Great Day. Yard Work. Episode 4 Nat. Parks.

It was a nice, dry, low humidity day today, so rather than do indoor stuff, we worked in the yard. We have plenty of jobs to do on bad days.

The Red Maple tree is getting so tall that we knew it needed support if it was to grow straight. I should have bought an older, larger one if I wanted it to shade the house in my lifetime!

The bird feeder was originally cemented in there to protect the tree from cars, and the tree will be a great place for the feeding birds to sit and wait their turn. Now the bird feeder will help support the tree. It has also been protected by a tomato cage since it was a little sapling. That was cut away from it today, so we made a 'stand-off' from the post, covered the added tall post with a split piece of garden hose. Now if the wind makes the tree rub against the post it should not hurt the bark of the tree. Then the tree was gently tied to the post with a rope through another piece of hose. The tree is up to the top of second picture, so it has really grown this year.

The plants in front of the porch had really grown up with the rain we have had. We cut some back, and thinned out others. Now one can see the white rock that was put in there a couple of years ago.

Ray and Shay love plants, and he spends ages watering them every

day. This is just a part of what they have around their front door.

They have shade there during the afternoon sun, so they can grow more than I can. I even have to be careful where my pots of aloe vera are on the porch, as they can get too much sun, and discolor.

Another episode of Americas Best Idea, The National Parks, on PBS tonight.

Episode 4 [September 30]Going Home (1920-1933)
"Burns focuses his lens on Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Hot Springs, and Great Smoky Mountains, among others, with the help of writings and photographs of a young married couple, Margaret and Ed Gehrke. The residents of Lincoln, Nebraska, took dozens of trips to national parks, beginning in the 1920s—first by train, then in their Buick. Burns uses their story to introduce the automobile to the national parks, a development that Mather saw as full of possibilities for new visitors, but others compared to the serpent in the garden of Eden.

The importance of writing, photography, and art in bringing the visions of parks to the people and gaining support and appreciation is a focal point. We learn the stories of Horace Kephart and George Masa, writer and photographer who brought attention to the Smokies, and helped advocate for the park’s creation. We also meet Masa’s modern-day counterpart, French-born Vietnamese photographer Quang-Tuan Luong, who has visited all 58 of the national parks and feels an emotional tie to these landscapes. This episode draws attention to the need for park advocacy, relating Mather’s fights to fend off dams in the Grand Canyon, the Rockefellers’ purchase of land that would become the Grand Tetons, and President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to commit federal money to the purchase of private land in the Smokies to form the park—the first time federal funds were put toward such a cause. Burns focuses his lens on Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Yosemite, Lassen Volcanic, Hot Springs, and Great Smoky Mountains, among others, with the help of writings and photographs of a young married couple, Margaret and Ed Gehrke. "

Another interesting episode today.