The Yard

Decades ago there was a maple tree and a line of small basalt boulders separating the upper half from the lower. The front half was grass; a couple of yuccas perched on the leading edge of the upper level while a huge cholla presided over the rest. 

One weekend late in the aughts, I rented a bobcat and with Vince's help we dug out the grass, loaded it into a rented pickup & took it to the dump. It was three weeks before I could walk again. Somewhere along the way the maple died and an elm grew in the center of the cholla.

After I left in 2010, Michelle cut the cholla back, removed the elm, planted some apache plume and had some brickwork put in.

The cholla, now half the size it once was, still attracts thrashers, distant cousins of the nightingale, and roadrunners.

Streetwalker