what did you do today?

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the back slope (inside the fence) and on another day I'm going to go after the California grass outside the fence...

Though I have been where I live for nearly 40 years, only when I got to middle-age that I learned to appreciate the fact that if I do not want something to grow around the house, I simply do not water it.

Oh, freeing up the time causes other problems, such as it often leads to the perennial question of "What I do all day", but I am thinking that that will slowly fade away.

As much as I often think about relocating to a more moderate place on the West coast, I am not sure if I want to spend time and labor for vegetation control, and I am not the type who would be happy without a bit of land around me. I am just going to stay and die here.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 We started at 8:00am. Normally we play in foursomes but the club pro only allowed twosomes as a mini-tour event was teeing off at 9am. We play fast anyway and used carts the whole way. I played in the pro-am the day before BTW and that was a lot of fun. The pro I played with was 60 years old and he finished 16th in the Senior British Open in 2008. Needless to say I was nervous the first hole or two, but settled down and played pretty good overall. He could hit it a mile.

You guys play quick - though twosomes with carts does make for quick play if no one is holding you up.

It is fun to watch the pros. There is a young kid from our club in his early twenties who is on the Nationwide Tour (now the Web.com tour) and had qualified for the US Open a year or two ago and actually did well enough for the first couple rounds that he got on the coverage a couple times. His group teed off ahead of us on Men's night a few weeks ago on a dogleg right par five. If I hit a good drive on that hole I am at the elbow of the dogleg, then a fairway wood and iron to the green. He cut the corner over the trees and I'm guessing was lying in one where I would be in two good shots. Amazing.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Though I have been where I live for nearly 40 years, only when I got to middle-age that I learned to appreciate the fact that if I do not want something to grow around the house, I simply do not water it.

I wish.

Our back slope is probably 7% over a distance of 50 feet. We have three bands of sprinklers on that stretch of yard ("upper", "middle", and "lower"). I've capped off the "lower" band (which killed off the banana trees!) and I only run the other two every five days. Our sprinkler system is nearly 25 years old and was built without vacuum breakers. Getting into the two control valves for the back slope is a bougainvillea-thorn-filled nightmare, but I'm getting close to the point where I'll need to replace both of them. Reducing the watering has cut way back on the growth, but it still grows. Especially the bougainvillea.

I think that the fruit trees stabilize the soil and reduce erosion. However they shade out most of the grass on the slope and the bird poop dropping from the fruit trees also has lots of weed & vine seeds. So the part of the yard under the mango trees is mostly weeds & dead mango leaves. I'm working on turning that around with bermuda, zoysia, and St. Augustine grass.

Outside of our property line (a chain-link fence) the gulch drops off even more steeply with California grass and haole koa. (It's an impressive fire hazard in August/September.) Over the last five years I've planted yellow oleander, which have slowly propagated themselves about 20 feet down the hill. (As well as a little uphill.) They're shading out the California grass, so after I hack back the latest crop of grass it probably won't come back for 18-24 months.

As for the haole koa, they're cute when they're under a foot tall. After that I have to cut them down and paint the stumps with concentrated RoundUp a couple times a year for several years. But the yellow oleander are shading them out, too, and should keep them from coming back.

I'm going to win this game, and hopefully before I turn age 60...

[MichaelB]

Took the grandchildren to an open air concert yesterday. We picnicked and enjoyed the show. Pretty hot, over 95, but the kids were great and everyone enjoyed themselves.

[FIYes]

I
We are in a heat wave here...fourth day of over 100 degrees. I am spending the day in the air conditioning surfing the net.

[antmary]

Went to the book swap today. Anyone who wants to brings books they want to get rid of, and take any books that catch the eye...movies too, and no money is exchanged. I took in a big shopping bag full of books, and returned home with a big shopping bag full of books. We are set-up for the coming inevitable heat wave....I hope it cools down soon for those of you in the Midwest and Southeast

[MichaelB]

Mom and my brother spent a couple of days with us as their power was out. Got in a couple of afternoons of good cribbage games with Mom. We've been playing for years, but I can't remember ever having such good cards. Skunked her twice It was a pleasant visit.

[bbbamI]

Slept in late today...like most days.

Much of my time has been spent on my patio gazing at my back yard and watching the clouds float by. I have some plants in pots that are growing nicely. It won't be long before I'll have beautiful flowers from those plants. Someone very close to me gave me the seeds. It touches my heart each day to think just how fortunate I am to know someone so dear and dedicated to my happiness.

Life is good.

[FIYes]

Went downtown to see the 4th of July parade. It was extremely hot. Usually we hang around after the parade, but it was just too hot. Feel great to be home in the AC. Just heard on the radio that it was record breaking heat forth 4th of July. That makes me feel like a little less of wimp who can't take the heat!

[RitaR551]

After a crazy busy weekend, we stayed home in the air-conditioning. With temps at 100+ it seemed like a mighty good idea.

As part of our busy weekend, DD and I drove in the 4th of July Parade. It was my first time in a convertible much less driving one ;-)



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[donheff]

Just got back from a back yard bar-b-q in Catonsville, MD home of a quintessential 4th of July parade. In an hour and a half I will hop on the bike down to the National Mall for the fireworks.

[Moscyn]

Went for my first swimming lesson. Was told by instructor that I need to re-learn breathing for swimming purposes - currently I breathe through the nose and breathe out through the mouth when swimming which is why I'm drinking pool water (ah, no wonder why I feel so bloated after swimming!). Instructor said that she'll teach me frogstyle rather than freestyle. She said I don't seem to kick well during freestyle Not sure what that means. I do see a lot of people in the pool swimming frogstyle rather than freestyle. Maybe easier to learn?

[Moemg]

We spent the day relaxing , floating in the pool, barbecuing and watching the fireworks from our deck .All in all a nice day !

[grasshopper]

Ms G. along with Super Cooper took the most patriotic prize at our home town parade.

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US Border Patrol, Thanks for your service.

[Nords]

Enjoyed an afternoon of barbecued meats and high-calorie desserts at the neighbors. She has a bunch of military friends, who brought their military friends. I think that the last time I was surrounded by this many servicemembers & veterans I was getting sea pay.

Met a military couple who moved here a year ago after being stationed at Fort Carson (Colorado Springs) for six years.

Met the teen brother of one of our hosts, who moved here last week from Guam. He'll be attending the "big city" University of Hawaii, and hoping not to end up back in Guam for a while. Apparently Guam's explosive growth of the last 20 years has created just as many problems as it's "solved".

Ironically a friend of a guest there is a jazz pianist named Ronnie, vacationing here from New Orleans. He joked that he wanted to get away from the heat & humidity for a few weeks...

[FIREd]

We spent the afternoon at the botanical garden. It was a beautiful day to be outside. Waiting for the fireworks to start.

[Khan]

I'm so far behind I'm marking everything as read and starting over.

[grasshopper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khan I'm so far behind I'm marking everything as read and starting over.

Even the one from the Nigerian Prince?

[NW-Bound]

We are now free from the medical emergency at home that cut short our summer RV trip and has been keeping us home the last 5 weeks. I am packing up to head up to my cool place "in the mountain" now. No internet for a while...

[ksr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 The thunderstorms that ripped through the DC area Friday night also hit us pretty good although we got off lightly compared to some. We still have electricity (and A/C!) while thousands don't.

We were without power for four days. Fortunately we didn't have any damage, but many of my friends' homes did. One friend had trees land on both their cars, across the driveway, and onto the shed roof. And she says they have neighbors who had trees land on their homes.

And now I'm truly enjoying having the power back!