slope water management

The title of this post introduces the newest addition to our landscaping. Our roof run off (it doesn't take long to fill the rainbarrels) and whatever the mountain might have been shedding has been channeling through a couple of drains to the front yard, where it was carrying away mulch and soil and clogging up the culvert under the driveway. So we asked our landscapers for some help and now have a dry stream bed through the front yard.


The bank shown in the foreground is much steeper than it appears in the photo. There will be a water fall here during a storm.

An update on our wildflower meadow - it has never been this colorful.

These birds have been frequent backyard visitors. Perhaps they aren't enthusiastic about the feeder because there are plenty of other delectable items on the menu.


And last is a photo taken yesterday of one of the new residents at our house. We started out thinking these were bees and we'd need a bee keeper to help remove them. But this is a yellow jacket (click on the photo to see the critter). The exterminators are scheduled to come tomorrow to evict the colony.