Fruit Tree Grafting 2013 - Apple scion to a Pear tree

In my earlier Fruit Tree Grafting 2009 round 1 post, I talked about cross grafting between apple and pear trees.  Although the weather was great in 2009 and all the normal grafts were sucessful, none of the cross grafts took.
This year I tried grafting a Golden Delicious scion to my pear tree.  I did that in the March time frame while everything is still quite dormant.  This is how the graft looks like on 4/27 when the weather started to turn warm and the pear tree blossoms started to develop.

By 5/5, the Golden Delicious scion started to spout along with the rest of the pear tree.

And then, by early July, the leaves are out and the cross grafting of an apple scion to the pear tree was finally sucessful!!!

This graft was done with a single slant splice tied with the normal green grafting tape. I actually removed the grafting tape a couple of weeks ago to inspect the joint and all looked well.  I put the tape back on in case the growth is still not strong enough.  I will remove the tape by late summer or early fall.

One Simple Way to Conserve Water

Generally, it is advicable to run the tap a little bit before drinking the water off a tap, especially if the tap had not been used overnight.  Also, one might just want to run the water till it is cold for drinking or warm for washing hands.  Lots of water can be wasted.  Why not collect the water to use for other purposes in the house.  The water can be used for washing dishes or watering plants.

One easy way to do it is to wash and save a gallon milk or cider jug.  Keep the jug near a faucet so that water can be collected instead of letting it go down the drain.  In our house we collect about a gallon of water every few days.  This is just about enough to water the potted plants inside the house.

Change the Orientation of Your Rubber Gloves

For some reason, my right hand rubber gloves always seem to be the first that develop a leak. Being a right handed person, I guess that I must use my right hand a lot more. I even tried to balance the use of my hands as an experiment to see if I can get the two sides to wear out at the same rate but that did not produce any improvement. The right one always go first. Being a person with conservation in mind, I kept the good gloves when I switch to a new pair. Guess it would be cool if you have a partner that is a left handed person that you can swap with. Unfortunately, we are both right-handed.  Our left hand collection of rubber gloves became so large that I was given an ultimatum to go do something about it or else all my saved gloves go to be recycled.

In desperation, I looked at the box of gloves and an interesting idea came to me. What if I flipped a glove over? Don’t I get a right hand glove then. Well, it worked. The left hand glove turned into a right hand glove. Now I have a box full of semi new gloves to use. Problem solved!!!

Running Shoes Repair

Ever since I was young, I’ve noticed that the heels of my shoes wear out much faster than the other parts. They always wear out at the same spot, and I’ve found that I am not alone. It seems that many people have the same problem. The location may be different for each person, but there is always that one spot that is worn out before the rest of the shoes.

Water-proof Purse from Recycled Plastic Grocery Bags

Preservation of the environment is on everybody’s mind these days. With a little bit of work, one can create different attractive and practical items out of plastic bags. The plastic bags are cut and strung together to make strong and colorful “yarns”.

These are crocheted into bags, mats, and many other things. It seems that these plastic strips can be very strong, water resistant, and can form very interesting color patterns just as you can do with other yarn.

Here is an example of the kind of purse that can be created.

Pebble Bugs

With a little bit of imagination and a set of Sharpie markers, one can turn a simple pebble into a colourful bug. The key is to pick a pebble with the right shape and size. Wash the pebble of any dirt and mud and dry it well. Then colour as desired. Permanent markers such as Sharpie work the best. The white areas for the eyes can be painted on with “White Out” solution. “White Out” is best to use since it dries quickly and is water resistant so other colours can be applied on top of it. However, smaller children should be careful when using “White Out”.

Here is an example of a couple of bugs that can be made. The one on the left is a simple bug with minimum colour applied. The right is covered with brighter colours. For older kids, it would be good to get some pictures of actual bugs and colour the pebbles to make them look like the bugs in the picture. It is also possible to make a family of bugs all with the same colours and/or design. One can also develop some signature colour schemes to generate unique species of bugs.

To get started you can find all the materials at any crafts store. The materials are not really special. The pebbles should be about 1 inch long in size and oblong in shape. Making Pebble Bugs can be a good activity for birthday parties and get-togethers with many children. Painting the pebbles keeps the kids entertained and at the same time allows them to express their creativity.