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

[jvls1942]

customer: Waiter, what's that bug doing in my coffee?
waiter: looks like the backstroke, M;'am..
It hit me today. an apple fritter makes a bad cup of
coffee tolerable.
today I think I will cut the black walnut branches
into 3 ft lengths. then put them indoors to keep
them from rotting.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Pretty much done with winter prep here. Husband is putting up the snow fence along our driveway today, than will get the lawn mowers ready for winter storage. I will probably put up some Christmas decorations. I may or may not be kidding.

I do need to cut some evergreen branches to dress up my empty pots in front of my house, and to discourage the cats from using them as a rest stop.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I love the holiday decorations!

We don't decorate for the holidays here mostly because there is no place to put them for storage.
I still enjoy seeing them though.

We expect snow Monday morning. I suspect it won't be much.

 

[jvls1942]

noon, and I don't have my shoes on yet.
got volenteered to chop veggies and ham for
boiled dinner. tried adding a cup of saurkraut
to kick up the flavor.
also used precut cabbage mix for coleslaw in it.
I will add red pepper to my bowl when it is ready
to eat. not everybody likes red pepper or I would
have put some into the kettle.

 

[jvls1942]

George was here and he left with a large trailer full
of scraps. yaaaaay !!!!!
a cup of saurkraut is just a bit too much for the
boiled dinner. I should have rinsed it. It overpowers
the taste of the veggies and ham. it is still good to
eat, but forget about the boiled dinner taste. let's call it
saurkraut soup.
squirrel no. 13 was on the deck rail today.
I guess I will have to put some bait into the trap again.

 

[Callender Girl]

My mom always said she ate sauerkraut during her entire pregnancy, so I was born loving it. I might be a big fan of your soup, Jim!

Yesterday's weather was beautiful, and I got all but the biggest flower pot put away. I am going to try to move it into storage today; I would shovel out the dirt first, but I want to leave the peacock orchid bulbs in it. They produced great, tall foliage, but no blooms this year. Of course, they might have done better if they had not been methodically pulled out of the pot, one by one, by the geese who apparently don't like my floral choices and find my idea of protective fencing laughable.

Lisa, that photo is both awesome and frightening. Snow in October? No!! Christmas tree and skulls. Okay! Hope you husband got the mowers winterized and put away, I need to clear a bit more space in the garage to be able to drive the rider in.

Had my sister -- who has Amazon prime -- order two more heavy duty tarps so I can put them over the new runs before the first snow. I bought two last year that were recommended by another BYC member, and the tarps held up so much better than the best ones from Menards. Pricey, but worth it.

It is already 60 degrees here, and I am relishing one last hot day. It could get up over 80!

 

[jvls1942]

I am off and running. finally. it took over 20 minutes
to get the computer to work this morning. It seems
to happen every Sunday.
Annie just left to an estate sale a couple of miles up our road.
I am waiting for a lady to show up to look at the antique/vintage
wash stand I put on CL and FB ..
Barb, I always enjoyed my geese. even when they pulled up
my onions and didn't eat them.
for sure, there are still two more red squirrels here. I have to
put bait into the live trap.
the Packers play today. I don't know if I want to watch them
lose again. maybe I will go out and saw up the
black walnut branches instead.
I read that if you put StaBil into the gas, that is all you
need to do to winterize the lawn mowers.
I don't know. I never did it.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I moved a LOT of fallen leaves into the chicken runs. They seem to enjoy that crunching noise lol.
I also straightened up the garden shed. It's amazing how nothing gets put away properly during summer.

Just 67° out but boy did it feel warm.

We use the stabil even in our motorcycles. It really does work.

 

[Callender Girl]

Your garden shed sounds like my garage and its addition. Summer seems to be a reason to toss things in, willy nilly.

Oh, Jim, you were right about the Packers. Hope you got some branches cut so the day wasn't a total loss. As soon as the World Series is over, I will have more time to read because baseball is the only sport I really follow. I grew up watching games on TV with my mom. Dad really didn't watch sports.

I wish I could have raked some leaves yesterday for the sheep-- who don't have any trees in their pasture -- because it was really warm and sunny (except for a weird 10-minute shower that only seemed to hit the south side of the house!). But with winds nearing 40 mph, I skipped working outside.

I ventured out for the sale at Bomgaars but left there disappointed. It was 20 percent off everything that wasn't on sale. I imagined stocking up on feed. However, most of the poultry/livestock feed was on sale for a puny $1 off the regular price, so it was excluded from real savings. I did get discounted dog food, cat food, sheep block and some mouse repellent, so it was probably still worth a trip to town.

 

[jvls1942]

Pretty clever, put all the good stuff on sale and
discount the items that aren't moving so well.
I did not do the tree branches. Someone came
to look at the wash stand. She didn't take it.
Now we have a grey squirrel hanging around. still
have at least one red squirrel, too.
raining today. I am thinking of messing around in
the shop.