My Yard Care Tips!

I'm not even sure that anyone will read this or for tha matter care, but as I take my initial steps in yard maintenace, I thought I'd share. I take pride in my lawn. I don;t hire a firm to do the work as I really enjoy it. I want the outside of my house to look good. It enhances the home and my neighborhood. As I said, I work at it myself, but it's not a lot of work. I've learned a few things over the years and those practices have worked well for me.

For starters, I fertilize in the fall 3 times ( around 9/15, 10/15 and 11/15) and once in the spring. I tend to go with a light touch on the fertilizer so the 3 times method over 3 months ensures that I get good application without overdoing it and contributing to the runoff problem. What doesn't soak into the ground will runoff into streams and creeks and could have very negative impacts on area waterways.

I also mow high and mulch. (separate from mulching around plants and shrubs, I mean mulching the grass itself) By mowing high, the grass is not only more drought resistant, but it blocks the sunlight from getting down to the ground and that makes it much more difficult for any weed seeds to germinate. Mulching is just easier and better than bagging. The grass clippings break down and the nutrients return to the soil. It's a big waste of time to bag the clippings and it's not environmentally friendly. What a waste of fuel and landfill space to haul grass clippings. I would love to see the government agencies that are in charge of garbage collection refuse to take grass clippings and force all homeowners to mulch. This is an easy way to save some money and live "green" in these lean times.

Lets talk about watering. Many "experts" recommend 1 inch per week. Well, I have to admit that I hardly ever water, especially during the summer. I let the lawn go dormant for July and August. When the weather cools in September, the lawn "wakes up". Last year, we were terribly dry, so I did water, but not until mid September. Once the lawn gave me the signal that it was "waking up", I knew that it was still too dry, so I watered The lawn responded to the watering in September and October and is already growing here in early April and will need to be cut real soon.

Finally, I have to recommend fertilizer spikes and a soaker hose with a timer. The fertilizer spikes make feeding your trees and shrubs easy and they last a couple of months. The soaker hose, I believe, is the single biggest reason that my front landscaping looks as good as it does. For my yard(slope and soil type), I found that 1 hour of watering every 3 days is just right. Less than that and too dry, more than that, too wet. It took a little trial and error, but once you get it down, it's that easy.

Happy gardening!!

Green Driving

I recently took a long trip from MD to Alabama and then back with a stop in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. (The ride on I-40 across the NC border to Asheville is gorgeous. I also will be trying the I-26 route from TN to Asheville in the next year as I hear that it is a great ride also.)

I pulled and changed the plugs on my 2002 ODY at 89,209 and I also made sure the tires were over inflated to 39 PSI. The plug removal went pretty well, the plugs came out with just a tiny bit of nudging and I used anti-seize and di-electric on installation of the new ones. Driving around 80 on the way down, I got about 22 MPG, but I then tried a slower speed on the way back.

From Knoxville to Asheville, I got 28.0 mpg as I set the cruise around 70. RPM was between 1900 and 2000. I believe that this RPM is the "sweet spot" for this engine. I suppose if I had it hooked up to a fancy diagnostic computer that I could fine an exact spot, but this worked well. Wondering if this was a fluke, I tried it again. From the spot where I-77 comes into I-81 to Winchester, VA, again driving around 70, I calculated 27.77 mpg. At this point I was around 91,000 miles on the engine. These 2 stretches are the highest MPG I have ever observed and pretty damn good if you ask me!

I also have slowed my 2005 Civic LX down below 60 (it's my commuter car) even though everyone passes me, and a combination of highway and local driving, 2/3 highway, and I got 36+ mpg.

Beside from making sure that your car is in good mechanical condition, slowing down and not accelerating like a rabbit from a dead stop, seems to be the single biggest thing you can do to save fuel.

A Few Pictures

Monday evening I was at a nice event at Bren Mar Park elementary school in Springfield by Landmark Mall. The event, called "Litter to Glitter" was sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 678.

The emphasis for the children was on recycling and to raise awareness about trash and how we can reduce our waste. One of the Scout Masters, Bill Wilson, is in the picture with me. I'm sitting in a Go-Kart made from recycled materials including the wheels from a Baby Carriage.

I was one of four judges and the kids were very creative in their use of materials.

Wednesday morning I was in Crystal City at the staging area for the Crystal Flight. It's a Celebration of Art & Air and 50 decorated planes will hit the streets of Crystal City next week.

In the picture with me are 3/4 of the members of the Crystal City Business Improvement District. They do many functions in order to attract visitors to Crystal City and help local businesses. I have a story and video blog at wusa9.com about the event.

Back in Birmingham

Hello from Alabama. I am once again in the deep South visiting my mom and sister. Don't call it a vacation though. When I visit with relatives, I refer to it as a "Family Maintenace Tour" (FMT). While we grew up on Long Island, my sister moved here when her husband took a job after finishing medical school at Stony Brook. Mom moved here in early 2002 after Dad died.

With Helaine's family still on Long Island and my mom and sister in Birmingham, most of our time away seems to be the FMTs. We try throwing in some "fun" things so the trips seem more like family vacations. We'll head up to Huntsville tomorrow to go to the US Space and Rocket Center. Philip has had an interest in space and rockets since he was a toddler. This is a neat place and they have lots of activities. Father and son will be coming back in August for 3 days of "Space Camp". We're also going to stop for night in the mountains of North Carolina and visit some friends who are renting a house for the week.

I just finished reading my friend Mike Walter's blog entry about his mom. Mike is a great storyteller, even when it's a tough story to tell. Mike writes about his mom and his family and the monumental changes that a passing life bring.

I am inspired by him as I sit in the home with my Mom and the other elderly residents. This is a home for Alzheimer and dementia patients. Some of the residents are in the beginning phases and are quite capable of taking care of themselves and carrying on conversations. Others need almost full time attention. It is a humbling place on many levels. I find these visits bittersweet. I cherish the time I spend with my Mom, but I ache for the time when she was a much more vibrant person. She can't see(Macular Degeneration), and she can barely put a few words together. I do most of the talking and I help her eat during meal time. I've come down to Alabama a few times by myself, but this time, Philip was with me and he was helping his grandma eat. My soon to be 8 year old can frustrate me and try my patience, but he was a real prince with his grandma and I think it was a valuable experience that he had. I was very proud of him and even it wasn't Rockets, but I think it was pretty huge.

Philip was also talking with some of the residents. They seem to get a big kick in seeing a little boy. It's a big departure from the norm. I also talk and help whomever I can. If you have half a heart, it's impossible to sit there, feeding your own Mom, while others are waiting for a resident assistant to come over. So until they do, I try and pick up some slack.

Like my own Mom, everybody has a story of their life. There is 1 woman though, who is from Baltimore originally, Isabella Rich. She must be in her mid 80s now and is a sweet lady. She shares the room with my Mom and there is a newspaper or magazine clipping on the wall. I've read it a couple of times so I'll do my best to remember, but in 1942 she walked in to the Army recruiting office in Baltimore to enlist. The army guys told her to go away, they're not taking any "colored women". She came back the next day and was told the same thing. But this time, when the Army guy said "Next", the next guy in line said, not until you're done with her. Other people on line joined in and Isabella Rich became one of the first, if not the first members of The Women's Army Corps. Today, she lives in relative obscurity for the remainder of her days in this home in Alabama.

I have met other residents, mainly women there, who all have rich histories. They're not what they once were, but I honor and respect all of them, because of those rich histories and the lives They lived before I met them. It might only be a FMT and not a "real vacation", but we're building memories that will last a lifetime. Here's to you Rose Bernstein and also to Mike's mom Mary Jo Walter.

Money Saving Invitation Idea

My son's birthday is coming up in early May, so we are at the planning process. I won't get into all of the details, but Helaine and I were discussing invitations. Actually, she was doing most of the research and I was the sounding board.

Invitations can be costly. The cheap ones were 50 cents each (blanks), and others cost more than 1 dollar a piece. This party is going to cost me enough without shelling out some real money for invitations.

My mother-in-law has this software that makes greeting cards and then she prints them. She enjoys making them and Philip really likes getting the very customized cards. I thought about going that route, when I had a vision.

Why not use some photo editing software that I already have and make a picture size (4x6) invitation? All I have to do is find a picture of my son that we like, easy enough to do, and then add the appropriate text. Once I'm done, I then put the image on a memory stick and head off to Costco. They charge 15 cents a print. Now we're talking I price I can live with.

Helaine loved the idea and was very happy with the final product. Philip thought it was really cool and I was just happy that I was able to please everybody and it didn't cost me that much at all.

( I removed some of the info off the photo, but you get the idea....)

That's 1 Big Bird

I have a fun job. There are times I get to do things that I think the average person doesn't get to do. Earlier in the week, the good people from Busch Gardens were on a media tour to promote the parks opening for the season on March 21st.

Rob Yordi, one of the conservationists showed up with a bunch of different animals that we talked about. The interview will air Sunday morning March 16 during 9 NEWS NOW at 8 AM.

I had the privilege of holding an iguana, a crocodile (a small one), a boa constrictor, although he was actually holding me and a macaw. The macaw waves and says hello. My mother-in-law is deadly afraid of birds. I sent her this picture with me and the macaw and she couldn't believe that it was real. Well., it was real and it was fun.

More Signs of Spring

Even though we have temperatures in the 20s this Sunday morning, I keep running into more and more signs of Spring. Last week, I saw the first advertisement for fertilizer in the big LOWES ad supplement. We also had a visitor in studio who reminded me that the season is near. Rob Yordi, with Busch Gardens, was in town with a bunch of animals to remind us of all of the conservation work that Busch Gardens does, and to also remind us that they open their doors on March 21st.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Rob as he brought out several different animals. There was the iguana, the alligator, the macaw, the armadillo, a huge rabbit and a boa constrictor. I held several of the animals myself. I feel very lucky at the opportunities that I sometimes get. The macaw that was on my arm is a big bird, but he waves and says "hello", so I was pretty fascinated. The boa constrictor had a firm grip of my arm, but wasn't squeezing to hurt me, just to hold on.


We were also reminded on Saturday afternoon of the impending seasonal change with the severe weather that hit the area. Winds as high as 68 mph, hail as large as 1" in diameter and numerous reports of wind damage are all signs of spring. Also, tree pollen has been in the high range this past week. Not fun for allergy sufferers.

Personally, I prefer the beauty of the flowers and the pleasantly warm days that Spring brings over the severe weather. One more reminder of Spring, The Cherry Blossoms are likely to be in peak bloom the final week of March into the first few days of April. That was announced this week at a pres conference that featured Robert Defeo of the National Park Service. Rob has been the chief horticulturist and main cherry blossom forecaster for years and every year he makes a fairly accurate prediction.