Coach Steve
07-23-2014, 02:16 PM
Living and working in the desert southwest has its unique lists of pros and cons. Sure there's the heat but it's a dry heat, right? And it's no secret that the usual flora and fauna that thrives in most other states has the good sense not to even attempt to exist here, most notably, trees. Oh sure all of the bazillions of master-planned communities are rife with foliage installed by the homeowners who live there and there are even a sparse few planted by the various municipalities here and there just to add some color to the drab beige hue that is the Sonoran desert. And even with all this transplanting taking place, it doesn't come close to "greening up" the landscape.
This lack of naturally occurring trees can be viewed as both a pro and a con I guess, depending on which side of the coin you prefer. On the one hand, the lack of a thick, lush green landscape filled with towering Spruce, Oak, Pine, Alder, etc., provides for an existence without sap, the yellow pollen lots of trees emit, and the autumn months spent cleaning up the discarded leaves year after year. On the other hand, the lack of trees makes for a fairly ugly landscape overall and in my opinion, life is just better with trees - and lots of them.
Growing up in extreme northern California, I was spoiled by the richness and abundant presence of some of the most majestic and wonderful trees on the planet - the oldest living things on Earth to be sure. Living and playing among the Sequoias, the gigantic Ponderosa Pines, the almost surreal Redwoods, etc., while providing a most beautiful place to be alive, was breathtaking, (or would that be breath-giving in this case... Hmm...) it also served to remind one of just how small and seemingly insignificant we as humans sometimes are.
Then, of course, there's the one flaw that nearly all trees possess: SAP!
One of my longest and best customers called me a few days ago and told me they had just returned from their vacation which took them all over the US with their car and as a result, it was in desperate need of some TLC to return it to its usual pristine state of being. This is an enormous 2007 Lincoln Towncar by the way. The last year they made this particular version with the nearly 75 ft. long hood, the 40 ft. long deck lid and if I remember correctly an overall width of about 25 ft. It's a BIG car... you get the idea... lots of horizontal surface area is what I'm getting at.
While on their trip, they spent a good portion of their time at a relative's house in the lush hills of Virginia, an area laden with sap spitting monsters that exist only to ooze their sticky, thick elixir onto what or whomever happens to be well.... anywhere in the state quite frankly.
The owner dropped the car off late Monday night and briefly mentioned "there's a little bit of sap here and there and a few bugs too" which is to be expected from the kind of road trip they took.
Tuesday morning I went out to move the car into my wash bay and noticed the car was glistening like it had been sprinkled with glitter or something. As I got closer, I began to realize what I was seeing was the sun's reflection off of the hundreds of drops of sap which, by now, were proud to announce that they and the car had formed a union which would not be severed anytime soon.
I'll spare you the specifics of what I tried that didn't work in my attempt at an easy removal of the sap with the exception of one: even my 4200 PSI pressure washer with a 25° fan tip placed too damn close for comfort to the finish would budge these droplets from Hell!!
I eventually went old school and removed them using SeaFoam's Bug-B-Gone (which is amazing stuff by the way) and a mf rag I planned never to reuse - ever again, and addressed each drop one by one. I couldn't believe how thick this stuff was. And when I tell you it had no plans of releasing its grip on the car without a serious fight, you can take that one to the bank!
Yes, living in the desert southwest has its pros and cons just like anywhere else. But, one of the biggest pros I can think of at the moment is the fact that trees, for the most part, are non-existent which equates to me as a detailer ever having to deal with sap.
So, to you guys who deal with it on a daily basis, I offer you copious amounts of kudos and an extra large helping of my most sincere respect!!
This lack of naturally occurring trees can be viewed as both a pro and a con I guess, depending on which side of the coin you prefer. On the one hand, the lack of a thick, lush green landscape filled with towering Spruce, Oak, Pine, Alder, etc., provides for an existence without sap, the yellow pollen lots of trees emit, and the autumn months spent cleaning up the discarded leaves year after year. On the other hand, the lack of trees makes for a fairly ugly landscape overall and in my opinion, life is just better with trees - and lots of them.
Growing up in extreme northern California, I was spoiled by the richness and abundant presence of some of the most majestic and wonderful trees on the planet - the oldest living things on Earth to be sure. Living and playing among the Sequoias, the gigantic Ponderosa Pines, the almost surreal Redwoods, etc., while providing a most beautiful place to be alive, was breathtaking, (or would that be breath-giving in this case... Hmm...) it also served to remind one of just how small and seemingly insignificant we as humans sometimes are.
Then, of course, there's the one flaw that nearly all trees possess: SAP!
One of my longest and best customers called me a few days ago and told me they had just returned from their vacation which took them all over the US with their car and as a result, it was in desperate need of some TLC to return it to its usual pristine state of being. This is an enormous 2007 Lincoln Towncar by the way. The last year they made this particular version with the nearly 75 ft. long hood, the 40 ft. long deck lid and if I remember correctly an overall width of about 25 ft. It's a BIG car... you get the idea... lots of horizontal surface area is what I'm getting at.
While on their trip, they spent a good portion of their time at a relative's house in the lush hills of Virginia, an area laden with sap spitting monsters that exist only to ooze their sticky, thick elixir onto what or whomever happens to be well.... anywhere in the state quite frankly.
The owner dropped the car off late Monday night and briefly mentioned "there's a little bit of sap here and there and a few bugs too" which is to be expected from the kind of road trip they took.
Tuesday morning I went out to move the car into my wash bay and noticed the car was glistening like it had been sprinkled with glitter or something. As I got closer, I began to realize what I was seeing was the sun's reflection off of the hundreds of drops of sap which, by now, were proud to announce that they and the car had formed a union which would not be severed anytime soon.
I'll spare you the specifics of what I tried that didn't work in my attempt at an easy removal of the sap with the exception of one: even my 4200 PSI pressure washer with a 25° fan tip placed too damn close for comfort to the finish would budge these droplets from Hell!!
I eventually went old school and removed them using SeaFoam's Bug-B-Gone (which is amazing stuff by the way) and a mf rag I planned never to reuse - ever again, and addressed each drop one by one. I couldn't believe how thick this stuff was. And when I tell you it had no plans of releasing its grip on the car without a serious fight, you can take that one to the bank!
Yes, living in the desert southwest has its pros and cons just like anywhere else. But, one of the biggest pros I can think of at the moment is the fact that trees, for the most part, are non-existent which equates to me as a detailer ever having to deal with sap.
So, to you guys who deal with it on a daily basis, I offer you copious amounts of kudos and an extra large helping of my most sincere respect!!