Severe dust storm came blasting through here yesterday and blew all of my Taro plants over.
There is only one thing I can do to save them: replant the entire lot of them.
That means taking ALL of them out of the water, pulling them out of their pots and redoing each one completely over.
Yes, that means a lot of work and time to get that done.  Not exactly something I wanted to have to do on a Sunday afternoon.

There is no debating, I will get at least some of it done today if not all of it.  The hard part is getting motivated to go out there and do it.  Especially since it's humid and warm out there and only going to get worse as the day moves on.

Just got home from church. That was another battle.  I did not want to go this morning, again, just not motivated to do much of anything today.  But, it was worth going and that's that.

So, going to end this one early, get my shorts and work shoes on and get out there and get at least some of that work done.

What I don't get about this guy that shot  and killed all those people at the theater, besides the obvious question as to why he did it, is why he wanted to live after he was done?  Allegedly, he just gave himself up at the back of the theater without any kind of fight.

He will spend the rest of his life in prison, but I believe he will end up getting the death penalty since Colorado has capital punishment.  Of course, we all know how long it takes between sentencing and actually being put to death.  What possesses a man to walk into a theater full of strangers - people he doesn't know - and then simply open fire on them?  Will this guy ever tell?  Is he psychotic?

Well, the weekend is here in full swing.  I got up at 5am after going to bed last night at 8pm.  I was sooooo tired, I really wanted to go up to the property but driving up there was out of the question yesterday.  I could go this morning, but it would only be one night up there and then have to drive down.  I pretty much have determined that on a regular weekend, if I am going to go, I must go up on Friday and at least get 2 nights out of it.

I believe I have decided on the place to plant the Queensland Bottle Tree.  It is in direct, full sun, which, from what I am reading, is what they want and like anyway.  So, I am going to take out the Christmas plant that apparently does not like full sun - it died regardless of how much watering I did with it - and plant the tree there.  Perfect location for it.    I want to get another one and plant it out front as well.  I can plant it in a location that is already being watered and will not add even more watering to have to be done on the front.  On the back, different story, going to have to run a small line and a dripper or 2.

I will try to get another one of those Christmas plants this year - after Christmas and they go on sale for less than half price - and plant it in the shade. Kind of like the Norfolk Pines I bought 3 or 4 years ago.  I had thought they were regular pine trees and planted 3 of them in full, direct sunlight while the 4th one I planted in front of my house, right next to the wall, which gets no direct sunlight at all.  The 3 in direct sunlight died.  The one that gets no direct sunlight is doing very well.  It doesn't hardly grow at all, maybe a couple of inches a year, but it's a beautiful little tree.  Which contradicts everything I have read about those trees.  I have read that they cannot survive outside in the temps and conditions we have here, that you have to grow them indoors.

Well, that logic can be thrown right out the window since that tree has been there several years now, is very healthy and shows no sign of deterioration.  It does not grow very fast, possible a side effect of the atmosphere here, but that's okay, it's more of a nice little ornamental tree at this point.  I am guessing if I planted the Christmas plant - don't remember the name of it - in a similar location, I will have the same results.

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Long break.  I posted an ad on Craigslist to give away more pond plants, the pond in the ground on the east side of my house has WAY too many Taro in there, it's taking up too much space for the fish to be able to swim around in.  So, a lady and her young daughter came over and we went to work.  I took out 4 of those plants, one of them was huge.  Pulled the Umbrella plant out of it's pot and broke off 3 pieces of that.  Got a couple of Yerba Mensa stringers and gave them to her and then - gave away the pond that has been sitting there for over a year now, not being used.

She wanted to put the plants into pots but mentioned she wanted a pond as well.  I might have been able to sell that pond on Craigslist for some money, but it has a leak and a person is going to either have to buy a patch repair kit for it or buy a liner.  She decided she would buy a liner for it and that would be that.  So, I got quite a bit done out there already today, not just with the ponds but also in the front in dealing with various landscape issues.

Mark, the 30-something year old meth-head who still lives with his parents - was out front of his house, staring at me.  His parent's house is across the street, 4 houses down.  I didn't bother to get into a stare-down with him, I decided to completely ignore him.  He then started making his high-pitched, squealing noises again, aimed in my direction.  I don't know what the significance of those noises are, but he has done this before in the past while yelling obscenities at me, so I assume it's an insult of some sort.

Whatever the case, I was going to go get my cell phone and simply call the police. They don't have to do anything but go down there and start pounding on the windows and doors, as they did last time, to get Mark to stop his behavior.  His parents don't want the police visiting their house because of Mark's bs.  In fact, I doubt they want the police visiting them for any reason. But, as quickly as he started, he stopped.  A 5 year old in a 30-something year old body that looks like he's 60-something because of all the meth.  Nice life there, bud.

Which reminds me, I got all that other stuff done but completely forgot about the Queensland Bottle Tree.  However, it is quite warm out there right now.  It's about 40% humidity and around 95 degrees.  The humidity had me sweating profusely and I may be done for the day. At the very least, taking a nice, cool break and then maybe go out there and see about uprooting the Christmas tree and putting the Queensland back in it's place.  Probably won't take too long, I thoroughly flooded the tree with water and let it get down into the ground so that it should be easy enough to just pull it out.

Whatever the case, this entry waxes long.

Later.

ben

I got home from work too late to head up to the mountains.
But more specifically, I am WAY too tired to drive all the way up there.
It's going to have to wait for another time.  But ohhh, would I love to be UP there right now.
Just sort of click the fingers and I am there sort of deal.
No such magic exists on this earth - except for the realtor who has a huge property up there - he flies up there in a helicopter.  Has been doing it for a couple of decades now.
I mean, as far as I know, he LIVES up there and just flies back and forth on a daily basis.

Oh, the lifestyles of the rich.  Must be nice!

Well, whatever.  I have things to do down here this weekend anyway.  Notably, planting my new Queensland Bottle Tree sapling and also some other small, ground covering plants I bought to fill in some areas out front that are looking a bit barren.  Oh, and the other thing that is inhibiting my drive up there is the car's oil needs changed.

Look, I have been listening to the radio all day long and then watching the news reports about the Aurora theater shootings. It is unbelievable.  It is horrific.

Blog fixed. Went to Google blogger support and someone found the answer - code was added to the left side of my blog that redirected it.  HOW it got on there is a mystery. Others were reporting having the same thing happen. If you are being redirected to Kuniochi, type in Blogspot.com which should take you to your admin control and then go into layout and find the junk that has been added on there and remove it.

Umm, well now that that's over with, it's Friday, 8-1/2 hours from now I should be off work (should be, cause' sometimes I have to stay late)

I have no clue what is going on with my blog.  When I try to come to it, it takes me to some different site. I can access it through typing in blogspot.com and only doing the posts - but I can't see the blog as it is continually redirecting me.  I do hope it's only me that that's happening to.

Whatever.

I will attempt to access my blog via work computer tomorrow to see if it's a situation that - I dunno, apparently blogspot doesn't have much of a support system.

Umm, well, I will continue to write, but if I find out my writings can't be viewed, I will resort back to other blog sites that I already have accounts on, including Wordpress.

Hmmm, I will try changing the password, if I can, perhaps it has been compromised?

I came out here - to my kitchen - this morning - to find JD slumped over the computer keyboard.  Not this computer - no-one but me uses it - but the old one that I let a few people use that don't have computer access.  He woke up when I came out.  We had a long discussion.  I asked him about why he wanted to go to the Army and what he was going to attempt to learn through it?  "I'm going to become a man".  Okay.  Fair enough.  Yes, it will definitely instill some virtues in him - if he accepts that - that will help him out in life - provided, of course, he lives through it.

Not a joke, of course, if you enlist in the nation's military, you are also taking upon yourself the very real possibility that you might not come out of it alive.  But it was cool to talk to him for a while, he comes over here frequently at night, but I am usually not awake for those visitations.  At least he has some kind of plan  = and hopefully will help him get out of the poverty situation that his family has been in for - ever - now.


Well, at least for him.  I don't know that his 3 younger brothers have as much motivation as he does to succeed in life.  JD and Caleb have been friends for quite a long time now, JD will always be welcome over here regardless of what happens.  


Work has been different this week because my manager is on vacation.  First and inside salesman, now the operations manager is there, holding down the fort.  


Friday. Tomorrow is Friday.  I am debating whether to go up to the mountains or not.  I skipped 2 weeks in a row now - perhaps time for another venture up there.  Not sure yet.  I will determine that tomorrow near or when I get off of work. Pretty small window of time to decide, after work is over at 2:00 pm if I am not held late, to go or not to go.  I already have most everything I need so preparation isn't much of an issue.  I do love it up there : )  


I just got through reading a couple of emails from my dad and one of my uncles.  This is the first I have seen any confirmation of it, but they are definitely doing their reunion, in August, in Ashley, North Carolina.

I wish I could go.  The cost of airfare alone is exorbitant.  Then you have all the rest of the costs.  I am not sure I will even have enough money saved up to drive to San Diego and go on the fishing trip with my son.  I am pretty much broke and that's the name of that tune.  The electric and water bills are what's killing my finances right now, but it wasn't unexpected.  Just that I had thought, after paying off that trailer, I would have a bit more than what I have now.  But I don't and that's that.  Oh well and move on with life.  If we can swing a trip to San Diego - even on budget mode - great, if not - dunno what to say.

I'll say that I have enjoyed my trips to the mountains and hope for more of the same : ) I don't pay lot rent and I own the trailer outright. My expenses are confined to fuel getting up there, almost exclusively.  I would have had to eat anyway, no extra there. The dogs would have had to eat anyway, no expense there either.  So yeah, maybe I will make that trip up there tomorrow - but only if I can find time to get the oil changed on the car first. It's past due and I don't much care to let it go.

ben

The Queensland Bottle Tree arrived today.  It is not 2 feet tall, more like about 10 inches.  Not complaining, I just thought the pic made it look taller than it is.
It was very well packaged and was in perfect condition.
Which was quite amazing considering it traveled from Florida to Arizona.  It was starting to dry out - but that was expected.  Watered it nicely and now I have to decide what to do with it.  Many people put them in pots for a few years before ground planting them.

But the information I have been reading is saying that they are extremely hearty trees and transplant well at any age or size, whether young or old.  I would rather get the thing in the ground if it can handle it so it can get it's root system started in the ground versus a pot.  Get a dripper from the drip irrigation on it and get it going.  It's kind of exciting, they say these trees grow quickly in the first several years.  Of course, watching a tree grow?  Umm, on a daily basis not a happening event, but watching it's progress over time is really cool.

So, part 1 of the doom and gloomers dismal outlook on the economy is about to come true: higher food prices. It's all over the news: the drought is causing crops to fail and that's going to mean higher prices for everything in the grocery store.

Interestingly, however, one story also adds that the price of beef should actually come down temporarily as ranchers slaughter massive numbers of their cows because of the high price of feed. But after that?  The price of beef is allegedly going to go way back up.

Other stories are showing a slow down in the economy.  Look, it's not like I want the doom and gloomers to be correct, but they've been foretelling a recession that will be far worse than the thing we saw in 2008.  If food gets out of control, I'm like everyone else: eat the cheap stuff.  My concern is the 401k.  There are options of where to put your money, of course, but it's really quite limited.

I don't know, but if the price of beef does come down even temporarily, I am going to fill up my freezer with it.  I just cooked a ham that had been in there over 6 months a few days ago - tasted great. I just emptied out my upright freezer to defrost it - it's ready now to be stocked up again.  I depleted almost entirely my canned food reserve - gotta use it before it goes bad - so I am going to replenish that as well.  At least, as much as possible with whatever's on sale.

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The kid that comes over to walk that dogs - infrequently at this point for whatever reason - came over today with his brother.  I have a wireless doorbell.  The button to ding the bell is on the front of the house.  It works, quite well actually.  Well, they were in here messing around, kids, and the doorbell went off. One of my tenants was sitting at the table with me and said he would go out there if I didn't want to.  Nope, I said, it's probably for them - the kids/their parents - and those kids can go out there.

Well he went out there and the doorbell kept ringing. ???  He came back in, said there was no-one out there even though the doorbell was ringing repeatedly - kids.  They had ripped the doorbell button off the wall out front, brought it in and were hiding it from me,  thinking it was a joke.  I mean, laughing and making fun of it.

After explaining to them a few things about life in general and the fact that destroying someone's property isn't funny, I threw them out.

Dogs have been sick.  I DO hope tonight I do not have to go through what I have been with them for the past 2 nights.  I will find out soon enough as..........

................it's my bedtime.

G'nite.

ben

I will be interested, next time I go up to the property, to see what fire condition the National Forest Service has that gauge set at and whether camp grounds along the road to mom's property have been re-opened.  I am wondering this because the State of Arizona is basically being rained on - a very good thing.  I just checked the drought monitor, the entire state is either in an extreme or a severe drought depending upon what part of the state you are looking at.

The rain is expected to go on through Monday.  This will not eliminate the drought, but it should do something about the exceptionally dry forest conditions that are so bad, many campgrounds have been shut down, open campfires have been banned and even outdoor target practice has also been banned.  This because of the nitwits that will start a campfire and not know what they are doing.  Although, in these dry conditions, an ember floating from an open campfire could easily start an entire forest on fire in a very short period of time.

Speaking of trees, I finally found a Queensland Bottle Tree up for sale on Ebay.   I have been looking for one for quite a long time, I was surprised to find one there.  It's a sapling, of course, but for $6.99 plus shipping, I was more than willing to give one a try.  I have a nice place to plant it, too and hopefully it will take.  Though I am not sure if I am supposed to plant it in the ground right away or let it grow in pots for a few years.  Whatever, I don't have it yet but I have read a few sites on people's luck in growing them in pots, looks like if you get the soil mixture right and keep it watered, it should do fine.

Meanwhile, My Chinese Elm tree - none of my trees are "real" trees yet, they are still young and this particular tree is maybe 10 feet tall so far - well it's been spreading it's seeds around. Or perhaps the birds are doing it through their digestive system - or however it's happening, I have several saplings that have sprouted on their own in optimal places where there is plenty of watering going on.  2 of them are 2 feet tall already.  They sort of appeared out of nowhere.  These saplings are nowhere near the actual tree itself.  The wonder of nature.

My "dead" Sissoo is making a remarkable comeback. What unbelievably hearty trees those things are.  They can withstand some of the worst conditions and still survive.  It's now spreading out new leaves all over the tree.  Which is a welcome relief, that particular tree was growing fast and well, it was in a portion of the yard where I really wanted a nice tree to be growing.  Of course, what portion of the yard would I not want a nice tree growing? lol.

The intended purpose for the vines growing on the fence on the east side of my house have all but covered the entire fence area where I wanted the view blocked.  My neighbors are pigs and I don't want to be exposed to their foulness - an eyesore at best, the house and property are nothing but garbage.

I got a view of the "man" that is living with that woman in the shack behind my neighbor's house - which is perched right next to my fence and looking down into my property.  Umm, if you can make any judgments by looks, then this fellow is quite the - character.  Tattoos all over his arms and neck - probably all over  his body who knows - hair halfway down his back, scraggly looking beard and mustache.  Those 2 individuals are now living in a shack that is about 7X7 in dimensions.  Yes, you read that right, it's smaller than most prison cells.  They are already under the understanding - forced upon them - that I will not tolerate them playing that horrific music at obnoxiously loud levels at ANY time of the day.  They probably have also figured out that I will not stand for them looking down into my property, making comments and acting like ******* and ********.  Use your imagination.

Pretty much, I am going to have to save up enough money to buy the block and mortar and put in a block fence and completely block out the view of the pigsty/filthy conditions of that property and now, those people living in that shack.  I AM going to call the city about that this coming week and see if that kind of living arrangement is allowable, I am guessing the City will not do anything about it.  I will have to resort to calling the police if the situation gets out of hand.  I will have to petition the city to allow a higher than allowable fence.  The normal 6 foot fence will not block them from looking down into my property, it would have to be an 8 footer.  Though, now that I think about it, I have serious doubts that shack has proper electrical code compliance - undoubtedly running and electrical cord to supply it with power, that IS a code violation.

Life goes on.  I am sitting here, in my kitchen, looking at 200 square feet of room and what a person could do with it in terms of a "kitchenette" type of structure.  It sounds small, but looking at it, it's plenty of room for one person.  Or a couple.  A small kitchen; a small bathroom with show stall, no tub; a living and sleeping area.  That's it.  I could fetch at least $400 per month for something like that.  The cost of the structure would pay for itself about a year's time.  

Well whatever.  The temps outside right now are tolerable and I need to get some stuff done out there before time to go to church.

Happy Sunday.

ben

Good intentions.
I had them.
Fail.
Took the plunger/seat out of the hose bib - the valve you hook your garden hose up to - earlier this morning. It was not shutting off properly and the last time I used it, I had to crank it down so hard that I knew the next time I opened it? It would never shut the water back off.

I decided today to fix the thing.  I took the handle out of it that has the washers on it to seal it and went to Home Depot.  Bought a whole new hose bib that looked exactly the same, got it home and...........not exactly the same.  Would screw back into the body of the hose bib.

Realize that I had to shut the water off to the entire house to do this job.  That's why there is pressure.  I therefore decided to go back to the plumbing store where I bought the hose bib - Evergreen plumbing - it wasn't only closed, it had shut down, out-of-business.  Umm, that place had been in operation for over 20 years that I know of.

Over to Ace Hardware since it was closer and usually has a better selection of such things.  Bought a hose bib with compression attachment.  Instead of attempting to fix the old hose bib, I figured to replace it.  Got home and found?  Not enough copper tubing available to put the compression bib on there!

BACK to Ace Hardware where I found a different style of valve that would work on the only portion of copper tubing I had - sticking straight up out of the ground.  I figured if THAT didn't work, I would be forced to buy a soldering set including a torch.  Didn't want to go that far with it - or more to the point: have to spend that much money on it.  Got home, cut the copper line, put on the new valve and walaaaaah!

Okay, standing down. The only other thing left to do is return the bib I bought from Home Depot - but I have made enough trips for one day, maybe do that tomorrow or later on.

That was my "big" project for today.  I don't really feel like getting into much of anything else excepting the normal stuff I have to do around the house on weekends, which usually entails some amount of cleaning projects.

I hid my camera and I have no idea what I have done with it.  I remember hiding it some time ago, I have no idea where I put it and can't find it.  I really wanted to post some pics of the properties behind me to give some context as to what I am talking about when referring to either of those pigsties. These aren't normal people I am talking about and they do not live like most normal people do.  Well, I'll find that camera eventually.  I could use my cell phone to take the pics, but it doesn't have very good quality.

Well that's enough for one entry.

G'day.

ben