"Stick"-ing Around

Last December we planted a cottonwood tree in the back yard and it was literally just a stick in the mud.

It's filled out quite a bit in the past 10 months.  I have hopes we may even get some shade from this guy next summer.

The Pits

We planned to make a dry creek bed with infiltration pits that would help the runoff perk back into groundwater.  We had the bobcat dig out the beginning of the infiltration pits, but Rob got too busy on his hiatus to finish them.

You can see in the shot, taken after the rain, the general path the runoff will take once the creek and the pits are done.  (You can also see some poppies Rob transplanted from the front yard to the backyard and, to the far right, a rather large "twig" that is actually a Nevada Cottonwood tree.)

Unfortunately, the unfinished pits became a watering hole for some large critters -- like the coyote that left these prints!  We were able to figure out where they were getting through the fence and block it, though.