A Fun Day

This is the last American Elm tree standing at Longwood Gardens. It is checked for health periodically and so far has remained healthy. I understand that the disease was mostly spread through roots of trees that grafted with each other. There is also one bore that can spread the disease, but they are easy enough to fight. As a specimen tree, they can survive and stay healthy. Beautiful tree isn't it?

It was a great day, all day, very nice. Lunch was at lunch time at the cafeteria, grilled chicken, broccoli/carrots, red potatoes and a lovely lemon glaze.

Rain

It's been raining here for the past three days. We got a total of 3" here out of the 6" that we need. This is a very good thing. Now the temperatures are dropping and it promises to get rather chilly tonight. A good night to sleep and I think I'm going to take advantage of it.

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight was a dinner of ham, filling, mashed potatoes and corn. There was a roll for sopping up gravy, orange drink, applesauce and a whoopie pie for dessert. Sounds yummy, eh? It sounds like a lot of starch to me! But you know, it was really quite good. It was all Amish made for the Conestoga fire department dinner. The ham drippings made the ham gravy. That has such a unique flavor and you could tell it was homemade. The potatoes too. They have a wonderful texture when they are boiled and hand smashed. It's nothing like the instant potatoes most places serve. The corn was sliced off the cob with a knife. How do I know? First you go down the cob with the knife cutting off the meat. Then you slide the knife upward across the cob to get the kernels that lay hidden close to the cob. There are corn meat, kernels and silk all mixed together when you are done. You don't find that with an y canned or frozen corn. Then there's nothing like homemade applesauce. I know, I've made it and it's a lot of work. The whoopie pies were made by Granny (a local Amish woman who has a little Amish store here in Conestoga). She probably had a large hand in the fixing of the dinner as well.

I believe I've told you before that eating Amish food in interesting and fun, but unless you were born and raised with it, it's not the type of food you should partake every day. It is a high energy food and believe me, if you're active now, start a diet of such carbs and you go like Pentium 4 in your computer. That's not an exaggeration either. You just might forget to sleep that night.

There was enough dinner for two people. Sorry, but I don't eat like the Amish, or at least I don't have the size stomach needed to eat like the Amish. But they do burn off all of those carbs. They work hard. I ended up eating the potatoes and corn and was full, so I kept the meat and filling for another meal or two. The roll was left behind. The applesauce sits in the fridge waiting for lunch on Monday and the whoopie pie is in the odds and ends basket on top the microwave for a snack or dessert sometime when I'm feeling exceptionally hungry for something chocolate. Shalimar got a nice taste of the ham and she had no problem with it. Bratley did too, and he ate his with is usual gusto.

I always get the dinners the fire department serve. They are always good, homemade by the local Amish and a nice break from my low fat rather sweet meals. And they will give me lunches for the next week.

Tomorrow is spaghetti and meatballs. I've been hungry for spaghetti and since the temperatures have cooled considerably, I think I'll simmer up some of my special Italian sauce for the dish. Yum. You're welcome to stop by for dinner.

More on Trees

OK, so I said I have planted my last shade tree. This is truth. To plant another shade tree would be to begin crowding my trees. They need room to grow and spread.

However, that doesn't mean I through planting trees. I have decided that there is room for another understory tree. One of my forthysia has kicked. I don't know exactly why other than it was root bound. Three of five of them, I thought were bad, but so far only one has died. Of course it is in the middle of the row right at my office window. I've decided that in it's place, for structure more than anything else, I will plant a Service berry in the spring. http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/woodies/serviceberry/serviceberry.htm

I had one of these trees before moving here and simply loved it. They are a native tree and sometimes hard to find in nurseries. But more than that, I wanted the right spot for one. The next door neighbor has planted three birch along his driveway. They are just slips, but should/hopefully they survive the winter, they should grow into nice trees in no time. Birch grows in our woods. The service berry I want to plant in the spring is usually planted as an understory tree around here and should do great with the dappled shade from the afternoon sun that the neighbor's birch should eventually provide. This service berry should provide beautiful white flowers in early spring, lovely dappled shade in the summer, color in the fall and privacy from the neighbor's garage. Within a couple of years, the fruit should draw a large variety of birds and it is eatable as well.

It'll be nice to have another service berry in the yard. I really like that tree. But before I do get one, I want to make sure the trees we've planted this year are going to make it. So far they all look good, but I want to be able to give them the individual attention they need.

Dear Diary

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 (8:12pm)

Dear Mr. Pitts:

I was reading an article in the LA Times this morning. OK, so this isn't something every Pennsylvanian will do but this story caught my eye and concerned me.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-fence17oct17,0,3378849.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntothtml

What concerns me about this story is the attitude of our Homeland Security official Michael Chertoff with his comments:
"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is urging calm, saying that the Texas fence locations remain under discussion. He has pledged to conduct a thorough environmental review of the fence plans -- but also warned that he has the authority to ignore the results. Congress has allowed Chertoff to waive environmental rules in the interest of national security, a card he has played to fast-track fencing in California and Arizona."

He is outwardly posing as a despot that this concerns me that no matter what, we as citizens have absolutely no say in what environmental destruction he deems wanted in the name of "Homeland Security".

Please understand that I honestly believe that Homeland Security is necessary but not at such serious cost as to loose endangered species of wildlife. It is the right of all Americans to uphold that which we find precious and this story is just one instance of what could/would/will happen, I fear, if this man is left with this much power. This country was never based on a dictatorship and he seems arrogant enough to push by announcing to the country that he has that much power.

He has a job to do, but should find another way to do it. If it makes his job harder, so what. It's his job and one he must do but not at the cost of all the Americans hold dear. This article has to do with the problems of Texas and Arizona and their disgust at his demeanor of everything they've been trying to accomplish. But what next? Will he come to Pennsylvania and try to undermine something that we are trying to accomplish?

In the case of Texas and Arizona, his thoughtlessness could cause the extinction of endangered species of animals that we the people are trying desperately to save. If this should happen, what else will become extinct? Our rights?

There have been a lot of things happening in this country in recent years that has everyone on edge; the housing problems, the insanely high rising cost of energy, etc. But this scares me more than all those others. They are just money and the struggle to make ends meet. But this one man, able to strip us of what is left of our dignity, rights and privilege to enjoy that which we find as happiness is terrifying. What have we become?

He was put into office to protect us from those who hate us. Not to destroy all that we try to build. But he doesn't seem to care. It's in his way so to Hell with the American people. They will just have to grin and bear it. I don't want to grin and bear it. I want him to do his job without destroying that which we as Americans hold dear.

During the attacks on 9/11, it was the people, the citizens, who were there to help each other long before the government had time to regroup and step in. It was the citizens who gave their lives for their country and fellow humans as each and every one of us is hardwired to do. This Michael Chertoff either is unaware of this or has forgotten it or simply doesn't care.
I would like to see his power stripped, at least that he cannot make blatant, arrogant assumptions as we the American people will just have to put up with whatever he decides to dish out. I would also like to see him disciplined for making such assumptions.

I was always taught "Where There's a Will, There's a Way". It seems that Mr. Chertoff needs to learn this. The American people should keep our natural lands in tack, keep our animals in tack and keep our dignity in tack. He can look for another way to do his job. And I would expect him to.

Please do not be surprised to see parts of this letter in opinion pages of newspapers. I do plan on having it published as well. This is not a refection on you but I simply feel this strongly. I don't want to be dismissed as over-emotional on this subject. Today it is the wildlife in Texas and Arizona. Tomorrow it could be even closer to home and something that imposes on me personally. I don't trust this man, not after what I read in this article.

Thankyou for your time.

I sent this letter to my Congressman Joe Pitts. I don’t know if anything will come of it, but it voiced my concerns on how out of hand this Homeland Security is beginning to get. To destroy everything we the people are trying to accomplish in the name of Homeland Security is as bad as the witch hunts of Salem and the blacklisting of the 50's.

I might be the only one who feels this way, but I don't think so. I don't want to lose my rights nor my self respect and I won't sit back and just take this.

I guess we’ll just never learn.

From the Diary

I got home from work last night to a wonderful smell in the house. My immediate thought was "Oh, no! Bob is cooking again!" When he cooks, it’s usually with the help of the local grocery store or a restaurant establishment. Then anything that I had been trying to accomplish, such as defrosting meat for dinner usually goes bad and I end up throwing it out. That to me is a waste of money and it always upsets me.

I lifted the lid of the pot on the stove and saw sautéed chicken and mushrooms and another pot of noodles. I asked if that was the chicken in the refrigerator and he said yes. He said he’d gotten some hamburger out of the freezer and saw the chicken, deciding that it had better be eaten, so he decided to cook that instead.

The meal was quite tasty and I wasn’t upset with his attempt to cook at all. He used the meat that I had defrosted and I was OK with that. It was different from his usual attempts at cooking. With the chicken and mushrooms over a bed of noodles, he also served a lovely lettuce salad. Very nice. All this was to help save some time as Monday’s is usually errand evening since we’re both home.

It was nice.

A Funny Thing Happened...

...at work today! It seems that folks found out tomorrow is my birthday!

That in itself isn't such a bad thing I guess. Of course I was announcing it all of last week, so why shouldn't they have noticed or known.

The big thing was a coworker, a lady I work with closely brought me a neckless and a card for my birthday. This was absolutely wonderful! And the beads are so pretty! I told her this wasn't necessary, thanked her and just couldn't help it! I had to wear them. I just love them!!


Later the boss hollered through the football field size room that I had a package at the front desk. He hollered loud enough that the entire prepress heard and all teased me all the way down to the first floor that I had gotten flowers. And wouldn't you know!? I got down there and yes, there were flowers waiting for me at the receptionists desk. Apparently this happens a good bit. Of course, I had to bring them back up to the prepress so that every one could see them, sniff them and read the card, which of course, was from my Husband. Then they proceeded to ask where their birthday treat was.

Now, the balloon that trailed behind everywhere the flowers went, announced to the world that it was my birthday and everyone I passed wished me a happy birthday (which is really tomorrow).

Now, I'm off tomorrow because of my birthday and will go to a local 5* restaurant for dinner. They have a nice package for birthdays and it would be nice to take advantage of that. So I told everyone at work that I'd treat on Monday when I return. So, now I'm committed to taking food into work for a birthday treat. Donuts would be nice, but since I have so much time to figure this out, maybe I'll bake something good. Brownies sound nice.

Last but not least, I couldn't resist a picture of my little halloween cat. She is just the cutest little thing. She is barely 8 pounds. My little Shalimar is the sweetest little thing.

Decisions have been made

Sweet Gum (liquidambar styraciflua)

Photo by: http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/2005/10/P10/

It's been a stressful weekend. Having two trees picked out for the garden, room for only one of them, this being the last large shade tree for the property - it had to be the right one. The decision was a difficult one - two beautiful trees; two completely different looks; both needing about the same requirements for strong growth and longivity.

We spent an entire Saturday afternoon looking at trees, questioning the nursery manager about all of them, finding these two and deciding that either would work and tagging both. After we picked out both trees, we called the nursery several times over the weekend with questions about each of them. Even yesterday, we called several times with more questions, spent the weekend online looking up everything we could about both trees. Pointing out the good points and the bad points of each of them.

Both trees were on my list of "must haves" but I couldn't have both without overcrowding the landscape. Both trees are very large when mature. Both are slower growers, though the sweet gum will grow faster than the oak.

The oak would still be standing when all the other trees in the garden, except for the beech, have long succumbed to old age. Of course, what would I care, I won't live to be 500 years old anyway. Most business, people and history buffs will go out of their way to save a mighty white oak, giving the tree a name, i.e. "The Memory Tree", "The Witness Tree", "The Heitage Tree", etc., when any other tree would be cut down. But then again, what would I care, I won't live to be 200 years old (when these trees are usually named and saved).

The sweet gum is a fossil tree, having survived from pre-historic times. It is called Liquidamber, dating the tree from the time of dinosaurs. It is just as massive and strong as the oak, though there is no age limit given with this tree. But then, what should I care, I won't live to be 200 years old. The sweet gum is a medicinal tree. The sap of this tree was once used (maybe still is) for chewing, helping headaches, colds and other common ailments. The autumn color of this tree is breathtaking.

Both trees can be messy. The acorns of the white oak are plentyful and eaten by everything that eats. This can be a good thing, with all manor of creatures helping to maintain the tree. The sweet gum has large spiny nuts that can be hard to walk on but where the tree is, these nuts will be noticed mostly by the lawn tractor. The oak will bear its nuts immediately where the sweet gum will need to mature to a nice ripe age of 15 to 20 years old before bearing nuts. The nuts of the sweet gum are eaten by songbirds, squirrels and wild turkey of which we have in this area. The sweet gum has fewer problems with pests and disease.

The decision was finally made. All our concerns were answered by way of the nursery manager and the internet. I believe we all had a major learning experience with this. Husband and I are both avid gardeners and put a lot of thought and care into our garden. We ask the help of those with more specialized experience for maintaining certain aspects of our garden as well as deciding what plants we want in it. The nursery manager at this nursery didn't seem to mind us tying up his afternoon or answering a half dozen or more phone calls from us about the trees of choice. This isn't the first tree we got from this nursery, and probably not the last either. I might still be putting some pretty understory trees in...who knows.

We altimately chose the sweet gum because it was different though a natural tree for this area. There aren't many of them but they can be seen at all ages. It is in a spot where the nuts shouldn't be the big problem that most folks complain about. It's far away from walking paths, driveways and roadways. It won't be able to throw it's nuts far enough to dent house siding, cars or anything else except ground. It will encourage songbirds and turkey into the garden to eat the nuts...squirrels too eventually.

So there you have it. The stressful process of decision making for something that will live to be hundreds of years old, if left to and the impact it will eventually have on the areas wildlife. The tree is in the garden, planted and ready to start it's life. It will need my beginning fertilizer that will help the roots strengthen, destress and give the tree the necessary fungus it needs to help it survive the first two or three years. It also waits for the much needed rain we hope to get this week. This is the last of the big shade trees. It now needs to grow strong and staight and provide the garden with all that it has to offer.

Our big shade trees are our biggest assets. They provide shelter, shade, lumber, food for all living things. They are the house and staple and oxygen of our eco system. There are fewer and fewer of them. Most homes now are on such small properties that it's not as ecomonical to have the large trees. They get to be to close to houses and the roots are as powerful as the trees themselves, braking up basement walls, sewage systems and underground utilities. Many folks opt for smaller trees with smaller root systems and smaller of everything else such as food, oxygen and protection. I'm glad I have a property large enough to maintain a number of these large trees. I have eleven of the large hardwood shade trees, each will average about 80 feet tall with spreads up to 50 feet as well as spruce and cypress in the garden. There's still plenty of sun, even after these mature, for growing roses. As my garden is growing, I'm beginning to love it more and more. It's getting to the point now where I can really enjoy it.

Shopping Spree

http://www.mahoningcountyoh.gov/NR/rdonlyres/BAA006E6-8DCB-43D0-B73C-4966F098B8F7/0/1bat.jpe

This is similar to the bat house I own. I'm beginning to think the bats have found it. Always before at dusk, you could see two or three of them flying around, but this evening, there were at least a dozen, flying low near the house and shed, always headed out over the corn field to the toad pond beyond. I hope the house has found occupants.

I went tree shopping today. I have room for one more shade tree without crowding the property. I went with a list of trees that have caught my attention. White Oak, Hickory, American Beech. There was one other tree that had caught my interest some time ago, Sweet Gum. We went to the place where we got our purple (white) ash. I had been totally impressed with their trees and knew they had fields of them. We got the attention of the nursery manager and began asking questions...all kinds of questions. We walked around the nursery looking at the dug trees, noticing that there was another white ash that was outstanding but far to large for us to handle. That was to bad too. However, they had the sweet gum there, two nice trees. So then we started asking about the other trees on my list. They also had the white oak. The manager took us around in his van through the fields to the white oaks that weren't dug. He had one that was just the right size for us to handle and was really pretty to boot.

I tagged two trees, telling the manager that I'd buy only one, but needed time to decide which one I wanted. I tagged the white oak and one of the sweet gum. Now for the dilemma. I really like both trees. The white oak will grow in this area as there are many in the woods right around my home. The sweet gum is pretty much to the more northern end of it's growing zone here, none in the wild as I can see, but specimen trees grow well and strong. White oak is hard to transplant and if it's happy will encourage deer as well as pretty much every living creature into the yard with it's acorns, and this little oak had lots of acorns on it. The nuts of the sweet gum will encourage wild turkey to visit as well as squirrel and songbirds. White oak gets a nice rusty look to it's leaves in the fall. The sweet gum gets vibrant red/orange in the fall. Both trees need LOTS of space. The white oak has a 50 to 70' spread and gets just as tall; so does the sweet gum. Both are hard wood and slow growing. Both like areas where there's less polution and both are indiginous to the east coast of the US. Oh, BTW, we do have wild turkey around here.

The sweet gum is already dug; the white oak is not. I did ask the manager to ask about getting the white oak dug and when it would be the best time for that. My understanding is that these trees should be dug in the spring (unlike most other trees) to help ensure the survivial rate of the transplants. They have a deep tap root that anchors the tree and must be treated with kid's gloves for the first three years. The sweet gum is shallow rooted, but spreads the roots over an extremely large area, similar to the Tulip tree which I also have in the garden. The sweet gum will have to be staked for quite some time until the roots set it.

I'll look at the spot where it will go again tomorrow. I have room for only one. I have a red oak in the garden, but no sweet gum.

More on tree decisions...

Sassafras tree

Photo by:

http://www.naz.edu:9000/~treewalk/sassafras/sassafrastree1.htm

Sunday was a good stay-at-home day and do things in the garden. I didn't get quite as much done as I had wanted, but then, I wasn't rushing but enjoying everything more. There were about 100 bulbs to plant which got done with the bonemeal in the holes. They'll be beautiful next year. They are scattered around the new beds where I knew there weren't any. Early spring will be dotted with tulips and daffodils. I need some crocus yet for the very front tiny areas and the garden will be set.

The Sassafras got transplanted. This one was a tough one. The roots weren't as deep as I thought they'd be, but were scattered through the garden. We tried to keep as many of them as we could, making the root system as wide as the tree was high. Still, we had to cut a few that reached under the patio and deck. It was transplanted near the compost to help shade it a little from the hot afternoon sun. The tree which is just above knee high, double trunked and very pretty, was taken to a hole that was awaiting it. Just a little adjustment and the roots were back in the ground within minutes. Still within the hour, it had begun to wilt some. This tree will be watched closely this fall and into winter to make sure it is well wet and has every chance to set into the ground before it succumbs to death. Where it is planted, it will be able to adjust slowly to a drier spot, well drained and very rich in nutrients from the compost bin. I'm hoping it makes it. Husband wanted to cut one of the trunks away, but I stopped him. The double trunk is right at ground level, it naturally grew this from the seed and I thought it was pretty.

Sassafras is known for not liking to be transplanted. About half of them that are, will die. Their root system is deep and the roots that keep the tiny feeder roots are few and thick. I wanted to get this one moved while it was still very young to give it the best chance of a successful move. It is one of a few trees that should be planted by seed. Another is the Sweet Gum. Another tree in the same family that has a similar root system.

It seems to be becoming more and more the way of things, to plant trees from seed. There is a fungus that is spreading among the grafted landscape oaks, killing them in a couple of years. The wild oaks don't appear to struggle with it, at least not yet. I'm thinking from the reports that the natural oaks develop a resistance to the fungus when the trees are very young, but the grafted oaks, usually grafted on non-native root stock, don't develop this resistance. Nurseries here are getting very tiny Sweet Gum, Sour Gum and Sassafrass trees that are started from seed in large pots to keep the roots in tack. They are sold as slips at a very expensive price. I looked at a very young sassafrass at a local nursery, maybe two years older than the one I just transplanted and it was almost $100. The one I just transplanted, should it make it, is smaller, but has twice the strength for it young age. I'm hoping mine makes it. I'll be watching it every day this fall and winter.

I'm still wanting one last shade tree for the back yard. I went for a walk Sunday morning and met a young fella who was busy cleaning up a mess on a property he owned. I stopped to chat with him a bit and found out that he is a naturalist and though he had plans on building on this property, he cut only enough trees to clear a spot for his house. He planned on keeping the rest of the large trees (some of which were at least 100 years old) and to naturalize the area with native wild flowers. We spent about an hour chatting about trees and native wild flowers. It was a wonderful conversation. I've also decided on a list of trees (husband will hate me) that I'd like to think about for that last shade tree.

Some of the more abundant trees in the woods are hickory (shagbark and shellbark), ash (white and green), poplar, birch, beech, basswood, maple, sassafrass, oaks (white, red, black, burr, and scarlet), elm. I've already planted a red oak, red maple, two sugar maples, elm, two honey locusts, beech, poplar and white ash. Husband would like another white ash as the last shade tree. It's a beautiful tree, even I think this and another one would be nice. In the autumn, the back yard would then be colored yellow, bright red, rust, rust-red, bright yellow and redish-purple.

Although another white ash would be very pretty in the garden, I'd also like to see about a white oak, American beech and shagbark hickory. The oak would have to be planted from seed to assure health (easy enough to find...acorns of all types are all over the road around here right now). American beech should be easy enough to find at nurseries, though very expensive. Maybe I can get this young fellow to dig up a sappling for me out of his forest. Hickory might be difficult. No one seems to want to sell hickory trees. Hickory might also encourage deer to come into the garden. I don't really want that but hickory is a beautiful tree. Husband says I'm picking out all the nut trees. Well, I just happen to like the native nut trees around here. Besides, they are the trees that will be able to withstand the strong winds that come across this mountain. Besides, where this last tree will be planted, I don't have to worry about the nuts. Only the lawn tractor will ever know they are there and only after the tree gets large enough to toss the nuts further than the planting bed that will be placed around it.

I probably won't be planting another tree until next spring, so I have time to look around. I might try planting a white oak acorn to see what happens. I'll talk to sister about starting some too. I think she would enjoy having a white oak in her garden.