A record of our lives' new book and chapter
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Autumn around Colorado Springs |
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August 1, 2006 - The vegetable garden is nearing harvest with a few summer squash and the first peas and beans enlargening. A second blush of lettuce sprouted after the heavy early July rains (about 3-1/2" in the first week or so). About once a week I remove at least 5 pounds of purslane, grasses, and other weeds from around the desired vegetable plants. The rains also helped the grasses in the backyard grow in the areas I had previously designated. A network of paths has been drawn out around the backyard. (And while watching the PBS presentation of "A Capitol Fourth" from Washington, D.C. on Independence Day, I was able to look out the window at THE PURPLE MOUNTAIN whose majesty was being sung about in "America The Beautiful.") The Amur maple was declining trunk by trunk until within less than a week's time in June it quickly died. Near the month's end I was gifted by the Pikes Peak Bonsai Club (specifically Bill Fox and Pete Apostolas) a wide-V multi-trunked Engelmann Spruce which they dug approx. June 7. I removed about half the top a couple days later to define and remove some leggy growth. At least 5 types of lichens are on the bark -- something you cannot fake. I also made a indoor composition with two weeping fig groves. Elizabeth went to camp and also on the Pioneer Trek. School will be restarting soon. Shirley did a wonderful job re-painting most of the interior of the house. No longer a pale white with yellowish tinge, the rooms are brightened up with a slight range of colors and the closets no longer smell of smoke. We've added a few hanging houseplants. And, let's see, oh, yes, I finally got a full-time job on June 12: Food & beverage inventory control clerk at the 5-star Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs. May 31, 2006 - At the beginning of the month the annual city-wide trash pick-up took away (finally) 14 large bundles of branches and prunings from our yard. (We have a better appreciation of what peasants gathering firewood do: putting sticks with random angles into a neat bundle is not as easy as it seems...) On May 10 we awoke to find snow on the ground -- but not on the driveways, sidewalks, or streets. By mid-morning the snow was essentially gone, but it was a nice birthday present for Shirley. Pike's Peak was mostly white for one more day. By mid-month the large elms had finished dropping their thousands of small round and flat seedcoats (almost like pale papery versions of those round band-aids); the lilacs were almost done blooming (the mostly purple flowers peeking through that snow was interesting); the bushes called "snowballs" (Viburnum?) were in bloom; yuccas (perhaps 18-24" high) in undeveloped areas here on the edge of the Great Plains started blooming; and our frontyard honey locust tree's feathery foliage turned light green from yellowish-green amid a flurry of catkins which have been coloring the lawn and driveway with thick pea-green particles. At least half of the afternoons and evenings turn breezy. Yes, we have more clouds and less colorful sunsets than Arizona -- our western dust is beyond the Rockies -- but the skies are bluer. Not Arizona Highways blue, but definitely not so pale blue as usually above the desert. My little trees are generally doing well. The maple and pine get mostly shade, the dwarf Alberta Spruce a little more morning sun (but it is mostly gone), and the dug-up elms are thriving in full sun from morning to early afternoon. I usually put my large elephant food bonsai out alongside the elms. I'm attempting to root a small Japanese red maple cutting I got at the April Pikes Peak Bonsai Society meeting. My indoor narrow-leaf fig is quite happy and healthy. The two half-barrels out front have wild flower seeds that I planted sprouting at least 1" high. We're waiting for the first sprouts from the vegetable garden -- green beans, peas, summer squash, carrots and Romaine lettuce -- and the kids help with watering. Oh, yes, and school is out, the kids all did well, and now the cycles of boredom and frustration alternating with happy, peaceful play-together have begun. April 18, 2006 - Spring is here. Assorted fruit trees are in bloom with masses of pink, red or white flowers; the fewer forsythias are past their bright yellow blossom prime. Most winter-silhouetted trees now have at least a verdant misted crown. A large number of yellow dandelions are also visible in some lawns. As this is Colorado, we can still expect some late snow for the next month or so. My white pine bonsai put forth its first candles, after having been repotted on Apr. 8. I repotted my Amur maple at the Pikes Peak Bonsai Society meeting that day, bringing the 5 gallon rootball down into a 10" round 3"D drum-nail mica pot, the rootball rising up another 2". Lots of new growth. I've got them partially protected in a TV stand (minus the inner shelf) outside the backdoor, under the slight overhang. Last Saturday I dug up the 2 smaller elms growing in the side yard (about 1" diameter or less) and put them together in a large bowl pot. They are in the shed for at least a week and all the growth is still perky. A lot of wind the last 2 days, especially yesterday. Also, yesterday daughter Raechel finally got her tonsils out, the day after Easter (+candy ++). Chronic infections and inflammations should be a thing of the past now. I've also been working on the vegetable garden out back, adding front lawn and leaf rakings to the spaded soil to make it more pliable. I'm also going to add some sand. Some kitchen waste and dried egg shells have also been worked in. Our window-sill mini-roses currently have three blooms. March 27, 2006 - All the snow from last week is gone. Pikes Peak is almost all white. The first sidewalk weeds are green, including a tiny pink-flowering fillary. The lawns are showing a few more green blades. That neighbor's large front-yard maple tree has partially shed its reddish-brown flower clusters. Some birds can be heard in the morning a-singing in the evergreens or otherwise bare trees. I've been working on a small 9'x12' vegetable garden in the backyard, prepping the soil. Hardly any rocks were dug out compared to Kingman's ground. No layer of caliche as I've dug down about a standard shovel's blade depth. It'll be at least a month before we can plant any seeds. A garden is one of the things we promised the kids we'd do. My two evergreen bonsai have been getting at least an hour of sun each afternoon perhaps 5 days a week. The maple's slowly been putting out leaf buds but I don't want to get them going with sun exposure. I'm planning a small shelf/lean-to arrangement outside the back door for the trees. The narrow-leaf ficus and large elephant food are doing well inside by the dining room window. The small elephant foods are happy on the kitchen window sill, along with a pot of two types of miniature roses we brought with us. Shirley had a half dozen tiny red blooms for Valentine's Day from them. Better success with those roses here than ever in Arizona. All-in-all we've been a little warmer and less snowy than Colorado Springs has been this winter. Jan. 1, 2006 - Clear and cool (in the 30s) this morning. Hardly any ice remains from the 2" snowfall we received about two weeks ago. Christmas was not white, and neither is today. Pikes Peak is about half white/half tan. My two outdoor trees have been in the unheated garage for the last three weeks, mulched and sitting on styrofoam in mulched boxes sitting on top of an old TV stand. I check on them everyday, studying their branch structure. Christmas was better then we thought due to some secret Santas. The kids start back to school next Thursday. Shirley had to work on Christmas Eve & Day and yesterday, but she is off today and taking it easy. The last two weeks I've also been watching a vacationing neighbor's critters. Three times a day water, feed and let out/clean the litter box for 4 cats, 2 dogs and a turtle. Probably because of the warmer weather in the 50s most days, a large maple out front her house has the beginings of reddish-brown clusters of buds. Too early! Dec. 3, 2005 - Woke up this morning to about 4" of snow on the ground. (We'd gotten a little snow twice before but it didn't stick.) Seasons, like in my childhood. It continues to fall throughout the day. The kids had a blast outside, the smaller dog also. The big dog just wants to stay inside if the kids are in. Listening to the various carols while gazing out at the trees and bushes covered in thick white, I'm briefly transported back to images of a younger John Naka in Colorado sketching trees during the winter. My heart is happy. I covered my little white pine and Amur maple with a layer of fluffy snow. Their pots are otherwise covered by a layer of mulch leaves in a narrow space between the garage and shed. Both ends of the space have some form of protective board/windblock. No direct sun during the day. I see the kids are now building a snowman -- ours and a neighbor's who are over to decorate for the holidays. Heavy large flakes now drifting down from the east. Anyway, The Bonsai Coloring Book came in a week before Thanksgiving and the first copies have been sold. Early reviews are very positive. Nov. 1, 2005 - Pikes Peak is probably capped with snow from now on until summer. Thanks to a neighbor getting his tall weeping willow trimmed back, we can now see the Peak from our front window. We've had a few more frosts, including yesterday morning. Last night we helped take our kids with some of the neighbors' around for Halloween. As usual, the children stayed warm longer than the adults did outside. My little Amur maple's leaves are turning dark deep bronze. About 10% of the front honey locust tree's leaves remain on -- they are all yellow-brown. Most of the big maples around the neigherhood have yellow leaves, many have fallen. Due to the genetic variability of the landscaping plants -- as opposed to the leaves of relatively pure genetic stands in the mountains which have turned color together and mostly have fallen by now -- there is much variability in, for instance, the aspens around here. Many have bright yellow leaves, some are near bare, a few still show green closer to the inside of the branches. The Siberian elms are just starting to get a little yellow on their green. And then there are the reddish-purple barberry bushes. The Pikes Peak Bonsai Society's fall show was two weekends ago. We should have pictures from that up on their page by this week's end. Found out yesterday that it'll be about 7 to 10 more days before The Bonsai Coloring Book is printed, now due to an equipment refurbishing at the printer's. Tomorrow I've got an interview with Lowes Home Improvement. (A new store is going up a block away from here. It is supposed to be open by Christmas but we hear there's a concrete shortage. May have something to do with post-hurricane rebuilding they say.) I did an application online yesterday for a customer service position, gardening department, of course. I applied for a couple of other jobs as well. |
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Oct. 12, 2005 - First pre-winter storm on the 10th.
Just above freezing here, so the light flakes didn't stick. In north Colorado Springs
they had up to 4" of snow on the ground. An hour up the road, Denver was hit hard --
with at least a couple feet of snow, power was out for 50,000. The next morning the
mountains seen from our area were lightly dusted and streaked; Pikes Peak was wonderfully
white. Most of the aspens in the area have started turning yellow, very few maples so
far have done so. No change in color of my little Amur maple other than a few leaves
with black tips. Been doing more yard work, putting in more resumes, working on
The Bonsai Coloring Book rollout.
Shirley has started working as a cashier at Walgreens.
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Sept 22, 2005 - I'll be posting perhaps weekly [uh, maybe
monthly] updates at the top of this page. First day of autumn and the light brown
(and, from our vantage, tree-less) 14,115' Pikes Peak has a sprinkling of snow this morning.
[Note: per a 1929 survey, Pikes is 14,110'. Per a 1988 survey using much more
sensitive instrumentation, the height is five feet higher. However, due to the sheer
cost of updating tens of thousands of documents, maps and signs based on the earlier
official survey, the old figure remains for now.] A few of the local aspens have a
very few branches whose leaves have turned yellow. On some walls I've seen what's
called Virginia creeper -- most of those have leaves turning dark red. The leaves on
the honey locust tree in front of our house are maybe 3/4 still green. The cats are
fascinated by these strange creatures we call "squirrels" -- two of them regularly frequent
that front tree and they come near the basement windows at eye-level to the cats. I
attended a meeting of the Pikes Peak Bonsai Society on the 10th. A very small group
of only six in attendance that time. No October meeting in lieu of the show. In
exchange for membership, I am doing the web page for the
club which will be a little more detailed and with a separate calendar as time goes by.
Kids doing well in school; our health is generally good all around; meeting a few more
neighbors; we're still job hunting. Nights are in the low to mid-40s.; days are from
the 60s to the very low 80s. The 3" elm cutting lasted about 3 weeks -- too late in
the season. The portion still in the ground looks very promising for next spring.
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PROLOGUE
My wife Shirley and I decided shortly after we met in Kingman in northwestern Arizona in July 2003 that we needed to move to somewhere else. We considered St. George, UT (but too similar climate-wise to Kingman); Idaho Falls or Boise, ID (where Shirley is from); and finally Fountain, CO, just to the southeast of Colorado Springs. (Fountain, first settled 1859, incorporated 1903, 5546' elevation, year 2000 pop. = 15,197 in 14 sq. miles. Colorado Springs, est. 1871, incorp. 1872, 6008' elevation, year 2000 pop. = 360,890 in 186 sq. miles.) In January, 2005 we had tentatively settled on Fountain, getting a subscription to the weekly El Paso county paper, and visiting the area in late March. I put together a little 34-page history of our new home state-to-be. When we finally left Arizona in a packed caravan on June 29, I'd had 34 years in the state -- coincidentally, to the very date -- and Shirley had by then put in 8 years and 2-1/2 months in Kingman (to my 3 yrs, 3 mo). Triple-digit temperatures again and way too much desert dust sealed the bargain, which had begun with less-than-healthy previous relationships for each of us in this area. The kids, of course, were initially mixed on the move -- no friends or family there, how are we going to make new friends?, this is where we've "always" lived so why do we have to move? -- but they warmed up when the extended packing neared its finish. (We didn't get a chance to say goodbye to everyone we wanted to...) One of the benefits, I suppose, especially of long-distance moving with limited resources is having to go through all of one's stuff and deciding what to keep and what to leave or trash. Shirley and I had both moved a bit locally but stuff still accumulates. This included most of my small collection of bonsai which had actually survived here -- a number of good homes were found, thankfully. We were going from Sunset zone 10 to zone 2A/2B (USDA zone 8a to zone 5a/5b), outdoor growing area was limited initially both space and time-wise, and indoor ideal window space would be limited. Besides, 2 dogs, 4 cats, 1 cockatiel, 1 hamster, and 4 salt-water fish + invertebrates also needed a little attention... |
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THE MOVE
The move was a job, not just an adventure. We were on the freeway at Beale St. and I-40 by 9:30 a.m. I generally was first in line with a stick-shift 26' U-Haul truck (with medium-sized dog Simba on the front seat along with a 20-gallon tote holding some 30# of live rock for the salt tank, and the fish in two buckets on the floor, absolutely packed in the back so that some large and small less-personal items had to be left behind); followed closely by daughter Angie driving her car (with daughter Elizabeth, small dog Mojo, cockatiel Daisy, and hamster Peanut); followed by Shirley in the van (with the three other kids, and four cats in individual pet carriers). We stayed Wednesday night at a KAO campground in Santa Fe, NM, after a late rush hour separation in Albuquerque. I lost 3 of the fish en route -- 2 apparently were accidentally poison-gassed when the battery-powered air pump for them fell in some water in the bottom of the bucket that held their plastic bags, and then the third died overnight. That one hadn't been in the best of health, but I risked giving them all a better life than they might have had with someone who would have to put the somewhat aged fish in quarantine for a while... Then the day after we got here our youngest cat died -- the one who the Sunday before the move had to go to the vet because of what was diagnosed as a congenital UTI & obstruction and who hadn't been given a long life expectancy. He made it long enough to be here with his family. A DVD player hanging on the back of the driver and passenger seats in the van helped the miles go by less painfully for the kids. Other than the fish and cat dying, and the U-Haul's underestimated consumption of diesel fuel (especially on incline-climbing 25-35 mph engine-governed maxes), and the timer going out on the clothes dryer once we got here, the move was relatively O.K. But we're not going to do it again for a long time. The house we are renting is better than we expected. We weren't able to come up to see it ahead of time -- we're glad because the trip can be grueling. (One vehicle with two drivers can do it in about 13 hours.) We did talk to the landlord several times previously and an acquaintance in town vouched for the neighborhood in the north part of Fountain. We arrived by about 4 p.m. on Thursday the 30th. The 25-year-old brick and frame house is a bi-level: the lower level, down the steps from the front door, is halfway below ground and has the boys' bedrooms and bath, storage, large utility/laundry room, and family room; the upper level, up the steps from the front door, has the living and dining rooms, kitchen, girls' bedrooms and bath, and the master bedroom and bath. There's also an attached garage and storage shed. Some early shots from the front and back of the house. More pictures will be forthcoming. We may be painting the outside this fall. The front yard has the remains of a lawn under a large honet locust and several bushes (lilacs and junipers) which haven't been trimmed in a few years. I started trimming and watering that first night. The large backyard has a central area of creviced earth and weeds which they say once held a lawn, and the back and sides with primarily lilacs, junipers, and elms. It will be an all-summer project to get these trimmed, although there already is a growing pile of branches in the back corner. While I've been happily lopping the vegetation in a correct horticultural fashion, Shirley's been doing a wonderful job on the inside... The kids are looking forward to going to the schools which are all within about half a mile of the house. The Jr. High sports field and track is just past our back fence. That weekend was the fourth of July's and -- Colorado being a fireworks-legal state -- we were able to walk around the neighborhood while there were colorful pyrotechnic displays all around us. My narrow-leaf Ficus cluster has a spot near the south/Dining Room window, a couple of small Elephant Foods are in the south/Kitchen window, and my big Elephant Food has a spot near the front/Living Room window, although it gets to spend most of the day outside in a protected spot -- at least until I get something more permanent set-up. (It is healthy but has taken on a different style being indoors mostly since last November. An updated photo will be forthcoming.) While I've looked at some nursery stock here and considered some of the many elm sprouts in the yard, I'm not ready to begin bonsai here yet. [But see below, also.] A display area in the backyard will need to come first, protected from the dogs and weather which is said to start to cool off in less than two months. The weather here has generally been in the low 90s during the July, no more than 96 once. In August, it reached 93 only at the beginning of the month. Stormy weather most evenings around the area, but little actually in Fountain. (No cacti, ocotillo, or palm trees. No dry dusty winds. Very, very few desert landscapes -- although I've seen a couple of references to xeriscaping (low-water usage). It seems that at least 25% of the yards or abundant parks have large Colorado Blue Spruce or pine trees; maybe another 20% have poplars/aspens, Siberian elms (almost like cultivated weeds), or red or silver maples; maybe 5% have oaks, ash, weeping willows, and Russian olives; and even a few purple-leaf plums have been seen; lots of green and a few rivers/creeks and ponds/reservoirs. Note: Several areas of Colorado Springs have immense close spreads of two-story houses or apartments. But no great vistas of Spanish tile roofing. Most of the same types of stores as you'd find in Phoenix. The area actually has storm sewers installed, so the entire road curb-to-curb is usable when it rains. And, whoa, when you turn on the cold water faucet here -- you actually get cold water, not desert-warmed "cold.") |
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THE VACATION
Then the following Saturday July 9th we drove with our oldest daughter, Angie, to Idaho Falls, ID where she'll be with Shirley's mom and step-dad -- and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins -- for at least a couple of semesters, working while taking business classes. We drove up through Denver on I-25 to Cheyenne, WY and then westward. We overnighted in Green River, WY, and made it through Utah into Idaho to the family homes by mid-afternoon. This was my first time in WY, UT, and ID, and the country is beautiful and varied -- at least on this first time trip. We spent several days camping out, visiting with family Shirley hadn't really seen in 14 years -- well, O.K., 9 years ago she and the kids did spend 3 days there for a wedding -- and discovering the sites and stores in Idaho Falls. The temperature was in the upper 90s during the day. Thursday the 14th we headed back, first visiting Shirley's childhood home, school, etc. in Blackfoot, ID, and then going down through Salt Lake City. At Provo we went over to S.R. 6 which took us through Price, UT (no relationship to Shirley's ID and CO Prices), and then down into I-70 eastward. We went as far as Grand Junction, CO that night. In the morning we headed out through absolutely gorgeous land along the Colorado River, to the Continental Divide via the world's highest Eisenhower Tunnel -- our '94 Dodge Grand Caravan came very close to overheating by the time we climbed up to 11,100' at the Tunnel's mouth, but had cooled down to normal by the time we exited the mile-long+ tunnel through the Rocky Mtns. A light rain greeted us past the ski town of Vail (where many of the pine trees showed browning due to borers), then we drove around the outside of Denver on S.R. 470, and arrived just in time for Colorado Springs' Friday rush hour traffic. The animals were happy to see us -- that acquaintance of ours did a wonderful job of taking care of the house. And we don't expect to travel much for a while. We didn't get to do all the things we wanted to on this vacation (see Yellowstone Park 2 hours away, for example), but then who does? |
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I will be continuing on as webmaster for the Phoenix Bonsai Society. I've got resumes posted on the web, some nibbles and several positions I've applied for. The kids are back to school and enjoying it. Shirley's also looking for at least a part-time job, preferably in one of the hospitals or at the local Walgreens. The bonsai fever is irresistible. On Wednesday July 20 I picked up a five-gallon-size Acer ginnala 'Flame' (Amur maple) at a local nursery. Many of the leaves were showing summer-fry damage. The plant was 5' tall and 3' wide with several trunks up to 1/2" in diameter. It is now about a foot tall above the soil level and has 2 trunks. It has had a second shaping and the new buds and leaves have popped out again. Repotting will occur in the spring. I'm letting the branches harden up and grow as much as they can during the rest of this year, and I've only continued to prune those few leaves showing some discoloration along their margins. Those with holes I haven't really worried about. The very few bugs I've seen have been quickly dispatched. From a 2"D elm trunk in a corner of the yard which was cut back before I got here, I took a 3"H cutting on Aug. 21 and am attempting to root it in water. It has a small cluster of buds which continue to slowly grow. (The 19"H trunk in the yard with many sprouts is being groomed for being dug up and potted next April.) The yard is shaping up and I've cleared away a lot of the overgrown vegetation. And we did get some companions for clownfish Nemo: 3 yellow-tail blue damsels and a variety of hermit crabs and snails. As usual, the hermit crabs didn't live very long. Also, I've briefly gotten in touch with the president of the small Pikes Peak Bonsai Society. Beginning the last week in August, some of the leaflets on the honey locust in our front yard are changing color to yellow and starting to fall. Stay tuned...
This bottom section was last updated
September 3, 2005
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Robert and Shirley Baran 7473 Fortman Ave. Fountain, CO 80817 719-392-2532 (Home) rjb@phoenixbonsai.com |