The fall colors are magnificent, but frost is on the way!

I just know that beetle-kill is fair game for campers. Many times, my faithful dog and I were kept warm by a fire of dead pine courtesy of the pine beetle (and my trusty axe). Of course, it depended where we were (Nat'l Park lands are not open for tree chopping--Nat'l Forest is different). (First husband wasn't of much account but he was a forest ranger/fire fighter and he taught me to fell a tree with the best of 'em).

I learned to use a hatchet ( or axe) in the Girl Scouts. It is a handy skill. Much of the down timber in New Mexico is pinon wood which has a delicious perfume-like fragrance when it burns. Since pinon trees take forever to grow -- very slow, very small trees -- pinon wood had just about disappeared from the market. Now the wood cutters are selling the pinon wood killed by the beetle. In the end there is little that isn't of use.

And the Forest Service gets the wood cutters' free labor to drag out the dead trees. Sounds like a win-win situation, to me!

Many people in Northern New Mexico depend on removing firewood from the national forests because wood is their only source of energy. It is indeed a win-win situation, but it is essential for the way of life in much of Northern New Mexico.

The property I linked to is a National Trust property in England. If you read you will see how the landscape design was done by Capability Brown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Brown ) in the 18th century. The Trust is responsible for maintaining the design much as you would maintain an architectural monument like a cathedral. Much of what we take for granted now in "natural landscape design" was pioneered by Capability Brown , BTW.

I get the Tulanian because I contribute to the Latin American Studies library (got my PhD there), and one of the recent editions had a long article about the landscaping staff who went to amazing lengths to save the live oaks on campus which were swamped in salt water. They managed do save quite a few by rinsing the root systems repeatedly with fresh water until the salts were dissipated. All this was going on well before anyone was "officially" allowed back into the city, too.

I spent my freshman year at Newcomb College of Tulane and have fond memories of those Oak trees. I didn't realize that there had been flooding at Tulane as well. I had heard that uptown was okay. I hope they are all still there. The landscape staff certainly deserves kudos for their hard work. There was a hilarious article about weathering the hurricane in that part of town in the New Yorker. If I still have it, I will email it to you.

That is a beautiful part of town. ( or at least was).

The part of campus closer to the river was inundated. Hebert Hall used to have a lot of really big oaks, but they got uprooted. The admin hall took severe damage to the foundations, the pictures I have seen look like the old 19th century photos back when it was originally built, before the trees were planted...

Every place I had ever lived along st. charles & 1 block into uptown from st charles is gone. It makes me very sad to even think about going there now, but I know we will visit eventually.

That is very sad to hear. I have been through New Orleans several times, but haven't ventured off of the Veterans, I-10, Slidell route except to buy groceries and dinner. At first just that much was tough. Actually, come to think of it, I had dinner in the Riverbend area on my birthday a year ago. It was okay there -- right across the road from the levee, but we didn't go through the Tulane area.

*bump*

finally. finished . planting. bulbs. today.

{that is the sound of me draggin my tired self indoors to scrape off the filth, collapse on the couch, and drown myself in cranberry juice with rum.}

Ony 2 tons of chopped leaves left to move, and I can relax for the winter.

You're ahead of me! Got all the perennials into their homes, mulched well. It's the houseplants that I've had to mix soil for, wash with soapy water and repot. Got the greatest deal on a monstrous Swedish Ivy that I've made cuttings from (gifts for Maggie's para-professionals and teacher for Christmas, once rooted). The indoors is looking like a greenhouse (that's good and bad, to be sure). Once I get the ivy out of here and into the hands of others, it will be fine....

Bulbs will get finished up before Thanksgiving. We're runnning out of land for planting. Maybe it's time to move and start over?!? On my good days, I envy you the five acres you have to play with, GJ!

Do you get the kids to help with leaf moving??

No, the kids have not helped with the leaf moving. THeir help in that regard has been confined to running their bikes through piles of leaves & yelling "wheeeee!"

Wheeee! I prefer the raking of leaves into huge stacks and doing the running jump into them--WHEE! It took me forever to get the yard done when I was younger ;)

If you can get those leaves where they need to be, I can finish planting the bulbs around here. You are an inspiration, GJ.

Drove down the alley this morning, and my neighbors have left nice bags of leaves out for the trash. I see leaf-napping in my future!

Neither rain, nor hail nor dead of night will keep TrishG from making her appointed rounds--leaf-napping! You go, girl!!

Yeth. You go girlth....

Yes, Trish G. -- leaf-napping is a contribution to the good of society and to the betterment of your yard. I just arrived home tonight from Hawaii and immediately had a call from one of my leaf spies. She said that one of her neighbors put out 13 bags but that they had disappeared by morning -- while I was out of town . But she told me that another had 5 out now and I should come get them before someone else does. And she told me another of her neighbors had numerous more available for me.
So a -leaf-napping I will go -- but not until I unload the current truckload of manure in my truck!
Great greyhound picture, GJ. Which one is it?

That is Sweetie, who can never quite keep her tongue *in* her mouth when she is sleeping. Or waking up.

Loved your Halloween pictures. Bet the kids liked seeing you in that outfit! Who cares what the parents think? Parents ought to have just as good a sense of humor as possible. Raising kids requires a sense of humor for the sake of sanity. That probably explains why you have had some less than charming kids in your neighborhood. Their parents didn't know when to laugh at the kids' shenanigans.