The Critters

Pepper, my absurdly friendly three-year-old black lab cross occasionally goes walkabout. My thanks to those who have brought her back home, tail wagging from her adventure. Alaska is my white, short-haired thirteen-year-old cat who stays a little closer to home, though not close enough for my liking! Decker, the handsome two-year-old male lab cross, is our ebullient guest for a couple years.

PLEASE contact me if any of our four-legged friends are causing problems for you, your pets, your property, or anything else you care about. We love them dearly, but like the rest of us they are not without fault!

The Yard

''Alaska's Garden'' came about in part to entice Alaska cat to be more of a homebody. The bare grass yard as it was in spring of 2006 offered little to hold a curious cat's attention, and certainly less for a frightened one. The Laramie Rivers Conservation District was offering matching xeriscape grants that year, and against my better judgement (surely there were other things I should be spending the money on...) I applied for a xeriscape grant, not actually expecting to be awarded one. Much to my surprise, I received a $900 grant with the accompanying obligation to spend $900 of my own and complete the work within a year.

I'm always delighted by the things that are willing to grow and even thrive despite my negligence. Most of the original plants have done well and many others - volunteers, donated transplants, and nursery purchases - have been added bit by bit. With my work at its busiest in the summer as it is, I've found the weeds and overall maintenance to be a tad more challenge than I've been able to manage. My deepest gratitude goes to my neighbors who have been so patient with my unruly yard! I can only hope that most of the time the flowering and fruiting things outweigh the negatives.

The Humans

The humans inhabiting this overgrown corner include me - Sandi - and the two fabulous women who regularly share my home. Jenn is a graduate student in the Department of Agriculture and Leah works in the Department of Social Work at UW and throughout the state of Wyoming.

Email us: spounder@hotmail.com