KitchenAid Range

Oh, and David and I bought a fortress for a new range that promises to last a little longer, hopefully. It'll be here next Saturday....

Sears Gas Stove, continued

We've never gotten along very well with our Sears Gas Stove. In a blog post two years ago, I detailed out how I melted the back electronic panel while cooking. Sears blamed me for the mishap and they sent a guy out to fix it (which we paid for) and the panel never did light up right from that point on.

Then the door handle kept coming off. We'd screw the assembly together, over and over, trying to make sure it was tight. Finally this week we gave up on this stove as the entire door blew off for some unknown reason, sending shards of safety glass everywhere.

Never buy an appliance from Sears. That's my message here. They're rotten and we gave up on their silly customer service, no more like customer blaming department.

Now, I've got to go drive my Toyota to the store....

Our American Elms

There's a nice article in today's Oregonian about the American Elm tree and Dutch Elm Disease and what Portlanders are doing to save their neighborhood elm trees. There's even mention of our North Omaha Park Blocks! Read about it here.

It's amazing what our friends in Ladd's Addition have done to help save their street elm trees - we have a lot to learn from them! Happy Holidays everyone!

Did we Dig it or What?

Ok, folks - we did it! We replanted our lost trees on Omaha Parkway - it was a big success with 25 neighbors coming out to help us plant five trees. We needed everybody, because digging holes and placing trees in them is harder than you think! Here's some pictorial evidence of a great morning planting trees...



Digging was much harder than we anticipated, and we did run into roots from the former inhabitants of these holes, so we had to dig around to find the perfect spots to place these trees. It was a good thing that Karl Dawson from the City of Portland brought pick axes with him - in fact, he thought of everything, including some good soil with which to backfill the holes. We had plenty of mulch (bark chips from the former elms) but good hard soil was hard to come by, so his pickup load of soil was helpful to anchor the trees.



The next project is to wait for Spring - Karl will again gather us together to go over watering procedures for the summer months. We are also going to work on building benches for the parkway so we can sit and watch the trees grow tall! Besides, Quinn & Piper (the young Van Patten/McVee children) need to play in the trees while they're small and remember that they helped plant them. Those two kids were incredibly hard workers - helping to dig the bark shavings out of the holes and then stamping in the good dirt. They're the only ones among us that will still be here when these oak trees are big and bountiful!

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have - if anybody else wants to send me the pictures they took, I'd be happy to post them here. We had a wonderful turnout of folks and we are so pleased to have trees back in their rightful places.

Update: Monday 11/16/09 - take a look at the photo stream (above) to see all the photos I've collected from folks....keep sending them and I'll keep updating the photo stream - it's great to see all the folks who helped out!

Tree Planting Details

Join your neighbors to help replant the elms lost to Dutch Elm Disease in the Omaha Park Blocks. Portland Parks & Recreation will be working with Neighborhood Tree Stewards to replant five trees. From Rosa Parks south, the trees will be; Oregon White Oak, Oregon White Oak, Accolade Elm, Accolade Elm and a Big Leaf Maple

Please join us to meet your neighbors, have some coffee and donuts, and replant Omaha Blocks

Signing up is appreciated, please call to sign up.
Karl Dawson
Portland Parks & Recreation
City NatureUrban Forestry Outreach Specialist
kdawson@ci.portland.or.us
503-823-1650
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/trees

Hello Friends of Trees!

Hey check out the new blog by Friends of Trees called "Growth Rings" - the link is down on the right side of this page and also here:

http://friendsoftrees.org/blog/

Friends of Trees are responsible for creating the new canopy the Portland area has experienced in the last 20 years or so....they are doing a fantastic job of getting the word out: TREES MATTER!!!!

Pruning your OWN Trees

Yes, we hired an arborist to prune our own trees on our property.

We have an ornamental plum tree in our front yard that was showing evidence of disease: black knot disease to be exact. The cure is to prune judiciously, spray with a fungicide and feed the tree back to good health. We're using an arborist who is certified in the best practices of the industry and who, well, loves trees.

Our fruit plum tree in the back was just overgrown and needed thinning and pruning.

Now they both look MUCH better. Over the next year they will get some fertilizer and they should both do well.