[Non-native] Coloradoan reporting

[Jukebox Actual]

PNW native (Seattle). Lived a handful of years in Maryland before moving to Belgium (that's Europe, kids) for another number of years. Moved back to Seattle before finally ending up in Colorado where my girlfriend is from.

Formerly enlisted US Marine (2002-2006), multiple combat tours in Iraq. I volunteered (colloquially; mercenary) with the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine (ILDU) in 2002, for 6 months when Russia invaded Ukraine. It was less about being pro-Ukraine, and more about being anti-Kremlin. Politics aside, I refused to sit by and watch entire villages of innocent people be slaughtered, so when Ukraine put out the word for "skilled warfighters" to come help, I dropped everything and answered the call. I was injured during combat operations and after a 6-week hospital tour, I returned to the frontlines only to be reinjured a month later. I subsequently returned to the states to heal, and then my girlfriend got pregnant. That triggered my official retirement from the battlefield.

Now broken, lost and overwhelmed by the polar shift from "taking life" to "creating life"... I garden. I guess because It's calming, and I can largely go at my own pace. I'm held accountable for each mistake made. It's still a form of structure that I desperately need.

Feel free to inquire about ALL THE THINGS. Thanks for having me, again.

Cheers,

-Fox; AKA Jukebox-

 

[Mike]

Wow, you've had quite the life already! Reminds me of a song "I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere".

Anyways, welcome to the site and thank you for your service! I'm glad you've found some peace in gardening. A lot of folks who come back from that, unfortunately, don't find that peace, as I'm sure you well know.

My first question is, where did the name Jukebox Actual come from?

 

[Meadowlark]

Welcome to this forum and to gardening. Seems like southern Colo might be a tough place to garden so you will have your work cut out for you.

 

[Jukebox Actual]

Wow, you've had quite the life already! Reminds me of a song "I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere".

Anyways, welcome to the site and thank you for your service! I'm glad you've found some peace in gardening. A lot of folks who come back from that, unfortunately, don't find that peace, as I'm sure you well know.

My first question is, where did the name Jukebox Actual come from?

Thank you for having me.

Jukebox comes from when I was a legionnaire. Before I merged into another unit (Alpha), I was in a sort of temporary forming unit (unnamed) in the far west of the country. It was basically where they gathered all the volunteers until they had a sizeable group to transfer to the next safehouse, and so on, until finally reaching the unit that needed your qualifications best, on the eastern front. Anyway, there I was "Fox". When I merged to Alpha, they had a "Fox" already, so I had to have a different callsign. Callsigns are generally chosen for you by members of your unit. It was noted that I sing/hum constantly, but almost always much older tunes (I was raised by grandparents) that are often associated with jukeboxes (I guess...?). It took a single comment; "you're like a living jukebox, always singing man", and "Jukebox" was born. The "Actual" part of a callsign denotes that I'm the original or leader, say if I had an entire team that answered to the callsign Jukebox. I would always be Jukebox Actual. It's easier for HQ to remember one callsign versus twelve, and it's a quick way for everyone to identify who the leader of the group is.

 

[Jukebox Actual]

Welcome to this forum and to gardening. Seems like southern Colo might be a tough place to garden so you will have your work cut out for you.

It has been quite the challenge already. It's nothing like my lush 9a zone in the Seattle area. I had to learn about and introduce drip irrigation and sunshades so far.

 

[Meadowlark]

Drip irrigation can be very effective...especially in a climate like you have.

 

[Jukebox Actual]

Drip irrigation can be very effective...especially in a climate like you have.

Now if I can find a cheap and sustainable method for mitigating the wind. Last season I had some squash plants in a particular corner of the yard that got battered so heavily that by the end of the season their main vine was as big as my forearm. Being relatively new to squash, maybe that's normal, but they were 2-3x as thick as the rest of the garden.

I'm currently using a milk crate wall on the outside of the fence to help, and on the inside, I have the old sunflower stalks that I'll likely weave through the fence. I tend to drop the sunshade down very low on that side during extra windy times.

 

[Meadowlark]

It might be too much trouble but those wind guards they put up on outside tennis courts are very effective.

 

[Jukebox Actual]

It might be too much trouble but those wind guards they put up on outside tennis courts are very effective.

I'll have to look into this.