The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 2

[ACL1504]

I started out with 48 orange trees.



And this gave me 48 little plastic tree bases.



Back after a lengthy Diet Pepsi break. Actually, I need to get some super trees out of the matte medium where they have been soaking.

[ACL1504]

Instead of poking the orange trees into the foam, I figured I'd just glue them over the grid where the lines cross.





More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I then used white glue and painted it over the entire area where the plastic bases were. I made sure not to get any glue into the holes in the center of the base.

I then spread some good old Florida sand over the white glue. I first prepped the sand. Here is how I prepped the sand.

The Judge and I went to a local school and I got a small bucket of sand from the fence line. I spread the sand out on a baking tray. I baked the sand @ 200 degrees for an hour. This process does several things. It removes the moisture, kills the weed seeds and any bugs that may be buried in the sand.

When dry and cool, I shifted the sand to remove any all junk, like stems, leaves, etc. and etc.

I then shifted the shifted sand to remove larger sand particles. I was left with very fine sand.





More later this afternoon. I need to crop and load more pictures.

[ACL1504]

When I got the sand spread across the area I wet it with water and then added a liberal dose of matte medium.



As the matte medium was drying I used a large screen sieve and "dusted" the area north, south, east and west along the line and over the holes in the plastic bases. I used WS earth for this.


I did the same with a medium size sieve and this time I used the same sand. I tapped the edge of the sieve to get a "dusting" of the sand over the WS earth.




More in a few.

[ACL1504]

The areas between the orange trees are kept weed free but not so under the tree itself. I used a mix of scenic material to add weeds around the bottom of the tree bases.



When the sand and weeds were dry I started adding the trees.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I've never had a snow ball fight and I'm guessing my northern forum friends never had an orange fight.

Growing up in Central Florida in the late 40's to early 60's, a good size orange grove was within walking or biking distance.

Orange fights can hurt, be stinky and very sticky. Tangerine fights were the preferred fruit of the girls as the tangerines were much softer. Yes, the neighborhood girls also participated.

To get a black eye from an orange was like a badge of courage. A large whelp was also a gold star as you got one of those if you got hit in the chest or back with a hard grapefruit.

I always tried to find an orange on the ground that was partially rotten with green mold growing on it. This left the victim with a smelly and sticky juice.

We all had a great time and ended the fight with eating many oranges. We would peal the skin back or take a bite out of the top. We then squeezed the orange to get the juice. We all went home with a red rash around our mouths from the citric acid from the orange peel.

Ah, the good old days.

Okay, the tree planting continues.





I've planted 48 orange trees and have 32 more to plant.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

It appears this small grove is ready for an orange fight as the oranges are starting to fall on the ground.





I'll post more tomorrow evening.

[jimmillho]

I am a transplant from the cold north, Michigan to be exact, and I have been in many a snowball fight.  We moved here (Orlando) in 1961 and built our house in the tail end of a Grove.  We had 22 Citrus trees in our backyard, Orange, Tangerine, and Grapefruit. and I do remember the kids having Orange fights.  There were a lot of Bumps, Whelps, and sticky, stinky kids to clean up.

Ah........the good old days (not)

Jim

[sdrees]

Looks like the oranges are ready for picking and then selling them at the fruit stand nearby.  I helped in the demise of some orange groves in the eastern part of Phoenix in the early 80's building new freeways in the area.

Where I grew up in California, we had rock fights since there were no fruit trees around and now snow.  I had my share of stiches.

The new scenery is looking very good. 

 

[tct855]

I've never had a snow ball fight and I'm guessing my northern forum friends never had an orange fight.

Growing up in Central Florida in the late 40's to early 60's, a good size orange grove was within walking or biking distance.

Orange fights can hurt, be stinky and very sticky. Tangerine fights were the preferred fruit of the girls as the tangerines were much softer. Yes, the neighborhood girls also participated.

To get a black eye from an orange was like a badge of courage. A large whelp was also a gold star as you got one of those if you got hit in the chest or back with a hard grapefruit.

I always tried to find an orange on the ground that was partially rotten with green mold growing on it. This left the victim with a smelly and sticky juice.

We all had a great time and ended the fight with eating many oranges. We would peal the skin back or take a bite out of the top. We then squeezed the orange to get the juice. We all went home with a red rash around our mouths from the citric acid from the orange peel.

Ah, the good old days.

Okay, the tree planting continues.





I've planted 48 orange trees and have 32 more to plant.

More in a few.

My swamp filled layout friend,
          I guess I'm lucky.  I've been fortunate enough to have both rotten orange and snowball fights along with rotten apple fights and on the farm even a couple dead mouse fights. ha.   Thanks for the trip down memory lane T.  Thanx Thom... Oh almost forgot the basic learning curve water balloon fights and the slightly more advanced paintball fights, but always tried to avoid the ever popular political Left/Right fights!

[deemery]

That orange grove looks great!  Good trick to plan the tree bases in the pattern!


dave

[PRR Modeler]

Truly a thing of beauty.  You sir are a artist.

[ACL1504]

I am a transplant from the cold north, Michigan to be exact, and I have been in many a snowball fight.  We moved here (Orlando) in 1961 and built our house in the tail end of a Grove.  We had 22 Citrus trees in our backyard, Orange, Tangerine, and Grapefruit. and I do remember the kids having Orange fights.  There were a lot of Bumps, Whelps, and sticky, stinky kids to clean up.

Ah........the good old days (not)

Jim

Jim,

Thanks for stopping by and you know those WERE the good old day! I'd gladly go back and do it all over again.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Looks like the oranges are ready for picking and then selling them at the fruit stand nearby.  I helped in the demise of some orange groves in the eastern part of Phoenix in the early 80's building new freeways in the area.

Where I grew up in California, we had rock fights since there were no fruit trees around and now snow.  I had my share of stiches.

The new scenery is looking very good. 

Steve,

Thank you for the kind words.

It has been estimated that Central Florida alone has lost more than two hundred thousand acres of citrus groves due to roadways and humanoid expansion. Very sad indeed.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Thom,

You are lucky. You got to throw everything and probably the kitchen sink as well.

No politics here. It just makes me madder than Hell.

Tom