It started out a great day!! And now my name is MUD!!

I was up at 5, outside and loving it. It was so quiet, and so crisp. And our 15+ year old cat wandered back home after being gone for 2 days and worrying us to death, so I was feeling so happy! (Though since on inspection, Nick is looking ill so we are taking him to a emergency vet at noon)

I had to meet 2 guys at 6AM who were going to dig out a big crape myrtle that had grown too big for its spot. My DH quit his gardener job here last month.

They came and hooked that tree to the back of their truck and ripped it out. I then asked them to dig out all the roots for I was planting a crape myrtle, a tall standard in the same hole, with some bareroot roses. One guy was taking a huge pick ax to the roots. Well after a few minutes he struck water!! Lots of gushing water. He had severed our main water pipe that goes into the house. I had to go wake up Tom, though he had given me strict instructions he was not getting up early on his 1 day all week to sleep in and that he wanted nothing to do with this project. I am in such trouble!!!

So now we are waiting on an emergency plumber on Sunday morning. If we get through this for less than $500 I will be happy and Tom may let me live.

I took these pictures while I waited for the 2 guys to show.

Winter color of Sexy Lady, I have lots of blooms on her. I love her attitude.

The Pale Pink Parade.......... all in winter color

Susanne, EP and Mountain Magic

RK, CG and Ruthie.

Creamsickle

One of my double pinks. Looks like double ruffles. LOL

Oh no, Kell!! You poor thing! If the contractor hit the main water pipe wouldn't it be his responsiblity to pay for the damage? Gorgeous brugs as always! You're such a tease!!!! Sigh......
:) Donna

You're double pink is purrty!

A new double white that has a huge flower.

Oooooh, I like the green showing up and it's a double! Double, triple tease!!

And a real favorite, True Arborea. Can you smell it??

Nope! Can't smell a thing...darn't!!!
:( Donna

Well Kell those Dreamcicle's are to die for and so are several others.
I do hope you get your pipelines marked.
Do you have Natural Gas lines in your area too?
Those are even more important to mark.
I quit burying soakers because I would shovel thru them the next season.
Bless your's and Tom's heart.
We can't afford to buy funeral flowers right now so please Tom, don't kill Kell today!
Sidney

LOL Donna. It is white in the summer. And might be tomorrow when it gets some age on it. I am piling on very pink pollen on her though, she has a pink father.

I didn't tell them the pipe was there, so I figure it is my fault. They were relieved too when I didn't make a fuss and took the blame. The guy looked sick over it. And Tom is sure blaming me too. LOL

Here are some other flowers out there today. Look at that snail, he is still living. I didn't notice him till I downloaded the pics, that lucky duck!

LOL Sidney, I will tell Tom. Nixey on the off the wifey!! Between the emergency vet and the emegency plumber, I bet my allowance gets cut this month. And I will not dare complain!! Why do these things always happen on Sunday?

I have no clue where my gas line is. Good point! I better find out. Though I knew my water pipe was there, it just didn't register until I saw the water fly up! What a muddy mess out there.

Oh dear, the plumber just got here.

kell, go to your dmail

Well heck, Kell! Hope everything goes okay with Nick. The other stuff is life getting in the way of living. Tom.. Kell is really a nice person and she grows really beautiful flowers and we need to keep her around.. maybe you can sleep an extra hour next week? We won't talk repair bills... nah.. won't even mention 'em.
Good luck, kell. Gorgeous flowers, btw... really gorgeous!

:~)

Barb

I hope Nick is going to be okay. Keep us posted. Kell, what is the pink little flowers in the middle?
:) Donna

Kell always ask when you call a plumber if they know what brugs are if they say yes then offer to pay them with cuttings. That is bad to have to wake Tom on his sleep in day. Beaytiful pictures.

oh, no! sorry about the water main, kell. tom will let you live, of course =). this is still your b-day weekend, right? and pre-valentine's day...

glad nick is back. i hope he checks out ok. gorgeous brugs as usual. we're having fabulous weather, aren't we? supposed to rain thursday, but weather.com update: no rain for another week!

Hi Kell it brought back memories last summer early i had a friend put underground wiring near my pond which went into the foundation downstairs to an outlet. in the fall i was digging against the house i thought i put in a bunch of hostas. i hit something with the end of my shovel instead opf stopping i kept digging and went right through the buried wire and lost my power fortunately the shovel must have been grounded i was so mad at myself for we had to dig up and replace the underground cable. So it was notmy day. Bob

Nick is hiding under the king size bed (impossible to reach) and we have to leave for the vet. And the plumber charged $350 for half hour work and he didn't even have to dig the hole. I need to change professions.

But the good news is my DH just said he would come with me to the nursery to pick up 2 more arbers for my new roses later today. He has said NO all week. He doesn't know the only nursery that carries them is an hour away though. But I must say, what a guy!!! He also doesn't know he has to pay for them also, I am broke. So fireworks may still be in store for me. LOL

Wow, you sure lead an interesting life!

Hope Nick is ok. Getting up there in age, probably still "catn' around tho(or is he neutered?), it's getting that time of year.

Many beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing,

Kell I hope Nick is O.K. You have had him a very long time and I know you love him like a child. I would have never thought about a water pipe. Bake Tom a pie and smile real pretty and he will be O.K.(I hope). You have a lot of people who love you and a wonderful yard to look at until Tom is happy again.

I loved the pictures and seeing the double pink and Creamsickle with so many blooms at one time is just unbelievable. Sexy Lady is always out standing. Peace, Joan

Very pretty, Kell! At least you have pale blooms, which is a lot better than NO BLOOMS AT ALL!!!

Kell, you are such a trip! I can't believe you had someone coming at 6 AM, much less on a Sunday. It totally sounds like a Lucy Ricardo day. Hope kitty is ok.

Look, I am brand new to this brugmania ! I don't know the correct lingo, so forgive me ! Do any of you ever trade any of your lovely (especially pink or orange ) brugs that have those "tenacles" for a daylily? Or at least tell me where I CAN get one ! I only have 2 brugs and they are a very common yellow and a white. Nothing unusual about them. I thought they were pretty till I got on this forum and saw that there were so many other colors and shapes !!!!!!!

Uhoh corgimom!!! You've now fallen hook, line & sinker! It's way too late to turn back now! LOL

Oh Kell....you've made me laugh today! I hope things are better and you convince Tom to spend the money on the arbors! You'll have to let us know. And I hope the kitty is all better!

Kell,
I just love your stories. You lead an exciting life. You stayed so calm, cool, and collected. I can just see you - the water shooting out like a fountain and your walking around the yard taking pictures of the Brugs for us. LOL. You make me laugh.

Crystal

Beautiful pictures, Kell. Hope Nick will be okay and I pray Tom doesn't murder you before you get home with the arbors. LOL

You guys are so funny. I have the most boring life going. My biggest thrill was watching my water pipe get split open.

Poor Nick has gotten into something. All his fur on his chin fell out when the vet rubbed it with a kleenex. It was raw underneath. His fur is gone off his legs too in spots. Also between his toes, he had black stuff and they were all inflamed. We had to run water between his toes on each foot. That was fun! He has lost 2 pounds since he was there 2 weeks ago. His eyes are infected. We wonder if he was locked in someone's garage with no food or water and got into some sort of toxic material.

After we got Nick into bed we went to the nursery. Tom said no way could we even get the bigger arbor home, he said it was way too wide. But the guys put them straight up on the car. We got it home and it would not fit thru the side gate. We tried and tried till I thought I would die. Then Tom said we should try to pull it flat out, which was so hard. It wanted to be U shaped and it was almost impossible to hold it more open. But after a horrendous ordeal and much collateral damage to the gate and to the plants along the side yard, we got it to the backyard.

See that man, he is about to tell me 20 times..."I TOLD YOU IT WAS TOO WIDE!!!" The big one is 8ft tall and has a 6 ft spread and is 3 ft deep.

And knowing no shame, when Tom was with the car getting the arbors loaded on, I snuck to the florist shop for a peek. I saw my new love.... a beautiful cordyline and then an incredible begonia. And do you know when I got into the car, he said nothing to me about the 2 plants that came with me. In retrospect, I think he may have been too tired to say BOO!

Kell, if you call the water company and the gas company and tell them you're going to dig, they will come out and mark the lines, they do it for free here.
Your ordeal kind of reminds me when I was digging a bed by the pool. Those lines from the pump and filters to the pool are buried, and not very deep I might add. DH was not happy with what I did to them! Then there was the time I dug a hole to plant a tree, oops.......irrigation main line was right in the way.
How is Nick this morning? I hope he is better.

oh Kell what a day. We had tree cutters here all day and to many supervisors(DH & his buddies) Well the wife of one of the friends and I went to the store for a few minutes. When we returned I came home to my triple lamp post wiped out limbs all over my front porch and told that the top of the tree hit my roof but didn't damage it. Needless to say he only got paid half his fee. I look at it this way. He was the professional and shouldn't have been listening to his half drunk friends telling him how to do his job. All the supervisor stood around drinking beer all day giving orders. One of the other guys wife got it all on video on her cell phone and showed me. I am glad I wasn't here because I would have shot all of them. Or there ears would have been buring like they never had before ROFL!!!!!!!

Wow, Kell. You need to invest in a trailer to pull home all you shopping sprees. LOL

Kell,

My dh came up with a creative solution to my "mishaps" with the water pipe and the shovel. He called every utility to come out and mark where they went, then he went to a tile store and bought a huge odd lot box of 4 inch chipped tiles. He laid the tiles over all of the utilities spaced about 6 inches apart. The ones that went in the grass he dug into the dirt a bit so he wouldn't hit them with the mower. Now when I'm digging in my beds that the utilities run thru I know exactly where they go and I just have to plant around the tile or remove one or two, but I always make sure I leave enough in the row to tell exactly where the path is. And since I cover the beds in mulch I don't have to look at them, but they have stayed in place really well so far (almost 2 years).

I don't know if this would be practical for anyone else, but I have also thought of planting one type of flower over the utility to "mark" it.

mg

Kell
i'm sorry
I'm giggling
I wanted a picture of the new water feature.........

MG, in my case I would need a neon pink billboard to get my attention. I tell you my thoughts all have expiration dates on them. I have no clue where my gas line is, I guess that really needs to be marked!!

Bob, THANK GOD you are still alive. That story was so scary!

Donna, thank goodness your roof did not come down. You need a break! What a year you have had. Can you imagine ifyour roof was smashed? I hope some one climbed up and looked at it to make sure.

Ada, I do need a truck if I wasn't such a wuss. The cardboard rode up a bit so the metal on the end rubbed some paint off the roof. My DH was not pleased.

Susie, I am so shocked that Bleu didn't dig up your lines!! Are you sure you did all the damage and not Bleu?? LOL

Nick is missing again. He cried so much to go out last night, Tom let him. He didnot come back. Tom walked all over last night and this morning calling for him. I knew we shouldn't let him out but he is impossible to say not to for he will cry for hours to get what he wants. There is garbage in the street leading to our driveway, so he was working last night, but because he didn't drop it in our courtyard, I am really worried. I wonder if he is confused.

Nick a few months ago.

LOL CC!! You know I was in such shock and dreading having to go wake up Tom to tell him what happened, I never thought of my camera.

Beautiful cat Kell. I'm afraid he is gettig senile. Mine did the same thing(17 yrs. old). Had to keep David out of school to hunt for her, as I had to go to work. Cat was walking all along the creek meowing. Took her to the Vet, who gave her a cortizone shot, kidneys locked, she laid in the house for days before she died.

Hope Nick makes it!

Never have hit the water line, but our phone line is spliced all over the place. LOL Hope Nick shows up soon.
Sharon