Windy December Day

It's the typical desert southwest weather of the middle of December and as usual our leaves are still hanging on, but today they are getting a rough go with the strong winds and more predictions of heavy winds and possible rain and snow in the next few days. We have several trees in our yard and the leaves play havoc on our pool - the wind seems to blow them directly into the pool. We had a pool cover years ago, but we realized we worked too hard taking the thing off and the dirt went into the pool anyhow. Bob has a nice leaf net for cleaning the leaves out so he tries to keeps on top of it. He uses the leaf blower to keep ahead of the game - a losing battle today.

The bushy red flowers in the photo below are in our front flower bed. They are Salvia, I believe, and they reseed every year. The hummingbirds love them and the small bushes are so abundant I let them grow without thinning. It looks like a messy bed, but I know it won't last long and the frost will get them. There are other birds who enjoy hiding and playing and eating the seeds in the bushy area. I'm much rather enjoy the birds than worry about a neat flower bed.









The pink rose has always had big blooms. This bloom is the only one left on this bush. We don't know the name of the rose, it's been in the front bed since we bought the house in 1993. It survives quite well with the salvia. If the colder weather and possible snow hits our desert area in the next couple of days as predicted, the rose will be looking sad. I wanted to preserve my last enjoyment of it's beauty.