We also loved the Tucson area when we used to travel in the
Southwest. In those
years we were tentatively looking for a retirement place, but by the time
Chet retired
the first time, I was deeply involved in both local and state Garden Club
business -
at one point, treasurer for the state organization. He developed a
second career,
and then things got more complicated. At some point we realized we
never could
bring ourselves to leave this place. In recent years Chet has become
unable to
walk much, so we haven't taken the trips we used to do.
My gardening has become pretty poor The front bed till looks pretty
good, but
the ones in the back have pretty-much been lost. I will have beans in
the vegetable
garden next week, but that's about all - maybe four or five tomatoes.
Many things
this year have just not come up, or if they did, have died off
quickly. Not a good
gardening year, but at my age, I guess I'm thankful for what I can
do. What doesn't
get done, just won't matter that much.
Auralie
In a message dated 8/16/2014 8:25:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
1f73664e1@rewrite.hort.net writes:
Check
out the Tucson area. My son in law is assigned there with the AF, and I have
really enjoyed my visits. Not anywhere near as congested as Phoenix, and has a
"small town" feel, even though it isn't that small. Is still desert, and home
to Sahuaro National Park. There are mountains around the city, especially
north, with conifer forest and cooler temperatures. We will probably end up in
the western St Louis suburbs when our energy runs out trying to maintain 2.5
acres!
Cathy, west central IL, z5b
On Aug 15, 2014, at 5:50 PM, Cyndi Johnson wrote:
Nice to see some activity on the list. I
actually replied to a couple of the messages, but apparently my work email
address is not getting through. Half the other lists I belong to dumped me
because of Yahoo, now Iâm trying Gmail. Weâll see how that
goes.
Anyway here in the high desert we continue in
drought. We are watering just enough to keep the front
yard plantings alive, but it looks pretty poor. Itâs kinda discouraging and
Iâm avoiding looking at it, which I know I'm going to regret. Actually Iâm
hoping for some sort of epiphany about what to do with it as it clearly
needs to be redone for drier conditions. The two giant
sycamores are somewhat limiting the options, and then when I think about
digging up thousands of daffodil bulbs I get all sad and stop thinking
about it. Although lack of water may solve that problem
for me.
My vegetable garden is also not so great. I
planted less than half of what I normally do to cut back on water. Between
diseases, drought, record high temperatures at the wrong time, and the
critters all I have left is one bed of pepper plants. In a normal year I'd
be spending every weekend putting up food...oh well. I did get a few
jars of canned tomatoes, a few packages of frozen green beans, and I canned
some zucchini soup. But there are potatoes and onions in
the spare fridge, those came out okay. And youâd think with nothing to
harvest I would spend more time on the front but no, Iâm just riding my
horse more often.
DH and I are now doing serious retirement
planning. If all goes well, he retires next January and I go out some months
later. We decided weâd rather not stay here â I hate the continuous wind and
he just doesnât like the area. We took a few scouting
trips and are giving a lot of thought to Phoenix Arizona.
My inner gardener is astonished - one of the places we looked at was
Medford OR, so green and lush - but I guess Iâve just been in the desert too
long. Looking at the Sonoran desert makes me happier than the forests of
Oregon. Who knew? Of course they are in drought too, and most horse
properties we looked at get their water from wellsâitâs a
risk.
Tomorrow we'll go to the local fair. It's
been a few years since I entered any canned goods or vegetables. I
wonder what the entries will look like this year, hopefully not everyone had
as bad a year as I did in the garden. Entries in the home arts and
agriculture have been dropping steadily for a while now as the emphasis
shifts towards concerts, rides and cheap vendor booths.
However our "Rural Olympics" event is still a big draw. Wish we could be
there for it next week, I suspect several people I know have entered the
Women's Horse Trailer Backing competition.
Cyndi
