12/02/2022 – Around Colehaus

Welcome to December! Up here in the PNW, our sunsets are often stunning in late autumn, rivaling some of the colors found in our yard.

We’re big fans of burning bushes, though they are messy and need serious amounts of trimming and shaping throughout the year. Our neighbors aren’t fans so we’ve limited ourselves to just two. Though, just between you and us, there’s another one intertwined with our holly hedge in the front yard. That one was here before the neighbors moved in, so we’re going off the grandfathering-in principle.

We have a beautiful golden arborvitae that’s some thirty-plus feet tall. Unfortunately, our most recent windstorm partially ripped it from the ground where, should we have a second such windstorm (one traditionally hits us the second week of December), it will undoubtedly take up with it our sprinkler system on that side, an electrical line running alongside the cement walkway, and a good portion of that cement walkway itself. It’s massive, fibrous root system let loose on one side two weeks ago and the entire tree rocks against a shared fence substantially with each autumn breeze.

Today, Mom meets with an arborist to discuss the best method to take it down. Trimming it back isn’t an option; that would simply be a delay in the inevitable. Better to take it down now, rather than wait until spring (provided it doesn’t take itself and that fence and other things down before then) when nesting and baby bird season arrives. This gorgeous tree will be missed by us, our neighbor on that side, and the raccoons who use the trunk to get up onto the top of the fence. (They have other ways to reach the top of the fence, trust us.)

Elsewhere, we’ve had our first couple of overnight freezes. Portions of our backyard are in micro-climate areas, sheltered from the hardest frost. The hostas are on their way out, the Autumn Joy sedums are finished, and the leaves have dropped from the blueberries.

Mom’s Cyclamen has transitioned from greenhouse pretty boy to full-on outside dweller. Dad gifted Mom this plant years ago and Mom babied it for about two years in hopes it would thrive outside year around. She covers the ground around it with hazelnut shells to prevent the slugs from eating it to the ground and that actually works! Permanently planted since 2018, it blooms now every spring and winter, bothered by neither frost or snow.

This Thanksgiving cactus rescued wilted and dry from the floor of a local farm and feed store is also thriving and causing Mom to ask if she can rehome it somehow. It’s not that she doesn’t like it; it’s gorgeous and filled with buds and flowers of pure white petals and magenta pink ring centers. It’s that she has very limited time and even more limited space for it to grow properly, given that exactly five Colehaus Cats want nothing much more than to chew it to soggy bits. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter cactus are lifetime plants and can live 80-plus years. With the houseplant craze going on now, you’d think she could find someone who’d love to have it!

The Pieris bush is covered with flower buds for its first time ever. It’s struggled for four years before celebrating a good summer season. Bees love this bush and being as it’s planted next to a Russian Sage, another bee-friendly bush though a bit invasive for our tastes, this makes a very bee, butterfly, and hummingbird-happy corner of our yard.

We haven’t seen Joe the frog in over a year but we hear someone in the backyard frequently enough for us to believe Joe is alive and well somewhere in the fountain area. Maybe Son of Joe?

There’s a cat in this photo. We don’t know how Mom does it, but she can spot a cat hiding in bushes from sixty feet away. Do you see it? How about just left of the bare cedar trunk in the middle of this photo, partially tucked in behind a bush and a big rock? See its ears sticking up?

It’s Murray, our most recent fairly-recent visitor. He was probably stalking birds and despite Mom’s attempts to lure him near with the sound of a crinkly treat package, Murray’s just not having any of it. Mom’s attempt to get within five feet of Murray: 2 instances, in both cases Murray was sound asleep on a front porch chair. Murray’s attempt to get well away from the crazy lady trying to get close: Countless, probably in the millions by now.

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A Colehaus Cats flashback:

2021 – No post
2020 – It’s Here!
2019 – Our 2019 Holiday Card
2018 – No post
2017 – No post
2016 – Friday with Sunny
2015 – One Word Wednesday
2014 – No post
2013 – Manic ManCat Monday
2012 – No post