Onions

Onions

This may seem like an odd topic to address, but it is a pressing topic at the moment. I was surprised to learn how varied the onion family was and how pretty their blossoms are. The fried "onion blossom" are especially good, not really a flower. Consider these onion pix.

 However, these pretty pictures are not the focus of my post. It is a greater evil - onion skins.

      My house is directly across from an onion processing plant. These folks receive the crates full of onions, both local and from Mexico. The onions are "cleaned" and sorted, bagged and shipped out.

The onions are of three varieties - white, yellow, and purple.

The problem for me stems from the processing of these.

Noise

Once the plants begins to process, the noise begins. There are 5 giant "fans" on my side of the plant. I am not sure what their purpose is, but the noise from these is unbearable. I cannot shut it out when I am inside the house. Having a conversation outside is a shouting match. This noise is almost 24/7 at the peak of processing. For some strange reason, the plant is closed on Sundays.

Litter

As the onion is being sorted, by hand and as it make its way on conveyor belts, the outer layers of skin are shed. These skins are easily carried by the constant south winds that blow in March and April.

This is the biggest culprit. The conveyor belt takes unwanted onions and other refuse to the bin and fills these trucks for ultimate removal. The wind is blowing in your face as you see this picture. The conveyor belt is not enclosed = littering. The top of the bin is screened, but the screen is detached in several places = littering.

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Onion skins at the bottom of the conveyor belt andf all around the truck. These will find their wings in time.

Eventually the flying onion skins make it across the street and into my yard. The location of the conveyor belt and the trash bin and the location of the giant fans are on the west side of the plant - my side. Here is what I have to deal with when the wind is blowing.

 If I did not clean these on a regular basis, the entire lawn would be covered and ultimately suffocate the grass. This has happened before. Raking is too much work. I use the skills I learned from dealing with falling leaves and the leaf blower. I blow the skins to the back fence - going with the wind. Once there, I wet the skins and ultimately collect them.

 This problem has been ongoing for as long as the plant has been there. Unfortunately there has not been someone here at the house to address it as it should . Calls to the plant about the littering have been responded with "we can't control the wind."

I am hoping to be more forceful. I found a city statute that clearly addresses littering. I will also offer some solutions to the owners - sweep the grounds, fix the screens, spray the litter with water regularly and then pick it up. I will wait until the end of the onion season to confront the culprits. I heard that there are 4 more weeks remaining. It could end earliuer if we get a good soaking rain, that stops the harvest. Time will tell.

This has been a good onion skin week. There was little wind Saturday through Tuesday. Today the wind was strong but it was from the North. I don't know what suckers had onion skins on their property. The end is near.

Joe

Electric gate

The idea

    I see my relatives with electric garage door openers. I see the elegant gates on TV open effortlessly and automatically. Why can't I have one? I have a chain-link fence and a gate that requires my getting out of the car to open it and to close it before  I can drive off and after I drive into the property.

The Gate

What is wrong with this picture? The gate opener was installed following the instructions to the letter. I watched the video that showed me how to install and what it would look like after. The video showed the elegant gates I mentioned.

The problem is not with the gate but with the slope of the drive-way. The problem begins about 3 feet from the fence and mainly on the left side. To have an electric gate opener, the solution was to raise the gate to clear the offending surface. It works but it looks bad.

What this means is that the concrete, which is about 4 inches thick, will have to be removed and the area resurfaced. This will allow the gate to be brought down in line with the rest of the fence.

 My brother-in-law loaned me his sledge hammer. It took only a few minutes to find out that my dainty hands were not made to sledge anything. I quickly realized why people were likely to hire Mexican day laborers for this kind of work. I have not resorted to that. I will investigate the renatal and use of a Jack Hammer.