Hello again everyone; yes, it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, here to show you what’s been going on in the garden, which really is hardly anything at all but I bet I can make it seem like a lot. You may remember me from such posts as “Before Dawn” and “The Sand Man”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic, pathetically hopeful pose. I’m suffering from the effects of falling back to regular time, when my tummy thinks it’s time to eat, but the clock says an hour earlier than usual. I guess I’ll adjust eventually. 
If this is way too pathetic looking, try this one instead. Rather raffish, don’t you think?
You may indeed wonder about cinder blocks in the kitchen. They support a big aquarium, in which there was a turtle, once upon a time. The aquarium is empty now, but it’s still there, for reasons I’m not sure of. Maybe mystical ones.
Anyway, we have a variety of things to show you. Here’s one of our guests keeping warm, on a slightly chilly day, under the Ephedra torryeana. 
Cute, huh. That’s Cabot, if you didn’t know. The guy I live with says he has to fill in that hole, though, to save the ephedra. Cabot will have to find another place to stay cozy. The guy I live with says that makes him feel mean, but he has to consider his plants, too.
Let’s go into the front yard for just a minute. Not for any really good reason, just to go. Well, there are pictures, so I guess that’s a good reason. The guy I live with put up a fence for Halloween so the trick-or-treaters wouldn’t impale themselves in the cactus garden. You can see a Certain Someone looking out of the window if you look just right.
The trick-or-treater fence will probably stay up there all winter, knowing the guy I live with as I do.
Look, here’s Titanopsis calcarea, with a flower bud in the lower right. It can flower any time from now on. The plant has been slightly nibbled on (not by me), but maybe the plants can live out here in front and not get eaten to the ground like they do in the back yard. We’ll see.
And Aloinopsis spathulata. No buds yet. This blooms in the spring. 
And then, because the guy I live with wants to try to fit in as much as possible, some ornamental kale. He says you don’t see this grown as much as you used to. Maybe people are suspicious of plants that stay green until at least Christmas. 
Although, fitting in ….I don’t know. These pots are on the driveway, after all. He says with only one car, there’s plenty of room for pots. Well, whatever, huh.
Now back in the back yard, with a picture of me.
Why not another picture of me to interest things up a bit? (The guy I live with disapproves of this use of the language.)
Okay, so, now we’re out in back, and ….oh, I remember. Crocus. It’s been kind of windy to really windy the last couple of days, and the guy I live with said he was going to take crocus pictures, but forgot yesterday, and so now they’re all tattered. I never put anything off, so this is a lesson for him.
Crocus hadriaticus forma lilacinus. 
Crocus hadriaticus.
Crocus hadriaticus ‘Purple Heart’.
The guy I live with isn’t entirely certain that Crocus hadriaticus is completely hardy here, but then, as he would say, what really is?
Well, I guess that’s it. A bunch of pictures of me, that can’t possibly be bad. They (you know, “they”) say it’s going to snow tonight, not much, but some, and it certainly looks like it. Some snow would be okay. Precipitation of any kind would be welcome, but I do like a bit of snow under my paws. 
I think that’s it. There might have been something else, but if so, I’ve forgotten what it was.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 