Hubby woke me up at 6am as it snowed! Our first snow, hubby took my camera and got a few photos.

WE harvested some of our lemons today and went to the small orange tree thinking we could have a few. After peeling them upon biting into them we both looked at each other with puckered lips. Seems these are lemons and NOT oranges!! I have never seen orange lemons before. Has anyone else?? If so, what kind are these?

EDITED: Meyer lemons are hybrid citrus fruits originally from China. No one's sure exactly, but scientists think they are a cross between a lemon and a sweet orange. These thin-skinned lemons are dark yellow to orange in color, and have a lot of juice and less tart than regular lemons. They're a bit sweeter and lower on acid, too. The rind is smoother and has less pits than regular lemons, and they're rounder.

Early morning harvesting.... While I was out trimming new growth from the trunks(?) of the grape vines, hubby was harvesting cherries. Last year we barely got a quart of cherries, this year we are doing better. We now have 2-gallons (I store them in glass jars while picking, this is my measuring technique) of nice, deep purple, plump cherries. Guess pruning the tree and watering it special was beneficial after all. Time to make some cherry pies!! YUMMMM!

The grape vines ran wild last year all along the fence line, guess the landlord did not take care of them as they should, and we had 4 different sections of wildly growing grapes (green seedless grapes)....
Section 1 ran from the garden gate about 20" to the left and down alone the fence line for another 20' and then up the pecan tree. We have since cut and pulled all the green grape vines from this section (except what vine trunks were on the neighbors side of the fencing). I am trying to remove all green grapes from my side of the fence in this section. We cut and pulled what vines we could reach from the pecan tree, now there are no grape runners going up the tree. The neighbors also have concord grapes, so I was able to start one small runner from over the fence onto my side, this way, we will have our own batch of plump, juicy concord grapes. This grape vine I am having run from the corner fencing to the garden gate. I will also be more able to control the amount of concord vines in this section.

Section 2 ran from the right of the garden gate 32' along the fencing and up the pomegranate tree. This is also the section that has an arbor to provide a shaded area on the garden side, this arbor is covered with grape vines (this arbor are I want to keep as is). We did cut and pull the wayward vines from the pomegranate tree and the last 10' of fencing. We also trimmed the new growth from the main trunk of the grape vine. I am finding out that these runners need to be trimmed continuously!! I really do want to keep them contained to the arbor area.

Section 3 runs about 30' past the pecan tree (it looks like they started to build an arbor but never finished it) along the fence line. This section has also grown wild and is growing in the garden area. We do plan on digging up these grape growths and getting rid of them (I can only make just so much grape jelly). We do eat the grapes when they are fresh, at least I do.

Section 4 is further down the fence line, almost to the end of that fencing. We will be getting rid of this whole section, hopefully this summer.

The arbor section will provide us with enough green grapes to last us (not to mention what I will GIVE away). This means that I can make white grape juice (all natural with NO preservatives)and more white grape jelly. The concord section is now filling out nicely and is abundant with grape clusters (more jelly and juice...*sigh).

We keep the front & back yards mowed (and watered in between times) as we like a nice green lawn (as would anyone). But we keep getting those pesky burrs (not to mention fox tails) blowing from the back-40 (plus else where). Hence we are constantly picking burrs and grooming the dogs (they are inside dogs). The burrs are always on the floor, on the furniture, and even "between" the sheets of the bed (we keep the bedroom door shut at all times to keep dogs out). They seem to magically appear from nowhere!

Saturday morning, as hubby was getting ready for the event, he put his socks on and PRESTO! a burr was inside the toe of his sock (now this was "inside" at the toe, how it got there is still a mystery). It had lodged deep under his toe nail (OWWWWWW). It was "very painful" (his words) as he removed it, and it produced lots of blood in the process. He bandaged it and off we went.

Tonight when he got home he was commenting on his toe "really hurting". When he came out of the bedroom, after changing out of work clothes, he informed me that he "lost" his toe nail. Now, my mind went waaaayyyyy out in left field when I heard those words (this is just me, no biggie). But he showed me his foot (actually before I could even make a comment), and sure enough, his toe nail was missing. Poor hubby.

I have never heard of a burr causing this type of damage, but now I know it can. If it can cause this damage to an adult, I wonder what it will do to the dogs? Well, not taking any chances, I am off to "pick & groom" the fur babies.