Andy is a star at basketball and spends a lot of time on the driveway court. As his skills have improved, he has added additional tools to his toolbox, most notably, the three-pointer.

Our driveway court didn't have a three-point line, so I repainted the original markings, plus added out-of bounds and the big curve.

It took a good three hours to mark everything out, tape and paint it. Three hours where Andy couldn't shoot hoop (horror!). I chose a sky blue paint so there would be enough contrast with the cement, but it wouldn't look like a school yard.

It doesn't take a psychic to predict that when you take five adolescent boys, one sophomoric Dad, and twenty-five cubic yards of chipped avocado trees that countless fermenting avocados will be hurled around like water balloons. I don't think my face and scalp have ever felt this moisturized!

Thanks to Four Seasons Tree Service for the free load of wood chips and avocado scrub. We've already started mulching the yard and things are looking real nice. At four wheelbarrows per yard, there is at least one-hundred trips from the driveway to the back yard in Andrew's future.

Early this afternoon, Sherry and I went for a terrific hike around the Oak Canyon Nature Center. With the weather, a busy basketball season, and the Fire Lookout closed for the season, I was really needing to commune in the woods. Quality time with just the two of us in this pretty canyon was just what the doctor ordered.

It finally dried out enough for Digger and I to get out in the yard and pull some weeds. With all this winter weather, the crab and bermuda grass has gone crazy. The Monkey Flower and Ceanothis was almost choked out by the weed grasses.

I filled the city's compost barrel plus three of these burlap squares. These are a landscapers version of bringing your own grocery bags. They run about three bucks each, and last forever. I use them for my extra green waste and save the stuff for the green barrel when I haven't already filled it. Otherwise, I can empty them in the County green pile. You can get them at Lawnmower Repair shops.

While I was doing all that work, I kept looking at the treehouse and thinking about some of the differed maintenance it needs too. If I can get a slide, I'd like to build another level, under the original level so that our Godson can get some extra use out of it.

I hate the absolute lack of daylight during the winter. I leave for work in the dark, come home in the dark and spend the weekend trying to catch up on the projects I missed in the bat cave all week.

I did manage to plant 25 gallons of False Mexican Heather. I'm not much for mono-culture, but the front yard benefits from a traditional planter by the front door. I got them in the ground just in time for four days of rain and darkness.

I hate daylight savings time. I've been walking the dogs in the dark when I get home and there has been no daylight left for time in the garden. The plus side is I can't see the weeds in the dark.

While we were camping in the San Diego area last weekend, I went to an awesome nursery called Barrels and Branches. They have some of the best hardscape I've seen anywhere, and they have the perfect blend of eclectic and practical. I'll be making a return visit the next time we're down south.

This is a California Winter. Today at work, I walked outside and saw that in less than a week, we went from Summer to Winter without ever stopping at the Fall. The wild buckwheat has turned crimson and will soon change to my favorite color of rust. The Toyon berries have also turned to a Christmas red, and the flowers of the Desert Yucca have dropped from the giant stalks. Unfortunately, all of this reminds me that I need to get a bunch of plants in the ground, and soon.

This past spring, the gophers had decimated our corn field. Of course field might be a bit of an overstatement, since it is only about 150 square feet. Even so, I managed to grow about forty corn plants. I also stuck in two watermelon plants in the middle of the area.

Less than ten of the corn plants weren't chewed off by the gophers, and we harvested just a single pot of corn for Independence Day. I really forgot about the watermelon plants until a melon caught my eye as I returned from walking the dogs this morning. Closer examination found three melons, the largest of which is currently the size of a football. We just might get to have a single serving each before the first frost.