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Spring, Sprang, Sprung

C.F. Yankovich — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:37:31 GMT

Wildfires, long days, heat - spring must be almost over. Our hundred-year-old mesquites are covered in blooms, promising a plentiful supply of honey-scented flour after the October milling. The yellow puffball flowers announce sweet acacias. Escapees from someone's front yard, they compete with the native mesquites for water and nutrients. Now hot pink flagging tags them for later removal. The javelinas have avoided my fledgling orchard for the past three days. Is the mothballs or the dog by-products? Either way, I'm happy.

My war against the weeds continues on a different front - replacement of noxious invasives with friendlier native flowers. I can visualize a future with the sheared-off hill blanketed in many colors. Of course, it's too late to plant this season, but I still have time to gather seeds. For brittlebush seeds, I've mostly harvested from our plants in Phoenix. Although they grow here, aclimatized brittlebushes are hard to find. However, there are other seeds. Over the past month, I've gathered seeds from globe mallow and yellow spiny daisies growing along roadsides. Also, for those with refrigerator space, now is the time to look for reduced prices on large packages of wildflower seed. Going, going, gone - now at your local Home Depot. I ended up with a one pound package of mixed flowers for eight dollars; to purchase a similar product from High Desert Gardens would cost twenty, plus shipping.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

Raging Rodents

C.F. Yankovich — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:05:41 GMT

Just as the chief character in my latest novel started revealing unexpected facets of her background and personality, disaster rampaged through my fledgling orchard. While we spent the weekednd in Phoenix, javelinas mangled apple, nectarine and pear trees. A rat trap at the base of the almond provided defense.

City folk too often think of javelinas as cute little beasties like Josefina Javelina or this dancing javelina. One of my relatives poo-poos warnings from the rest of the family and feeds them. But the truth is, javelinas are 45-60 pound rats with tusks. Near-sighted and prone to panicked attacks, they do not make good neighbors.

Here in the semi-country, they roam in herds of 6-10, dumping garbage cans, destroying gardens and goring foolish dogs. After talking with neighbors who had their landscaping demolished by them, I thought chicken-wire-and-rebar cages would protect the trees.; the animals were smart enough to push down the wire. Maybe Rev 2 will work better. Taller cages, more rebar - after the next trip to Home Depot.

Reported attractants include fresh mulch, blood meal (fertilizer, not vampire droppings), garbage and birdseed. Even if you don't mind javelinas trampling your flower beds, you might not want them around; they can attract bears and mountain lions.

Repellents include human hair, moth balls, coyote urine, dog poop tea, and electric fences. We had haircuts last week, but with two dogs and a Walmart nearby, the choices were obvious. Now I need to check out the local Ace Hardware for rat traps; I'm a belt-and-suspenders type of girl.

In Search of the Biscuit Mesquite

C.F. Yankovich — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:33:43 GMT

Thirty percent off! What red-blooded American woman can resist a sale? Especially when it's something exotic like a cinnamon bareel cactus? Yep, yours truly made it to the Boyce Thompson sale and came home with a half-truck of plants. Some were replacements for the fairy dusters that succumbed to winter chills. Most survived, but we now have a new rule around the hacienda: Avoid fall plant sales. Although October is a great time for gardening in Phoenix, in the mountains, plants just don't have enough time to get well established.

As usual, one thing led to another and I found myself researching honey mesquite trees. Several varieties of mesquite grow on the property and cultivating the tastiest (honey variety) is a priority. If we still lived in Phoenix, though, I'd save the pods from the Chilean mesquite and have them ground.

The most common references on the Internet send you to Texas honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), a thorny invasive that hasn't arrived in Arizona yet. Thorns are a major sticking point (pun intended); our trees are almost thornless and decades too old to be one of the patented thornless varieties. Velvet mesquite is common and native to Arizona, but they have furry leaves and big thorns. A couple shrubby specimens of screwbean mesquite hide amid the older trees, but the blobby shaped beans are distinctive. These are the trees lining our drive and surrounding our house.

And why do we want them? If the nutty sweet taste of fresh-ground whole wheat sets your taste buds quivering, try substituting 1/4 mesquite flour in your favorite biscuit recipe. It's that simple. And if you don't have any mesquite flour handy, check out these folks. Your taste buds will thank you.

Sale, Sale, Sale!

C.F. Yankovich — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:49:11 GMT

Attention, gardeners: the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, east of Phoenix on US 60, has a Members-only 30% off sale through this weekend on all plants; for non-members, the savings is only 10%. Unlike the garden centers at most big-box stores, the goal is to get the plants sold before they get bedraggled. Even after getting picked-over by the spring sale in March, the selection of exotic plants shames most nurseries. Want a boojum tree? What size? Lust for frankincense? Through the magic of clonic, your wish can be granted. Need a barrel cactus for the window sill? Cinnamon, fish hook, golden, or?

So support your state parks, treat your garden and scurry to Boyce Thompson. If you aren't familiar with it, you should be. Nestled below the soaring backdrop of Pickett Post Mountain, an eroded volcanic core, the gardens display cacti from South America, native flora, an Australian forest, flowers... Overlooking the creek below is Pickett Post House, a southwestern style Arts and Crafts house originally built by Boyce Thompson.

Mick and I made a special trip - and ten new plants are in the garage of our mountain home, waiting to stretch their roots. Some are old favorites from the desert, like pink fairy dusters and a globe mallow. Others, such as desert honeysuckle, are additions to the wildflowers I've found hidden among the weeds.

Once you've driven to Boyce Thompson, Superior is only a few miles further east. Stop at the intimate Jade Grill to check out the oriental BBQ dishes created by Lucy, a chef who has been featured in a multitude of magazines including Cuisine, Family Circle, and Sunset. You'll be glad you did.

Doin' Desert Dreams

C.F. Yankovich — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:35:59 GMT

After spending a week in Phoenix sorting, tossing and lugging charity bags, I treated myself to a weekend at the Desert Dreams Writers Conference. Stress over the past couple of years seriously depleted my creativity; even my morning mug of hot chai couldn't rouse it. It was time for a recharge and Desert Dreams was my answer.

Imagine a lush Scottsdale hotel, 230 writers (many published), a gaggle of agents and editors wanting manuscripts and lots of chocolate. It's a time-proven recipe for wordsmith heaven. The Desert Rose Chapter of Romance Writers of America (RWA) consistently hosts one of the best writers conferences around. Home to a number of published writers including Erin Quinn, Kathryne Kennedy, and Gini Koch, the Desert Rose crew are enthusiastic and supportive no matter what your genre.

So, while Mick spent the weekend hauling away a desk and doing guy things with a friend, I drank wine, nibbled on chocolate, got told to "Write!" by Cherry Weiner, shared hugs with a half dozen friends I haven't seen recently, and sat in cold conference rooms for hours getting ideas on plotting, sales techniques and writing steamy sex scenes. (You never know when that will come in handy; just look at the Clive Cussler books.)

By the end of the conference, we all were ready to go home; the Sunday morning workshop resembled a scene from Dawn of the Dead. But in writing caves across the country, including mine, writers are pounding away with renewed energy and waiting for the next Desert Dreams in 2014.

Copyright - CF Yankovich

Red Stem Storkbill

C.F. Yankovich — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 18:46:37 GMT

Want an excuse to learn new swear words and spend big bucks on weed sprays? Just find a patch of this stuff.

Yep, this is my nemesis, the fernlike groundcover with tiny purple flowers. Identification was difficult. Searches of several books, including the National Audobon Society Guide to North American Wild Flowers, came up empty. Even on-line searches got me zip until I found the Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers site and searched for plants with purple flowers. Then I found out why none of the other sites included storkbill. Three words: INVASIVE NOXIOUS WEED! That explained a lot.

Storkbill, aka filaree, alfilaria, redstem filaree, alfilaree and stork's bill, is a cockroach of the plant world. Originally of Eurasian origin, it has invaded all states except Florida and Mississippi. Listed as a global invasive species, it's hate around the world.

Why do we have it on our land? Storkbill thrives on disturbed soil and a previous owner scooped out the hillside on our property not too many years ago. How can I exterminate it? Imposssible. However, spraying combined with encouraging grass will reduce its occurrence. Just as I suspected.

Salvage Gardening

C.F. Yankovich — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:26:23 GMT

One summer afternoon, Mick and I stopped at Home Dept for house parts. On the way out, I noticed some desert landscaping lilies were covered with seed pods. Despite Mick's embarassment, I whipped out a plastic bag and started harvesting. Why? Because the maintenance folk would just cut and toss the stems and I couldn't see wasting everything. The bottom line was that no one would care. A couple of months later, I had time and just tossed the seeds in a couple of depleted flower beds. The blooms pictured above greeted me this spring.

Gardening on the cheap can be fun and rewarding. Thirty years ago, my mother-in-law's neighbor was thinning her cactus bed and asked me if I wanted some pads. Descendents of those cactuses dwell in pots around our mountain home. Twenty years ago, a friend asked if I wanted some aloe vera. Those have over-run at least two flower beds at our house in Phoenix. (They don't do so well up here, but hey, it didn't cost anything to discover that.)

One of the best things about gardening with salvaged plants and seeds is there is no pressure. Pay fifteen or twenty dollars for a plant and gosh darn it, that sucker better live! You can always find another garden castoff somewhere. Any positive is the awesome sturdiness of plants that normally would end up in the garbage. A couple of years ago, the Arizona State Fair was throwing away some half-dead chrysanthemums at the end of the season. I swooped in, rescued them and stuck in the ground up north. Admittedly, they needed a lot of water during the summer, but when fall arrived, I was rewarded with billows of bronze flowers. (They've since been transplanted to an area where they will be easier to care for.)

On the other hand, if you're one of those folks with an overabundance of cactus, flower seeds, or other green delights, consider letting others know before you toss the extras into the garbage. Everyone benefits.

Day Trippin' - Arizona Spring

C.F. Yankovich — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:35:15 GMT

It's spring in Arizona and the wildflowers are spreading bright colors across the desert. If you want an excuse to get out of the big city,what better way that to take a trip up to Globe?

Does it matter whether the highway department or nature is responsible for the wildflowers along US 60 east of Ellsworth Road? Who cares why brittlebush blooms add a blaze of yellow to the area next to the concrete ribbon? Warning: the blooms in town are fading; the earliest began in January. As you approach Peralta Road, they begin to freshen. Other wildflowers join the mix - the orange of globe mallow, the blue of lupines, some yellow desert daisies.  The first flush of cactus blooms - hedgehogs and ocotillo - add dots of purple and red to the mix.

Near Superior, you'll encounter the fushia of penestemons. Driving up Queen Creek canyon, the wildflowers will dwindle to only brittlebushes and the last of those cling the rocks below the tunnel.  Don't worry - breathtaking rock formations will keep your attention between the tunnel and Top of the World, noted for selling "Really Good Jerky."

As you head downhill toward Pinto Creek, the snow dappled Pinal Mountains loom straight ahead. To your left are two of the great open pit mines dot Arizona's copper canyons.  These enormous holes in the ground are awesome sights in their own right; they have a beauty of their own.  Climbing out of Pinto Canyon, past the entrance to the mines, wildflowers begin appearing, adding a hint of color to the scrub oak landscape.

Just past the entrance to the Bluebird mine, you encounter Miami and California poppies. This year they seem everywhere - in yards, edging US 60, covering the edges of the Arizona Eastern RR roadbed. A few even peek through the center median of the highway.

Once you're up in Globe-Miami, visit Besh Be Gowah archeological park (one of two Salado Indian pueblos in town), go antiquing around downtown Globe or on Sullivan Street in Miami, and have lunch at one of the great Mexican restaurants found around both towns. You'll be glad you did.

March in the High Country

C.F. Yankovich — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:24:56 GMT

It's been many years since a snowstorm visited the Arizona high country this late in the season. But waking up to snowy mountains and golden sunlight is breath-taking - and something that doesn't happen in the big city. Temperature swings are similar to the low desert - frost in the morning and 60 in the afternoon. Add to that the return of the turkey vultures and clean air. Life is wonderful.

With warming weather and wet roots, the weeds are jumping, especially a lovely, fernlike ground cover with purple flowers that transform into bullheads. Last Valentine's Day I got a garden cart (a very romantic present because it made hauling water to the plants easier.) The first time out, I came back with four flat tires. The same Green Slime you can buy at Walmart for auto tires worked wonders.

The bullheads are sturdy plants, growing in gravel and spray resistant. I've discovered that Spectracide at max concentration (7 ounces per gallon) knocks them down in one or two rounds. If you have dogs, you definitely want to get rid of these.

Happy New Year!

C.F. Yankovich — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:59:33 GMT

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...

C.F. Yankovich — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:23:06 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:40:40 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 01:07:55 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:58:57 GMT

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...

C.F. Yankovich — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:16:44 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:57:49 GMT

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...

C.F. Yankovich — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:03:18 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:09:58 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:28:51 GMT

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

C.F. Yankovich — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:31:00 GMT

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