THE ARBOR DOCTOR

This week’s US Drought Monitor shows abnormally dry conditions re-establishing in the Ohio valley, especially in southern Ohio and northeast Kentucky.  Drought lingered in these areas through the end of 2008.  While a couple good winter storms eased the drought, these areas never got regular, deep rainfalls.  Rainfall at my Cheviot 0.9SSE location has been under 2 inches per month in February and March.    It has been uncanny how ALL recent storms have failed to produce more than a quarter of an inch of rainfall.  As temperatures warm, the rainfall deficit will become more apparent and significant unless we can start to get some rainfall.

An active weather pattern is anticipated over the next week.  Hopefully, the anticipated systems will help us with our defecit.

http://www.cocorahs.org/Maps/ViewMap.aspx?state=usa

 Click here for details about severe weather awareness week in Ohio.

Daily CoCoRaHS observations have been added to the National Weather Services “Observations” web page.  This is a great resource for tracking the subtle nuances of rainfall variation during the growing season.

Wilmington Observations Site

Local CoCoRaHS data

CoCoRaHS website home

Cincinnati Police Sergeant Bezdek sent this email out and is asking for our help.  For those of you that do not know Bryce, he was critically injured on duty a few years ago as he was assisting in the stop of a fleeing car and suffered a life changing brain injury.  Bryce is still on his remarkable road to recovery. Friday March, 20, 2009. This may be a little unusual, but I’m asking that this email be distributed via your email systems as widely as possible.   

Bryce’s wife entered a contest for her and her family to win a trip to Disney World.  Since I and others received his request for help over 11,000 votes have been logged for his wife’s entry to win the contest.  Voting ends

The FOP would like nothing more than to see all 325,000 FOP members vote for Bryce, his wife, and two lovely children a more than deserved dream vacation.  You may support this worthy cause and this true hero no matter what walk of life you are in.

Please follow the link below.  You may vote once every day. 

http://modernmom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=125&t=6472

Funding for cooperative extension services in Ohio is again being threatened.  For more information, click here.

Cooperative extension was started in the 1800′s to disseminated research information to farmers and has expanded over the years to include the horticultural industry.  This dissemination is important to those of us in horticultural businesses.

Cocoa bean mulch may have toxic properties for pets, especially dogs.

Harold Bates of the Hamilton County SPCA reported on this danger on the news.  My own research incicates that while no cases are on record of dogs dying from ingesting cocoa bean mulch, mulch that has not been heat treated will contain a toxic chemical.  Read more here.

Bates recommends reading the label on bagged mulch or talking to the mulch supplier if you buy in bulk to insure it has been heat treated.  This applies only to cocoa bean mulch.  Remember too that it is the chocolate that contains the toxin, so never give chocolate to a pet, especially a dog.

I sometimes get calls as to why we charge what we do.  After all, “Jim Bob’s” Tree Service is less expensive! 

Besides the educational programs we attend, we have numerous licences we are required to maintain and fees we are required to pay.  I am in receipt of the following humorous yet poignant “letter” which makes a good point about the skyrocketing cost of doing business and the insensitivity of government to small business:

I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog license tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting license tax, fishing license tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, Medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle license registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can’t recall but I h ave run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangel, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Daschle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner.. No penalties and no interest.

 
P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Of course, this is a humorous letter, and it misses a number of other taxes and fees a business like ours is required to pay, but you get the point.  It’s not getting any better, you may have noticed!

A big warm-up will be kicking off today and continuing into next week, but winter is not finished with us.

Temperatures may make a run at 70 Saturday.  The next 7 days will likely lead many trees to bud. 

By the middle and end of next week, it appears another push of arctic air will try to take over.  If it makes it as expected, we could be in for another extended period with lows well below freezing, so sensitive flowers such as magnolias could be in trouble.

In the meantime, enjoy the break!

 

8-14 day outlook

March is Kentucky Severe Weather Preparedness Month