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Happy New Year!

2012-02-21T23:59:33Z

I began this post before New Year's; now the volunteer daffodils are poking through the dirt and our survivng fruit trees have budded out. So much for timeliness. <grin> Still, I should consider the obligatory reflections on the past and plans for the future. Who am I to ignore such a grand tradition?

It doesn't seem like we bought our house in the Arizona mountains over a year ago. And I never would have imagined that moving would still be in progress. It appears there is some wisdom to the idea of moving every few years. The process is costly (realtors' and inspection fees), but it forces you to winnow your belongings. And honestly, who needs a fourteen-year-old unopened utility bill?

I wish Mick hadn't cleaned ashes from the your fireplace using a general purpose bag in the vacuum. I also wish he had thrown away the bag before using the vacuum again.

Spray the weeds all you want; they will find ways to defeat you.

Heavy things multiply. We now have three (!) woodstoves. But one IS blue and this house likes blue.

White Cap Construction Supply ( http://www.whitecap.com/ is a place I will visit more this year. They stock or order all sorts of useful items ranging from Xypex concrete sealant (
http://www.xypex.com/products/product_types.php?pageID=14 - expensive, but recommended by our architect friend) to the straw sausages (wattles) you see staked on road cuts to custom-shaped rebar.

This year I WILL write. I cleverly positioned myself in a must-write postion by taking on a part-time job as a reporter for one of the local papers. Those six novels in my head aren't off and running yet, but my personal experience series on revitalizing/renovating old areas chugs forward.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

No Plan Survives the Battle...

2011-10-08T01:23:06Z

Something unexpected always happens. Cameras needed for blog pictures get packed. Dogs try to roust intruders only to learn that javelinas bite. Cats decide to join their servants in bathtubs before checking for water.

One lesson to be learned is not to become enamored with your projected schedule. Another lesson is patience. If you can't get Project A completed because you need to order a tool, chill out and look for Project B. There's always one hanging around somewhere. And finally, accept that sometimes you'll just have to change the project scope.

I thought that by now I'd have the planter in my kitchen demolished. Being a city girl, I didn't realize how much time I'd spend fighting a decade's worth of weed incursion. My goal for this year evolved from "kill the weeds" to "reduce the weeds and encourage wild grass."   Grass coverage has increased by about fifty percent, so I count that as a success.

Grass (or weeds) on rocky, irregular ground can pose a fire danger. Lawn mowers and even most lawn tractors are designed for level suburban lots.  String trimmers are the weapon of choice for the state highway department, but I can't swing a heavy one and the one I can manage couldn't handle the tough weeds.

Research time!

Husqvarna, Poulet, DR and other manufacturers make string trimmers on wheels, designed for exactly the situation I faced. The best reviews (and the best prices) aree on http://Amazon.com

If my original plan had stayed on track, I'd have a semi-shiny kitchen by now, but I wouldn't have learned about string trimmers and our lot would be a vista of dry weeds.

Midsummer in Arizona

2011-08-17T17:40:40Z

By the mid-June, most residents of the desert are ready for October and dropping temperatures. Grass near sidewalks withers from the heat and electric bills soar into the stratosphere as people huddle inside.

Then the monsoons arrive. Humidity transforms air into a smothering blanket. Fluffy white clouds wander across formerly empty blue skies. They multiply and grow into thunderheads looming higher than Mount Everest. They bring rain.  Some days there are only spatters, great drops of mud. Other days, the heavens open and pour down floods of rain. Dry rivers fill and drivers accustomed to dry asphalt, fishtail into each other.

And weeds grow from zero to sixty (inches) in under five days.   I sigh and pull out the weed sprayer. I spray and spray and spray, because after ten years of neglect, we have that many weeds. But I also learn. Some weeds curl up and die politely. Others claw their way into the earth and give me the leaf. (Those I hit again.) I'm not an advocate of monoculture, but jimson weed, goatheads and nightshade relatives are not welcome on my property.

You'd think it would be simple to deal with rampant vegetation, but it's not. Home Depot, Lowes, etc offer a wide assortment of weed sprays and sprayers. What you should buy depends on your requirements. Do you have a small area? Do you want everything dead? Permanently dead? Do you want to kill just grass or just weeds?

Most sprays come in two forms - concentrate and ready-to-use. If you need to spray a small area, the ready-to-use may work for you. However, if you have a city lot or more and room to store a hand sprayer, concentrate is usually much less expensive. Note - don't buy the cheapest sprayer. I find the Round-up one gallon sprayer offers a better combination of price versus performance.

In the area of sprays, I tend to use Roundup or Ortho's Weed-b-Gone. We don't need to sterilize the soil for a year, so I'm not up on what works well in that area. (Roundup does offer a product, however.)   Grass-b-Gone is handy when Bermuda tries to invade a flower bed, but I've only seen it in ready-to-use quarts.

If you're mixing spray from concentrate, don't over-dilute the mixture. My preference is to add up to fifty percent extra to make sure the weeds die. Also, if the weeds aren't obviously dying after a couple of days, I spray them again. If that doesn't work, I use another spray because Roundup resistant weeds have been developing.  (The formulas for Weed-b-Gone and Roundup seem to be different.) If the third time isn't the charm, I get out my hoe. Those weeds are NOT going to multiply.

Expect this to be a never-ending process. Birds and the wind transport weed seeds. You can't win, but you can keep them beat back.   When that happens, you'll finally be able to kick back on the patio, drink a lemonade and enjoy the view.

Just a Little Project - Part 2

2011-07-12T01:07:55Z

A little scope creep is normal, but after our carpenter mentioned the need for a plumber and Mick reminded me that I needed someplace for my antique gas stove, I began to think this project might entail more than I expected. I had no idea...

We learned the answer after the plumber showed up. Not, as you might suspect, when he assessed moving the pipes. Nobody knew then how big the project was going to become. The true extent became apparent three days after he began jackhammering the concrete slab and discovered a damp spot near the water pipe. (Running galvanized pipes through concrete slabs has to rank right up there with aluminum wiring as bad ideas for residential homes.)    That's when he discovered how far the leaking and cracked sewer pipe extended. - clear across the kitchen with a couple collapsed sections of Orangeburg (rolled tarpaper saturated with more tar) out near the septic tank.  I had a crew of six jackhammering, hauling broken concrete and digging outside for over a week!  The corner of the kitchen that had been filled with the breakfast nook looked like a junk pile:

After demolition was finished, the plumbers replaced the old pipes with plastic (guaranteed to outlast my lifetime), poured concrete inside, and shoveled back the dirt outside. The sole exception was a two foot section near the kitchen wall stuffed with bricks and sand. (The plumbers were unable to replace the entire sewer line due to a utility closet.  That will be demolished later. To avoid the need to jackhammer an access hole to the joint between new and old pipes, I requested a temporary filler.) The "small" project got to my expected stop point (studs up and wallboard hung) a week later.

So what did I learn from this project?
1. Spend more time planning.
2. Walls are more complex than we think. Multiple systems (plumbing, electrical, heating/air conditioning) can be involved in any modification.
3. Unexpected and expensive problems can emerge at any time;there was no way to project the sewer problem before the plumber started work.
4. Make sure you have some money laid aside for surprises.
5. Ask around to know the names of some reliable tradesmen in your area; you never know when you will need them.
6. Be flexible.

What's next on the agenda? The arrival of my stove!

Gardening - Desert Summers

2011-07-04T17:58:57Z

Folks who have lived in the low desert for a while have experienced our five seasons: spring, hot and dry, hot and wet (aka monsoon), omigod it's hot and dry again and fall. At altitudes of thirty five hundred feet, the seasons differ only by being slightly cooler.

This year, with our erratic schedule, I've managed to lose only three plants up in the mountains - and all of those were attacked earlier by ants or rabbits. Since mid-June, however, the chrysanthemums have been wilted every time we show up at the hacienda.

The cause is obvious: plants, people and air conditioners usually suffer most in June and late August/early September. Kiln-like temperatures suck out moisture, leaving skin and leaves limp and papery. Successful gardening demands - even in the mountains - that one water at least once a week and water deeply. (Note: An early morning tour of the green areas of Phoenix demonstrates most people'slack of familiarity with this concept. Automatic sprinklers pop up every morning, spray for a half hour and disapper until the next morning. This does not develop deep roots.)

To slow the evaporation of water from the soil, you might consider mulching. Gravel coordinates with desert plantings; for herbs and fruit trees, I use composted mulch from Walmart at $1.98 per bag. Once I used some plastic mulch - and the dog ate it. Learn from my mistake and avoid this stuff. Another mulch to avoid with pets is cocoa fiber mulch (http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp). Of course, it appears that javelinas like my Walmart mulch, but neighbors tell me the critters pretty much eat anything.

In the lower areas of Arizona, water is a vehicle for carrying salts. Watering slowly converts desert soils into caliche - a claylike deposit that dries like concrete. Even with watering deeply, salts often build up, choking roots. I used to buy sulfuric pool acid and spray it on my lawn with a hose sprayer. When planting, I poured it in the holes and added water, creating giant mud floats. But, alas, sulfuric pool acid is no longer sold and the gardening stores don't carry it, either. I now resort to a product called Dispersul, lentil-sized sulfur pellets. Dispersul has gotten expensive - twenty dollars for fifty pounds, but spring, summer and fall applications keep my plants and lawn looking green with minimal work. Look for it at nurseries; Walmart and the lumber giants don't carry it. If you want a pleasant drive followed by an interlude in a new-fashioned general store, Dale's Town and Country ( http://www.dalestownandcountry.com/) out in Surprise, Arizona carries Dispersul at lower prices than the nurseries. Plus, you can shop for high quality pet food, a new shirt or a hostess gift.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

It All Started with A Closet...

2011-06-30T01:16:44Z

I needed a place to store my cowboy hats. (Yes, I have that many.) Being practical, I checked out the closet in my workroom. Battered wall, no ceiling - I can fix this.

Because there are walls, making a ceiling was easy; I measured, bought a piece of plywood, ordered some new "tin" ceiling tiles off Ebay, purchased some paneling glue, nails and metal snips and began. I'm not a weight-lifter, so I bought thin (3/8 inch) plywood knowing I'd have to clip off and file the ends of the nails on the backside. Guys can get by with 5/8 inch plywood and no nail clipping.

Ceiling tiles should be centered; this site has some info on setting up the intial tile runs:
http://askville.amazon.com/start-tile-retiling-room/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=9862962

After the centering lines are drawn, apply glue to the back of the center tile, tamp it down and proceed until you must cut tiles. Set a whole tile right side up in one of the partial openings, mark the edges to be cut with a Sharpie and proceed as you did for the whole tiles. When all the tiles are set in place, use a hammer and nail set to punch holes in the corners of the tiles. Nail the tiles to the boards (no more than 3 nails at a time, if you need to clip them.) This keeps the tiles in place if the glue fails. With a little luck, you will have a surface that looks like this.

Having built the ceiling, I prepared to install it - and discovered disconnected heating ducts and a lot of unused space. A friend of mine told me the difference between contractors and do-it-yourselfers is that contractors hide their mistakes. Yep, the guy who built our house was a contractor.

We started pulling out the piles and ran across this:

How a pair of briefs got into a conduit in a semi-sealed space, I don't want to know. After seeing this, I figured it was time for a cold beer. Reworking the closet wall can wait for a few days. It does make me wonder what other secrets await discovery.

The Great Ant War Part Deux

2011-06-23T22:57:49Z

After losing a couple of skirmishes, the ants returned to devastate my peach tree, a chrysanthemum and a clump of society garlic. They laughed at the assortment of chemicals I purchased from Walmart and Home Depot. I’d dump Spectracide granules at the current entrance to their underground kingdom and return the next morning to a litter of ant corpses. Meanwhile, the ants would merely transfer to another entrance and continue demolishing the greenery
.

It was time to get some serious anti-ant munitions, time to visit the weapons expert of Bug Stop at 28^th Street and Thomas in Phoenix. They stock high-end products that are effective. Years ago, a tenant tried to start farming gourmand mice; consumer mouse baits didn’t appeal to these critters. Bug Stop turned me on to blue blocks chock-full of grain and Warfarin. Immediate end to mouse problem.

Once again, Bug Stop scored with MaxForce. After two applications, the ants disappeared. Gone. All the exits were silent. After all the other attempts, I would find a new entrance boiling with activity. This time there was no new entrance, no attrition, not even dead ants.

Moral of the story: If “drugstore” brands don’t work, do some research to figure out where the pros buy bug killer/cleaning products/tools/ etc. Then dig deep into your wallet.

If Summer Gardening Leaves You Drained...

2011-05-24T02:03:18Z

After spending most of my time up in Globe, coming down to Phoenix feels like voluntarily climbing into a heated pizza oven. Temperatures have been below normal and I still bake! But the Phoenix house won't paint itself; I asked.

If you're like me, after a few hours outside, you wilt. For rehydration, you can slug down some Gatorade or Powerade - or you can go natural.

The following is my favorite summertime picker-upper.

Mix up a batch of orange juice with calcium and chill it. When you need a drink, pour a half glass of orange juice and top it off with cold club soda.

The drink is festive and the club soda adds tang while diluting the orange juice enough to allow rapid absorption of its nutrients. (Undiluted orange juice contains too much sugar; you should not drink it when you are hot.)

Not Only in Brazil

2011-05-22T22:09:58Z

Swarms of army ants, marching through steaming jungles, regularly show up on TV nature shows. However, most folks don't realize we have our own ravenous insect hordes in the Southwest - harvester ants. I'd heard of the critters, but life in the asphalt jungle doesn't prepare one for the reality. Besides, even insects are too smart to settle in areas where people welcome summer by frying eggs on sidewalks.

So, after a week down in Phoenix, when I returned to the mountains, I was astonished to discover two out of three thriving chrysanthemums were suddenly twigs. "Danged rabbits," I said as I walked over to examine the damage. Wrong.

Red ants about three-fourths inch long covered the ground. One climbed on my shoe and I shook my foot. A few minutes later, it bit me. War had been declared. Friends gave me their recipes for getting rid of the pests.

"Dump a gallon of gas on the ant-hill," one suggested. "Flip a lighted match onto the anthill and run like heck."

"No, there are too many exits for that to work," another said. "What you need to do is feed them gunpowder for a week, pour a pile on the ground to make a fuse, and light it. When the ants explode all over your yard, you'll discover how big the anthill really is."

"Thanks," I said and headed for the local nursery. I remembered using Diazinon years ago; it had been insect death in granular form. Unfortunately, somewhere in time, my favorite poisoin had been banned. (Someone probably fed it to their spouse, although I can't imagine how; the stink alone could stun at ten paces.) So I picked up some yellow stuff that is supposed to kill an ant mound within a week, sprinkled it on the mound and prayed.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

Just a Small Project

2011-05-19T19:28:51Z

With a project house, questions continually arise. What project do I tackle next? Where does one get parts for seventy-year-old windows? How do I fit in my washer and dryer?

Initially, we thought the last question had been answered; the mudroom next to the breakfast nook already had water, gas and electrical connections for a laundry room. Then I got out the tape measure. Washer - twenty-seven inches. Space - tweny inches.

Obviously, it was time to tackle a small project - moving the interior wall next to the breakfast nook.   There shouldn't be any difficulty moving wallboard and studs, right? Not right.

The first indication I had miscalculated came when I realized I'd have to remove the breakfast nook.  No problem; my main nickname is Demolition R Us. With hammer, crowbar and circular saw, I transformed two-thirds of the bench into fire barrel fodder. My regrets were few. Although attractive, the bench was uncomfortable and designed to obstruct all access to the window next to it. The remaining third, I figured would be a handy resting area for while, but its days were numbered, too.

Oops. Forgot the floor. Upon this discovery, I figured pulling up a few layers of vinyl tile on chipboard would be easy. After all, I did the same thing a couple of months earlier. The job would be messy, but I had the technique mastered. I grabbed my trusty scraper, pried up a few square feet of flooring and encountered a plywood subfloor. Plywood doesn't come up in nice chunks like deteriorating chipboard. After indulging in a few choice words, I set my circle saw to a very shallow cut and scored the plywood,  effectively adding a "Tear on dotted line" feature.

About this time, Mick moseyed in and asked, "Where are you planning on putting your Chambers stove?"

I thought a while. "Against the new wall." I sat on the remaining section of bench and realized it had to go, too.

Scope creep was beginning.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

The Latest Adventures of Roofdog or Canis Interruptus

2011-05-10T21:31:00Z

Imagine a dog with more intelligence and curiosity than sense and you have our chow chow, known to Facebook friends as Roofdog due to his exploration of a neighbor's rooftop. We are lucky he doesn't have thumbs; his fascination with locks coupled with his escape artist abilities would make him a danger to refrigerators everywhere. Unfortunately for our budget, Roofdog suffers from extreme klutzdom, both social and physical.

Due to being attacked by a killer Chihuahua when he was a puppy, Roofdog believes that the proper way to greet other animals (canine and otherwise) is embodied in Johnny Cash's song , "A Boy Named Sue." I.e., he loudly barks something equivalent to "Hello. My name is Sue. How do you do? I'm going to kill you." Expenses, one vet bill and private lessons with a dog trainer.

Add to that the slight problem of not understanding corners or velocity and regular dog collisions with doors, lawn objects and people result. Victims thus far: a set of solar lights, a screen door and two trees.

And why is Roofdog wearing a tire around his neck? This brings us to his latest adventure: how Roofdog deals with an ear itch - scratch it until the ear swells up and flops over. Vet bill - $400. The blue tire is an inflatable alternative to the notorious Elizabethan or cone collar. Neither is perfect. We have one dog who was flexible enough to bend around her cone collar and chew the itch on her hind leg. The solution at that time - a larger cone - forced us to tape her food and water dishes to the tops of coffee cans filled with pebbles. On the other hand, Roofdog's blue tire lasted about twelve hours before he snuck in a scratch that left six holes in the sucker. Mick and I spent at least an hour getting red in the face before we figured out how to get air into the tire.

Other than cost, Roofdog's faults have a major downside: schedule demolition. This week I planned to do some more deflooring; instead I am watching the dog to keep toenails from meeting tire again. Creativity for writing? Used up trying to figure out a way to patch the blue tire. Luckily, like one's child, Roofdog is cute just enough to survive. I guess writing can wait another week.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

Attila the Rabbit

2011-05-08T16:09:00Z

"Awww, lookit the bunnies." Boy, do I regret those words!

Two weeks after I planted my bare root peach tree, nibble marks about four inches above ground level almost completely girdled the tree. Because tree growth occurs between the bark and the wood of the trunk, removing the bark all around is almost always a death sentence for the tree. And the culprit? Attila the Rabbit! And I'm not the only victim: an aquaintance of ours planted petunias not long ago; they didn't last a whole day before being devoured by ravaging "bunnies."

Conclusion? The country is no place for undefended plants. Solution? Research and experimentation.

After a quick trip to our local Ace Hardware, I painted the tree trunk with a black tarry patching compound. Breaches in a small tree's bark cause dehydration and draw pests. We knew a woman who chained a dog to a citrus tree; within a week, the links scratched thru the bark, damaging the tree beyond salvage.

If you want to garden in the country, check out herbs that repel rodents (rabbits, rats, javelinas?) A great starting place for this information is the Sunset Garden Book. Some suggestions include garlic, peppermint and society garlic (not a garlic). A combination of chives, peppermint and society garlic appears to be protecting my small garden. Or maybe Peter Rabbit doesn't like fennel...

When you plant fruit trees, consider surrounding them with a twelve inch to eighteen inch tall tube constructed from hardware cloth (a type of thick screen) and wire. Each tube will require between three to four feet of hardware cloth. This allows you to build the tube and slip it over the tree.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

The Deflooring

2011-05-04T02:05:00Z

Above - crowbar(l) and pry bar (r)

Imagine a floor covered with curling linoleum squares on moldy chipboard over over curling linoleum squares. This was my first demolition project in the hacienda.

I have no idea why one of the owners nailed a layer of chipboard over the original tile and added another layer of tile rather than simply removing the tile and retiling; the underlying concrete floor was level.  (However, they must have liked the result; the kitchen got the same treatment.) Then during over a decade of neglect, a roof leak flooded the room repeatedly, leaving a smelly, ugly mess.

After sweeping out the detached tiles, I set to work with a pry bar and a claw hammer.    Once the top layer of tile was gone, I started on deteriorating chipboard, This time the claw hammer was insufficient for the task - nails plus concrete require leverage. I pulled the pry bar out.of the tool kit to discover a need for more leverage. A crow bar joined us on our next trip from Phoenix. Success was mixed. Some nails came out, usually leaving divots; others just lost their heads. By experimenting, I learned to clobber the remains with a hand sledge. Best results came from beating them until they bent and slipping the pry bar under the bend to pop off a section of nail.

The uncovered concrete wasn't a pretty floor, but it functions well for a temporary storage area.

Lessons learned:
    Linoleum doesn't burn well. Bag it and send it to the landfill.
    Chipboard doesn't hold up to repeated flooding.
    Don't leave home without your crowbar.

Beauty is Relative...

2011-05-01T02:52:00Z

I just discovered an unexpected beauty in gouged and splintered plywood coated with black mastic. Of course, I spent the last two weeks scraping up layers ancient tile overayment. This must be what people mean when they say "Savor the moment." I'd rather sit on the patio at sunset and watch the vultures circling down to roost.

A Professional Reviews Our Project

2011-04-27T02:22:00Z

Advice from someone who learned the hard way: when digging into a project house, talk to someone who can evaluate what needs to be done. Mandatory house inspections point out obvious problems like wires drooped across a roof, but provide no details on how problems should be fixed.  With an investment as expensive as a house, it pays to hire expertise.  Not wanting to repeat past mistakes,  not long after purchasing our hacienda, I called up friend and long-time neighbor Bob Graham,  Principal Architect of Motley Design Group, a firm specializing in historic preservation planning in the Southwest.

So one day, early in December, we had our second and third visitors - Bob and his wife, Roberta. Vistor Number One was the local Fire Marshall, but we don't need to discuss that...

Bob's first recommendation (belatedly) was to avoid buying a contractor's personal home. As is borne out by our house, nothing will match because the houses are built of leftovers from other projects. Our windows don't match, the bath tub (above, being examined by Bob) is a hodge-podge of different colors of tile and the walls are a mix of poured concrete, concrete block and adobe. On the positive side, the builder took his time with the kitchen cabinets; details almost hidden under layers of paint hint at a rustic style reminiscent of Charles Loomis. The door in the picture is constucted of one by fours bolted together and hung with hand-made hammered brass hinges. If you've priced custom metalwork, you know treasures like these cost more than new cars.

Bob's evaluation of the roof matched Mick's - too flat.  Water doesn't drain; it puddles. His suggestion? A high density foam roof to add pitch and some insulation. Note: fifty years ago, insulation wasn't considered important; adding it can be a challenge.

A couple of two by fours propping up floor joists in the basement concerned the inspector. Bob and Mick agreed that they served no useful purpose. It appeared that someone stuck them in to firm up the living room, not realizing that wooden floors inherently have some bounce. (The rest of the house has concrete floors.)

Bob caught a problem in my plan to demolish the fireplace that ate the kitchen; one of the brick pillars supports a ceiling joist. His solution? Leave the pillar or replace the ceiling joist with a longer one and build a support a couple of feet away.

We learned that adobe needs to breathe. Unfortunately during the early part of the century, many builders used Portland cement for stucco. The two materials expand at different rates, causing cracks in the cement, which allow water in. Trapped by the concrete, the water slowly transforms adobe into mud.  The ideal solution is to remove the concrete and replaster with lime or mud plaster. Bob suggested the less drastic solution of caulking cracks to seal the walls.

While Mick and Bob moved on to the leaning electric mast (needs a stay), Roberta and I discussed patching a water-damaged wall in the kitchen. Then it was time for everyone to adjourn for lunch at Joe's Diner.

Because we have lived with an old house for many years, we were looking for insights into the hacienda rather than renovation plans or a detailed project plan. Bob provided exactly what we wanted and I thank him for that!

Copyright - CF Yankovich

Orchard of the Future

2011-04-21T02:21:00Z

From tiny sprouts, great orchards grow - we hope.   After digging eight huge pits in the rock rubble that passes for soil on our property (not counting the smaller holes for some refurbished chrysanthemums), those little trees better grow!  Between snowstorms and sore backs, it took weeks to get them planted! It appears that getting older means everything moves slower except the clock.

If you are looking to plant a few fruit trees on your own microfarm, you might want to consider the following:

One of the blessings of colder climates is the variety of fruit trees you can grow; a multitude of apple, cherry, peach, walnut and other trees thrive in the Arizona mountains.   Conversely, the benefit of warmer climates is the variety of fruit trees you can grow - citrus, avocado, date palms, guava and others. Research what grows well in your area before that foray to the Home Depot garden shop. Best bets for good information about the western US are the local County Extension Service and the Sunset Garden Book.

If you want a variety of fruits, your best bets are self-pollinating varieties. Only one tree is necessary for production, although having two will increase yields. If you really love apples (or pears or cherries), having  multiple varieties is possible if you take time to identify bloom time (early, middle or late.) Pair varieties that bloom during the same period.

Planting heirloom varieties is an option you might want to explore. Far more varieties of apples, cherries, etc exist than you ever find in Walmart or even Whole Foods. Check out Trees of Antiquity for more information. Their website is a treasure trove of info. However, if you're looking for citrus, this option is much more limited. Most citrus is grafted and old varieties are not wanted by most nurseries or seed banks. (We had an ancient grapefruit once...)

Dig a hole, mix soil and amendments, stick in a tree or bare-root twiglet, water, fertilze and wait three to five years. Then enjoy blooms, shade and fruit.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

If Weeds are Just Lost Flowers...

2011-04-07T18:13:00Z

Mick claims weeds are just flowers that popped up in the wrong place. If he's right, I spent two hours and used three gallons of Round-up killing flowers yesterday. Today I journeyed to the local Wally World to replenish my weapons supply. An acre of neglected ground can generate an enormous volume of... flowers. And most of them bristle with thorns and burrs when they mature. It makes me long for the innocuous weeds of Phoenix.

Note: Round-up resistant "flowers" have developed. Lately I find it necessary to spray a couple of times, just to ensure a successful mass extermination.

City Critters Meet the Country

2011-04-05T02:42:00Z

We all grew up with the idea of the city mouse and his country cousin. Disney even based portions of an animated movie on the contrast. (Hint: think Ratatouille.) However, we always apply the concept to ourselves, not realizing that our best friends, too, have some adjusting when they move from one environment to the other. We learned through experience that moving from the city to rural areas can pose interesting challenges to the furred members of the family.

Moving our housecat resulted in no more trauma than happens with any change to his day to day routine. In other words, he left his complaints where we could step on them, but anyone who has cats knows that this kind of behavior his normal. Cats are creatures of habit; changing their food can drive them psycho. The only real change we noticed occured after Cat encountered the scorpion. The sequence went roughly:
    1. Oh my, a new toy!
    2. Oh my, a tasty new snack!
    3.   You kids can go to bed. I'm going to check whether any more tasty snacks are wandering around the house.

Luckily, Cat lives indoors.  Coyotes haunt our neck of the high desert. If he spent nights outside, like many city cats, he would either be quick or dead.

The dogs, on the other hand, encountered new smells and new animals - coyotes, horses, burros, emus...
Even when they were locked in the dog run, the wind would bring enticing scents to arouse them.

One dog is an experienced traveler and possesses social graces. She touched noses with the burros, barked at the coyotes and generally enjoyed the new environment. Not so for her adoptive sibling. Young Dog immediately used his puzzle working talents to become an escape artist. If there was a weakness in our security, he found it.   The problems with this were manifold:
    1.    Young Dog has no fear of automobiles.
    2.    Young Dog's curiosity led him into situations he cannot get out of - like the neighbor's rooftop.
    3.   Despite our attempts to train him, Young Dog's social skills are on a par with that relative everyone wants to lock in a closet. In other words, socially, he's drooling idiot. Lunging at another animal is interpreted by creatures ranging from horses to dogs as an attack and situations deteriorate from there. In reality, Young Dog is like the Johnny Cash character who screams his introduction "HI. MY NAME IS SUE. HOW DO YOU DO?"    In other words, Young Dog was an embarassment to all of us, including his adoptive sister. (Even dogs can have crazy relatives.)   This posed a further problem in this rural area where too many dogs run loose and even form packs; Young Dog's social ineptitude could put me in the middle of a
major dog fight.

The solution?   Of course we tightened up security, but Young Dog showed us we needed more; he and I needed a profession intervention, aka training. Things are changing, Now when I order Young Dog to ignore that barking dog nearby, people with other dogs turn and flee. (Before, they simply told me I was cruel not to let Young Dog play with their Fluffy.) Young Dog and I have grown closer and he no longer paces the kennel looking for a way to escape. Has he acclimated to the country and solved our problems?  No. Young Dog still needs to improve his meeting and greeting. But things go forward.

Flowers among the Weeds

2011-03-31T18:39:00Z

When you’re buried under an enormous project, problems are everywhere. Incremental becomes invisible because it becomes part of the scenery. I’ve never had a project where these were more true than our new house. Fixing a faucet can take three trips to the local Ace Hardware, plus at least as many quarter-mile walks out to the road to shut off the water. Working on the steel casement windows is even more difficult; it seems no two of them are broken in the same way. And taking photos to share our progress? Half the time, the battery is dead and another third of the time, I manage to punch the wrong button and erase the images.
Yep, with this project, it’s easy to focus on what went wrong.

But over the last couple of weeks, nature has forced me to literally see the flowers among the weeds. Flowerbeds that were overgrown with prickly “stuff” last fall have begun to sprout daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. Look for the good things happening in your life; it beats dwelling on what is wrong.

Sunset

2011-03-24T02:39:00Z

Strolling through downtown Tempe at sunset is a raucous assault on the senses; the long-tailed grackles are gathering to roost and poop. Up here, we have a different kind of bird gathering:

The turkey vultures are back! There's nothing quite like walking outside and having twenty or more of these magnificent creatures soaring overhead. The photo is the local flock settled into the tops of a pair of forty-foot tall sycamores.