No Snow, But...
Ruins from the Days of Paul's journeys
It's Frikkin FREEZING out here, Mr. Bigglesworth!
ML/LTOS
It was very wet and heavy. Temp warmed a bit. I shoveled a path to the compost container, and hubby cleared a patio and path to the trash can, and to the driveway.
I now have 3 tomatoes starting and several flowers, still have blooms on the lemon tree. Flower stalk on the aloe vera is getting bigger-anxious to see what it looks like.
The thyme is really starting to pick up-summer nearly killed it. Rosemary has lasted longer than I've ever been able to keep it going inside before-inside the green house on a table with the crockpot this year.
We have picked out a fireplace insert from on-line shopping and found a supplier in the next town over. So we will be calling and talking about that on Monday.
Enjoying looking through a few catalogs. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to load tax software. The disc drive hasn't launched the auto install, and I haven't been able to figure out what the problem is.
I have several instructions on various possible solutions, but so far none have worked. I plan to try my laptop to see if that will work sometimes next week.
Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Hydroponics is what I do, wish I knew how to post a picture!
Pinging the List.
A lemon tree? You have a green house?
What kind of fireplace insert are you looking at? We have a Country brand wood stove insert. I would recommend getting double walled stainless steel chimney plumbing with about 6-inch inside diameter. I started with single walled regular steel plumbing and the organic condensates that formed right where the plumbing was exposed to outdoor temps corroded right through in 5 years. The condensates are very acidic. The double walled type plumbing insulates to minimize the condensation and the stainless does not corrode.
We just had a snow storm that was about 8 inches and the low tonight is supposed to be about 11F. Right now it is 18F, but with the stove blazing it is 75F inside. We also have propane powered hot water baseboard radiant heat, but keep the thermostats set at 60F.
This morning we’re wet & slushy snow/ice - we had snow until the wee hours, then some sleet/freezing rains. Temps are now above freezing so it’s all rain ... might return to snow again this afternoon. At least with this storm, we did not need to get out the big tractor to clear the driveway.
Friday, I made two batches of Blackberry Merlot Jelly from some blackberries that were bought & frozen a good while back. In mid-November, when I harvested the pepper bushes for the last time, I had enough red jalapenos for only one batch of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly & enough green ones for one batch of “Cowboy Candy” (first time I’ve made this recipe - still waiting for feedback to determine if I’ll make it again).
The extremely wet conditions last summer resulted in a very low tomato crop - some relatives, living about a 100 miles away, had almost total garden failures - most gardens in that area were just plowed under. No salsa was made last summer - very disappointing.
It’s been so wet the last couple of months that I cannot do any of the projects around here that I want to do this winter - fields are so soggy that pulling any sort of a cart results in bogging down. Last week, my dad got his golf cart stuck in a field & we had to pull him out with the garden tractor. It took several tie-down straps to do it because we had to keep the garden tractor fairly far away and on high enough ground that it didn’t get stuck, too. Even so, the tractor’s back wheels were doing some spinning at times & I had to change position twice to the wheels from spinning/making ruts.
We’ve had some mild days in December & early January that have had me longing to be able to get started & plant the garden, but of course it’s months too early (& I don’t have a green house). The Polar Vortex has split & long range weather for us looks “arctic” so we’ll just have to hunker down & ride out what looks like some true, cold winter weather on the way & maybe more snow storms in the near future .... while we stay warm & enjoy our Blackberry Merlot jelly! :-)
Recipe if anyone wants it - this stuff gets rave reviews & people I’ve given it to are all but begging for a jelly jar refill:
Just got my rareseeds.com catalog from Baker Creek Seed Co.
Full color glossy like a magazine. drool
Nanner and I spent 5 hours plowing out today.
