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sbwertz

Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,649
Location
Phoenix, AZ
We are still having weather in the high 70s/low 80s this week. Yardwork weather. It is time to cut back the roses and the red Mexican birds of paradise. We cut them back to about 2' tall every winter and they grow back to 8' tall and 10' wide every summer!

I run them through our little SunJoe electric chipper and use them to mulch the roses. By the way, if you are in the market for a little electric chipper, I can certainly recommend the SunJoe.

https://www.amazon.com/Joe-CJ601E-Electric-Chipper-Shredder/dp/B007VX11O8

It is a little over a hundred dollars and is a little workhorse. We've used it every year for five years to chip the Mexican birds, as well as the trimmings from our roses and two big elm trees to keep them above head-height in the back yard. We have yet to even sharpen the teeth. We used to have a BIG gas powered chipper/shredder, but got to where we couldn't pull the recoil starter to fire it up. Bursitis.

The SunJoe is limited to 1.5" diameter branches, but anything bigger than that I am going to turn!

I actually got overheated on Wednesday when I was working out in the sun. It was only about 85 degrees, but it was HOT in the direct sun. During the summer I get acclimated to the heat, but in the winter I can let it sneak up on me.

I also sprayed pre-emergent on our 1/3 acre granite yard, using the little 1.3 gallon battery operated Flo-Master sprayer. That is another little workhorse...about 30 dollars from Home Depot or Amazon, and runs on four D cells. I've been using it for three years on two sets of batteries. I ran three gallons through it in two days on the same batteries I used last year.

Don't you love it when things actually work the way they are supposed to!

We made a beautiful peppermill at the Blind center from Orchid Tree wood. It looks like it is spalted, but it is just the way the grain grows in it. Beautiful wood. Unfortunately, she got away with it before I got a picture.

Another turner made a matching pen and pen/business card stand out of carob that was really pretty. Boy that carob is hard wood....not as hard as desert ironwood, but really hard!
 

magpens

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
15,913
Location
Canada
Thanks for posting, Sharon. Nice to hear of your activities of all kinds.

I used to enjoy doing business trips to Phoenix in the winter and enjoyed the sun, but now that I am retired it is rain, rain, rain here on the wet coast of B.C.
 
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