Two Bees Hive

Aunt Patsy found this wonderful tree version of a Ligustrum sitting on the curb along her walk one day. It had a note that it was free. So, she took it home and asked if we wanted it. Sure! I love free things.  Cassie and I had just been talking about how we wanted to plant something on the back side of the house to eventually help shade that side of the house. This ligustrum that has been pruned to be a tree is perfect. It already had good height and will grow quickly to a nice lush green canopy that is nearly at the top level of the windows.  New growth!

Mom and dad gifted us this wonderful Chinese Pistache. Though not native to Texas, they do well in the Texas weather and is a medium to fast growing tree. I like naming my trees so I named this one Mo-stache Pistache. When you say the name you have to make the motion of twirling your mustache. It just makes it more fun! Mo, for short, is doing well. I cant wait for the beautiful fall red and orange colors, he will look so great in our yard! If you want to read more about the Chinese Pistache, here is a link to the Texas A&M site .

Lesson learned: not everything you see on Pinterest is as easy as they say. We wanted, or maybe just I wanted, a pathway to the firepit. I don't really like having grass poke my feet when I have flipflops on, which I wear all the time. We talked about different options, limestone pavers, gravel, mulch....and then we decided a wood path would be good. We already have quite a bit of limestone from all the free limestone we got for the other projects so we thought a darker, different texture would be good. I searched Pinterst for different pallet ideas and found some great pathway ideas. I then searched for free pallets. Which are pretty easy to find but they aren't always in good condition and my car isn't big enough to carry pallets....or is it? I got a friend to help me get a few pallets and worked several days to pry them apart. This process is also not as easy as the internet says. I don't care what kind pallet you have, they are all a challenge to get