THE SHED, BEFORE and AFTER

     The shed has the potential to be a really big deal, for storage and as a workshop, once it gets fixed up.  And before I can work on the inside (tear out the panelling that passes for walls, remove old insulation, replace the insulation and use drywall for the new walls), the outside needed to be secured, including replacement of the soffit and repair of the suirrel-eaten fascia, and to make the outside waterproof.  So we had vinyl siding put up, too.

BEFORE:

 and AFTER:

     Next will be the inside, probably on the Labor Day weekend.

THE DOORWAY: BEFORE and AFTER

     One of the previous owners of the House converted the patio into a family room.  Did a pretty nice job: fireplace, roomy, and lots of electrical and cable outlets.  Just one strange thing: the patio doors were removed (found them in the shed), but the doorway where the doors were was left exactly as if the room was to be a patio again, complete with the sliding door frame and brick threshhold.  Today, that begins to change, as a contractor is to begin work to make it look like a normal doorway.  The before pictures:

     And the finished results:

     We've almost forgotten what it used to look like.  Great job!

THE MOVE

     Been a while since the last post.  I had to take the computer in to the shop to get maintenance and replace a hard drive, move data from one to the other, as well as move the possessions from the apartment to the house.  Thanks to some great friends (Scott and Simon, Harold and Susan), we have everything moved to the house in one morning.  As for the computer, that was $248.

     Now that the computer is back and we are moved in, I can't find a darn thing in the house or on the computer.  And the whole file on the house (document scans, photos, etc) didn't get on the new drive.

     But here is the next project: getting settled in.

WAR AGAINST NATURE: THE CHINESE TALLOWS

     As mentioned before, two of the trees in our yard are Chinese tallows.  AKA Triadica sebifera (L), aka Florida aspen, chicken tree, gray popcorn tree, and candleberry tree.  Chinese tallow is an ornamental tree with colorful autumn foliage that can survive full sunlight and shade, flooding, drought, and in some cases fire.  It was allegedly introduced by Benjamin Franklin into the United States, and cultivated in South Carolina in 1772, as an ornamental tree. The first documented evidence of intentional Chinese tallow introduction into the U.S. occurred in 1772 by Benjamin Franklin, who forwarded seeds from “Cochin China” (now South Vietnam) to Mr. Noble Wimberly Jones, a gentleman farmer and fellow horticultural enthusiast residing in Darien, Georgia. In a letter addressed to Jones dated October 7, 1772, Franklin writes, “… I send also a few seeds of the Chinese Tallow Tree, which will I believe grow & thrive with you. Tis a most useful plant.” (Bell, 1966). Franklin valued the Chinese tallow tree for its utility, anticipating that the aril-rich mantle would be extracted and fashioned into candles by enterprising Georgians. The first American botanical reference to Chinese tallow was documented by Michaux (1803), who stated that it had been “cultivated in Charleston and Savannah, but was then spreading spontaneously into the coastal forests.” In 1826, Stephen Elliot protested that the Chinese tallow tree “bears fruit in great abundance, but though they contain much oil, no use is yet made of them.” (Bell, 1966). In 1906, the US Department of Agriculture, not having learned its lesson, thought that it would be a swell idea to spread them over the South, starting in Louisiana and Texas, as the waxy seed coverings were supposed to be a great source of the chemicals needed to make soap and machine oils.

     Gee thanks, Ben.  Double for you, USDA. Because kudzu, love bugs, and fire ants aren’t enough non-native pests that we in the South have to deal with, we have the Chinese tallow, a 50 foot tall weed that will not die.  Since 1998, it has been illegal to sell or propagate this pest in the state of Florida.    Since 1993 it has been said that “Chinese tallow may one day rival melaleuca in ecological and economic impact and distribution in Florida. Indeed, the Nature Conservancy has designated Chinese tallow as one of the “ten worst alien plant invaders” in the United States (Flack and Furlow, 1996), and the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) has assigned Chinese tallow the dubious distinction of being one of “100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species”.

     Why is it so bad?  It won’t die!  The state of Louisiana tried, and found that:

• As tree diameter increases, thickening of the bark protects the cambium layer from damage to

secondary growth. Above some minimum size, Chinese tallow appears resistant to top-kill

(i.e., death of the above-ground portion of the plant) by fire.

• For smaller trees or trees subjected to extremely hot fires, response to top-kill is vigorous

resprouting with the potential to produce up to 2 meters of regrowth within a single growing

season. Consequently, tallow recovers from fire very quickly.

• As a consequence of damage by fire or mechanical cutting, Chinese tallow responds by root

sprouting at some distance from the original plant, resulting in clonal spread for distances

typically greater than 5 meters.

• Only the hottest fires are expected to ignite Chinese tallow, and trees typically neither carry

nor transmit fire through the canopy, unlike many trees and shrubs.

• Chinese tallow stands are characterized by “low flammability” because it competitively

excludes pyrogenic species that drive fire. Grace (1998) states, “it is common to watch a

prescribed fire burn right up to the edge of a tallow stand and simply go out because of a lack

of fuel.” As a consequence, fire-regulated prairie communities invaded by tallow shift from

being fire-regulated to tallow-regulated.

     I think I have seen something like this: John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982)*: (warning, NSFW, has a dirty word.  And some scary stuff, too).

     *Attention Deficit Disorder moment: the actor that played the role of Childs is Keith David.  He was the "Angry Black Man" persona that Samuel L Jackson later make famous for himself.  He has been everywhere (The Thing, Platoon, They Live, Roadhouse, Barbershop.  You have heard his lines before:
> "Aww, lookie here. Looks like somebody threw away a perfectly good white boy!" (Men At Work)
> "Is it the frank or the beans?" (There's Something About Mary)

67 TREES*

     The tree census was completed a few nights ago, when my frined Rick (who, for the purposes of this blog will be known as "Rick") came over with his tree identification book.  What we have is:

21 eastern red cedars
8 pines
13 dogwoods
6 hollies
2 magnolias
2 pindo palms
1 red maple
3 crepe myrtles
1 sweet gum
1 glossy privet
2 Chinese tallows
1 fig
2 pecans
1 black cherry
1 cherry laurel
1 tulip poplar
1 sago palm

     More on the Chinese tallows later.  If they are tallows, they will be removed (non-native species).

* One corner of the property is overgrown, and may have a few more trees behind some vines).

I COULD GIVE A FIG

     It would have been more, but the mosquitoes and deer flies at sunset were getting quite aggressive (still a lot of standing water around the area from the storms of last week).