Monthly Archives: September 2022

Honey Locust Signals Gardener’s Fall To-Do List

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MYSTERIOUS? A Honey Locust tree, seen 11 years after purchase at a nearby discount nursery chain store and subsequent planting, apparently is root-bound, needing help. It’s staying alive but doesn’t grow in size from one year to the next. (Desert Mts Times Photos)

 

By Dan Bodine

I don’t know what else you’d call a “years-old, not-growing” tree problem like this but a root-bound case of some sorts. And not being a tree surgeon, I’m befuddled on what I need to do to help it? If, indeed, that should even be on list of worries now that fall has begun.

This Honey Locust — aptly named Sweetie Pie — was a good-size tree when purchased at a local chain nursery. Continue reading →

When “Pothole Blues” Was Newspaper’s Epitaph

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Pot Hole "Broken asphalt pavement resulting in a pothole, dangerous to motorists. Shot with shallow dof. ....recent addition" pothole stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images

FRIEND OR FOE — Ever dropped your beer (or all your homework, your plate of food, etc.) when your auto hit a pothole like this? A small, troubled newspaper chain I co-owned once had this idea to draw publicity to a county reunion celebration … [Image courtesy istockphotos.com]

By

Dan Bodine

 

Lord, Lord, Lord! Cooking in a pothole!  Why didn’t the late Don McNiel and I think about this to capitalize on the City of Alvarado‘s road potholes, when we had that small, troubled newspaper there in the ’80s in North Central Texas?

Would’ve been better publicity to help the city, yes, and also for us, too, frantically seeking more advertising revenue! Our idea, instead, was a “Pothole Blues” song contest. That didn’t lift our blues much! Continue reading →

Salt Cedar’s “Water Theft” A ‘Code Ranger’ Case?

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Tamarisk tree in August. The genus Tamarix, tamarisk, salt cedar, taray is composed of flowering plants. Berlin, Germany. Beautiful plants. Tamarisk tree in royalty free stock photos

The Tamarisk trees — or Salt Cedars, as they’re mostly called in Far West Texas’ Big Big Country — were planted by the Corps in the early 1900s to help stop soil erosion in flooding. But in other times in the dry desert mountains, with their huge root systems, they’re also “water hogs”! This is a story of an angry neighbor wanting something done about a tree on an adjacent property he felt was “stealing” his plants’ water. [Commons Image courtesy of Dreamtimes]

By Dan Bodine

This idea of a volunteer code ranger to arbitrate disputes civilly to improve neighborhoods is too good to be true, right?

Say, someone trained by the city to softly suggest to another neighbor, a yáhoo maybe, or a building owner, he/she ought to scratch their heads about yard improvements? Cuttin’ down trees, maybe? Cleaning junk outta yards? ‘Cause they’ve become an embarrassment? Or worse, hurting people?! And thereby unravel a potentially dangerous knot? Continue reading →