Bucephalus II

In general, I like the look and 'feel' of palms.  They smack of tropical breezes, ocean beaches, holidays both taken and fantasized, tiny umbrellas in colorful rum concoctions, shady oases in the desert, shapely females scantily clad, lightly oiled and sunny side up.  Advertising is to blame for this I reckon.

However, my palms were poorly chosen and poorly located, as were most of the plants I inherited when I bought the place.  Main problem was they blocked the view a bit more each year.  And, they attracted dwatted wabbits and were a real bitch to prune due to needle-like, poke-your-eyes-out frond tips and vicious, rip-your-skin-to-shreds thorny stems.  Now that I think about it, most if not all, outdoor palms are a pain in the ass.  They need regular pruning and they mess up your yard with sticky dates, huge leaves and stealthy, head-crushing coconuts.

Bucephalus, the Stallion Lane Stud
In the background are my favorite type of palms: other people's.  I don't know what it costs to have a 40' cherry picker rig, a dump truck and a cleanup crew over every year to remove the dead growth but I'm glad I'm not paying the bill.

We'd been keeping an eye out for a horse sculpture for some time, can't live on Stallion Lane without a stallion don't you know.  Although it has no dangly thingies I assure you it's a stud.  Dare I say, 'Just like its owner?'  No, best not.  T'would spoil my image.  You know, that image of a modest, tactful, soft-spoken, self effacing person I've so carefully cultivated, lo these many years.  Nyuk, nyuk.

Saguaro Cactus, the other metal sculpture Yoda mentioned.

The decorative rock around the bases of the sculptures is 'blurple' as in black and purple.  I didn't make that up, guy who sold the rock called it that.  How could one not love blurple?

The upper terrace with the new residents.

That's Grunt the warthog in upper right and Liza the lizard in middle right.