check out the thoughts at the link surface roots.. suckering at 35 feet ... and self sowing seeds .... i quit reading at that point ... TRUST ME .... the best thing that ever happened at my first house.. was getting rid of all the nightmares the prior owners left ... [unfortunately i took me 5 years to learn the lesson.. lol ] ... get rid of them.. invest in some heritage trees worthy of your new investment ... unfortunately i have no clue what those would be in z9 ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Wow, a long way to go in that dust! but backroads are so much more interesting! I figure if you have gas in the tank 'There's no such thing as becoming lost' or in your case 'planned'....TFS! juanital

Hi Julie, What is Silver City like? Gosh, I don't know where to begin. I grew up in Minnesota and am now back here where I started. I really like the climate in Silver City. I used to tell people that it's far enough south to have mild winters but high enough in elevation (6,000ft.) to have nice summers. We'd never get that unbearable heat like El Paso or Tucson. The average annual rainfall is about 16 inches with half of that coming during the rainy season of July and August. Starting on the edge of town is the Gila Nat'l Forest, 1.5 million acres to roam around in. I've always been an outdoors guy and raised 4 sons down there that love to hike and camp as much as I do. The Nat'l Forest ranges in elevation from about 5,000ft to over 11,000 ft. Silver City is about 10 or 12 thousand now, not the sleepy little town that it was when we moved there in 1985. It even has a Wal-mart now. But, to do any serious shopping you have to go to El Paso or Tucson each at least 3 hours away. I don't believe I have any pictures of the town itself, but I could share some of the surrounding areas. Great Mexican food there of course. That's probably one of things I miss the most. You just can't get decent green chile up here. What else would you like to know about? Ron

Thank you all. I have to say, traveling the back roads in Mexico can be an adventure in itself. The ruins themselves are extensive. When we were there we were with another couple. Each couple had 3 kids and we were going through the ruins and came out into a large central plaza. The walls are too high to see over and one room connects to another through a narrow T shaped door. You start to feel like a rat in a maze. All at once we realized our 3 year old wasn't with us. I was just about to push the panic button when he strolls out another door about 20 yards away. He looks around all casual like as if to say "Didn't everybody come out this way?" Ron