We Visited Chez 1.0

Plants! Koi! Tattoos!

We recently got invited to Chez 1.0 so one of the new owners could practice applying glitter tattoos to baby madmadscientist.
I have to say it was really, really, nice to go back and see the old place. The current owners are the same that bought it from us originally and they're still our friends! Even though thay are perhaps still a smidgen underwater still....

Mrs. Madmadscientist and I still pine away for the magical backyard we created waaaaay back then.
So, I took a bunch of pics and here they are!

Chez 1.0 Back Yard Paradise
I realized too late that I forgot to take an overall shot from the balcony so this is probably going to seem a bit disjointed...

The Deck/Balcony and Ponds

Look, they repainted the house the same crazy purple color! God bless em.

The Ipe deck has held up well. The EB-Tys are still holding and the surface appears firm.
Mrs. Madmadscientist, me and some friends did all the above ourselves....wow does that seem like a looooong time ago...like another lifetime. We were waaaaaay younger then..
But seriously, the large rocks on the edge of the lower pond are still very firmly attached and nothing has leaked yet.

Veggie Filter

These plants are just going gangbusters. They're like six feet tall.
These are actually part of the filtration system for the ponds. Water up-wells through the planter where it is biologically cleaned and is returned to the ponds.

The Garden

Just about everything you see here Mrs. Madmadscientist planted over five years ago!

Its all really filled in and just looks amazing. 

The Avocado Tree

We planted this fricken thing and it never, ever grew for us.

Now its so big they had to top it and they get TONS of avocados....grumble.

Veggie Garden

They are still using our veggie garden and its still making amazing tomatoes and hot peppers.

Artichoke

Mrs. Madmadscientist planted this 7 yrs ago and the SAME plant is still going strong!??!

We used to eat about half of them and let the rest go to flower cause the flowers look so dang cool!

Blood Orange

Even the blood orange tree we planted is doing great. They say they get tons of oranges from it...grumble...

Kaffir Lime

This was supposed to be a dwarf also...They had to top this one too...
I admit this was probably a mistake. The leaves and zest are absolutely amazing to cook with.. but the limes themselves are worthless...

Lemon Verbena

When we left this was just a scraggly thing..now its a full on tree! And it smells amazing! 

Stargazer Lilies

We didn't plant these but they look amazing. 

They cut my grass back...

This was the only thing that I wasn't honestly thrilled to see...but it is their house and they can do whatever the heck they want with it. Check out how giant the rosemary bush is.

Super Fun Underwater Pics!

So, we brought our water proof camera with us and it occurred to me that it might be fun to try to take some pics of the fish from under the water.

Lower Pond

Almost all the fish we left them with are still alive and really haven't gotten any bigger. 

We used to have names for all the big Koi but we couldn't remember them...getting old. 

Upper Pond

This pond was harder to photograph because the little guys up here are more skittish and faster.

Hmmmmm.....

From above

From below.

Well...this house is in the ghetto...
Talk about sleeping with the fishes....sheesh! 

Semi in focus shots.....

And of course the entire reason we went...

Glitter Tattoos!!!!!

Check out that ink! 

All in all it was a nice visit...cept they didn't have any beer...no carbs... sheesh....

The Best Picture I Have Ever Taken

I know its a low bar but this was a total accident and it looks amazing. I'm going to print it out on fancy paper and frame this baby. 

Pumpkins!!!.....Lemons!!!

And now a post that won't get me sued......

We have Real For-Real Pumpkins!! And Lemons!!!

Our super-special friends at Casa Decrepit gave us a Meyer Lemon tree for the Summer Solstice!
Isn't that nice of them?
Solstice Lemon Tree

 It's even got yellow suns on it! Yay!!!! Happy Solstice!!!! and yay!!!!! we're not the only people in Alameda without a Meyer Lemon now!

Pumpkins!
A while ago momma and baby madmadscientist planted ALL the pumpkins seeds from last years carved pumpkins.  I'm talking A LOT of seeds probably over 100.

Check out our sidewalk strip pumpkin patch.

Some of the plants are looking a little sickly...

Folks were letting their dogs poop and pee here for a lot longer than they should of.
We put up these little signs to gently discourage them.

Now people read the sign and go, 'Awwwww' and don't let their doggies do their business there.

We've got a couple of truly big whoppers already.

That middle pumpkin is already as big as some we carved last year....don't know how big its going to be come October...

Jerk-Offs!

Some tool already stomped on one of the pumpkins...

What we shoulda done.

We had this brilliant idea too late....
Look how awesome this looks. Pumpkins are a vine and we can train them up our cemetery fence!
Its too late because you can't transplant pumpkins...
Next year we'll plant the seeds all along the fence.
Then we'll train them up the fence and hopefully get to cover most of it with vines and pumpkins.
How freaking awesome is that going to look at Halloweentime?
Supper Fricken Awesome!



First person who tells me my wife has great melons is going to get a pop in the mouth!