Bailey

My current pet dog is Bailey, a light brown mixed breed adopted from the Pasadena Humane Society a few years ago when Button was still alive. Bailey is about 9 years old; he was about 2 years old when he was adopted from the Pasadena Humane Society.

Bailey is about 15 pounds and has medium length brown hair; his hair doesn’t grow and does not

need haircuts, just the regular wash. He is mild mannered which does not make him a very good guard dog; he is very friendly including to the food delivery guys.

One peculiar habit of Bailey is to hide dog biscuits, under the couch and between the couch pillows. So every time he is give dog biscuits, he always gets 2, one for hiding to be consumed for later and the other for immediate consumption.

Peach Tree

I planted my peach tree about 14 years ago and have borne fruit year after year except for the last three years which is definitely related to the drought in California for the past several years. I thought of cutting the tree last January as it did not bear fruit for the last three years. Fruit trees are normally deep rooted and can tap water stored deeper in the ground but with several years of drought, moisture in the ground probably got deeper.

Fortunately I did not cut it down; it looks healthy and had no reason to cut it other than it has not borne any fruit for a few years. I decided to keep it with the abundant rain last winter; I thought it may bore fruit again. Luckily, it did have a lot of flowers which I’m sure it will develop into fruits.

Every branch is loaded with pink flowers, I’m sure there will be a lot of peach fruit come summer and fall.

Bird Nest

After the drought for the past five years, rains finally came back to Southern California. It came back with vengeance this year and has been raining almost every week since December. Because of the rains almost every weekend, I did not have the time to prune the roses on time.

Finally had the time to prune the roses last weekend. What I found is an empty bird nest on one of the tree roses. The nest is nicely tucked on the center of the crown of the tree rose. There are some pieces of broken egg shells which indicate the bird who owns the nest laid eggs and perhaps hatched into chicks. Would have loved to see the small birds.

Succulents

Drought in California is entering the 5^th year; Northern California has had average rainfall this year but not the Southland. State officials are still asking residents to conserve water and reduce water consumption in the midst of the ongoing water crisis.

To reduce my water consumption, I cut back on watering my lawn to once a week sometimes once every other week when days are cloudy. I also planted drought resistant plants like succulents which are thriving very well with very small amount of water.

These are a few of my succulents and they all are thriving well. All were bought at Lowes and Home Depot and some are cuttings from the original plant I bought. They are thriving with very minimum amount of water.

Pomegranate Fruit

My pomegranate is almost six feet tall with lots of fruit that are almost ready to be harvested. Last year it only had few fruits but this year there are at least 30 fruits. Although they are not as big as the ones sold in supermarkets but at least I know they are free of pesticide.

Pomegranate fruits are actually berries and they are ripe when

they have turned red in color and make a metallic sound when tapped. To avoid cracking oven, the fruits need to be picked before they over mature.

The pomegranate fruit would last very long in storage. It can be kept as long as seven months if they are refrigerated. The fruits improve will improve if kept longer, they become juicier and more flavorful.

The circular end of the pomegranate fruit looks like a little crown and it is said that King Solomon used this as a model to fashion the crown that he wore.