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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Arboreal Surprises

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Arboreal Surprises

by Anne Laurie|  August 25, 20194:07 am| 118 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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Friend has been complaining about finding an avocado on his lawn every day for weeks now. Why would someone keep throwing avocados in his yard? Who would do that? You guys he just realized he has an avocado tree

— Mave (@MavenofHonor) August 22, 2019

I know right? When he thought they were Mystery Avocados he was leery of them

— Mave (@MavenofHonor) August 23, 2019

I sympathize. I kept wondering why the lemons from my tree were always rotten in the middle when I picked them. After 5 years I picked a green one and realized it was a lime tree.

— Marie D. (@MarieRVT) August 23, 2019

After finding plums on the ground and one on the tree, I learned that I have a plum tree. This can happen when you have not lived at a place for very long. I was also surprised to see cherries on another tree that a nursery sold to me as a plum tree.

— Elizabeth C Madsen (@ElizMadsen) August 22, 2019

Ha. We picked up a free "apricot" tree that clearly someone was unhappy with.

The next summer we realized it was a green gage. Oops.

— Sarah Tuttle (@niais) August 23, 2019

I had 3 'cherry' trees for 3 years before I realized they were very small crab apples.

— Furious Swamp Hag (@MCNapoleon) August 23, 2019

As someone who grew up in Hawaii, I will say that running over an avocado with a lawn mower is a unique experience.

— James Post (@TheLeaderPost) August 23, 2019

I had one before a hurricane knocked it over. I did the exact same thing, wondering why there were always avocados in my yard.

Until one shattered my car's windshield. Then I got frustrated and finally looked up. Lol

— buzz (@ShinySylveon) August 23, 2019

(Yup… nobody sent pics *this* week, either!)

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

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Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    sukabi

    August 25, 2019 at 4:18 am

    Baffled by people’s ability to be blind and incurious about the thing right in front of their faces.

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    August 25, 2019 at 4:43 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  3. 3.

    RedDirtGirl

    August 25, 2019 at 5:12 am

    Good morning balloon juice. Just winding down after the Saturday night bluegrass jam I go to in brooklyn. All the fruit talk is reminding me of visiting my mom in Santa Fe, and coming across sun-dried apricots on the sidewalk, that fell off neighborhood trees.

  4. 4.

    CapnMubbers

    August 25, 2019 at 5:16 am

    The citrus tree that lost its fruit every year to frost gradually, over the course of the 34 years I lived there, revealed that it was a pink grapefruit, a measure of how much the seasons changed in just that amount of time.
    I thought it was a lemon tree for years.

  5. 5.

    fax

    August 25, 2019 at 5:34 am

    I had never thought of the experience of running over an avocado with a lawn mower. lol – what a happy thought!

  6. 6.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 25, 2019 at 5:37 am

    Arboreal Surprises – best tree-centric death metal band ever

    Everyone loves their new single The Mysterious Avocados.

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 25, 2019 at 5:41 am

    @CapnMubbers: Small grapefruit or lemons fit for Godzilla?

  8. 8.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 5:59 am

    @mrmoshpotato: ?

  9. 9.

    RAVEN

    August 25, 2019 at 6:02 am

    @RedDirtGirl: my stepmom would send me a bog ox of grapefruits from their tree in Phoenix. They’re we awesome but when I got put on statins I was no longer supposed to eat them!

  10. 10.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 25, 2019 at 6:12 am

    On my way back to my car from a model shoot yesterday evening, saw this cute sign.

  11. 11.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 6:23 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: If your dog poops please pick it up!
    https://www.google.com/search?q=if+your+dog+poops+pick+it+up&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS591US591&oq=if+your+dog+poops+pick+it+up&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.11844j0j4&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=SSjyAnc14z4uIM:

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 6:24 am

    @RAVEN: I miss my morning grapefruit juice. Normally I would ignore that sort of advice at least to the point of sneaking a little here and there, but with GF juice it’s in for a sip, in for a gallon. I’m addicted to the stuff.

  13. 13.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 6:25 am

    If your dog poops please pick it up!

    https://tinyurl.com/y5tpf8e5

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 25, 2019 at 6:25 am

    @Quinerly: Hehe

    Good early morning to you, Poco, and, of course, the tribe.

  15. 15.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 6:28 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I liked it, especially on a salad but I feel like I dodged a bullet and figure I’ll do what I’m told. If I can give up what I already have grapefruit is nuthin. We’re going to hit South Beach Phase One in 8 days because neither of us is happy with where we’re at.

  16. 16.

    Gemina13

    August 25, 2019 at 6:29 am

    After I graduated from college, I rented a house with my brother in CA. We had a plum tree in the side yard that neither of us were sure bore edible fruit, until I finally brought one in and cut it open. Turned out those were the juiciest, sweetest plums I’d ever had in my life, and cemented my love for them ever after.

    We also couldn’t figure out where apricots were coming from. We’d find these specimens that were the size of a child’s fist on our driveway. Then we realized they were dropping from our neighbor’s tree, which overlooked our drive. When we offered to harvest them for him (as he was receiving chemo for bone cancer), he told us that he hated apricots, and we were welcome to harvest and eat all we wanted. I wish I could find apricots anywhere, farmers’ markets or local grocery stores, that were as sweet and juicy as those.

    Nothing like homegrown fruit, I suppose. :(

  17. 17.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 6:31 am

    @Gemina13: We have a couple of fig trees that have really taken off and my bride has been canning away.

  18. 18.

    Gemina13

    August 25, 2019 at 6:36 am

    @RAVEN: Growing up as a kid in Phoenix, I would pass several houses on my way to school that had orange trees. All I had to do was ask my neighbors if I could pick up the windfalls. It was sometimes dicey, because a few trees bore Seville oranges, the sour kind used to make marmalade. 80% of the time, though, they were sweet little globes of pulp and juice. I used to dream of one day producing wine from those oranges, until I learned about the fermentation process and tasted Grand Marnier for the first time.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    August 25, 2019 at 6:36 am

    @rikyrah:
    @RedDirtGirl:

    Good morning.

  20. 20.

    Gemina13

    August 25, 2019 at 6:37 am

    @Raven: ::mouth waters uncontrollably:: What variety? And how far away are you from Puget Sound?

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    August 25, 2019 at 6:41 am

    Monday on TCM is Mary Astor day. Good times. (They’ve already shown The Palm Beach Story, in which she’s positively effervescent, earlier this month though, so not a part of Monday’s line-up.) Note for the Warren William fans here, included is a Perry Mason flick at 5 p.m., The Case of the Howling Dog.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 6:45 am

    We have 2 cherry trees. The first year we were here they were loaded with cherries, ripe for the picking, but the house was literally all tore apart and we had no time for them. So we picked a gallon and left the rest for the birds. Every year since? They rot off the tree before they ever ripen.

    We have 3 peach trees. Every year they produce fruit that is all stone, no pulp.

    We have 3 apple trees. Over our 9 years here I have picked 1.

  23. 23.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 7:18 am

    @Gemina13: Hmm, some green and some brown? About 2700 miles.

  24. 24.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 7:19 am

    President Trump backed off a threat to escalate his trade war with China, admitting to “second thoughts,” just two days after he ordered American companies out of the country in Twitter statements that sent global markets reeling.

  25. 25.

    frosty

    August 25, 2019 at 7:20 am

    My crab apple tree dropped all the apples and most of the leaves in the beginning of August. This isn’t normal. I had it pruned a couple of years ago; I guess I’ll get the tree service out again and see if it needs some kind of help.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    August 25, 2019 at 7:24 am

    @Quinerly:
    Morning to Poco and the tribe ???

  27. 27.

    frosty

    August 25, 2019 at 7:29 am

    @Raven: We’re not particularly happy where we are but we’ve got the house renovated the way we like it and we’ve got a few ties to the area we’re not ready to break. The major flaw is that the house isn’t set up for first-floor living. If it comes to that for one of us I guess we’ll deal with it then.

    It’s looking like we’ll be on the road almost six months out of the year anyway, for the next 2 or 3 years at least.

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    August 25, 2019 at 7:30 am

    @Raven: Was just reading about that in The Post. I’m not sure he knows what the phrase “second thoughts” even means. In his addled brain, it may scan as “more think!”

    Asked if he was rethinking the way tensions had escalated between the two countries, Trump responded “Yeah, sure why not. Might as well. Might as well. I have second thoughts about everything.”

    He also appeared to dramatically dial back his threat to force U.S. companies to stop doing business with China, something he had insisted he had the power to do despite international alarm.

    The comments reflect Trump’s wildly shifting approach to China, which has had a major impact on the U.S. economy and could impact his reelection chances next year. But it was also part of a stark counter narrative Trump offered during the summit, as he presented a different version of private talks than virtually every one else attending. And those differences spilled into public view multiple times at the picturesque seaside summit.

    What an embarrassment.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 7:34 am

    @Betty Cracker: Someone fed him a line in order to calm the markets before Monday’s opening. At least that’s what I think.

  30. 30.

    Steeplejack

    August 25, 2019 at 7:35 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning! ?

  31. 31.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 25, 2019 at 7:38 am

    FWIW –

    WOW: @PressSec: This morning… the President was asked if he had “any second thought on escalating the trade war with China”. His answer has been greatly misinterpreted. President Trump responded in the affirmative – because he regrets not raising the tariffs higher.

    — Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) August 25, 2019

  32. 32.

    frosty

    August 25, 2019 at 7:39 am

    @JPL: Why not? He and his cronies made their cut from selling short already.

  33. 33.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 25, 2019 at 7:39 am

    @frosty: Where are you hitting the road to?

  34. 34.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 7:41 am

    @frosty: RV?

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 7:43 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have second thoughts about everything.”

    “Fortunately, they always agree with my first thoughts, which are that I am never wrong.”

  36. 36.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 7:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: First thought, best thought.

    Allen Ginsberg

  37. 37.

    satby

    August 25, 2019 at 7:46 am

    @JPL: someone who can influence him has been shorting their market holdings and whispering suggestions to the senile old goat, and he tweets out his gibberish. They all need to be investigated.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    August 25, 2019 at 7:46 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: WASF.

  39. 39.

    satby

    August 25, 2019 at 7:51 am

    Good morning all. My former foster kittens gifted me with a flea infestation in my one and only bathroom. I think I finally got it under control enough to try to pull the carpet out tomorrow. What a nightmare.

  40. 40.

    oatler.

    August 25, 2019 at 7:52 am

    I have two pomegranate trees that flowered in the spring but monsoon season has been a bust this year and I don’t have much hope they’re going to produce fruit.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 7:58 am

    @Raven: Pretty sure you know this: Studies have shown that during tests, one’s first impulse in answer to a question is usually correct, and that our 2nd thoughts are more likely to be wrong. Of course in chump’s case, both are wrong.

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    August 25, 2019 at 7:59 am

    @satby:
    Ouch. My sympathies.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    August 25, 2019 at 8:01 am

    @satby: Ugh, what a nightmare.

  44. 44.

    Chyron HR

    August 25, 2019 at 8:01 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    But it was also part of a stark counter narrative Trump offered

    “Baby Don-Don did boom-boom in the ecobony” is not a “counter narrative”.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 8:07 am

    @frosty: Bill Barr probably made a fortune.

  46. 46.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 8:08 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: If true, why not raise them higher now.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    August 25, 2019 at 8:08 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    He doesn’t have first thoughts.

  48. 48.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 8:10 am

    Today’s NYTimes puzzle has a clue famed orange troublemaker. Although it was five letters, the answer wasn’t trump.

  49. 49.

    Lapassionara

    August 25, 2019 at 8:14 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: So, did you get to the Festival of Nations? What great weather yesterday in the greater St Louis area.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    August 25, 2019 at 8:14 am

    @satby:

    Ugh! That’s the worst.

  51. 51.

    Lapassionara

    August 25, 2019 at 8:16 am

    @Quinerly: Are you still in town, meaning St Louis?

  52. 52.

    CapnMubbers

    August 25, 2019 at 8:22 am

    @mrmoshpotato: They were regular lemon-sized when they fell after a frost; as the winters became more mild, I was astonished when they swelled into grapefruit, and discovered the pulp was pink. The last few years before the Paradise fire, the tree grew beyond the reach of the pole picker, even on the orchard ladder, and was quite prolific.

  53. 53.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 8:22 am

    @satby: If you can, spray carpet cleaner on the rug, and then after it dries vacuum them up. That might help until you are able to rip it out.

  54. 54.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:22 am

    @Lapassionara: yes, for about 3 weeks.

  55. 55.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:26 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: Axios piece just up:
    https://www.axios.com/china-trade-war-trump-expresses-regret-27e5a96d-7335-4b48-89d9-4f0c1779c8c2.html

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:27 am

    @Lapassionara: Yes I did, tho much to my regret my planned for arrival of 10 AM was off by an hour and a half. Did not eat as much as I usually do because most of the lines were a whole lot longer than I wanted to deal with, a drawback to going alone. In the past I could always take turns with my compatriots. Every one would place their order with the unlucky individual and then go sit down or wander or whatever while the UI waited in line.

    A benefit of going alone was that I could wander around as aimlessly as I liked, checking out whatever might catch my fancy. Here that Afro Pop in the distance? Go find a spot in the shade. Feel a post eating nap coming on? Unfold the chair and close my eyes for a half hour or so. That woman giving Caribbean dance lessons to a crowd? Those folks are having way too much fun (at first all women dancing, then 1 brave man stepped up, than a 2nd, and a 3rd…. there would not be a fourth) Etc etc etc. A good time.

    Bought my wife a nice silver and amber pendant from Poland and got another garden basket for me on my way out.

  57. 57.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:28 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning from me! Poco is loudly snoring. John Lennon hasn’t made a morning appearance yet

  58. 58.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was there. Lines pretty rough. I got my usual Ethiopian fare. Checked out the vending and camped out at the World Music and the Magnolia Stages. Probably back today. What did you think of new location in the park and layout?

  59. 59.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 8:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: What fun!

  60. 60.

    Lapassionara

    August 25, 2019 at 8:36 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Glad it was a success.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    August 25, 2019 at 8:36 am

    Badger is the only dog we’ve ever had who sleeps in. Every other dog, including our sweet Daisy, who is old and fond of her naps, gets up when we get up. Poor Daisy even follows me from room to room when I’m dealing with insomnia, plonking down wherever I am and snoozing again. But Badger just stays in bed until he’s damn well ready to get up. It’s odd, at least in my experience with dogs…

  62. 62.

    frosty

    August 25, 2019 at 8:38 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Cross country for 4 months when I retire in February, aiming for National Parks we haven’t seen yet: Big Bend, Death Valley, and some in Utah. Then the next year I’ve got my eye on Canadian Rockies and the Pac Northwest. And we have to get to Hawaii some time. I hit Alaska and the last of the Lower 48 in 1978 but still need to pick up #50!

  63. 63.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 25, 2019 at 8:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I don’t want to cast a pall on your nice gesture toward your wife, but these days an awful lot of “Polish” amber is in fact illegally mined in Ukraine due to actual, legal sources drying up in Poland.

  64. 64.

    debbie

    August 25, 2019 at 8:40 am

    @sukabi:

    Join a plant identification group on FB and you will be stunned by the obliviousness. It’s become predictable now that moderators will fly into a rage after yet another person posts a photo of a hand holding a clump of poison ivy and asks if anyone can identify it.

  65. 65.

    frosty

    August 25, 2019 at 8:42 am

    @Raven: Yep. 27 ft trailer we tow behind a 6-cyl Jeep Cherokee. We’ve had 2 popups and 2 other hard sided trailers* for the last 30 years.

    * At a certain age you just don’t want to get up and walk to the bathhouse at night… every night. :-)

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:45 am

    @Quinerly: shrug, six of one, half a dozen of the other. I found myself at the Magnolia stage several times (I prefer to wander but I’m not lost ;-) we probably just missed each other more than once. The line for the Ethiopian was a half mile long when I came by. Kinda pissed me off as I was wanting some, just not bad enough to deal with that.

    Bring a rain jacket, you probably won’t need it but if you don’t bring it the Gods will definitely piss on you.

  67. 67.

    debbie

    August 25, 2019 at 8:46 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    His press secretary of the moment said his second thought was that the tariffs he first proposed should have been much larger.

    His statement that he had second thoughts is a lie. He never even has first thoughts.

    ETA: Or what Cheryl said.

  68. 68.

    debbie

    August 25, 2019 at 8:49 am

    @JPL:

    Curious: What was the answer?

  69. 69.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think they need to spread out the food booths a bit more. They seemed more jammed up this year, not just because of the lines. Today is weather dependent. Poco is delicate and needs him mom home in the event of impending rain. Red working on “Salle Roche’s” pebble floor today. ?

  70. 70.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 25, 2019 at 8:51 am

    @frosty: That sounds amazing!

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:51 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Oooopps. Did not know that.

  72. 72.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 8:53 am

    @frosty: did you see this fun piece?
    https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/24/heres-how-a-couple-spent-7-months-visiting-every-us-national-park.html

  73. 73.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 25, 2019 at 8:59 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    But Badger just stays in bed until he’s damn well ready to get up.

    My Pippin (rescue Maltese) does the same. He’s like a teenager. Gets up only when he’s good and ready. Eats breakfast and then settles on his pillow throne on the sofa for more z’s.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:00 am

    @Quinerly: Agreed. I’d like to see them put a group of 6 here and a group of 8 over there, mix them up with other stuff..

    I always crack up at the lines to the American food booth. They want a hamburger? A hot dog? Fries? They could take their taste buds on a world tour but instead they are waiting 15-20 mins in line for a 1/4 pounder.

  75. 75.

    donnah

    August 25, 2019 at 9:01 am

    Not a surprise fruit tree, but surprised by flowers: magic lilies, resurrection lilies, whatever you want to call them. We have lived here for twenty years and suddenly last year we had a dozen of them spring to life in our front flower bed. Boom! just like that, a dozen beautiful, leafless tall stems. They bloomed for more than a week, then died. This summer, we got four in the same spot.

    They’re beautiful and they brighten the yard. I hooe we see them next year, but who knows?

  76. 76.

    germy

    August 25, 2019 at 9:06 am

    We were surprised this summer by a sunflower that appeared in front of our house. It’s now as tall as my wife.

    We’ve been living here for six years. Never had a sunflower before. It’s just the one, and I wonder if a bird pooped some seeds in that area?

  77. 77.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 9:08 am

    @debbie: Ernie from Sesame Street.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:09 am

    @donnah: Naked Ladies, I’d bet.

  79. 79.

    Baud

    August 25, 2019 at 9:09 am

    @JPL:

    Ernie is a troublemaker?

  80. 80.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:09 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: makes me laugh too. The other chuckle for me are the lines for Mexican. Just go to Cherokee Street. (“The Taco and Ice Cream Joint” ???)

  81. 81.

    Gelfling 545

    August 25, 2019 at 9:10 am

    @Betty Cracker: I find that pugs do the same. They have very definite ideas about sleep times and will get querulous if you don’t go to bed when they think it’s time. They prefer to sleep in but can be tempted out in the morning by food. They have very fixed notions about where to sleep also & once they’ve picked a spot there’s no talking them out of it.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 9:12 am

    @Baud: oh no I should have put spoiler alert. Ozark said that normally your first instinct is correct, well that didn’t work for me.

  83. 83.

    debbie

    August 25, 2019 at 9:14 am

    @JPL:

    Shortz chickened out. :-/

  84. 84.

    JPL

    August 25, 2019 at 9:15 am

    @Gelfling 545: My mutt was distressed would I didn’t follow him last night, but unless he’s sick, he gets up in the morning with me .

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    August 25, 2019 at 9:20 am

    @frosty:

    National Parks we haven’t seen yet: … and some in Utah.

    I hope you have time for Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. It is Cray-Z!

  86. 86.

    RAVEN

    August 25, 2019 at 9:23 am

    @Gin & Tonic: I didn’t know you were a front pager?

  87. 87.

    LivinginExile

    August 25, 2019 at 9:24 am

    @Raven: My PegiSue is from New Orleans, and loves figs. I planted my fourth fig tree this spring. The other three didn’t make it through the winter, and this one doesn’t look like it will make it until winter. West central Illinois so maybe to far north. I’ve been planting Chicago figs.

  88. 88.

    Immanentize

    August 25, 2019 at 9:28 am

    I am up late this morning because the Immp had a big messy tube disconnect in the middle of last night. Poor dude, it all just sucks. But maybe I slept late because it’s about 60 out and a little overcast and … YAWN.

    I started my low level “whistle pigs gotta got go” campaign yesterday. We were all living peaceably until she started in on my tomato plants. I only have two this year, so it was a big blow to watch the critter chop on them like they were ears of corn. I lost maybe a half dozen going-to-be-ripe soon Rutgers. So I have surrounded the plants with Epsom salts, and placed a protective ring of cayenne powder around the area. I also took down all the cover foliage around the entries. Today, I am using the leaf blower to push talcum powder into the entries. I need a thumper like in Dune to put in my shed to annoy them enough to move….

    Any other ideas?

  89. 89.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    August 25, 2019 at 9:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was working a job in San Diego and found early on that a slight detour through the Mexican neighborhood between the hotel and the work location took me to this great food shack that had lines around the corner, three meals a day.

    Tried to talk my colleagues into going there with me sometime, but never succeeded. Man did they miss out on a lot of great Mexican food.

    I made it a point to seek out genuine Mexican food when I was in southern Cal, especially that close to the border. I never understood why other norteamericanos would rather go to a gringo taco joint in the tourist district.

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:36 am

    @Quinerly: I never go the Mexican booth but I actually ended up having a torta for lunch. My time in line? 3 minutes. I almost stood in line for the chicken kebabs and some falafel at the Iranian stop. Watching them get cooked over an open fire nearly convinced me.

  91. 91.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 25, 2019 at 9:37 am

    @RAVEN: Sorry, only on my first cup of coffee and that went over my head.

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:38 am

    @debbie: Shortz does that on purpose, give a hint that everyone knows the answer to, the wrong answer.

  93. 93.

    satby

    August 25, 2019 at 9:40 am

    @Immanentize: oh, poor Immp!
    Wouldn’t a chickenwire fence be easier?

  94. 94.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:43 am

    @Immanentize: A LARGE live trap baited with peanut butter and staked to the ground. Use a tarp/blanket to cover it when you go to pick it up once the critter is in it. It keeps them calm.

  95. 95.

    Immanentize

    August 25, 2019 at 9:44 am

    @satby:
    I want them to vacate their burrow. And to put up a proper wire fence means digging down 6″, bending an “L” bottom, etc. I already have chicken wire around the plants, but Wood Chuck’s gonna burrow….

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    August 25, 2019 at 9:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I read that it is really hard to trap them? But I’ll try…. The larger one looks to be in the 14 pound range.

  97. 97.

    LivinginExile

    August 25, 2019 at 9:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: 5 or 6 years ago I planted 2 plum, two peach, two apple, two pear, and a cherry tree. The amount of fruit I’ve harvested doesn’t amount to a pinch of shyte. The deer prune them in the winter, late frost will get the blooms, and then I fight Japanese beetles half the summer. Planted 100 bare root strawberry plants spring before last. Fungus took care of them. Moved the bed and planted 100 more this spring. The most disease resistant I could find. Same thing. A lot of hours of work for nothing.

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:51 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Even out here we have some great Mexican restaurants staffed with real honest to dawg Mexicans. The food can take me back to SLP and Veracruz for an hour or so.

    It cracks me up, watching the local xenophobic MAGA heads chowing down on the food while chatting up the waiter/waitress who speaks with a thick accent at the table and Mexican in the kitchen without a hint of cognitive dissonance. There are hidden enclaves of Mexicans scattered about the hills and hollers that most folks aren’t even aware of, hidden for good reason these days.

  99. 99.

    satby

    August 25, 2019 at 9:53 am

    Well, I have to go vacuum and spray, and hope that buys me enough time to take a quick shower. I ordered the professional pesticides from here because the over the counter Raid has only been a stop gap. Once they’re in the house, it can take weeks to get rid of them. I just wish it wasn’t the bathroom. Who the heck carpets a bathroom anyway ?

  100. 100.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:54 am

    @Immanentize: It is hard, but give it a try anyway. My coon trap would not be big enough for one those fat assed whistle pigs.

  101. 101.

    Just One More Canuck

    August 25, 2019 at 9:55 am

    Before we bought our current house, my wife and I lived in an older area with lots of mature trees. The place we were renting had two massive crabapple trees that produced a lot of fruit. Our neighbour would take as much as she could to make jams and jellies but I used to need rakes and snow shovels to get rid of the fallen fruit.

    The cat we had then (the wonderful Scully) loved that place. The trees attracted lots of birds, there was a big patch of catnip in the garden and the neighbours spoiled her.

  102. 102.

    Quinerly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:57 am

    @Immanentize: love Goblin. Poco was actually a bit freaked out. Love the state parks in Utah. Kodachrome and Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Parks are great too.

  103. 103.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 25, 2019 at 9:58 am

    @LivinginExile: Fruit is very difficult. With my cherries it’s a fungal problem, the answer to which is to start spraying the trees before they even bud out.

  104. 104.

    debbie

    August 25, 2019 at 10:04 am

    @Immanentize:

    Sorry Immp didn’t have a restful night. Hope it’s the last one.

  105. 105.

    LivinginExile

    August 25, 2019 at 10:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think you are right about fungal, especially this year with so much water standing. The only fungal spray that seemed to help at all was copper fungicide made by bonide.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    August 25, 2019 at 10:16 am

    @LivinginExile: Interesting. I was going to reply that I’ve got a naturalized bed of wild strawberries behind our boxwoods in the front yard. But on actually checking, I see that they’re not wild strawberries, they’re mock strawberries, which are native to Asia.

    Because of course they are.

    I should know better to think that anything that spontaneously sprouts up here is actually a plant worth keeping. Oh well, more to rip out once the frost comes. (Assuming it does. I’m in NoVA.)

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    RAVEN

    August 25, 2019 at 10:26 am

    @LivinginExile: Macomb?

  108. 108.

    Raven

    August 25, 2019 at 10:29 am

    @Gin & Tonic: This made me think that “But feel free to write about whatever interests you. Maybe somebody will chime in, maybe they won’t. I put up a fair number of posts that are met with confusion or silence or both, but I don’t give a shit.”

  109. 109.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 25, 2019 at 11:24 am

    @Raven: Sorry if that sounded like being a hall monitor. I just find it odd when people bitch about “nobody ever writes about what interests me.” So, write about it if it interests you. You may find that it interests others, and you’ll spark a discussion. You may find that other people disagree with you. You may find you’re just shouting down a well. No matter, nobody gets shown the door.

  110. 110.

    LivinginExile

    August 25, 2019 at 11:36 am

    @RAVEN:Carthage I think we discussed the Addie May once, and you mentioned fishing at wildcat springs in Hamilton.

  111. 111.

    Miss Bianca

    August 25, 2019 at 11:46 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Trespooping! OK, that gets my vote for Neologism of the Day!

    @Raven: Jealous. I love fresh figs.

  112. 112.

    Miss Bianca

    August 25, 2019 at 11:57 am

    @satby: Aaaagh, oh, God. I feel your pain. I remember one student apartment I spent the summer in back in Ann Arbor where we had something like six or seven cats (three adults plus kittens from one), (none of them mine, by the way – they all belonged to a former friend who showed fair promise of becoming a Crazy Cat Lady while still a teenager) and by the time we left the fleas were jumping – literally, jumping – off the carpet onto my legs when I went back for something.

    Normally I have no sympathy to spare for college town slumlords, but I wince thinking about the poor sods who probably did have to tear out the shabby wall-to-wall in that place.

    Luckily, we don’t have much in the way of fleas out here. However, I *am* dealing with Watson having somehow developed a tapeworm – apparently down south they can come from flea infestations, out here in the mountains it was most likely from snacking on a diseased rabbit. Yum!

    So, big old pill that apparently causes the beastie to excrete out in little sections. Yuck!

  113. 113.

    sukabi

    August 25, 2019 at 11:57 am

    @debbie: lol, seems like those folks should be able to positively identify at least one plant in the future.

  114. 114.

    J R in WV

    August 25, 2019 at 12:16 pm

    We have neighbors who keep a fig tree going here in spite of the normally foul weather each winter. They do it by building a woven wire fence around the tree, a cylinder maybe 8 feet in diameter and 12 feet high, and then they fill it with fallen leaves in the fall, to insulate the tree.

    My dad kept a smaller fig tree by growing it in a giant pot sitting on a small pallet with wheels, come freezing weather he just wheeled it into the living room, where there was a window wall facing south. It was as happy as a clam in mud in there.

    They will mostly die if then freeze at all.

  115. 115.

    Kirk Spencer

    August 25, 2019 at 12:34 pm

    @sukabi: Sure. They’ll pick it up, dig around in their pocket with the other hand for their phone, swap hands, look through the pictures for that ivy one to check it against… And complain because it seems like the rash this time on their phone-holding hand lasts forever.

  116. 116.

    LivinginExile

    August 25, 2019 at 12:58 pm

    @J R in WV: I thought about doing that but using straw. Then I figured the mice would make a home in it and chew all the bark off for winter food.

  117. 117.

    sukabi

    August 25, 2019 at 1:06 pm

    @Kirk Spencer: lol. Think you’re right.?

  118. 118.

    TerryC

    August 26, 2019 at 8:30 am

    This is going to be a banner year for my black walnuts, which are covered in fruit! In a few weeks dozens of trees will have around them bright green carpets of recently fallen black walnut fruit waiting to trip up my disc golfer friends when they walk by.

    Then comes the hard part, processing. There may be no other nut or fruit so tough to get ready to eat as a black walnut.

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