I
woke up at 3 a.m. to find Kim still gone. Really?! He’s still out imaging? What if he
fell and needs help...I better call him to see what’s up. Which I did....he was on his way. He
takes the truck back by the telescope and had just driven back in as I
called. He got to bed sometime after 3
and stirred when I got up at 7:30, despite my attempt at being super quiet as the twins would say. I was going outside to read, figuring he
could sleep another hour or so. Didn’t
happen though and it was a short night for him!!
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Kim started out the day with a
challenge...can we beat 58:50 our time from yesterday’s walk? Do you think we can shave 2 minutes off our
time?? Well, yesterday I felt like my legs were going their fastest, next
notch up would be running. I suppose the
most I can say is let’s try. So we
start out at a brisk pace...remaining consistent is my problem. I’m much too
prone to get distracted when walking by myself.
But with Kim walking beside me I feel I’m better at focusing on the task
at hand...or foot, as the case may be. 😉
Start to finish, we did our 3 miles in
56:20...Yay!! Walking is good no matter
how long it takes...timing ourselves just adds a self-competitive edge to
it. The one thing that surprised me is
that my step count wasn’t much higher than usual...in the 7400 range. To increase my time I had to shorten my
stride...in my mind that meant getting more steps. Maybe but not significantly.
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The pumps out along Picacho Hwy are still
drawing water into the irrigation ditches.
That’s at least of week of hundreds of gallons of water rushing out of
the ground into the ditches to water the pecan groves. The pecan trees have
been a source of curiosity on our walk...there are mature groves all around
Picacho and last year we watched workers plant a field of young trees that
looked like sticks. Some of those sticks
are now starting to sprout leaves at the very top. Anyway, to satisfy our curiosity about how
long it takes for a pecan tree to mature and produce nuts I had to turn to
Google. This information is from the
site homeguides.sfgate.com:
Pecan
trees are the largest tree in the hickory family, reaching a height of 100 to
140 feet at maturity. These trees are native to mid-western and southeastern
states and require abundant moisture. The age at which pecan trees bear fruit
depends on the variety and environmental factors. Trees can be planted from a
pecan nut, from a seedling tree, or from a grafted tree. A grafted tree begins
slow production after three to four years, reaching full production in its
ninth or tenth year. A tree started from a nut takes five to seven more years
to reach production. A healthy pecan tree can produce pecans for more than 100
years.
During the
first few years before a tree begins to produce, it is critical to maintain
proper growing conditions and tree health to ensure quality nut formation and
plentiful harvests. Pecan trees require a lot of water, and the nut size will
be stunted without adequate supply. For the first two to three years, young
trees need 10 to 15 gallons of water per week, from either rainfall or
supplemental irrigation. Take a soil test to determine levels of fertilizer
use. Young pecan trees typically need supplements of ammonium nitrate and zinc
sulfate to maintain a steady growing pace. Healthy trees should exhibit 6
inches of new terminal growth per year. If the tree is not growing at this
pace, check nutrient and moisture levels.
-----------
And the site hunker.com added this information:
Pecan
trees can grow to 70 feet tall have trunk diameters of 6 feet at full maturity.
Trees can be spaced as close as 30 to 40 feet apart until they are about 15
years old, at which point they should be thinned. At 30 to 40 years old, pecan
trees grow to a width of closer to 60 feet.
We noticed yesterday that there was a
greenish haze among the pecan trees along the frontage road...today leaves are
busting out. Warm weather and some
irrigation will do that. I don't like to eat pecans but I'd like to see them being harvested....from what I've read that's an autumn thing.
--------------------
Finally got the truck washed today. We got the bugs off the bikes the other
day...today was the truck. Every forward facing surface on the truck was coated
with little black bugs. The truck looked
nasty dirty in general but the windshield was the worst...straining to see
through the bugs smears was hard on the eyes.
Washing the truck was on the agenda for yesterday but finding an
automatic car wash was difficult then we went to the mall and had to be back in
time for Bingo so it didn’t get done. So today was the day to rid the truck of
the bugs.
Kim preferred an automatic
wash but Eloy only has a spray wash and because something had to be about the
windshield we deposited our coins and did the best we could. Truck body looked good afterward but the
windshield still had bug issues. Kim
spent a little more time on it back at camp and I’m happy to report the
windshield is bugless...until we drive the truck into town again.
--------------------
There has been a major issue with little
black bugs at night near any light source.
It’s especially bad by and in the bathrooms. The lights are left on all night and light seeking
bugs just swarm to the lights. We’ve
learned to be careful about leaving the trailer door open when the interior
lights are on. Someone called them gnats
and they remind me of the May flies we have in Michigan. Whatever they are, their life cycle seems to
be short because there are a lot of them on the bathroom floor in the
morning. It’s like hatch, hover around
the lights and then die.
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Took a ride today but it wasn’t long. We had plans this evening and only had about
an hour or so to ride. I wanted to check out Battaglia Rd which appeared to be
getting resurfaced the other day.
Battaglia was open and it has been repaved, not chip sealed. It looks
like it’ll need another coat or two but it was rideable. Then we turned right on Sunland Gin Rd in
Arizona City just to see where it led. I
knew it would come into the Casa Grande area, just not sure where. It led over to Jimmie Kerr Blvd or the Eloy
frontage road as we call it. Back in Eloy we found ourselves on Shedd Rd. and
in a residential area I didn’t know existed.
These homes, while not grand, looked to be newer and maybe a bit more
upscale than the homes in the center of Eloy.
Maybe this is where those working in the nearby prison live.
--------------------
Tonight Ryan and Felicia had a hot dog roast
up behind the steakhouse building. Not
many people left in camp but everyone was invited. Maybe 10 or so showed up. Hot dogs, chips, salads, s’mores and lots of
good conversation. It
was a fun gathering...and the campfire felt especially toasty warm. The evenings here can feel a bit cool compared
to the day temps and that campfire sure felt good.
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Today’s miles: 34
Total miles: 2049
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