What's happening to Lowe's hill?

A thousand pardons, dear friends and readers, I hadn't realized what an absolutely grinch-ly post this was for Thanksgiving Day!!! Right now is the time to thank you all for your continued interest and loyalty to these almost daily notes. And I thank Blogger for making it easy for me to continue to play at being a journalista -- this adventure has been wonderful.

The cut in the hillside made when Lowe's set up shop in Prescott is a very visible eyesore. And not just when you're tooling down SR69 in the vicinity of the big box. This picture is taken from a hill to the west of Park Avenue, for heaven's sake!

A couple of closer views of the big scar, including all those white pipes, presumably to water the non-native pines that were planted up the hill.

On my most recent trip over to Costco, something was afoot. First piece of evidence, the water tank, which is always johnny-on-the-spot when a lot of earth is going to be moved.

And there's the earth, being moved. Somewhere. I certainly hope that the Lowe's landscapers have learned a thing or two about arid country plantings since their first attempt. They could still do worse than investing a couple $ thou in annual seeds: California poppies for spring, sunflowers for summer and autumn.

Apostrophe Abuse: It is almost overwhelming today; more and more plurals are spelled with an apostrophe separating the "s" from the rest of the word. Wrong. WRONG. W*R*O*N*G!!! And yet I've caught myself and others who should know better including that dang punctuation mark incorrectly. All by way of introducing Oatmeal's excellent post on the proper usage -- go there right now! And for a eyeful of how bad it is out there in the real world, visit Apostrophe Abuse.

Retaining wall example

It's been how many months since the Lowe's wall fiasco? How many months that the matter is being studied to determine the Absolutely Best Possible Fix for the great hole in the non-retaining wall? Tho I don't have the answers right at hand, I was reminded of another approach to necessary cuts in the mountainside. Pictured here is an admittedly small cut in what looks like volcanic rock in order to create a delivery/parking area behind the Peridot over on Bradshaw.

A heavy-duty mesh holds back the inevitable collection of eroding rocks that would land on the pavement. It's held in place by a number of heavy-duty bolts right into the mountainside. Not only is the arrangement utile, but it's also rather photogenic, if the light is just right.

To be perfectly fair, volcanic rock is a lot more cohesive than the canyon full of fill dirt that Lowe's is dealing with. But they should have thought of that way back when!

The misadventures of Lowe's

On the left, the modest manufactured homes of retirees in Prescott Canyon Estates. To the right, the denuded hillsides that surround the new Lowe's. Not visible from SR69: the built-up embankment between the big box's parking lot and the lower reaches of the subdivision.

That's where a wall lining the embankment gave way in three different locations, damaging one home. As you can imagine, a major civic hoo-rah has ensued. Inasmuch as we are enjoying another major Pacific storm, I would expect a few more tiles to drop in the next couple of days. But then the experts are presumably working to solve this problem. What about those ugly scars?

There's Lowe's, at the left. I wonder how long it will take for moisture to work other wonders on these barren hillsides. Our dry countryside is not desert -- but local plants are are a slow growing lot and the scattered junipers that the hired landscapers have planted look mighty sparse and lonely up there.

Yet the Lowe's folk could score a cheap public relations coup simply by spending a several thou on California poppy seed and covering those hillsides with blossoms this spring.

A few intense patches of bear grass here and there, interspersed with major plantings of cliff rose, sun flower and Apache plume would help, as would greater generosity in the number of junipers. Just contrast the landscape junipers with those in the untouched hillside below. Oh -- I guess some scrubby little turbinela oaks would fit in this as well.

But do pass the word to the Lowe's landscapers: plenty of California poppy seeds this year. It would cheer everybody up remarkably.

Commentary on Comments: It's always great when a post inspires readers to drop by with their comments. Especially when the subject is highly local -- and the commentators are old-timers who contribute new insights, as is happening to the notes I made about the "Empties on Miller Valley". Scroll down to read the latest! And, BTW, if you've never made a comment, don't be shy -- I'd love to hear from readers in Aliso Viejo and Tampa and Bradner and Las Vegas and Vienna, as well as anyone or everyone else!