Hi,
I've lived here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, all my life! My husband and I have enjoyed this home and property,(almost two full lots), for 31 years now. We are right next to a cemetery hill as one of our neighbors, and We Love It!... Ah, if only the GARDENS could talk, We've had some really great Parties HERE, & "our neighbors" never complain about the noise! ha! My husband and I have always been in bands throughout our 37 year marriage, 5 years before that in high school and college, so weekends are very busy for us. We also provide "musical air waves" for our whole neighborhood during our practice nights in the old Garlow building!;o) My husband worked as a Surveyor for the State for 20 years, so that came in handy to survey our property, and he still does it on the side if he has the time! He has been working 17 years as a Carrier for the USPS...He loves working outdoors, Yes, even in the IOWA WINTERS! ha! (except we don't like ice storms, so scarey!)
Seriously, we only had a big Maple tree, dog kennel, and an old building called a GARLOW, that we remodeled the whole inside so we could enjoy using it, when we moved here 30 years ago! Everything else, I Planted, or We Constructed ourselves ;o), or had someone build!
Our daughter, Kyla, enjoyed growing up here, and now, her and her husband have a garden of their own in their own yard. We started a big circular garden for them, with their wedding arch in the middle!;o)
We've had a sweet yellow Lab that lived to 18 years here, and a cute little mutt, Barney, that enjoyed this yard for 18 years also, and our wonderful Australian Shepherd, Jake, that just passed away at 16 years of age...and now, we rescued our American Eskimo, Juneau, almost 3 yrs. ago from the Animal Shelter! He's a real "hugger"...how we love our babies! He went through our evacuation with us,from the Floods here in Cedar Rapids in June of 2008! We lost everything in our lower level, and water, sewer, muck, came up two stairs away from our kitchen. Thank God, We were one of the LUCKY ones here in Cedar Rapids! We were only evacuated a few weeks, and then, got to come back to our home and CLEAN up, Replace, Rebuild! We are doing fine now, the 2 year anniversary of the floods was June 12th and 13th! But Cedar Rapids and much of Iowa are still demolishing, cleaning up, and rebuilding many areas! Go Iowa! We're STRONG!
I'm ALWAYS re-doing something in the yard though, as the Garden areas are never done! Always out weeding and pruning, (you can usually find me out in my gardens or starting up someone else's garden for them),and trying to find another spot for a new plant or garden art that I JUST HAD TO HAVE! Lots of hard work, time, commitment, but I just LOVE IT ALL! (although, my knees and back complain quite often to me!) Oh well, you gotta "Go for your Passions in LIFE!" and Music and Gardening are two of my PASSIONS! ...So there You Go!;o) I also LOVE BEES!...and collect BEE things! All kinds of BEES...I think they are just the most amazing little creatures!;o)
Hope to "meet" some of you soon, Enjoying many of your pictures...I love this website! YaHoo!... for US GARDENERS!
I'm on FaceBook too! PLEASE JOIN ME!;o)
www.facebook.com/kenda.hernandez
www.facebook.com/FULLCIRCLE.Band

our band's website... www.fullcircle-ia.com
And if U have Pets, here's.. www.petcentricplace.com LongLiveYourDog.com Purina sponsers it, and I have Juneau's profile under... Juneau and also under 1SweetEskimoBoy!
later, KENDA ;o) (NO "r" in my name!)
HAPPY GARDENING!;o)