Hey! I'm back.

I'd like to thank Barefoot for all the good suggestions and the rest for all of the best wishes.

I still can't believe how much got done in the last several days. To shorten a rather long, and at times painful, story, the one relative that I though needed assisted living was put into one of the private hospitals for observation by her son the morning before I arrived. By Tuesday night, several other family members had arrived, and we hired some helpers and tore into both trailers, replacing carpeting, windows, and doing repairs. One amazing thing was how much the neighbors contributed -- tools and even the loan of a pickup truck! The park manager was also quite helpful. She was glad to see both properties getting cleaned up and showed us where we could dump stuff.

I'm still feeling overwhelmed, or maybe it's the fact that I can finally breathe! Barefoot, I don't know how you can stand that humidity. I went through a 12 pack of bottled water in two days and then just started drinking it by the gallon.

But I think we settled a few family problems. Anyway, it's good to be home!!! I'll have more to contribute when I catch up on some sleep.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

Answers

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-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

Good to hear things are working out for the old gits and that traditional southern hospitality is not yet dead.

The humidity and water--absolutely. When the Hungarian and I go shopping, we each have a small cooler with water in hers and club soda in mine. If we take longer than we anticipate, we stop at our favorite diner and talk 'em out of iced water to go. And we're not as hot or humid as Tampa. At least, not usually.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

Glad you are back safe and sound!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Glad to hear it was a safe and productive trip.

And to answer your question, "A/C"

LOL

I hate getting into a hot car, which is why I am so set on having a garage. Right now we have only a one car carport. I have to put mine in it when I wake up, sometimes I forget, and it gets hot sitting in the sun all morning.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Barefoot: one word from me -- CARDBOARD! I went to Wal-Mart first thing and purchased a $1 windshield cover (didn't want to take time to find cardboard and cut one out). Up here in Ohio they make some difference in August, but they made an amazing difference in your state: I noticed that the morning that I forgot to put it on. Ouch! I have no idea why more residents don't use them or why everyone kept coming up to me and saying, "Wow, that's a good idea. Where did you get that cover?"

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Yup. Sweetie uses one of those foil windshield covers all the time, very effective. One thing about having a handicapped tag, we can often park in the shade from the building or a tree!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

OG, that assumes that there are trees in the parking lots. I noticed the last time I was in the Triangle area that your builders were better about leaving the full-sized trees up around the buildings and in the lots. Around here, the owners might plant some flowering crab apples in the middle of the lot, and in Tampa, long stretches of asphalt were common, with maybe a cement barrel or two of some flowering vine (with plenty of cigarette butts added) up near the entrance.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Yep, you're right, we put trees in our parking lots. City ordinances require it and I think Raleigh has stricter requirements than Durham. When Sweetie came back from the vast concrete expanses of Houston, he reminded me that one of the features that attracted us to this area was the number of trees. Carlos also commented on the wealth of our greenery. One begins to take it for granted, so thanks for another reminder. (We're fast losing woods and farms to subdivisions, though.)

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

We have greenery laws now in connection with parking lots, but as you say, the trees they plant can more likened to shrubs in tubs. the trees don't like the heat from the asphalt either.

I have a window screen. I actually have two, one for the front and one for the back, but it still gets hot sitting in the sun. The only tree we had out front was removed due to bugs eating away at it, and the fact that it was 10" from the house. Now all we have are areca palms. Old, but not very tall.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Barefoot, on my way back from supply runs, I tried to always take a few extra minutes to drive through residential areas. One neighborhood had homes that I think looked like yours: I was imagining your layouts and now that you've described the drive, I can imagine it.

I was most impressed with the homeowners who were able to work with xeroscaping (landscapes requiring only small amounts of water) concepts in artistic, yet low maintenance designs. One homeowner went so far as to totally use different colored rocks (no grass or ivy), with a few shrubs in containers. I wouldn't have been comfortable going that far because I like trees, but I'm sure the entire property was easily maintained with just a rake, clippers, and probably less than a half-hour of puttering a week.

The trailer park my relatives were in was one of the older ones that had the wide-blade grass and tall palms. I was told there were once more Australlian pines growing there, but since they don't send down a tap root in FL, they tend to fall over when they get over ten feet tall or so. There were also a number of thick, woody, mostly-dead bushes, that I did my level-best to cut back before I finally rented a chain saw and took several of them completely out. Then I got one of the helpers to dig holes for me and planted evergreens in their place. There wasn't enough privacy around the porch without some type of shrub.

I imagine your house as a light, happy place to be, and I'm sure it's a lot nicer to be working outside in October!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

October is nice, yes.

I finally got around to mowing the back yard today. Been pondering it for some time now. LOL

Also got the pond water changed, but don't tell anyone cuz we weren't supposed to do it without a shut off on the end of the hose. it takes longer with the shut off there...

Australian Pines are a pain. They have a horrible root system, much like the ficus in that they do not go deep, and hence fall over as you said. they tend to clog the canals, which slows down the drainage after a good rain.

I hope the evergreens you planted won't require any regular trimming. In Florida the evergreens tend to grow faster and larger. crotons would be best, or a native evergreen type, like silver buttonwood or something.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Yes, I was warned about cypress. I got this stuff that looked like Arborvitae. Several people told me it was a slow grower. In any case, it was on sale, and since I contributed the greenery, I wasn't up for the $75.00 Buttonwoods or whatever those nice shrubs are called. There were also some wonderful Chinese maples, but at $100.00 a pot, they remained outside of the budget. If I'd had more time, I would've looked further for a discount nursery (Lowe's, et al. had terrible looking plants -- end of season, I guess). I did okay. Several of the neighbors contributed some annuals, which I potted up in two whiskey barrels for the front of each trailer. The outsides of both properties looked 100 times better when I left, and the inside work will be finished by the middle of next week if all goes okay.

Had either trailer been mine, I would've sunk about $100.00 into hanging plants and some sort of soaker system. The array of annuals was just staggering! I saw wonderful potted plants that just love that hot, humid stuff. Mmmmmm. And I thought that my waxed begonias were sooooo showy.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Yup! My begonias have done amazingly well in the mostly wet summer we're having. And you should see the pansies in the wintertime here, potted or not!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

OG, don't worry, I'll be down as soon as I can travel for fun, again. It would take a major climate change for me to retire in either FL or AZ, but I certainly admire the huge flowers that can be produced in those states. We just don't have a long enough (or hot enough) growing season for those jungle blooms.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001