The Devil's Plant...and DISNEYLAND!!!

The Devil's Plant (Jabba the Hutt)

Well, I told you the other day that we were headed to Disneyland but before I get into that you have to hear about the most awful plant in the world!!!  The Cactus!  Brian's Grandma asked that if while we were here we would take care of this little problem she had...little did we know that the problem was not so little it was actually a huge problem!!  So we went to Downey last week with work on our minds and got busy!  This cactus has been growing for forever (or at least it seems forever) and it was huge!  When we first started Brian took his machete and started chopping, the scary thing about this cactus is that if it had been cut off at one time, it started growing in a new direction, I tell you the Devil's plant.  So we were chopping away and we start seeing spiders everywhere, and these weren't just little spiders, these were black widows...BIG black widows! Eek, I hate spiders! I eventually had to get over the spider fear and kept chopping! Another problem was that Brian's Grandma had planted a blackberry bush, and if you have never dealt with a blackberry bush consider yourself blessed.  They grow like vines, and they are covered in little thorns!!  So we not only had to worry about the cactus, we had to deal with the blackberries also...HORRIBLE! We really had a hard time after we chopped most of the new growing cactus because after it had been chopped once it died it petrified and was just like trying to cut through wood.  So Brian had to put up the machete for now and we had to saw through it and this was awful because the cactus was growing through each other weaving in and out....huge mess!!  Well, (I am tired just telling you about it) after we cleared out most of the plant Brian, Doug and I were just pulling and cutting and pulling and cutting then all of the sudden this little white face pops out!! There was a baby possum that had been living underneath the cactus!  

So gross!!! While we were trying to get rid of all of the cactus the possum kept going deeper and deeper into the cactus and as Brian was trying to get it out it started hissing at him...I hate possums!  We finally got him out and he went to a new home inside all of Grandma's other plants!  Ugh!!!  So we finally were able to get the rest of the cactus down, and only shared a little with the neighbors over the fence...on accident!!  When all was said and done we had a huge pile of cactus back in the back and a huge pile of cactus and brush in front of the maverick, many cuts and scrapes, a new pet, and a huge feeling of accomplishment!! Every time I see a cactus now I will have to run the other direction, really fast!!  

Brian and Doug with one of the smaller limbs they pulled off!!

I pulled a root!!! Woohoo!

Here is the after picture!  Notice the full trash cans and the huge pile of horribleness!! (The corner is where the cactus used to be)

 This is the one pile in front of the Maverick (we had already filled up both dumpsters)

This summer the Cole's found Disneyland tickets for 3 days and I was 3 times as excited! I love Disneyland!!  So Tuesday was our first trip and we thought we had planned it to where it might not be as crowded, boy were we wrong!!!  By lunch time the park had reached maximum capacity and we could tell!  It was shoulder to shoulder people and every ride had an hour wait at least!!  But no matter how crowded and how hot it may be Disneyland is always great!! Brian, Doug, Amanda, Katie and I went up early that morning and Jenn and Julie met us for lunch. We thought that after lunch it might settle down, but I was wrong, again!!  But we did some pretty good people watching while we were in line and hopefully our next day will not be so busy!!

Talk to ya soon! Brooke