No Country for Old Man Palms

Pearl Bailey has done it again, but this time she’s in the ‘dog house’ with the Professor.

After taking a long walk yesterday late morning, the Professor and I decided to take a ride. We rode out to Blue Skies Landscaping to see our friend, Claudio, to purchase some replacement plants for the garden boxes down in Pearl Bailey’s Shangri-La. There were two boxes on the end caps of our garden boxes that had not taken to their plantings. We walked the grounds of the Blue Skies compound and the Professor spied these miniature Old Man Palms and asked Claudio if he thought they would be suitable. We discussed the drought tolerance, the sun requirements, etc. – the only thing we didn’t think of was Pearl Bailey’s demonic and destructive nature, I mean…why would we? Claudio told us these were ‘specimen’ plantings, and although somewhat pricey, they would be the perfect flanking for our mature plant boxes.

We happily returned home in time to have them planted and mulched before the afternoon rain came down. All was right in the world until this morning.

Pearl Bailey, anxious to get down to her Shangri-La at a slightly earlier time than usual, raced the steps ahead me. She was waiting at the kitchen door eager to get into the yard to bark at the trash collectors. Once that offense was properly dealt with, she began her normal saunter around the property and I returned to the coffee maker and the morning news.

After about a half-hour had passed and I heard nothing further from Miss Bailey, I decided to go outside to see what was holding her attention. There she was in the middle of the yard surrounded by the remains of both the Old Man Palms. She had ripped BOTH palms to smithereens! I mean….what the what??? Did she think they were interlopers or invaders from outer space? Were their rustic ‘burlap’ wrapped trunk fringes so irresistible they deserved total annihilation ? I was rendered speechless, I truly was!

I returned to the kitchen for a second cup of needed coffee. I am still waiting for the Professor to come downstairs and discover that his ‘investment’ took an early morning nose-dive.

Oh, you are in big trouble now, Pearl Bailey!