Green Phoenix

Today I was channel surfing and happen to stumble upon the local Phoenix channel, Channel 11. I noticed the Phoenix Mayor, Phil Gordon, was speaking about an ambitious 17-point plan to make Phoenix a Green City. The most ambitious part of the plan is to make the city the first carbon-neutral city in the US!

With the amont of sunny days in Phoenix it just makes sense to take advantage of solar energy.

Last weekend was the Build-it-Green Expo in Phoenix. Did anyone go or have any comments to post on the blog?

You can read the AZ Central article . I haven't found more information just yet that is a comprehensive outline as to what each point in the plan is.

If anyone finds more current information, please post.

Thanks,
Jamie

Phoenix Light Rail Grand Opening

On 12/27/08, Phoenix debuted the light rail system which is is part of the collective forms of public transportation called Phoenix Metro. Dawn and I decided to take our cruiser bikes and waned to use them on the rail but the 2nd day of opening proved to be too busy so we had to wait another day to take the bikes along for the ride.

Instead we went to the lobby of the Phoenix Art Museum and part the bikes in the front there. Then we walked over to the station by the Old Spaghetti Factory and took the rail all the way too the station in front of the ASU Stadium. Then we took the free transportation shuttle called the Orbit in Tempe and went to the Tempe Marketplace. We did some shopping and then returned later.

One interesting fact that we noticed that day was that people where just joyriding on the rail as opposed to actually having a plan and destination. Thus, nobody was getting off at each station and it became really crowded on the return trip! So crowded, in fact, that we wanted to get off earlier but stayed until we got back to our original destination.

All in all it was a positive experience and a good additional to public transportation in Phoenix in my opinion.

Hope to see you all on the light rail in the future!

New Year Eve Party 08

This year I decided to have a New Year's Eve party at my house and it was a blast! I had about 18 people here and as long as there was music blasting, everyone had a good time. Vik and Irene were in from out of town from Oregon.

We had plenty of foods and drinks to go around. We will all be ready for the new year in 09 and what it has in store!

Hallowen Party 2008

This year brought new props to the mix of Halloween decorations throughtout the 4 years that I have had the annual party.

If you are not familiar with the 3 main themes I have for Halloween, they are: 1) Haunted Mansion, 2) Nightmare before Christmas, and 3) Pirates of the Carribean.

This year I had decided to make a life-size Jack Skellington and Zero from the Nightmare before Christmas. It was challenging to build a 6 foot tall Jack and that was Dawn's project. I also did a large clock that was hung in the front of the house.

This was design after the one featured in Disneyland during the Haunted Mansion Holiday where the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is converted by Jack Skellington.

There were approximately 40 people that attended and have a great time every year. I had movies playing in the backyard and a garage that was converted into a music/dance room.

Next should be even better. I plan on doing more special effects using: animatronics and X10 electronics which provide a way to programmtically turn lights on an off and other electonic devices.

If you have any ideas for the next year I would like to hear from you!

Garden Finds

Well, after donating the hungry worm (AKA: Hornworm) to science, Dawn and I decided to see what was actually in the garden. You see, I planted all this stuff, water occasionally, and then let it grow. Very seldom would I go in and pick veggies that were growing!

After untangling the watermelon and grape tomato plants, I was able to pick tomatoes and peppers and found another watermelon that was hiding underneath the Cuban Mojito mint plant. The other watermelon was growing outside the garden in the grass. It had split, probably due to heat, but it wasn't sweet anyway. There is another melon growing and we are thinking about picking it early to see if it might be sweeter.

I had built another shade for the garden and bought 40 retaining bricks to use for an additional wall. The hard part will be to re-route the watermelon vine that has seemed to take over the area! I think partial shade is key to growing in an arid place like Phoenix.

Well, enough for now as this is another LATE post!

G- Gardener

Garden woes

I found out that something has been chomping away at my garden lately! I have Anaheim pepper plants, cherry tomatoes, crook neck squash, watermelon, and Cuban Mojito Mint. I was enjoying the fruitful returns of the garden all summer and watched the ecosystem taking place in front of my eyes. I have seen grasshoppers, preying mantis, ladybugs (mostly purchased from a local nursery), busy bees, ants, worms, and the latest guest of the garden, but unwanted, the Tomato Hornworm. I had found this guy too late after he had chomped away most of the pepper plants. I think they will survive though because there where some blooms on them. I think the secret to growing a garden in this inferno of a desert I live in, is to have a significant shade construction to provide partial sunlight and not the blinding oven heat sunlight that you would have without it.

So Dawn and I found this Hornworm Friday and donated him literally to science. (he went to the Chaparral High School Science Department).

And now on to rebuilding the garden for the Fall! I need to find the listing of Fall plants that I can use for the season.

Keep you posted!

G Gardener