Unplanned gardening...

So, yesterday about the time I'd finished my post, Ed showed up. Ed is my husband David's and my dear friend and one hell of a handy man. He's been threatening to end our shower woes for a while now and yesterday he began the process.

Handyman Ed and his piles of tools...

What does this have to do with gardening you might ask?

I thought nothing of it until somebody asked, where's the water main shut-off?

Followed by where's the shovel...

 

Darling Husband David,
poking around in my Iris bed near the pond

 

Here, gimme that,
it's gotta be here somewhere...

Smells interesting...

Irises spread ALOT in 8 years...

Save the plants!!!!

What you can't see here, since I'm the one behind the camera is me, scooping up planters, scooping up armloads if Iris rhizomes, tripping over dogs and trying to snap pictures with dirty hands!

They found the water main and the sewage clean out drain as well.
Here's what I was left with...

Be still my heart, there are fishies in there under that dirt...

I was given instructions to cover those clean outs with something more permanent than the wooden structure that was around them some years prior to us moving here. We found small remnants of the rotted wood and a couple of rusty nails but that was all.
Now, down in that hole is a flower pot over the water main and a rubber maid tub over the sewage drain thing...
Great, but it looked like crap. I back filled the soil, cut back all of the Iris foliage and stored them in a tub, I hope to donate them to someone else, if not, I'll find space for them in the days to come.

But what to do with the bare patch right next to my whiskey barrel pond and front door?
It needed to be something fairly easy to de-construct, which I'm not very good at...

Here's hoping it will blend in a little or something, as time goes by...

Shiloh votes that I remove the pot of succulents so that she can fish in the pond...

The fish don't look any worse for wear!

New view from the front door

So, that was yesterday. Tired and dirty, and no shower as of yet but Ed assures us it will be finished today. He does a great job, so I have no doubt or concerns over the shower.
About the time the sun was going down, David told me to grab the camera again. Mt. Shasta was doing her thing... Even when we don't get a clear view of the mountain it seems she's always up there doing something spectacular!

So, after looking at it for a while this morning, I decided that the rest of the Irises in this bed needed to go.
Shiloh's request to move the succulents won out and I added stepping stones so that it will be less likely that the animals will trample this bed. Here's hoping it grows in a bit before the season is over.