On-Going Yard Work

Joe and his brother were here yesterday and the first thing they did was to dig out the orange tree in the front yard and plant the little semi-dwarf Satsuma Mandarin in its place. The oranges were not sweet and the Satsumas are, without a doubt, always sweet. I don't know if it will have fruit next year or not.
The pink flowers behind the tree are Camellias. The original owners of this MH planted Camellias all along the North side (front) of the mobile. They sure have a lot of buds and have been blooming nicely. I did give them some "Miracle Grow" earlier, not sure just when I did that. I need to read up on when to fertilize Camellias.

The next thing Joe and Keith did was dig out the orange tree in the back. I did give an orange from that tree another taste yesterday and it wasn't all that bad. But, not that good either! I'm sure I will be happy with the dwarf Washington Navel orange that is planted in its place. When I bought the citrus, the small Washington Navel tree had 3 oranges on it. They were sweet and GOOD. I was surprised that little tree had 3 oranges on it already, so I'm thinking the Satsuma will have fruit on it next year also.
I hope they both grow fast. I'll have to keep the one in the front pruned down because a semi-dwarf can get as high as 15 feet. So, I'll be out there with my pruning shears.
I was surprised that it didn't take Joe and Keith all that long to dig out the 2 orange trees and plant the new ones.
What did take a long time, and it was a LOT of work, was putting the plastic bender board around the cherry trees in the side yard. The bender board is 6 inches wide and Joe dug a trench around the whole area to put the plastic board in with only 2 inches showing above ground.
He made the area a little wider (at my request) because later I'm going to transplant a few Iris in the middle with some colorful flowers on both sides of the Iris since they have a short blooming season.
I'll be transplanting some of the Irises from their area because I have yet another fruit tree to plant!! I really wanted a Fuyu Persimmon tree like we had in Merced. The only spot I had left for another tree was smack dab in the middle of the Iris garden. I debated on what to do and the Fuyu won out.
So, SOMEDAY, I will have cherries in late May, Flavor Crest peaches in late June and July; Apricots and Sun Crest peaches in July; Fantasia nectarines in August and the Fuyu Persimmons in November. These are the persimmons that you eat like an apple, they are not the kind you bake with. (These small persimmons sold for one dollar each at the grocery store.)
So, now I just have to stand back and watch them grow!! ha, ha.

The Day the Rains Came

And that would be today. And Boy, did it rain. We had several downpours. I had planned to go to Merced, but when the heavy rains came; forget it. I spent all day working on the next newsletter for the Winton Historical Society.
I like watching it rain, but I get a little worried when we get so much at one time.
The little strip between me and my next door neighbor gets flooded every time it rains. I don't think the lilac bush I bought likes wet feet. I worry about that plant. It's probably too much water for the rose bush and the Geranium too.
Must be hard pan in that area. I'm thankful though that where the fruit trees are planted, there doesn't seem to be a problem. The rain soaks right in.
There is more rain in the forecast for the next couple of days. Lots of snow in the mountains. Roads are closed in the Sierras and on the Grapevine. I'll take the rain.

Porch: Before & After

Remember my "Wall of Boxes" back in July when I first moved here? It was overwhelming! What to do with all that stuff?? Somehow it got whittled down, one box at a time. It took forever. Like 6 months!! But here it is today. No boxes in sight.
I'll have to admit there are still some boxes in the spare bedroom that need to be sorted out. lol. Little by little, I guess. But of course not nearly as many boxes as in the top picture.
I'm wondering how heavy a piano can you put inside a mobile home? I went to George's in Atwater today, you know he restores player pianos. He has one for $1500. that I would sure like to have. He says it's 100 years old and weighs about a ton. Wow. Much more than the piano I have now. He has 4 player pianos, plus others. He has one for $600. Maybe the park managers would buy it for our clubhouse. lol. I just hate to get rid of my 200+ player piano rolls. It was so much fun to peddle the piano and sing along. The rolls have the words printed on them.

Winton Centennial Recipe Book

The Winton Historical society published this recipe book to help celebrate Winton's centennial this year.
We collected 650 delicious recipes from Winton people and former Winton residents. There are 29 Appetizers; 16 Beverages; 27 Soups; 77 Salads (includes 8 salad dressings); 53 Vegetables and Sides; 150 Main Dishes; 49 Bread recipes; 78 Cakes; 39 Pies & Cobblers; 35 Miscellaneous Desserts; 48 Cookies & Brownies; 35 Candy recipes and 14 in the This & That category, which includes pickle recipes.

The picture on the cover is the first Thanksgiving in Winton in November 1911. Eight other pictures from Winton's past are included, one on each divider. Five pictures are from the Merced County Historical Society.

This is a 3-ring binder (approximately 8 X 9 1/2") published by Morris Press. We are selling the recipe books for $15.00 each at the local community functions throughout the year or from a committee member. The books are available now. If you are local, you can email wintonca@aol.com for more details on how to purchase. The books are also available at the Winton Historical Society meeting on the first Tuesday of each month at 1:30 pm in the C.L.E.O. office on Winton Way.

If the recipe book needs to be mailed, the total cost per book is $20.00 if mailed within the U.S. Make check or money order payable to Winton Historical Society and mail to PO Box 554, Winton, CA 95388.

Birthday Party

Leona lives at Rancho Grande and yesterday her son and daughter-in-law hosted a birthday party for her in the clubhouse. Leona was 100 years old on February 1st. She is the one standing in the picture. Seated is her sister-in-law, Mildred.
It was a very nice party. Relatives from out-of-state were there; local relatives and friends from church, etc. Her son, Dale gave a presentation of family pictures on the overhead projector. Very interesting. I enjoyed seeing the old pictures of their family with Dale telling us who they were and where it was taken.
The lunch consisted of good homemade dishes, including zwieback! I wonder who made those. The meal was delicious. There were two birthday cakes. Here is a picture of one of them.
Leona had to renew her driver's license, so on Friday, someone, probably her son, took her to Merced to the DMV. She only missed one question on the written test. Then she had to take the driving test. They were gone for 30 minutes, driving around Merced; on the freeway and everywhere. Leona passed with flying colors and had her license renewed for another 5 years!
Not bad for someone who just celebrated her 100th Birthday!
Did I mention that Leona has been the oldest woman at the Winton Old Timers for at least the last 6 years? Way to go, Leona.