did anyone see a blue ox wandering around?

My experiment is a success.

I think.

Just a month ago, I started a major landscaping project (the vineless trellis). Each of my four bedrooms has a vine-covered trellis to provide shade and privacy. Well, all four did. Now, only three are in full operation.

The vines have overgrown their welcome. I allowed them to grow too high on their trellises. When they do that, they tend to bunch up at the top looking like a cross between the hairdos of Al Sharpton and Donald Trump. They meet their purpose; they just are not very aesthetic.

Last month, I decided to try an experiment on one trellis. I cut it shorter than my haircut at Officer Training School -- knowing full well that this variety of flowering vine thrives on abuse. But I had no idea how quickly it would respond.

Respond it has. As you can see from the photograph. The growth is not yet thick enough to provide either shade or privacy. That is why I started with my brother's room: because they are not here. By the time they return, the growth should be thick enough to do what it was meant to do.

Now, I can start on the other three. Two of the bedrooms should not have guests this summer. Without the vines, the sun would heat up the rooms through those glass doors. But, I should be done before anyone arrives this winter.

My bedroom presents its own problems. It will be last. I may even wait until the winter to destroy the vines that help retain the cooling effect of my night air conditioning.

One thing I can always count on is the ability of plants to grow here. The tropics subject almost every plant to a petri dish of diseases. To survive, plants grow quickly.

And that may turn out to be my best ally in my Paul Bunyan parable.