To everybody else, the sky is blue.
Local Columns
There are a couple of pleasures that I enjoy in my life. Family and friends are, of course, No. 1. But there’s a certain mystique for me of old towns and history, fast cars and golf. Fast cars beckon to my youth. Golf is thankfully covered with these columns. Old towns and their stories intrigue me.
Question: We have an all-in-one almond tree with the shells just now starting to break through the skins. I was told that September is when the nuts are harvested. I’m wondering if you have a rule of thumb on harvesting these trees.
It’s been how many years since you started doing this?
This isn’t your everyday love story. It’s about a lady who loved to dance, loved to perform on the stage, loved her husband for almost six decades and just plain loved life. On July 7, Miriam Shientag celebrated her 95th birthday on stage at the Suncoast’s “Hit Parade,” dancing in front of 504 people.
Along the eastern rim of Utah’s Paunsaugunt Plateau lies Bryce Canyon National Park, a visual feast for the eyes. Standing along the park’s rim, visitors are treated to a multicolored landscape of natural spires, pinnacles and pillars called hoodoos. They got their name because their upright shape, with a little imagination, suggests humanoid or even supernatural beings.
All summer long, you’ve managed to avoid anything that even remotely resembles school. You get enough of it from now until spring, so why add to the misery, right? And yeah, you’ve been reading all summer long, but that doesn’t count because reading is fun.
Question: We are new to raising pomegranates. We have been watering them and have cut off most of the suckers but need to know when they should be ready to be picked.
Although it turned out the collection box was taken by the U.S. Postal Service for routine maintenance, word spread like wildfire around Sun City Summerlin that somebody “stole” one of the drive-up, mail collection boxes bolted to the ground at the four community centers.
The other day, while you were playing outside, you found something small on the ground. It wasn’t much, just a penny.
If a visit to the Grand Canyon National Park is on your summer schedule, I recommend heading to the canyon’s North Rim rather than the better-known and thus more crowded South Rim. The North Rim affords classic views just as stunning as those visible from the South Rim but you get to enjoy them in cooler weather. Summer daytime high temperatures on the North Rim average in the 70s. And nighttime lows drop to the 40s, making good sleeping weather for campers.
Question: I have a roselle hibiscus plant. I’m trying to make the Mexican agua de jamaica. It has grown well and has many flowers, but I am afraid I will lose it if I don’t harvest and dry it correctly. When do I harvest it, and how do I dry it?
Cochineal scale is that white, fuzzy stuff on some cactuses. The scale insect itself is beneath the fuzzy stuff, where it lies protected and can feed on plant juices.