprinklers...

We built a deck and put in some trees...

This pergola will someday be covered with leafy trumpet vines...

Wylma digs it!

It's yardy!

Foliage

Well, we've been landscaping like crazy over the past year and I think we're off to an OK start.  Let's see, what can we show you here...

I promised you a year ago that those little ficus guys would grow up and cover that entire wall, and well, that is about halfway true.  But they're gettin' there!

Our mezzanine level is getting a little greener.

 

 

That palmy guy used to live in Wylma's bedroom at Parkman... look how happy he is to be out on the porch!

Wylma sez you gotta stop and smell the flowers once in a while.

That prickly pear sure is happy... maybe a little too happy.  These roses are a nice dusty pink color, they're called Cinco de Mayo roses.

After a zillion trips to the tree farm, we picked out these two trees, a carrotwood and a Brisbane box.  They're evergreen, heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant, not poisonous, no messy fruit, and they don't get to be 80 feet tall.  Curious to see how they grow in over the next few years.  More backyard posts coming up!

Furnishings

We got some new old stuff.  I know, what are the chances.

Like this rug, for example.

  

Sarah found this groovy old wooden chest in Bisbee AZ, and made a thing out of it.

Wylma digs this cool old bridge lamp, another Sarah find.  It's a good thing I married a top-shelf interior designer right?

Finding the perfect armchair wasn't easy.  We wound up getting this one, an old frame which someone had unfortunately covered in weird purple velvet so it looked like a hot item from Prince's yard sale.  Then we had it reupholstered in this neato fabric... and who picked out that fabric you might ask?  Sarah that's who!

We got a super deal on this armoire at an antique mall way out in Redlands.  I resisted many of the changes you see here, but I was on board with this baby from the get-go.  Whoops, gotta mend the front of that settee there...

My crazy old dining room table finally got axed in favor of this fabulous French farmhouse number.  It barely fit in my car, a little old lady had to help us puzzle it in there.  Another super deal from one of our secret antique hideouts way out in the Inland Empire... drive east young man!

Sarah found these cool old saddlebags in El Paso, to go with our kitchen bench.  You know, coz we're always riding horses around and saddling them and stuff.

Spaced

This isn't our new house... but what if it was? 

It's the Space Age Lodge in Gila Bend AZ, where we stopped on our way to visit Angie Anya & Steve!

Sarah is considering holding all of her future meetings in this discreet location.

home at last

Well, it only took a year and three months, but we finally got Laveta all fixed up and our retaining wall built.  Inspired by recent protest movements, we decided to rally together and occupy this house.

In about a year, those little ficus plants will hopefully have grown out to cover the side of the stairs.  And those succulents will look a bit more serious.  But hey, ya gotta start somewhere.  Wanna come in and see the rest?  Here's our mailbox...

 
Where mail goes through, despite sleet, snow or dark of night.  Here's our newly planted row of succulents...

The front porch.  Upon approach you will be woofed at by our vigilant guard choodle.  That usually means you're OK.

Our old furniture in its fabulous new setting!

Daniel's all-grown-up, adult-style record zone, for genteel music appreciation.

Our not entirely kitsch-free kitchen...

The laundry room, where Sarah's dreams of not hauling laundry to the laundromat anymore come true!

My, how genteel our new bedroom setup looks.  Get a load of all that gentility.

Walk right in to our walk-in closet...

Our taxidermied woodchuck pursues our taxidermied pheasant over the shelves of the library, which is also the Wylma room.

So come up and see us sometime, maybe sit a spell!

THE END of the Circa 1895 blog (or is it???????)????????