Swimming Pool on the Third Floor

I admit it- I have never seen  a swimming pool that was not on the ground before. Oh, I have seen pictures of those on cruise ships, and thought that was pretty weird, too, but in a way, I find this scary. Picture this scenario. A car drives up to the motel and parks as is the custom under the canopy at the front entrance. Then, for unexpected and unknown reasons, the supports of the pool buckle and the whole thing collapses. Maybe it is not such a good space saving idea after all.
I went for a dip in this pool, and it was of a minimum size, just large enough to keep down comments about tacky size, and it was a shallow non diving pool. Still, I have swam in many in ground pools that were no larger.

Abandoned Houses in Gulf Shores

I am interested in abandoned houses, but I do not usually think of finding them at the beach. Actually, these 2 have been abandoned for some time as I remember seeing them in the past. They appear to be in danger of being gobbled up by the high rise which is sneaking up on them from the rear. Both of these houses were/are beautiful and I am especially attracted to the Spanish style one and the lovely gates. I wonder what sad story is behind these 2 houses.

Scenes from Gulf State Park September 2010

In this picture the sea oats look as tall as the palm trees, but it is just a matter of perspective. It is a beautiful sight. Sea oats seem really big and healthy this year.

                                                               Sunset over the State Pier.

Waves on this September day were high for the Gulf. There was a yellow flag flying.

Video of the Surf at Gulf State Park

I wish this video had a good sound to it, but it is sounds tinny and far away. You will just have to use your imagination. Click here.

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory

Every gardening year I learn things. This year I learned not to be afraid of morning glories. (Wait!! Maybe I better see what next year brings in the way of seedlings.). I had 3 kinds of morning glories this year, Moon vines, which I already  wrote about (they are still blooming and flowers seem to be getting larger), Picotee morning glories, purple flower with a thin white line on the edge of the funnel, and this wonderful Heavenly Blue morning glory. I had forgotten I planted it until it bloomed. It was twisted among the moon vines and had not bloomed til a few days ago. I see there are other flowers to come and I am anxiously waiting. Once, years ago, my sister-in-law planted some Heavenly Blues near a guy  wire for a electric pole and they climbed all the way to the top of the pole. It was a good choice and I made a good choice too, in planting mine to climb on the porch railing where I could see and enjoy them at close range.

Ruminations on Walnut Trees and Jugulose

Last fall a storm brought half of a black walnut tree down on the power line to the house. The power company came and removed the limbs from the line, but did not remove the limbs.  The pieces were too large for me to move, so they lay where they fell since that time. This picture shows the effects of jugulose, a chemical found in the leaves, roots, and in fact all parts of the black walnut. Ever since I became so interested in plants, the information about how walnut trees inhibited growth of nearby plants has appeared several times a year in horticulture materials I commonly read. However it was not in my personal experience. There are lots of black walnut trees in the edge of the woods surrounding my house as well as several in the area of my greenhouse. There is ample grass, weeds and frequently shrubs growing under these trees, so I was skeptical at least. This cut tree does verify that there is some truth to the jugulose story. Everything around where these leaves and nuts fell is dead and the black dead leaves and nuts show clearly that they are inhibiting the growth of other plants.
This in no way explains why plants can grow easily (it seems) under a living tree, but it does advise against adding walnut leaves to compost or using them for mulch.
My biggest worry with my standing walnut trees involves the nuts. This time of year they are all over the place. Being round, when they fall, they roll off in all directions. I come along and use them for roller skates, an activity that I used to be able to do, but never was very competent at. So, several times a week I pick up the nuts or toss them away into the edge where I do not walk. I have no desire to harvest the nuts for eating, so if you want any, come over here and I will help you pick them up. Just take them. Please. They fall on my fiberglass greenhouse and crack the panels. I am still waiting for one to crack me on the head.
In the mountains I see these huge black walnut trees that are useful in furniture making and other woodwork, but my question is :Why are the trees that live in southeast Alabama such twisted measly specimens? I know of a walnut tree in my grandmother's yard that has been there at least 70 years and it is still a small tree, probably no bigger than 12 inches at breast height (dbh).

Gulf Shores 5 months After the Oil Spill

The surf in front of my hotel had a light sheen of oil on it and the smell of oil was evident. However people were swimming and playing in the surf. I did not swim, but I did walk in the surf ,except where I could see the sheen of the oil.

I went over by the state park fishing pier, and there did not seem to be any oil there. In fact, the only other place I saw oil was Fort Morgan. There I walked for a very long way along the beach and then in the distance I saw what I thought was a disaster crew working on shore. That's what it was. There was a crew of at least 6 and a logistics crew of probably the same number which also included at least 3 vehicles. (One was hauling a port-o-let).The workers were using giant kitty litter scoops to screen the sand and remove the bits and hunks of oil from the sand. This seemed like a pretty tedious process and not much oil was being found or removed, in my opinion.

Another place along the walk I saw these streaks of particles in the edge of the surf and they may have been oil also, although I cannot verify. We have all seen all oily goop on the beach before and I always assumed it was from engines on the water, but some may have been from living organisms.This link provides a bit of info and some pictures. What I think is that most of the oil either did not reach the beach or has (is) being degraded. I suspect that a great deal of it still lies in deep water and that only the years will tell the complete story . The marshes have a long way to go to recovery. I did not see any of them, but the marshes and mangroves are the nurseries for the fish and shellfish and I can only believe that there will be a drastic reduction in what they will be able to produce in the next 2/3 years (at least). This will translate into less fish for a number of years. In the meantime there were still several fishermen on the beach, giving evidence that they believed the all clear signal.

There are several staging areas still in use by the disaster clean up crews.
 On the local news I heard that some citizens in the area (maybe Pensacola?) were complaining that the clean-up was not going fast or efficient enough.