Flowers, Birds and Fog

Just a few things:

We've had at least one dandelion blooming in the yard each month ALL winter.

Our crocuses are croaking and the mini-irises are up and blooming. The daffodils are not far behind. I've noticed quite a few already blooming around the area.

There's been a pair of goldfinches at our feeders for the last week or so. I usually only catch a flash of yellow when they're in flight. The only other place I've seen one is on the chicory flowers at Howell Farm. Goldfinches are the New Jersey state bird and I've seen more here in Tenn. than I ever did in NJ.

There have also been a couple of nuthatches in the pear tree and on the pole that holds feeders, another rare sighting.

The killdeers are back after about a two week hiatus. Noisy buggers. And the robins were gone for about the same length of time. Now the place is crawling with male robins getting ready to stake out territory.

It rained off and on today and was in the high 50s. Then this evening when it started cooling off, fog started developing at the bottom of the yard near the chicken coop because it's cooler there than up near the house. I've noticed that cool-air-flowing-downhill phenomenon other times when I go down to close the chicken coop for the night. It's only about a 6 foot difference in elevation, over about 100 feet, but there is a definite change of temperature. It could be because the slope going up to the neighbor's property is about the same grade, but longer, at least 200-250 feet, so ending up with a 12-15 foot difference. In the other direction, the yard is flat for about 200 feet, then drops much more steeply, 15-20 feet in only 100-150 feet distance, which sucks the cold air down. So that cold I feel by the chicken coop is probably just passing through.

If it doesn't stop raining so much, there won't be any worms left in our soil. They keep crawling out onto the concrete carport and dying there.

I saw barn cat, Camille, take a leap at a cardinal today. She missed. But I know she gets them every so often because I've found red feathers on the ground near the feeders.

Cole crops, Warping

Well, DD is all moved back in. At least this time she's gotten a rent-to-own storage building to keep a lot of her s**t in.

DH and I spent some of the day yesterday transplanting the seedlings that are threatening to take over the little hothouse. The bigger ones and a lot of the multiples that were split up went into 4" pots. The smaller ones that were singles I just left in their cells, and some of the smaller of the multiples were put back into cells after they were separated. So even though we planted 25 of each (Chinese cabbage, green Pak Choi, red Pak Choi, and broccoli), and only about 16-17 cells of each came up, we still ended up with 24-25 of each kind. We're not doing lettuce this year, so as many as possible will go into the raised beds at the bottom of the yard in a week or two, where they'll be protected from wind somewhat and will get afternoon shade once the trees leaf out. If I knew they would grow so fast, I would have waited another week or two to plant. Oh wait, that's right. I WANTED to wait a week or two and DH insisted on planting when we did. Rush Rush Rush So then the plants have to wait for the soil to be dry enough to work, not easy when we get rain twice a week, and they get overgrown.

Right now we have to keep the plants in the hothouse - really only warm right now from the lights - especially at night. During nice weather, I put them outside, since the sunshine is better for them than fluorescent lights. I have heat mats but only use them for starting seeds, not for growing plants once they've sprouted and have a true leaf or two. I'll break them out again in a few weeks when I start the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.

I spent a few hours at friend PG's house today, helping her get her new rigid heddle loom warped. When I left she was itching to play more and promised to have a 6 foot shawl (scarf?) all done by Saturday. She'll be coming to the Limestone Creek meeting on Saturday, so I'll show her something else she can do besides plain weave. I just measured out a warp for my rigid heddle last Friday. I think I'll get started warping, just to get it wound on. I'll wait till Saturday to thread the holes.

One Day At A Time

Oh joy. (Do you sense the sarcasm there?) DD (the boomerang child) is returning next weekend. She's in the process of packing up all her stuff in the house where she lives with her now-ex-boyfriend (let's call him Ambrose). Ambrose announced the other day that he wants to break up. He's not kicking her out, but they are no longer a couple. What? So anyway, we have to rearrange the house (again!) to accomodate her. But now she has a new job, one that I hope she'll keep for at least three years, so she's getting a rent-to-own storage building, which will be paid off in (you guessed it) three years. It's only 9 x 12, but it should hold the majority of the big stuff, with boxes and such tucked in here and there between things. And I lose my "craft" room (again!), so the spinning wheels come back out into the living room, the small looms get relocated to wherever they fit in my bedroom, the various bags of wool and the cones of weaving yarns get put into storage tubs and put in the attic, the bureau with the tablecloths and junk towels (for cleaning up after dogs, etc.) moves back to my bedroom, the little table with my drum carder on it goes back to the office, and the plastic shelving unit goes back to my bedroom. Got some of this done yesterday and will do more tomorrow and on through the week.

BIL #3 was here this past weekend for the beginning of the drama. DD's ex and ex-MIL will be here this coming weekend for DGD's birthday, so they get to see the middle of the drama. Then sister and BIL #1 will be here the weekend after THAT. I hope to be through with all the moving of stuff by then, but there is no end to the drama. Once she's here, it just takes a different form.

I don't know why I bothered retiring.