The Budget Gardener

Jan 3, 2013

Wireless Garage Opener

The Lift Master Remote Garage Opener

Very often after came back from my trip when the taxi driver took me home and found that I forgot where I put my front door keys and I have no garage opener because it was in my car inside the garage! I wanted to install a remote garage opener on the door of the garage so I can open the garage to get inside my house. I have a Lift master garage door opener so I went to the Lift master website to find if they have something to solve my problem. I found that they do have a remote door opener that I can install on my garage door frame designed with a rolling code which is very hard to break, so it is pretty safe. I ordered one from Amazon.com and in a few days, the shipment came.

Liftmaster 877max Wireless Garage Door Opener Keyless Entry
I bought the LM877Max to work with my old Liftmaster garage door opener which was manufactured after 1993. The order came as promised and the instructions seemed very clear. I started to program according to the instructions but after I finished the garage door did not open. I tried and tried but still nothing. I went on the internet to see if I missed something. After a futile many hours of searching still could not find the answer. There was no phone number to call for tech support and the only help line I can find is that I have to register on the Liftmaster website to write an email for help. Luckily as soon as I did that, I got an email back with a phone number to call. I immediately call this number and after a whole long pre-recorded spill, I finally got to talk to a person. The technician was very kind and ask me to go to the garage and take me through step by step to program. After a few minutes the door opened and everything worked. The only different between what he told me to do and the instruction which came with the product was this: Instruction #4. Instead of press and hold the "Enter"button until the light bulb flashes, I have to press the ENTER button 4 times. As soon as I did that, the light bulb flashes and the program was accepted. My question is this: Why did they not change the instruction to reflect this new change? I have no idea. I am glad that it works now.

To my surprise, I found that quite a few of Amazon's customer also had the same problem that I had on the installation, I thought I need to post this so more people can see how this installation procedure can help them.

May 7, 2012

Ultrasound Animal Repeller

Many neighbors have asked me why my yard is so clean and no dog pooh! . I told them that I had installed an ultrasound dog repeller in my yard. This device can produce an ultrasound noise and broadcasts it over a radios of 50 yards. You can also set the sound to repell many different animals including rats, and all rodents - even deers. The installation is very simple, all you need to do is to mount it on a stick, or a tree trunk or any thing that you can mount the device high enough so that it is on the same level of the animal. (in my case - the dogs). Before I installed this device, I have tons of dog poohs on my yard from my neighborhoods dogs and cats. I got so irritated by those people who take their dogs for a walk and use my lawn as their toilets that I tried so many different ways to prevent these dogs from abusing my lawn that I almost gave up and move away from my neighborhood. One day when I was searching for some electronic device in Amazon.com that I came across a device called: Yardgard and found that it was just what I needed. It costs about $40. So I thought to myself that It was worth a try. I had nothing to lose. If it works, I shall be free of all the dog poohs forever. I received the "Yardgard" in two days from Amazon, installed it immediately. By the way, this device also works with batteries if you do not have a power outlet near where you want to install it. The instruction says that it may take a few days to train the dogs to get use to hearing this annoying voice. But once they do, they will not come near this area anymore. I have a video security camera installed outside so I set my motion sensor to alert me whenever there is motion detected. Sure enough, after about a week, I can see the dogs avoiding my lawn whenever they walk by. I have no more pooh problems anymore. Thanks Yardgard!

Apr 20, 2012

Uncle John's beautiful garden in Pasadena, CA

Uncle John lives in Pasadena, California and likes growing beautiful flowers in his backyard. I asked him to send me some pictures of his flowers. Following are his collection of a variety of flowers.

Cymbidium Orchids

Dec 26, 2011

A Home On ZinZan Street

During the holidays, my grand children were asking me to recommend a book for them to read. I was searching the Amazon book section to find if I can see some books that my grand children likes to read. One of my grand child likes to read about stars and planets so I was searching if some books that combines this subject with a dose of fantasy and magic to entice them to hold their interest. I found one that was actually published. This book was written by Howard Webster who wrote quite a few of these books for children. I read the reviews of the book and everyone gave this book a very high rating. Since I have an iPad so I downloaded the book from Amazon and installed the Kindle app in my IPad and started reading the book to my grand children. It was indeed a very excellent book. Not only did my grand children was kept spellbound, I could not put the book down until I finished. Great story. I highly recommend it to all.

Nov 13, 2011

Transplanting season is here

Many people has been asking me when is the best time to transplant. I always want to ask whether they want to transplant a tree or planting a tree because, transplanting a tree is from a tree that is already in the ground and you want to move it somewhere whereas planting a tree from a pot is quite different. The time to transplant a tree is when all the leaves have fallen and before the new leaves come. That is when the tree is dormant. For ever green trees, the timing is more flexible.

Dependent on where you are located, the time to transplant is dictated by this simple fact. In the area where you have snow, the timing is after the first snow falls. That is when the leaves have gone through the first freeze and they start to fall. A good video to watch is one produced by Mikes backyard nursery. http://www.mikesbackyardnursery.com/2011/10/transplanting-tips/

Jun 27, 2011

An interesting way to drive mosquitoes away!

My friend sent me an email about using something you can find in your bathroom to kill mosquitoes and I was so surprised that it works. She said that her friend told her that she used Listerine to spray on the deck and chairs one day out of desperation because she was unable to enjoy her newly built deck in her backyard. Miraculously, it worked. The mosquitoes are killed instantly and the new ones never came back to haunt her. One spray will last for two days. One bottle of Listerine in Target store will cost about $2.00 so it is definitely better than buying the Black Flag chemical spray. For a starter, the Listerine is harmless. You can use it to rinse your mouth as well. I think this is a good short term solution for this pesky problem.

Jun 20, 2011

Chinese Date Tree

It is fascinating to find that Chinese date tree could be grown in the United States. For those who are interested in how to grow a Chinese date tree, it would be good to visit the web site below:

http://www.learn2grow.com/plants/ziziphus-jujuba/

Jun 3, 2011

Press Flower Art

What if we can find a way to preserve the beautiful flowers from our garden. This thought was always in my mind until my cousin showed me the way. My cousin is a press flower artist. He took me to his home and then his art gallery exhibit. My cousin, Dr. Xiao was a trained Medical Doctor from China. After he retired, he pursued a life long hobby of designing and creating press flower art. He has now exhibited his work of art in Foster City, San Mateo, Milpitas, Oakland and Los Angeles. In his spare time, he travels around searching for different species of flower petals, leaves and tree skins and then carefully pressed them to a point that these flowers, leaves and tree barks became paper thin and so preserved these collections to be used in his art creations. He uses different flower shapes to form rock formations, trees, and anything you can think of to create beautiful painting like displays. I took photographs of his art in one of his exhibits and with his permission, I like to share them below. I was using my Iphone camera so it may not give it justice as they deserve. But here it is.