As some of you know, I headed to San Antonio last Sunday to do long overdue yard work. I was here long enough at the end of May to do a quick mow, but other than that, I haven’t been here long enough to do real work since April. It’s South Central Texas at the end of July. The yard had not been watered yet this year. When I arrived last Sunday, it was dry and crispy. This is how it looked shortly after I arrived:

The grass that retained green color was listless and laying flat. The yellowish brown grass was burnt and crispy.

Eight of ten cats made the trip with me. Ajax and Daphne remained home. Neither of them travel well, Ajax especially. Ajax and Daphne also give Sneaky the hardest time, so this has been a relatively peaceful week. Lady has been mildly annoying to a couple of the other cats, but we’ve had no serious disagreements.

After hiding for the first two days, Daisy has been out and interacting with the other cats. She even played with Saphhire. Here she is watching out the front door.

Right before I arrived in San Antonio, Alamo Heights moved into Phase 1 watering restrictions. That means I can hand water or use soaker hoses any time, but I can only use the sprinkler before 10 am and after 8 pm on Wednesdays.

We have a lot of shade in our front yard which helps tremendously. I had the cats in the house but I hadn’t unleashed them yet when I turned on the soaker hoses.  Within an hour, the grass under the hoses was perking up, and the cats were settling into their San Antonio routines. I used the soaker hoses nearly continuously from the time I arrived until now, especially around the brown and crackly edges. Wednesday, beginning right after midnight, I started the sprinkler to cover the “middles.” By 10 am Wednesday, I’d covered almost all of the front yard with a combination of soaker, sprinkler, and watering ball (hand held).  Since then, I’ve been reinforcing stressed areas (mostly on the west side that bears the brunt of the afternoon and evening sun).

The grass stood up enough after getting water that I had to mow this morning. It now looks like this:

This last image is where I’m applying my final efforts for the week.

Ruby is beyond ready to go home. She spends her nights walking through the house meowing. I think she doesn’t like it here. She may get to board next time.