Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[jvls1942]

so you have been to our small local town!!?? lol honestly though, more ATV/UTV at our local bars than actual vehicles in the summer.

I told the kids no AC unless the temps hits 95+ outside, as the shade trees keep the house nice and cool, so they have been hiding out in dark areas reading with flashlights

Today is my Friday at work, so lots of meetings. I am counting down the minutes til 3:30

You must have a different work week than we do.
we have AC in 3 bedroom windows. plus a portable unit I have vented out the wall in the living room. our tolerance is much lower than yours.

 

[WIchickMama]

You must have a different work week than we do.
we have AC in 3 bedroom windows. plus a portable unit I have vented out the wall in the living room. our tolerance is much lower than yours.

I work M-Th Yeah my tolerance is pretty good, in sweats and a long sleeve now, no AC

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You must have a different work week than we do.
we have AC in 3 bedroom windows. plus a portable unit I have vented out the wall in the living room. our tolerance is much lower than yours.

I think as we get older we burn hotter up until we reach the age of freezing. I cannot tolerate the heat either.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I work M-Th Yeah my tolerance is pretty good, in sweats and a long sleeve now, no AC

Sounds like you would fit in down south. I have ice in my veins.

 

[jvls1942]

Sounds like you would fit in down south. I have ice in my veins.

i need cooling in the summer and heat in the winter. I have chronic cold feet year round. I guess my regulator needs adjustment.

 

[Callender Girl]

I know it's too darned hot when the weather folks predict storms, and I'm actually excited to think there might be enough rain to cool things down. The storms didn't come to pass, but there is a light rain right now, and it's only 71 degrees with a light breeze.

WIchickMama, you sound like a person after my own heart. This old farm house doesn't have central air, and although I have a portable room AC and a window unit, I don't like air conditioning and haven't installed either yet this year. The house has great ventilation and plenty of trees; combine that with the endless winds of northern Iowa, and I am generally fine with a few ceiling fans and wide-open windows.

Cutting hay for a few critters makes me appreciate that I have a "hay guy." All I have to do is drive the old truck to Gary's, load and unload bales. If he's home, Gary will even help me load. I am down to just two hair sheep and four miniature goats, so lots less hay needed these days.

Had my grass gotten much taller, baling it might have been an option . I don't mind riding the mower -- it's a Husqvarna -- but it terrifies my blind rescue dog. George paces in circles when he's stressed. Outdoors, he races up and down the yard (too hot for that) and paces. Indoors, he paces until his innards can't take it anymore, and he empties them. At least I know what I'm going to find when I come inside. He used to be on medication to help calm him down. It didn't.

I managed to summon up enough motivation to plant a couple of rows of green beans yesterday. Had I actually followed through on my plan for succession planting this year, it would have been my second crop; it will be my first instead. But, at least I got beans planted.

My new strawberry bed -- each planted protected by a handmade cloche of chicken wire -- is doing great. And, my grapes vines are actually tall enough this year to begin using the heavy duty trellis I built last year.

About three years ago, my sister somehow ended up with a tiny blackberry plant in a 4-inch pot. She didn't want it and gave it to me. It looked like it would never grow up. As I was mowing yesterday, I spotted its first-ever bloom! I went back later and there are at least four buds, so while it won't be a bumper crop, at least I can expect a few berries at last. My mature blackberries on the other side of the property are showing lots of foliage but not many blossoms.

Again, thanks for letting me join your thread. If I need to shorten my posts, let me know. As a retired journalist, I tend to want to put EVERYTHING in writing.

 

[WIchickMama]

@Callender Girl don't shorten your posts!

Rain overnight, though it doesn't look like enough to have watered much just raise the humidity outside. My hope today is DH and I go fishing this morning once we get kids to work and summer school. Then we have to put hardware cloth around the ground for the new chicken run attachment and let the ladies out to their new green paradise.

Mowing later and picking up groceries for my in-laws since they don't drive and can't shop for themselves.

Then I think a swimming hole with the kids later or a movie and snuggles, I can't decide

Hope you all have a great day!

 

[jvls1942]

callender girl, if you write it, I'll read it
we have a small river just a few hundred feet behind the house , in the woods. neither of us can walk that far to get to it anymore. No way to drive to it.
going to neck therapy in a little while. I really need it today.
Annie started weeding out the new found grape vines. they go wider and farther into the trees than we first thought. AND, she found two unidentified berry/cherry trees, and a choke cherry tree and some gooseberries in blossom. Looking up we see the electric wires. ahah, the birds' dining area, or should I say, bathroom?
that's how we ended up with three blackberry patches.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Definitely keep chatting all you want @Callender Girl . I talk to myself a lot, so reading about someone else's life is refreshing to me. I can only listen to my own self for only so long.

Wish I had a hay guy, but husband claims he still likes making hay. You can take the farmer off the farm, but he will still likes to drive endlessly in circle doing some sort of field work. I was in charge of the cows, so I guess that's why I still keep a few critters.

Really hoping we get some rain. Too hot out, and stuff is getting dry. Nothing makes me more angry than standing out in the beating sun watering my garden. So if I can avoid that it would be nice.

We put in central air about a decade ago and I've never looked back. Used to do okay in the heat when younger, but now I'm always burning hot.

 

[Callender Girl]

Did you get the hardware cloth up, @WIchickMama?

Hope the therapy went well, @jvls1942

I talk to myself all the time -- I just pretend the dogs are listening to me. It's especially nice when Dinah cocks her head as if she believes I've just said something fascinating.

Isn't it great when birds do the work for you? I keep finding scattered patches of daisies that I didn't plant.

As a kid, I hated picking gooseberries, although my dad loved gooseberry pie. But he always said he wouldn't pick 'em for 'em; that's why had had kids. Gooseberries have nasty thorns, and my sister and I would look like we'd wrestled porcupines by the time we got done. At my old in-town house, I noticed some familiar shrubs growing out back. Yep, the birds kindly gifted me with not one, but two nasty gooseberry bushes. I thought of Dad every time I walked by them -- but I never picked a single berry.

Just like yesterday's promised rain, the overnight precipitation didn't amount to much; the grass is barely wet. But, while I was taking out the dogs a little while ago, I spotted a single firefly in the grass. Then, slowly, there was another and another and another. I love to watch them sparkle in the dark.

It was never my intention to live out here by myself, and I often find the endless list of chores overwhelming. Jim died last year, and many of the tasks that should have gotten done just didn't. Well, that sure isn't making life easier this year.

My ever-expanding bed of irises and daylilies -- with a few yuccas thrown in -- required about two hours of clean up yesterday. Why can't the grass that invades my flower bed choose to live about six foot away to cover the bald spot where the mower was parked for way too long last year? There were also plenty of lamb's quarter and thistles growing around the flowers. That's one flower bed down, and several more to go.

I recently amazed my sister with my tale of repairing the fencing where the goats ripped the woven wire from the fence post. Truth is, until I Googled it, I had no idea how to reattach the fencing. I thought it might require some fancy kind of tool to pound the fence staples in; a simple hammer did the trick.

Hope everybody has a good day!