We are feeling very thankful we had power most of the time during our deep freeze! It was below freezing for nine days straight! The temps went down below zero a couple of those days, something that's not usual for this part of the country! So many people lost power and water during the storm. I don't know if it was ever sorted out as to what went wrong with the power grid. Some people may still be without water. We had rolling black outs for a couple of days but they were short intervals. And luckily dh had cut down a couple of trees not too long ago so we had enough wood to keep the fireplace going. But there's no signs of snow here today and the temps are back up.
I'm still trying to make an assessment but it looks like we've lost quite a lot of plants. Sadly, many of the plants in containers, overwintering in the garage look dead; including the citrus trees, banana trees, lemon verbena, Mexican oregano, and I don't know what all else. Other plants in the garage normally die back over winter so those will be a wait and see what emerges. It did get down below freezing in the garage a couple of days. The plants that didn't make it outside are too numerous to name. Boohoo! On the up side, I'll have some vacant pots to start new plants in. Very sad about the Mexican oregano, it was my favorite for cooking. I'm also sad about the dill and cilantro that were doing great but didn't make it. I've already re sown some dill. I think I'll sow some cilantro today.
I'm not sure if the 12 year old Loquat tree will make it. It partially looks alive, so I'm hoping it survives.
One crazy surprise is the catnip that's growing off the front porch like never before! The cat seems happy about it. HAHA!
Speaking of the cat, yesterday he was out in the woods, slinking around like a panther. He's doing great for a 13 year old cat.
Maybe because, like most cats, he spends most of his time napping.
This week I've been trying to get all the tomatoes plants lined up for planting outdoors. The plants have really grown. It looks like our plant out date is a month from today. It's hard to be patient when the weather is so nice. It's time to start hardening them off a little bit anyway. lol
Full tomato list:
Blush (cherry)
Matt's Wild Cherry
Black Beauty
Kakao
Pruden's Purple
Rozovyi Izumnyi (beefsteak type)
Cancelmo Family Heirloom
Black Beauty
Green Zebra
Tigerella
Wapsipinicon Peach
Celebrity, semi determinate
Dwarf Awesome
Burpee's Quarter Century (dwarf)
Dwarf Dainty Usabel potato leaf
There's 6 of the 6' tall tomato cages so I'm trying to decide which of these will get the biggest. Not always an easy task since indeterminate tomatoes vary so much in size and most sites don't give specifics on plant size, focusing on the tomato. But I'll look around, sometimes the info is there. Besides that, growing conditions can vary so much for so many reasons... I'll just do my best. The dwarf varieties are going in containers. The older I get, the more I like container gardening.
So for today, I'm planning to plant out a couple of brassicas. I'm looking forward to it!
Going in the front garden bed:
Mustard 'Dragon Tongue'
Aspabroc Broccoli
The peas are looking good already. Here's one called 'Roveja', a soup pea from Umbria, Italy.
Off to inspect the raised bed. The other day while I was raking the weeds out, I noticed what looked like jumping worms! A lot of them, newly hatched! But coaxed the chicken in there to scratch around so hoping they're gone! I have no idea how they got here but saw a huge, foot long one last year! Hubby said he saw one recently too! They're bad news so I'm keeping an eye out for them!
Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou, Job 35:5
It's been below freezing here since this past Wednesday night. I don't remember a time when we've had a hard freeze for this long. It snowed most of Sunday night and we woke to a beautiful white blanket covering the ground on Monday. Even the pond is frozen over which has never happened here before. I'm really glad we went to town and bought enough seed and suet for the birds. They're everywhere out there!
I filled the suet feeders earlier. Some of the birds sat there as I approached. I guess they're too cold to move! There was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet sitting at one of the feeders, which is the reason I was able to identify it with it's little red marking on the top of its head. I've never actually seen the red marking before so this is the first time I'm able to positively ID! They're so tiny and normally so fast, it's hard to get a good look at them. I hope I get another chance to get a picture.
There's a lot of Red Winged Black Birds! Everyone's sitting all puffed up in the trees, trying to stay warm.
It looks like the hard freeze will continue until this weekend! Wow, that has never happened here before, ever! And more snow in the forecast tomorrow.
Job 38:22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
How exciting! It's only been five days since I planted tomato and pepper seeds and I see sprouts! The first sprout showed up this morning on Dwarf Awesome Tomato. Later today I saw another sprout emerging from Purple Calabash Tomato.
Otherwise, it's a dreary day, cloudy and drizzling.
I harvested some radicchio, 'Rossa di Verona sel Arca' and added it to some stir fry. Good stuff! ❤️ Love growing winter greens!
I sure do enjoy listening to the White-throated Sparrows sing. I noticed a couple dozen of them hanging out in some oak trees near the feeders.
.
On a more somber note, found two White-throated Sparrows on the ground after apparently hitting a window. I really don't like when I hear them hit! I've ordered some window decals that are supposed to deter the birds from flying into the windows. Looking forward to their arrival. I ordered them on line from https://windowalert.com/
Side Note and Warning to others: I just got a text message asking if I made a charge of over 700 dollars through my bank to Saks Fith Avenue. It gave the option to verify Y or N to the charge. Of course I haven't made any charges to Sak's Fifth Avenue so I put NO. Not a minute later I received a call from someone saying they were calling from my bank and they rattled off my phone number and address. Then they asked me if I made a charge to Sak's Fifth Avenue to which I said NO. This guy went on to tell me some pretty convincing dialog indicating that he was removing the charge from my account and would need to cancel my card. During the conversation he asked to verify my personal account code and my SS#! I told him there is no way I was giving him that information and I would call the bank directly to verify any additional personal information. He went back and forth with me, trying to convince me that he was with my bank and I should give him my personal information. When I told him again that I would not give him that information over the phone, he replied by telling me F You!!! F, the four letter word! Wow. Scammer!! I'll be calling my bank in the morning. Beware of phone scams! Don't give anyone your personal information over the phone.
We had snow on Sunday, January 10th. I hope it was our only snow for the year.
Snow on the kale
Through the window
It's time to get started with seed sowing. Already?! That makes me smile.
In line for sowing this Friday:
Tomatoes:
Kakao
Pruden's Purple
Celebrity
Rozovyi Izumnyi
Cancelmo Family Heirloom
Blush (cherry)
Matt's Wild Cherry
Dwarf Awesome
Burpee's Quarter Century (dwarf)
Dwarf Dainty Usabel
Peppers:
Mini Bellpepper mix
Sweet Pepper Neapolitan
Biquinho hot pepper
Dragon Cayenne Pepper
Aji Lemon Drop
Aji Mango
I'm going to start a few other things too. For sure some nasturtiums and lettuce. Haven't decided what else...
I'm happily surprised to see so many birds visiting the suet feeders.
To my wonderful grandchildren: Stay positive! And please reject all negativity, hate and fear!
Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Everything is going to turn out!
Good Bye 2020!! Can't say I'll miss you!
If hindsight's 2020, 2021 should prove very enlightening! Time will tell.
The last full moon
Here's to looking forward!
Cardinals appear when angels are near. I don't know the origin of this quote.
But I do know that cardinals are known as spiritual messengers, sending messages from our loved ones from heaven. I like the thought of that. :)
