Lifestyle

Ants seem extremely prolific this season. They are everywhere — tiny ones coming up through the seams of the patio, big red ants swarming under the trees and in flowerbeds and even huge black carpenter ants looking for wood to eat.

On Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m. Casino Fandango in Carson City posted a photo of Ivan Ochoa holding an engagement ring in an open ring box along with the words "Will You Marry Me?"

At 6:06 Ivan drove into the parking lot with Tiffany Attanasio-Melgarejo and stopped his car. Her entire family and a few of their friends were pointing to the marquee. They got out of the car. He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him at which time she said yes. She was so surprised that she was shaking and couldn't breathe.

Trees add significant value to a property. They provide financial benefit for resale, aesthetic value, climate control, wildlife habitat, water and soil protection and air pollution mitigation. In a drought, trees have a few adaptive defense mechanisms that help to reduce water loss. However, over extended periods of drought, tree growth and appearance can suffer and trees may die.

Nevada is the seventh-largest state in the Union. There are 109,781 square miles to explore, from the basin-and-range landscape on the northern end to the scenic desert panoramas in the south. This summer, discover your Nevada on a road trip to Tonopah or Valley of Fire State Park, or maybe drive the U.S. 50-Interstate 80 loop from the Reno-Tahoe area.

I first heard about the Rodale Institute a few decades ago when I used to read their “Organic Gardening” magazine. They have been around for 60 years researching and teaching organic gardening. Through the years, I have turned to the Institute and their well-written books when I wanted reputable information on organic growing.

Time. It is a precious thing, the greatest gift you can give and it flies. Three reasons Jack Middleton doesn't waste his. He, instead, spends his time doing what he loves. So what is it that makes him tick?

Clocks! Many, many clocks. Most of Jack's timekeepers are more than 100 years old. He cleans, fixes and displays them all in his Carson City home. Jack estimates he has about 100. "Easily. You trade a few, you sell a few."

When the whistle blows Memorial Day weekend it will be full steam ahead this summer aboard the historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad, Nevada's authentic train ride through the 1860s Comstock-era Wild West.

Virginia City, Genoa and Incline Village on the shores of Lake Tahoe have been selected among Nevada's 10 most unique towns in the online publication the culturetrip.com.

Noting Nevada is the seventh largest state by area, the website describes the Silver State comes with a "great deal of open space, varying landscapes, and many small towns dotting the terrain." The CultureTrip.com website has previously featured Carson City and Virginia City area landmarks, museums and restaurants as unique or must-see stops for travelers.

For the fourth year, the Capitol City Gun Club in Carson City will be among a handful of sites to host the California Youth Shotgun Shooting Association’s championship shootout. The 1,200 participants will compete at five venues in Northern California and Carson City from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2.

Carson Victory Rollers battle the Auburn Outlaws Roller Derby team this Saturday, May 2. Doors open at 4 p.m. and you can watch the Carson Junior Victory Rollers scrimmage at 4:30 p.m. April Slams Bring May Jams bout begins at 6:30 p.m. Come out to the Marv Teixeira Pavilion at Mills Park and watch the action.

Tickets: $7 Presale; $10 at the door; kids 10 and under are free.

Extreme drought in the West draws attention to what a precious resource water is. Of all the water on Earth, only a small amount is available for us to use. Since 97 percent is salt water, there is only three percent fresh water for the world to survive on. Of that, slightly over two percent is stuck in glaciers and icecaps.

Yet, even with such a small percentage of fresh water available, we put 50 percent of our home water into our landscapes, often wasting about 50 percent of that by applying it ineffectively or unnecessarily.

Laura Pradere, 13, will go into this weekend’s U.S Bird Dog Western States National Championships with the confidence of one championship already under her belt.
“I’m still kind of nervous,” she said, “but I think having one national title is an advantage.”

She won the youth division of the North American Gun Dog Association championship in Wiggins, Colo., last month. This competition will be in Mound House, just up the road from the Pradere Ranch in Dayton, where her family has lived for five generations.

Apples picked fresh off the tree taste so delicious, until you look at your half-eaten apple and find a worm or the brown mess left by a worm. If you had apples with worms last year, it is likely you will have wormy apples this year too, unless you take precautions.

Worms in apples are the caterpillar larvae of codling moths. These relatives of butterflies also attack pears, plums and walnuts. Each female moth lays 30 to 70 tiny disc-shaped eggs singly on the fruit, spurs or nearby leaves. After hatching, the white to light pink “worms” with dark heads bore into the fruit.

Both Nevada State Senate and Nevada Assembly in Carson City will open Friday with Hindu mantras containing verses from world’s oldest existing scripture. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed of Reno will deliver the invocations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures before both state legislative houses.

After Sanskrit delivery, he then will read the English translation of the prayers. Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Western Nevada College celebrates Mother Earth with a variety of activities and free film screenings at the Carson City and Fallon campuses. The events are designed to generate conversation and enhance understanding about the environment.

In addition, Geology Professor Winnie Kortemeier will offer a free lecture on the Geology of America’s National Parks on Friday May 1.

We prune shrubs for a number of reasons. We want to remove dead or diseased wood. We may feel the shape of the plant needs improving and choose to prune branches that cross or stick out. Another important reason to prune is to maintain or improve flower production.

Timing is important with each of these, but particularly important to increase flowers. Often people get the urge to prune everything in the spring, not realizing that may be the worst time to prune flowering plants such as lilac, if you want to have flowers.

With April 15 looming on the horizon, Nevada Humane Society is offering you the perfect Tax Day Tax Break — a companion of the four-legged kind.

Nevada Magazine’s 18th annual Best of Nevada readers’ poll is underway, and votes are continuing to pour in. The survey allows Nevada lovers to vote for their favorite restaurant, hotel, museum, bar, and more. This year, family-friendly categories have been added.

Local celebrities and community leaders are coming together to raise money and awareness for homeless pets! Heels & Hounds, a premier fashion show and champagne brunch, will take place on Sunday, April 19 at Atlantis Casino Resort Spa from 10am until 2pm.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2015 the International Year of Soils to raise the awareness of the importance of soils for food security, clean water and other essential ecosystem functions. Soils are a hidden resource that we too often take for granted.

It takes between 100 years to 1,000 years to form one centimeter of healthy soil and only one to 10 years to destroy it. This valuable, but often unrecognized, resource is threatened by erosion, natural disasters, salinization, compaction, acidification and nutrient decline.

In the 19th century, the darker side to life in Virginia City was often overlooked; it just wasn’t proper to talk about. Even today when tales are told of Virginia City, its rich Comstock history, wooden boardwalks, mine tours, paranormal activity and even its nationally recognized special events take center stage. The Historic Fourth Ward School Museum & Archives is changing that with its May – Oct. 2015 exhibit, “Every Man Has The Right To Go To Hell In His Own Way.”

CARSON CITY — Dennis Hof, owner of the world-famous Bunny Ranch legal brothel, star of HBO's hit series "Cathouse," and best-selling author of Judith Regan's "The Art Of The Pimp: A Love Story" is adding the title of "job creator" to his resume with the announcement that he is now hiring a team of "brothel testers" to oversee "quality" control at each of his seven Nevada legal brothels.

"The job is exactly what it sounds like," says Hof. "You get paid a full-time salary to have sex with beautiful girls--and then evaluate their performance."

The horticulture world is fascinating with many topics to explore. Did you know that “the average carrot travels over 1,800 miles to get to our dinner plate?” Or that “93 percent of our food dollar pays processors, packagers, distributors, wholesalers, truckers and the rest of the infrastructure that a global food system demands?”

Finally, with the fact that “preschool children served home-grown produce are more than twice as likely to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day as kids who rarely eat home-grown produce,” more people are interested in growing their own.

“Looking for God” — the seven-week long discussion about religion and God lead by experts of various religions/denominations will be launched on May 6 in Minden.

Organized by Shelby's Book Shoppe owner Linda Finch and religious statesman Rajan Zed, it would provide a platform for Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish leaders to give scholarly presentation about their faith and approach to the divine and answer questions from a diverse audience. A religion professor will delve into the history and future of the religion.

The legendary 1860s mail carrier trail known as the Pony Express, which used horses and riders to deliver letters and parcels from Sacramento to east of the Rockies, remains a big part of Nevada's Wild West history because the trail went through the Silver State. Beginning next month the Pony Express will become a permanent fixture and a Carson City visitor destination.

Distributed exclusively through Reno-based Sapphire Family of Wines, Speak Wines is now available at Aloha Discount Wine & Liquors located at 4555 South Carson Street at the south end of Carson City.

Although the year-long celebration is over there are still opportunities to show your Nevada pride including a limited-edition Nevada 150 license plate. The commemorative plates were designed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Nevada statehood and will be available for purchase through 2016.

Pea planting time is here. I love shucking peas and eating them like candy. I also like eating tender pods right off the vine. The good news is that peas are easy to grow. Garden or English peas are grown for their seeds (the peas) and snow peas, sugar peas and sugar snap peas are grown for their edible pods.

Garden peas can be either climbers that need the support of a trellis or low-growing varieties. Snow peas also come as climbing vines that need a trellis or as low-growing varieties. Sugar snap peas grow on tall vines and require a trellis for support.

I recently wrote I couldn’t imagine my life without being able to work in our yard. I also mentioned University of Nevada Cooperative Extension would be holding classes for the maturing gardener. Our workshop series “Gardening Smarter as We Mature” will begin March 11 and continue on April 8 and May 14 from 10 a.m. to noon at local Cooperative Extension offices.

Deer thrive in Carson City. In fact, a permanent resident herd breeds here each year, never migrating anywhere else. Deer can be seen throughout town from the foothills to the Capitol walking down streets, jumping fences and living in people’s yards.

These urban deer have become accustomed to people and dogs and have little fear. Some people in the city think there is a deer problem when their landscapes are damaged repeatedly, their fruit eaten and plants destroyed. Others think the deer are a wonderful part of nature and love seeing them daily. They may even feed them.