Things are Still Not Going My Way

Given the way things have been going lately I was not all that surprised to have my wife beckon me to the front window Saturday morning with the news that there was “water gushing everywhere.” I looked outside and, sure enough, water was gushing everywhere. I ran out the door and discovered that the main hose for my drip irrigation system had disconnected from the faucet. That was an easy fix but the cause for it perplexed me. Until it dawned on me that something else was wrong with this picture: 

The nice white pot with the Acer palmatum ‘Kamagata’ was missing.

Acer Palmatum 'Kamagata' in a White Pot

Apparently someone decided that they needed my potted tree more than I did and in their haste to make off with it they pulled the drip irrigation line out.

In the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal. But I was depressed. I was particularly fond of my small little tree. I liked the shape of it. I liked its sharp leaves (which give the ‘Kamagata’ its name – translated it means “Eagle’s Claws”). I liked that it was one of the two trees that JD Vertrees had decided to name.

And I really liked my white pot which gave the tree a little extra height and really brightened up a very shady spot in the yard.

What bugs me the most is that I'm sure that whoever stole it won't enjoy it as much as I had. 

Things are not Going My Way!

The last 48 hours have been adventurous around my house.  Two days ago our washing machine stopped working mid-cycle.  It would fill up with water and agitate for a while but it wouldn’t drain.  I thought maybe it was our incredible heat causing the washer to overheat and stop functioning. 

I also have one malfunctioning sprinkler zone in my front yard that needs to be repaired.  Because of the aforementioned heat, I have been hand watering the affected flower beds. Okay, “hand” watering is a stretch.  I’ve turned the hose on and let it run for a while.  I did that at lunch time yesterday, for example.  Unfortunately, when I cam home from work I instantly realized that I had not stopped hand-watering.  There was water everywhere.  Oops. 

This morning, while showering (when all the world's best ideas originate), it occurred to me that maybe the washing machine was fine and perhaps it was the outlet it was plugged into that was to blame.  The timer for my sprinkler system is plugged into the same outlet so I knew that if it was the outlet that my sprinklers wouldn't go off this morning.  So I was perplexed when I looked out the window and saw that the sprinklers had worked but I could also tell that the spray from them had not extended as far as they normally do.  I'll admit something here that will expose my electrical ignorance: I admit that my first thought was that there was some kind of "brown out" caused by the heat that was keeping that outlet from allowing things to work at full capacity.  Can I blame the early hour for my lack of clarity?  Anyway, after getting dressed and ready for the day I went outside to investigate and I’m glad I did.  

It turns out, the lack of water pressure from my regular sprinklers can be blamed on the geyser shooting out of the faucet on the side yard where a drip irrigation system had been installed until sometime last night when it was blasted off.   

There had to have been four inches of standing water in some of the lower spots in the back yard.  Apparently that is what happens after 12 hours of having a mini version of Old Faithful in your very own yard. 

I should have taken pictures but I was too scattered to think of it at the time.  You’ll just have to take me for my word.  All this has taught me is that my love/hate relationship with irrigation is destined to continue for the rest of my gardening life.  

What a Scrumper!

I drove home on my lunch break today and saw something that amazed me. It’s important to note that it was my lunch hour; 12:00 noon. In other words: it was broad daylight.

A few blocks ahead of me was a pickup truck with a little ladder on the side and a large rubber hose mounted in the back. It was apparent to me that this was a working truck, just passing through the neighborhood.

I watched as this truck drove past a house with two good sized orange trees in the front yard. Then I saw the truck stop, back up, and cough out a driver who wasted no time jogging over to the tree where he proceeded to shake the lower branches.

I watched him shake it and shake it and though I was dismayed by his actions, I was thrilled when none of the oranges fell. Who does he think he is that he can just pull over and steal fruit from someone? As I passed him I slowed down enough that I hoped he would see me give him my most disapproving look and a wag of the finger. It’s not my house, it’s not my tree, and it doesn’t hurt me any but come on! My neighborhood is not perfect, but we can’t allow people to go about scrumping our fruit. This is where I draw the line!

Of course, I can’t think thoughts like these and put them to paper without simultaneously thinking that I am becoming a grumpy codger who should be embarrassed for his lack of "damn the man" attitude and general live-and-let-liveness.

So, to justify my feelings, I decided to find out if this is one of those things that’s just my problem and something I need to forget about, or do others feel the same way I do? Tangent Alert: this is the same thinking process I went through when the new neighbors started parking in front of my house. Turns out THAT is a hot button topic, but I'm proud to say that I have been dealing with that annoyance much better lately.

I wish I could say that the first place I thought to look for guidance was the bible. But it wasn’t. Come on now, folks! Google knows all! But Google led me to the bible anyway. In the 23rd chapter of Deuteronomy, a book written about 2500 years ago, it actually deals with this very issue. (So much for being a timely, modern blog post!) The last two verses of the chapter say "When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you can eat all of the grapes you want. But don't put any of them in your basket. When you enter your neighbor's field, you can pick heads of grain. But don't cut down his standing grain.”

It’s the food world’s version of turning the other cheek so long as they don’t go about beating you senseless. Many of the people I found online ultimately come to a similar conclusion. There's a right way and a wrong way to "steal" fruit.

Still, doesn’t taking fruit without asking first feel like stealing and isn’t there something else in the bible about not doing that? Without getting too deep into a discussion on the biblical idea of being a "neighbor", doesn’t it seem like there is a difference between some random guy stopping his truck and taking your oranges and the neighbor kid two doors down who picks up an orange that has fallen to the ground?

I've distilled what I believe are some of the points that right-thinking people can agree upon:
1. If a tree hangs over public property, such as a sidewalk, fruit in easy reaching distance is fair game.
2. If the fruit has fallen to the ground, it is fair game.
3. If a person walks onto your private property, climbs a fence, or damages your tree in any way, that is just wrong.
4. If a person takes more than a few fruits, that is just greed and not the good kind that Gordon Gecko talks about.
5. It's perfectly acceptable to booby trap your tree with fake hornet's nests, motion-detector water guns, and barbed wire.

Of course, the way the world works these days, you're probably asking for a lawsuit if the would-be thief injures himself on your property. Maybe it's best to keep your fruit trees planted in the backyard or keep your harvest expectations low.

New Views

It was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday. I was going to do some yard work in the morning and then settle in with the wife and child and watch the first weekend of playoff football. And then I heard it. A chainsaw.

To me, a chainsaw in someone else's hands is like watching a child lean over the railing at the Grand Canyon. You want to believe that they know what they are doing but deep down (ok, not that deep down), you are panicked that they don't possess the same common sense that the rest of us do and at any moment they might do something senseless and life-altering.

It's not really a safety issue with the chainsaw though. Heck, I've had a couple close calls myself. What scares me is what the person wants to do with that chainsaw. That's where the senseless and life-altering bit comes into play.

And this weekend my worst fears came true. The guy behind me decided to cut down a perfectly beautiful tree that had, until Saturday, given me something green to look at all year long.

At first I thought he was just cutting off a few branches . . . you know, maybe he just wanted to do some cosmetic limbing up. I guessed that would be okay. But a few minutes later, while the Seahawks were on their way to an unpredictable victory over the favored Saints - a feat that I should have been ecstatic about - all I could do was stare out the window with a tense jaw and a helpless rage as I watched the top of the tree start to angle and then fall, taking with it my happy Saturday.

Now I'm left with the view in this picture which I do not find particularly beautiful. Truthfully, I hate this view now but I'm trying desperately not to overreact. Although I had no intention of doing something different in the flower bed here, this problem has kick-started my creative juices. I'm thinking of moving the weeping cherry tree planted here and replacing it with something faster growing and evergreen. Or maybe I'll choose a tall Japanese maple with striking winter interest? My neighbor apparently hates perfectly good trees (and perhaps he hates me as well) but I don't. So this weekend I have a date with the nursery.