Time to Stop Mowing the Lawn

Twenty-eight years ago, when we bought our first house in Arizona, I jumped on a chance to buy a used McLane reel lawnmower with an electric motor. It has served use well all these years, but it does require that someone guide it which makes one more thing on our list when we're gone for our summer travels. While our friends at Glory Farm were installing a sprinkler system for their yard, I was cutting and capping the line to our lawn sprinklers.

We did a bunch of research, leveraging direct experience and a friend in the business before deciding to install artificial turf using a new 'cool touch' technology.

The crew to remove the old turf were "headed our way today." Eventually, on the fourth 'today' the sod crew arrived and made quick work of removal.

The old turf was folded up and hauled out to their truck.

I was really impressed. As always, having the right tool makes the job much easier. The heavy knife behind the roller vibrates rapidly and easily cuts the turf into strips. It also cuts the heads off of sprinklers that might be in the way.

It took longer to clean up the edges than it did to remove the bulk of the turf.

I couldn't resist a picture of one of their shovels. No, it's not stuck in the dirt. They just get their money's worth out of their equipment!

Less than 90 minutes after their arrival, the crew of four, and the old grass was gone.

The next morning two other guys showed up. They stacked up bags of "stuff," hauled in some fine sand, and got to work doing some final leveling.

It took at least twice as long to do the prep and compaction of the base as it did to cut out and remove the old sod.

The new turf was laid out and nailed in place before the edges were trimmed.

At last the mysterious bags went into the spreader and were thickly spread over the turf. After applying the first material, it was power swept into the turf and then the second material was spread and swept into the turf. The first layer was an anti-urine material because of the dog, while the second material was crushed copper slag which makes the turf stand up.

I suppose I should have taken the lawn mower pictures on the old sod, but... Some time soon I should put together a Craigs List ad to find this one a new home. It's served us very well.

Running Out of Time

Triple digits are still threatening (the 99 we got doesn't count!) which means that sane desert wandering is nearing an end for the summer. Even now, an early morning start is always a wise decision.

A couple weeks ago, I went wandering, looking for places for a series of five caches. There was an are on the map that had a number of washes but looked a bit barren of trails. It was time to explore.

Turns out, there were some obvious trails and some interesting saguaro. The brittle bush were blooming and an occasional hedgehog, but the grass and other flowers was already brown.

As I wandered the trails, I discovered other, fainter trails that led to interesting places

and interesting rocks - all of which could serve as clues to where this latest series of caches were placed.

Now & then a saguaro would stand tall and get my attention

but this area was different than some of the others. Boulders large and small provided structure for the hills while the palo verde trees and other plants struggled for a foothold.

All in all, I found five spots I liked, all with interesting views that required some effort to attain. We'll see how many are willing to make sense of the directions and try to locate these before the summer heat hits for real.

Old Roads

The weather people are threatening triple digits which shouldn't come as a surprise but first they called up a day that was cool and threatening rain. Just right for a short road trip.

We drove out past Canyon Lake,

including a stop to check out water levels and water conditions. The water was way too green right now to be conducive to what I was thinking about so we kept going past the marina, past the now closed for the season campground, and past the store and saloon at Tortilla Flats.

Our goal for the day was to check out a mile long section of the original Apache Trail road, used for wagon and truck traffic when the Roosevelt Dam was built.

Most of the flowers had dried and blown away but the brittle bush still had color

and the ocotillo and other types of cactus were blooming or at least starting to create buds.

We drove about 1/2 mile but started getting concerned about the high dry grass in the center of the road, not wanting to park the truck where the muffler might be touching the dry grass. When we found a safe spot, we parked and walked the last 1/2 mile, only to find a clear small turnaround at the end of the road. No worries, the walk gave us a chance to observe the old road route on the other side of the wash.

At one time there had been a bridge across the wash, but now the drivable portion of the road ends at one of the bridge abutments while the geocache we were seeking was on the other side.

The cache was neat & clean, but the best part was that it was an excuse for us to see some history we'd driven past many times.

Our timing was right. We got back to the marina at Canyon Lake in time to have lunch and watch the Dolly depart on its half of a three hour cruise.