Archive for May, 2007
Friday, May 25th, 2007
This is a very nice plant. We planted this last year in…I would say, July. Again, Laura’s friend gave us this one. When we planted it, it was about 6 inches wide. I didn’t really think about it too much. Well, this year the Lamb’s Ear came back in full force. I was actually kind of surprised, because this was the first plant to sprout in this area of the garden.
Here, take a look…
Wow, this plant just keeps on growing. I am going to have to put this on my favorites list. You may be noticing a trend here. Anything that takes off and requires minimal maintenance, makes my favorites. Well, it has to look good too.
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Friday, May 25th, 2007
I have written many posts about my Bearded Iris collection. I think this has now become my favorite flower. They are extremely tough and spread like crazy. You can split them up and replant the rhizomes throughout your gardens. They are also nice and tall and have a good amount to green to them. I just love them.
The Bearded Iris blooms for only a few days, so you need to enjoy them quickly. My neighbor Tim’s flowers bloomed yesterday and ours bloomed this morning. I just had to share a photo with you.
If you ever ask yourself, “When do Bearded Iris bloom?” Just remember…Memorial Day!!!
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Posted in Gardening, Landscaping, Spring | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
Can you believe the amount of junk mail you receive every day?
When I get home from work, I walk to the mailbox. I usually have a smile on my face and some pep in my step. I open the mailbox, and to my dismay, I discover a heaping pile of wasted paper.
A few months ago, I began renting a PO box from the local post office. I never put the address on anything and never used it. I was curious a few weeks later to see if there was anything in it. I walked into the post office and opened the PO box. The thing was jam packed full of more wasted paper. Needless to say, I am returning the key to the box.
On a trip to Home Depot earlier this week, I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio). As far as I am concerned, that is the only intelligent conversation on the air today. They were talking about the “National Do Not Call Registry.” I think the DJ’s words went something like this: “Back when you signed up for the Do Not Call list, I’m sure you didn’t realize that your actions were contributing to the clear cutting of forests to make paper for more junk mail.” Of course, that’s from my poor memory. They were talking about how much more junk mail there is now that companies can’t call so many people.
I was talking last night about how much junk mail I get. Do you know that I probably get about five credit card offers a week? Most of them are from the credit card company I already have a card with!!!
If you are getting fed up with this, like I am, what can you do about it? I found some pretty good websites that talk about it.
- Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls
- Stopping the junk mail tree killers
- Greendimes.com - Restore your sanity and our planet
Something really has to be done about this. Where we live, our recycling is picked up every two weeks. Every two weeks, we have an entire 32 gallon garbage can filled with paper and more that won’t fit. Every two weeks. I would say that 80% of this paper we didn’t ask for. That’s just crazy.
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Sunday, May 20th, 2007
If you read my last post…yes, the one I wrote five minutes ago, you know that I am going to talk about how fast our Eastern White Pines are growing.
I planted about ten of these trees last Summer. They were anywhere from one foot to three feet in height. I chose this type of tree because I read up on it and discovered that they are one of the fastest growers out there among pines.
This Spring, I gave the trees a little Ultra Turf™ Summer Turf Fertilizer plus Insect Control. I also did this last year. Not much, but just enough. Well, the White Pines now have some new growth to show. Here, take a look at some photos…
The two photos above are of two different trees, but take a look at that new growth. The second tree has about a foot worth on top. Now, this is what I was looking for. Between the Eastern White Pines, the Colorado Blue Spruce and the Norway Spruce, we should have a nice tree line in no time.
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Sunday, May 20th, 2007
I planted a variety of about 25 trees along one of our property lines. The tree line is about 100 feet long and I think it will offer a nice looking privacy border. When I drive home, I notice that side of the house and just can’t stand looking at the nakedness of it. I like trees, lots of them (in case you haven’t noticed).
Last Summer, I planted Colorado Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce and Eastern White Pine. This Spring, I planted a few Cleveland Select Pear trees to hasten the border fullness.
If anyone has seen these little pines, they know that when I planted them, there were about a foot tall. I was a little concerned that they would take 20 years to get anywhere, so I gave them a little fertilizer early this Spring. Being the impatient person that I am, I didn’t see much in the way of results.
In the past week, I started noticing some nice growth on the Colorado Blue Spruce trees. They have the most wonderful blue/green color. It is really striking…yes, striking.
I am not sure you can see it from this picture, but these trees really are beautiful. I am very happy with them.
In case you were wondering what fertilizer will do for the growth of an Eastern White Pine, just wait until the next post. I am going to run out there with the camera right now…hehe.
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Sunday, May 20th, 2007
Allium is a very beautiful flower. I was talking my walk today and noticed that our Allium Schoenoprasum, otherwise know as Chives, are in bloom…or about to be. These plants are actually in the Onion Genus. They are pretty easy to grow, as I just put these in last year and they are taking off well. I split them up and now we have four areas of this flower. Here, take a look…
These flowers are like others I have been noticing. They start with a type of skin surrounding the bud and as the flower matures, the skin slides off. You can notice that in the first photo above.
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Sunday, May 20th, 2007
It’s that time of year again for my lawn mower tune up…wait, what am I talking about? I have never tuned up my lawn mower, or any lawn mower for that matter. Gee, I wonder why they all seem to run like crap after a few years.
My current lawn mower has a Briggs & Stratton engine. It currently doesn’t run that well. It revs and then loses power, then revs and then loses power. Kind of like … bbbbrrrrmmmm …. nothing …. bbbbrrrrmmmm …. nothing, etc…
I stopped by the local small engine repair shop the other day and talked to the guy. I asked him how much it would be for a tune up. He said, “$70 and under.” I thought this was a little much to tune up a lawn mower that I paid $135 for about 3 years ago. I asked what that included and he told me: spark plug, air filter, sharpening of the blade and an oil change. C’mon, even a cave man could do that. I thought there was some secret stuff they do. I guess not. I told him what was happening and he quickly replied, “You need to rebuild the carburetor.” Hmmm…makes sense, but the carburetor only has a few parts in it (I know because I took it apart on numerous occasions). What the heck could you possibly “rebuild” in the carburetor?
I thought to myself, “If this is going to cost any more than $50, I am just going to get a new lawn mower.” I felt guilty though, because the mower still has shiny paint and it would be a sin to throw it away. Actually, I would just leave it in front of the house and a neighbor would take it as a nice addition to their junk pile in the back yard.
With that guilty feeling, I started taking things apart this morning. I pulled off the carburetor and the gas tank. I separated the two and discovered a small wrinkle in the edge of the carburetor diaphragm.
I pulled the diaphragm loose to see what’s underneath…just a spring. I knew this might be the problem with the poor running performance of this lawn mower, so I started looking through various websites. I found the parts manual for this mower at http://www.briggspowershop.com. You have to put your model number (on this mower, found on the front housing) in their Engine Model Number Guide and you can print out a .pdf file.
By the way, you should be thanking me for this…it took a while.
The print out has all the engine parts you might need for this engine. I found the parts I wanted and added the first one to the shopping cart. Not in stock. Ok, on to the next site. I found a nice parts lookup feature at Lawn Cutters Equipment Sales & Service. I entered the part numbers in the lookup feature and they all seem to be in stock. I orded them and hopefully they will be here within the week.
So, for the exciting part…what did I order? Well, I was just going to order the Carburetor Diaphrarm (495770) and the Intake Manifold Seal O Ring (270344S). They were about $6 total. Then I got a bright idea. How much for the whole carburetor? Well, as it turns out, the Carburetor (697415) is only $18, so I skipped the other parts and purchased this. It has all that I need included.
I am also ordering the Foam Air Filter Cleaner (698369). With shipping, the order came up to under $30. Not bad. Now I have to pick up a spark plug (Champion RJ19LM) some engine oil and have the blade sharpened. I will put it all back together and let you know how it goes.
I am quite excited.
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Posted in Landscaping | 7 Comments »
Sunday, May 20th, 2007
I found something pretty interesting this morning while reading my latest issue of “Revenue Magazine.” I really don’t have too much to say about it, besides that it’s an interesting idea.
Like.com has launched a new type of search…a search based on images. Well, they call it “Visual Search.” Basically, their techology recognizes image features and allows you to drill down on those features to find exactly what you are looking for. Probably good for those of us who sometimes can’t put things into words.
I gave it a try on a pair of sneakers on their homepage. I refined my search on a design on the side of the sneakers. The results were mixed…I was offered various textures and designs, but nothing exactly like the design I was looking for. I suppose they have some work to do, but I offer them the best of luck.
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Saturday, May 19th, 2007
One thing I really love to do is to stroll around the property early in the morning to look at all of our plants. I usually do this before work. People probably think I am crazy for actually enjoying what I work so hard for.
I especially love to look at all the new growth and to see what is about to bloom. Here are some photos for today…
This is a Lily of the Valley…and Laura’s absolute favorite flower in the world. We have a bunch of them lined all the way down the driveway.
Here is our transplanted Hosta. This plant was in the same triangle garden, but I moved it closer to the front when I cleaned the garden out last Autumn.
Above is the new China Boy Holly I just purchased because the old ones that I planted last Autumn were looking a little ragged. By the way, I pruned them and they are coming back. Look at all that new growth!!!
Here is the Bearded Iris that I separated and replanted last summer. Bearded Iris is quite durable. It’s almost like you can run over the plant with a truck and it will still grow. Everything I replanted came in beautifully.
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Saturday, May 19th, 2007
Believe it or not, this post title has been sitting on hold since I started this blog, back last August. WordPress has a feature where you can type a title in and save it. With all the other exciting things I was writing about back then, I just never got to this one. I guess a rainy Saturday will help me catch up.
Back when Laura and I lived in Brewster, we liked to drive down to Green Chimneys for a daily walk around their nature trail. Basically, Green Chimneys is this:
“Founded in 1947, Green Chimneys is the nationally renowned, non-profit organization recognized as the leader in restoring possibilities and creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges. Recognized as the worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy, Green Chimneys operates residential treatment for children and a special education school.”
It really is a very cool place…you should drop by if in the area. It is located near the Great Swamp in Patterson and near Putnam Lake, right on the border of New Fairfield, Connecticut. One thing they are very much known for is their annual “Birds of Prey” day. We have yet to make it to this one, but when we drive by, cars are lined up and down the road.
Way back when I was a kid, my friend Brian’s father used to play soccer in Green Chimney’s indoor soccer field. We would usually swim in their pool for a few bucks. But that’s not what Laura and I would go there for…
The walk around the nature trail is about 3/4 of a mile. It’s just long enough for us to get off our butts and get just a bit of excercise while having a decent conversation. Since Green Chimneys is located in a farm setting, there are friendly animals around the whole loop of the nature trail. The cow above just loves visitors. Who even loves visitors even more is this deer type beast below…
This one was hilarious. We would walk by and she would pace us, just waiting for a good petting. As you can see, she likes to get close, even if it means sticking her head through the gate. After we left, it was a bit depressing seeing her follow us all the way to the end of the fence and be forced to stop.
Here are a few more good shots…
These are what we like to call a little horse and a big horse. Notice their difference in size. Man, there are tons of different types of animals at Green Chimneys…ducks, horses, cows, all type of birds, snakes and even cats. I am not sure the cats were brought in as a rescue or anything though. This funny cat below slept under a little shed at the end of the trail. She would always come slowly walking out just as we passed.
I would want to keep on walking, but noooooo…Laura liked to spend an extra half-hour sitting on the bench with the cat on her lap. I would usually walk around and look for things to play with. One time I found a little cat of my own and tried to pet it. It was hanging out on the hood of a pickup truck. One pet and the damn thing scratched my hand. No more love for that cat.
Anyway, Green Chimneys is a great place that specializes in large bird rehabilitation. It is worth the drive…just be sure to drop a few bucks in the donation box if you want to spend some time there.
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