The female of the species isn’t exactly cardinal red like the male (inset), but she is a very pretty bird in her own right. Click on the image to enlarge.
March 2011
Landscape Panorama
I went out this morning to take the dogs for a walk. I took a couple of images while I was across the road and later stitched them into this panoramic image. Click to see the full-sized panorama.
When you enlarge the image, you can see a bit of the new courtyard gate in the archway.
A Bag of Worms
We have a compost bin at the California house and we want to try to compost in Arizona as well. In California, when you set up a compost heap, the worms find it since they’re already in the soil there. Not so much in Arizona, though, so you need to supply the worms to the new bin.
Image: 250 worms just after they were introduced to the compost bin (inset). Click to enlarge.
Last week we set up a compost bin that we purchased at Lowe’s. We assembled the bin and put it on the west side of the house next to where we keep our trash bin. On further review, however, putting the bin where it can get direct sunlight is a bad idea since the worms can’t take extreme heat.
This morning, we moved the bin to the north side of the garage where sunlight is seldom seen. We put three bags of topsoil and added some kitchen scraps in the bin and wet it down. That’s where the worms come in – today we received our shipment of 250 red worms from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. I ordered them last week on-line, and today the post office delivered them. Literally, a bag of worms.
The worms were in a cotton bag packed in dry peat which keeps them protected from heat and cold. The instructions said to introduce the worms to the bin as soon as possible and cover with some wet newspaper. They will dig their way into the earth within 24-48 hours and start doing their thing consuming decomposed scraps and such.
By next spring, we will hopefully have a nice compost heap from which we can extract nitrogen rich soil for Verna’s desert garden.
Sunset over the Courtyard
When I went outside just at dusk, I saw this very colorful sunset. I took several photos and we both liked this one the best. The courtyard arch and the front of the house silhouette the gorgeous sky. Click on the image to enlarge.
Blog Every Day
We try to write a blog post every day, but some days are too beautiful and warm for us to be inside. So this will have to do for today since we stayed out on the patio until almost dark enjoying the 78° temperature and a couple of cool ones. 😉
Mailbox Project
The Mailbox Project is almost complete. We brought an antique milk can from California and had a hole cut in the bottom to allow a mailbox supporting post to pass through the milk can into the ground. The landscape crew, when they were working here, dug the hole in the ground and poured some concrete to secure the post in place.
We added some finishing touches to the project. First, I got a Stars and Stripes magnetic mailbox wrap to continue the patriotic theme. Second, we bought some brass numerals to put our address (inset) on the post.
We didn’t stain the post because natural aging process will eventually make the wood look rustic which is what we want. The brass numerals will also acquire a patina over time.
