Here’s a shout out to all of you who are lacking air conditioning at home or at the office. We’re sweating it out with you here at the Red Phone. And while we’re talking about the heat …
Here’s a shout out to all of you who are lacking air conditioning at home or at the office. We’re sweating it out with you here at the Red Phone. And while we’re talking about the heat …
If we could choose any profession in the world, our top choice would be a weather man in San Diego. Does it get any easier? Sunny and nice, every day. Unfortunately, figuring out the exact temperature here seems to be a little bit more difficult.
“I’m curious as to when when you call 842-1711 for temperature and time, where does that temperature generate from?” a curious caller asked the Red Phone. “For Gilroy, what comes off of that message is usually, like, anywhere 5 to 10 degrees higher than what’s finally reported on the evening news.”
Well, who do you trust more? We here at the Red Phone say the good weatherman.
When you call 842-1711 for the current time and temperature, you’re actually calling a service provided by Verizon. According to one Verizon spokesman, the temperature comes from Gilroy, but it’s not necessarily accurate.
“The temperature gauge is on a building where our central office is located in downtown Gilroy,” he said.
However, he said the temperature is not guaranteed to be accurate because the gauges are not regularly calibrated. And, since we called about the line, the recording stopped stating the current temperature.
In other words, unless you want to start keeping tabs on the temperature yourself, you’re better off trusting the evening news … or moving to San Diego.
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Onto another summer topic – the garden. We received an
e-mail from a reader who wants to know if they should give up on their tomato-less plant that hasn’t produced any fruit yet.
“We bought two tomato plants at a nursery to grow in an earth box on out patio. The plants look very healthy and are growing rapidly but there are no buds or signs of them. Do we throw them away and start again?”
For this question, the Red Phone turned to our own garden expert, Keith Muraoka, whose column runs weekly in The Dispatch Life section (Can anyone say shameless plug?).
“You’re talking about a good six weeks before they get flowers that turn into the fruit,” he said. “I put mine in two months ago, and I’m just getting flowers.”
Thanks, Keith. Any other tips for those tomato growers?
“They like hot weather, and make sure it’s in full sun as much as possible,” he said. “Don’t over water them and don’t over feed them.”
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And, shocking us all, we received our first Red Phone caller who had something to praise something rather than complain about it.
“Those wires and poles coming down along Santa Teresa actually looks pretty good, even if it took them 12 months to do it,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be great if they follow it up with some landscaping? How about that?”
Just give it a little time. … According to the original plans for the Santa Teresa renovation project, soon ivy will be grown and crawl against the new soundwalls, while young oak and cedar trees and various flowering shrubs will line the road’s median.
Hopefully, soon Santa Teresa won’t just be a smoother drive, but a prettier one to boot.
RED PHONE: (408) 842-9070
