Nature’s bounty . . . .
One of our two pecan trees isn’t putting out any nuts this year. I don’t know why. The other tree compensates, however, producing an abundant crop. I look forward to autumn evenings with a bowl of pecans in my lap, nutcracker in hand.
Reg and Rog like to crack pecans and pick out the nut meat with their teeth.
I chopped down our grape vine.
The grapes were beginning to ripen, but I could not stand the awful hornworms. Repugnant, fat buggers that expel a nasty, black slime, plus they host parasites. The vine was being eaten up by them. Good riddance.
The grapes weren’t ripening properly anyway. Sorry, birds. Maybe next year.
Mesquite . . . .
During winter mesquite seed pods provide protein for birds, coyotes, deer, rodents, and javelina. Our trees feed birds; Reggie and Roger chew on the pods, too. (Safe for dogs; I checked.)
Great clusters of pods dangle from the mesquite trees.
Seems like there are a lot more pods this year.
Hmm . . . . Could the pods predict our winter, like the wooly bear caterpillar? More pods = a harsh winter?
“The woolly bear caterpillar — with its distinct segments of black and reddish-brown — has the reputation of being able to forecast the coming winter weather. According to legend, the wider that middle brown section is, the milder the coming winter will be. Conversely, a narrow brown band is said to predict a colder, snowier winter.” — Jim Muller, adirondackalmanack.com.
Well, I’m not thinking about winter yet.
I’m interested in monsoon season.
As in . . . where did it go? Several weeks ago we had one week of the typical, daily cycle of afternoon or evening rains. Then it came to a halt, leaving us with blue sky, fluffy white clouds, and three-digit heat.
“Hey, Reggie! You’re off the path!”
Here it is the third week in August and we’re still waiting for monsoon season.
This time last year the yard was green and I was on the third go-around with the mower and weed-wacker.
This year most plants in our yard are brown or the ground is bare. The boys wear “paths” in the dirt where they regularly patrol the property.
Outside work is done before 9 a.m. or after sunset.
Landscape fabric is cheap: $2 for 50 ft.
Stuff in the yard struggles to grow, yet in the flower beds the weeds are jumping up, green and happy. I put a stop to their little party by laying down landscape fabric.
This bed used to hold rose bushes. You may recall some of the rose photos from previous posts. I hated to have them ripped out, but overall and over the span of a year, they just weren’t attractive. Mostly straggly bushes of old wood and plagued with blackspot.
The plan is to put in new, blackspot-resistant rose bushes at the right time in early spring (Feb. in AZ).
The only green patch we have and I cover it up!
A lull in thrift store shopping . . .
Small, 3D plaques for the kitchen are a fun find at 25 cents each.
Apparently summer isn’t a good time for finding treasures at the thrift store.
The snowbirds are gone and year-round residents go on vacation rather than clear out their stuff or they’re hunkered down with the a/c.
I only go thrifting about once a week now. Sometimes I leave the shop empty-handed or I pick up a little something like I show here.
The selection of big items, such as furniture and paintings, isn’t that great these days. That’s okay.
A metal hand-rake for reaching around plants in beds will come in handy ($6).
The house is mostly furnished now, so there’s no urgency.
Speaking of urgency, about our bathroom . . . .
A while back a leak behind the tub surround, as well as a stopped-up drain, resulted in a plumbing repair bill close to $800. I didn’t let that upset me because. . . When you buy an old house, you’re gonna’ have repairs, right?
Weeks later, in a totally unrelated incident, a pinhole leak appears in the bathroom ceiling.
I’m concerned.
Then, while I’m taking a shower and washing my hair, I look up at the ceiling.
Hey, was that always like that? It doesn’t look right. The ceiling is sagging!
A few days later Dennis (the guy who put up the privacy fence and a new friend) is over at the house and I show him the ceiling. He presses the ceiling and it moves upward!
Uh-oh.
Dennis tears down the sagging dry-wall and finds a leaking pipe.
There’s a leak in there . . . .
And along with the leak is black mold!
Fortunately the mold is only on the drywall and can be removed easily.
Dennis comes back with a helper and they get to work.
Pulling down the ceiling . . .
It turns out that the entire ceiling needs to be removed for the pipes to be repaired/replaced. Then a new ceiling installed . . . a labor intensive project.
Ooh, what do we have here? Someone patched this pipe in the past.
Am I upset about this?
No. Quite the contrary. I’m thankful the entire ceiling didn’t come crashing down on me while taking a shower.
Goes without sayin’ . . .
I do not want to be found naked under a heap of moldy drywall.
rvsue
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