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

[jvls1942]

I watered my garden yesterday and forgot to turn off the house for an hour and a half. One box got watered well. Was apparently too hot to think straight. I nearly got heat stroke. I cannot tolerate heat. Bring on the snow.

be careful what you wish for..

 

[jvls1942]

today I did a long overdue job. I prepared last
year's garlic for the freezer.. some of it was bone dry, but
a lot of it was OK.
as long as I was outside near the apple tree,
I picked up a bunch so Annie can make a pie.
I peeled and sliced them, She makes a better pie
than I can. She makes it look so easy..
there was not a blemish nor a worm in any of the apples.
that tree grew from a tossed out apple core about fifty years ago.
I never sprayed the tree. and in all that time we never
had a blemish nor a worm.. don't ask me why....
I lost a hearing aid outside this morning. didn't
realize it until I came in and turned the TV on.
with my bad eyes, I C S S.. t I told Annie the
route I walked, she found it near the mailbox..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Glad Annie found your hearing aid Jim. Those aren't cheap. My apples don't look too bad this year. Probably because it's so dry nothing can grow on them. Volunteer seedlings always seem to be much healthier.

 

[jvls1942]

last night was cool windows wide open sleeping night.
today it is supposed to be cool ish..
we didn't get any of those scattered showers yesterday.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Definitely much nicer out today. Be nice to shut the air conditioning off tonight and open the windows again.

 

[Callender Girl]

Jealous of your apples, Jim. Wildlife killed off all my young apple trees last winter, and it will take some time before the replacements bear fruit. Pears -- not my favorite fruit -- are rotting on the Very Tall Old Tree and drawing all kinds of flies and stinging things, causing me to avoid that area. But, it looks like there's a good amount of fruit on the wild plum trees.

I'm not ready for snow yet, Lisa. But I am thrilled that the heat finally gave away to seasonal temps. I am pretty sure my brain melted a bit. I started making silly mistakes and could barely find the energy to get off the sofa by midday. Good thing I had all those critters to care for or I might have just Not Moved for four days.

Don't have central air conditioning and the window unit stored in the basement is too heavy for me to carry up and too cumbersome for me to install. I survived.

Yesterday, I cleaned coops, deadheaded flowers, ran the weed eater a bit and made some progress on an improvement plan for one of the coops. Can't say the table saw and I are friends yet. But, I'm less scared of it than I used to be.

Today, I plan to do lots of laundry; going up and down stairs was certainly not in my to-do list last week.

Hope everyone has survived the wicked weather and has a good week ahead! And, good deal that Annie found that hearing aid!!

 

[jvls1942]

with the cooler weather came some energy.
I banked the dirt on about 90% of the north wall.
my many hours of brainstorming paid off. it went
very well. Now I have granite tight up against the house.
that should deter weeds for a couple of years.
too bad that I have to wait for a couple of days
for it to rain to find out if it is going to work.
I was working pretty hard and praying that I
would get some company so I could take a break.
and just then , my sister pulled in. came for apples.
we came into the house and in a couple of minutes,
my brother and his wife walked in.. they brought
lots of venison, meat sticks, smoked salmon and
raw salmon from our nephew. He lives in Manitowok just
across the road and two houses from Lake Michigan. Has
a lake Michigan fishing boat. three teenagers to help catch fish.
now we are supplied with food, somebody can bring us a car ?
Our 21 year old buick is literally falling apart.
Annie's sister was going to sell us her extra car.
but now she is waffling. I told Annie to expect that from her.
she has always been a bit flakey ..
the tomatoes are ripening . romas ..
I have to replace the sensor light at the front door.

 

[jvls1942]

I finished banking granite against the foundation.
at midnight we has a short test rain. no water in the
basement this morning. looking hopeful.
bil Dave came and put the new thermostat in the
heating element on the cook stove.
also brought a bag of corn.
we are going to collect a bag of pie apples and
take them to him.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We are so dry here. Plants, trees, shrubs, are just giving up. Everything is droopy, and losing leaves already. Glad you got something. We got nothing. Bright side is our basement is dry.

 

[Callender Girl]

Keeping fingers regarding your basement, Jim.

Good deal on the basement, Lisa. Sorry about the plants. My garden is down to a few cherry tomatoes, several green tomatoes. a zucchini plant with two flowers but nothing else, and a bunch of dried up beans.

Just when it looked like the crazy weather was past, there's more apparently on the way. Beginning Friday, it looks like three days of temps in the high 90s -- in SEPTEMBER!! Enough already!