Sunday October 29
(by
Ron)
Ok
here we go again... trying to grow tomatoes in the winter in AZ,
but
now we plan to do it upside down.
What
do you think of the bracket off the front 5er hitch? Think we can hang
a tomato from it?
And
you ask why? Might work better for a clothes line but for now it's for
growing hanging plants.
I
came up with hanging a plant from the hitch and Terry came up with the
design.
(Notice
we lock our stabilizer 5er hitch so you can't just back up and drive away
with our home.)
First need to cut a hole
in the bottom of the bucket. Insert the tomato plant and
fill with potting soil.
I had Terry spray paint the bucket white so it would look better.
We will add the bucket lid
later to keep the water evaporation in check.
Never know it might rain
in the desert and flood the roots.
The poor tomato plants (we
used two) look a little sad blowing in the breeze, hope they recover.
The two plants are Early
Girl with fruit about 2-3 " and ripen in 52 to 62 days.
Will need to get a wind
shield placed around it real soon. Can't wait to see the blankets we drape
over this contraption when
it gets cold next month. Last year we had to take our regular upright standing
cherry tomato plant indsie
at night. What a pain that was.
See how it hangs from the
above bracket. Don't worry if you just don't get what we are doing.
Many more pictures in days
to come you can be sure.
If you missed our tomato
growing stories from last year go below and click
on GO HOME and go to last
years winter posts. Also lots of info on Q in last years posts.
For more info on doing this
upside thing go to: Growing
Tomatoes Upside Down?
An Alternative
Garden Plan By Kathi Morristo
Monday October 30
We made a few adjustments
to our hanging tomato plant setup.
I noticed today that it
was not getting late afternoon sum. Sooooo.
We added an extension so
it would hang a little futher out to get more sun.
You should see the people
who drive by and look, wondering what the hell is protruding out in front
of our 5er.
All they have to do is stop
and ask! You just have to find ways to have fun in the desert!
Great weather gets old.
Looking
good, even starting to bend for the sun.
As
you can see we are ready for that first great campfire when the campfire
ban is lifted on Nov. 1.
Can't
wait to light our three new TIKI torches!!! Need to get to
town and get more pallets to add to our firewood pile.
Can't
have enough firewood... except last year we did give several away when
we took off.
Not
this year I intend to have great campfires. We also have a bunch of regular
firewood we collected
on
the way down from abandoned state park campsites where we stayed.
I
love the picnic table, it adds SO much to the comforts of the site.
The
Palo Verde tree adds much needed shade in the afternoon.
Terry
is checking out why the hummingbird feeder is leaking. I took a little
super glue and that was that.
Now
it hangs in a close by branch.
On
Tuesday AM we are going on a field trip with the rock club to see if we
can find agate, jasper, and petrefied wood.
They
make a day of it, and we take lunch and drive back into the desert outback
where this stuff can be found.
Some
of these trips have up to 60 vehicles in the caravan. Very popular events.
Last
year on back desert roads we got a rock between our dully back tires and
had to buy a new one.
Ouch!
Over $200 bucks. We take it slow and easy now and check for stones between
the tires at every chance we get.
Check
out one of the filed
trips we took last year.
Or
more links to other trips on the main rock
club site.
The
weather is perfect and just getting better... How can that be???
Might
be a tad bit warm in mid afternoon. But nice all night long.
In
December it will cool down when the sun goes down, so this is fantastic.
Tuesday October 31
We
are staying inside tonight, to Scaryout
there for us, after a great sunset and now watching
TV.
Here
in Q the town gets the kids together and takes them around town in school
busses to places
that
had signed up to receive them. Police cars and fire trucks with lights
flashing go along with them.
A
fun tradition in this town.
We
took several bags of the NYTimes summers top selling books to the library
today.
They
were busy decorating the place for the kids to wander through for a haunted
house.
We
love giving to the Q library our summer reading collection. A great resource
for this community.
I
am able to experience new reading materials and explore new authors all
for free.
Visit
the Q library web site.
One big reason I come back to Q for the winter season.
Terry
is into the rock club big time and I started the rock club web site (now
he can update it also).
We
have met some good people, and it just feels like a winter home should.
I
(Ron) am not that into gems and minerals, like Terry, but the library
is a BIG deal for me.
Don't
eat too much candy... share!
Wednesday November 1
Had
the first campfire of the season tonight, fire restrictions were
lifted today, and we made the most of it.
It
was a georgous day, temps in the low 80's during the day, and very
pleasant into the night. We started our
fire
about 5:30 and sat outside till well after dark. The atosphere around
the campfire was enhanced by the
waxing
moon, which is only a few days away from full, and it gave a lot of light
on its own.
Picked
up another load of firewood palletts today, can't risk running out.
Now all we have to get done
is
cut them up to uesable sizes.
Thursday November 2
Another
perfect day in Quartzsite, A few high clouds, southern breeze and temps
in low 80's, we could get spoiled
by
this, and probably are. Looking like another night for a campfire,
must enjoy them when we can. There is
something
about a fire that warms the spirit, and soothes the mind, staring into
the heart of the fire and watching the
flames
dance amoung the pcs of wood. We sat out most nights last November
with a fire, but got out of the habit
when
things cooled off in December and Jan. Could have had fires in Feb
and Mar, but by then we were out of the
habit,
it was our loss and we regreted it during the spring and summer.
Ron
did his good deed for the day and fixed a friends computer, had to clean
out an unwanted virus that hitched its
way
in as an attachment. That and a disc clean program and the lap top
was up and running as expected, and Ron
is
a hero for the day. Reinforces the number one rule of e mail- never
ever ever open attachements when you do not
know
for absolutly certain what is inside.
Friday November 3
(Ron
Here) We like Fridays I know, I know, I am retired but it still
seems like Friday is the start of the weekend.
We
drove over to Blythe, CA for groceries and $90 bucks later we looked at
each other in the parking lot pushing
the
cart to the truck and said we came for a few items and here we are with
all this STUFF.
We
are running out of storage space for the can goods.
When
we got back we helped our camping neighbor install his new DirecTV system.
He
also just got a new 2000 Honda generator.
Had
a small fire and now inside getting ready for Bill Maher on HBO.
Another
great day in Q.
Also
just sent an email to Bill Adams with INTERNET
ANYWHERE and told him we wanted to upgrade
our
DataStorm internet system to the new HN7000s modems.
Saturday November 4
by
your roving reporter Terry
Things
now change a little bit each day with the arrival of more vendors and Winter
Arizonans. Riding the bike
about
town today I noted that K & B Hdwe has opened for business. They
were still trying to get al the stock
out
of the containers and on the shelves, but they were open. They are
one of the first to set up , and the last to
close.
They carry a lot of hardware and rv items along with a lot of Chinese import
stuff.
We've gotten a few items
form them in the past, not a lot, we have lowered our needs, but
they come
in handy.
Behind K & B there is
some construction activity, looks like someone is getting ready to
pour a concrete pad
for a new building.
We will keep watching the progress and report back. The light steel
framed buildings
that they use here in Quartzsite
go up real fast, after the concrete is in. What I am assuming
will be the new building
Diamond Pacific tools went
up in two days from bare slab to complete building.
Along Business 10 the antique/junk
dealers are moving in. Still a lot of room for more, and they will
be arriving in
the next few weeks.
Since it was Saturday,
it must have been A Prairie Home Companion on Public Radio. We do
not have a
public radio station in
Quartzsite, but can get a web cast of the radio show from Minnesota Public
Radio. Using a
low power FM transmitter
we can sit at our late afternoon campfire and hear the stories from Lake
Woebegone
on the radio.
We lingered for some time
at the campfire as dusk turned into night, and the full moon rose in the
eastern
sky, We will have
a full moon tonight and Sunday night, will be a chance for another relaxing
campfire. Topped
the evening off with a light
simple supper, cheese burgers, homemade potato salad and canned baked
beans,
nothing gourmet, will have
to do better tomorrow night.
Upcoming
posts... Interviews with venders and local
shops with pictures and their story.
The
venders always came back year after year? Are they coming back this year?
Many
seasoned venders we know have gone to other loctaions. Is the climate in
Q still friendy
to
the seasonal vender? Great change is going on in the vender areas, and
Quartzsite overall.
We
plan to ask the questions and post what we find. Stay tuned... |
