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

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hope your doctors appointment goes well Barb. I hate fasting, and feeling hungry.

 

[Callender Girl]

I wore a T-shirt I got at McMurray Hatchery that reads: "Fluent in fowl language." I let them know that although the spelling was different, it perfectly conveyed my sentiments about the late start. They laughed. I didn't.

 

[jvls1942]

true about funerals are for the living. but at my age, there are fewer and fewer living. lol
Phil was a county detective. so the funeral was swarming with cops. most of them weren't even born yet when Phil retired. i think they were there just for the snacks. lol (no donuts)
I had a CT scan on my neck yesterday, now I wait for an appt to see what the next step will be, I already know, no surgery.
the injection into my shoulder a week ago did not do anything spectacular
i pulled a carrot the root was over 7" long. the carrot is just starting to bulge out.
have some beet greens about a foot tall. i hope some of the energy is going into the root.
lettuce has not bolted yet , despite the high temps. it is seed from Menards.
bib lettuce by Burpee.
grapes are turning color. have to get some netting over them.
black berries are going strong. sil says she wants to come pick some. that is how people are: they think the berries will wait until they feel like picking.
Annie is shooting for 2o pounds for a batch of wine. almost there.
she is not the champion picker she once was.
once, she picked 1oo pounds in one day.
Barb, wrap a towel around the chicken to work on them. they are durable and can take it.

 

[Callender Girl]

I like to think of myself as a pretty good worker, but i NEVER picked 100 pounds of anything in a day. Wow, Annie!!

Hope all your medical stuff goes well. My wellness exam went fine, and results of my blood work were stable. But it's time for the every-other-year bone density test, which can't be done at the clinic. I don't enjoy having to drive 45 miles to the hospital for a test that takes less time than the drive.

I have used the "taco towel" method on many a chicken, including Bronwyn. She's quite unlike some of my others who never forgive me for forcing them to take meds. She'll always let me scoop her up, even though she has to know what's coming.

However, Bronwyn did give me a little scare last night when everyone came in for dinner except her. I searched and called repeatedly before she casually sauntered up to the coops. I KNOW Bronwyn heard me calling her, so maybe it's a little revenge on her part?

I bought a hanging basket of strawberries at Menards this spring and popped the plants in the ground. I had no idea they were everbearing and I am about to get some more ripe berries. Well, someone will get ripe berries. Probably the grasshoppers that have been camping on and taking bites of my ripe tomatoes.

Temps are supposed to dip into the 40s (the 40s!!!!) this weekend, so I need to do some harvesting today.

 

[jvls1942]

yeah, yeah, I'm up. couldn't get to sleep, finally got a couple of hours in.
Annie and I put the septic lift pump back in. managed to not fall into the dreaded black stinky hole. even got the concrete cover back on.
i did not water yesterday. it is supposed to rain today.
another funeral today. the affore mentioned Jim's youngest sister passed . 73 yrs old. i t think.
on wednesday a guy who was my boss in 1969 died. lately it isn't safe to know me.
we stopped to look at a tractor about 2 miles from home. it turned out to be a woman who lived there for 59 years, also , i graduated with her. didn't know her in high school. also turned out she was a cousin to the above mentioned former boss. i was a technical illust rator back then. drew exploded views of Drott machinery for their parts catalogs.
bil backed out from picking up the box blade
went to plan B. Barby's boy friend. he SAYS he can do it on Sunday. I still have plans C and D.
and E as a last resort.

 

[Callender Girl]

Back-up plans are an essential part of ALL of my undertakings here.

If we learn from our mistakes and/or when things don't turn out the way I expect and hope, I should be a genius by now.

 

[jvls1942]

good sunny saturday morning 58F
it did not rain , as they said it would.
first thing today i will water the beds
later on i want to get a little tractor time in

going to try to reclaim some of the granite on the driveway that got pushed to the edge. lots of grass growing in it.
tomorrow i have a promise from Joe to pick up the box blade. plan B

Annie plans to pick 5 pounds of blackberries and mow a little lawn.

no more funerals, i can hang my dress pants back into the closet. 4 people we knew died last week,. we are in that age group.

one of the tomatoes tipped over. will tie it back up today. lots of them getting red, might have to can a batch soon.

 

[Callender Girl]

Got new tires yesterday at the dealership where I had so much trauma and drama at the beginning of the year. It appears that the "service advisor" who put me through all the hoops no longer works there. Pity, huh? The advisor who was helpful back then was extremely pleasant yesterday and aside from an expectedly hefty bill, it was all good. I even have a mail-in rebate for $40.

Jim, you predicted that I would get five-star treatment after I involved corporate, and you were so right!!

How has summer gotten away from me so quickly? At least I won't have to spend so much time dealing with overgrown weeds and grass. I need to overseed more than a few spots, including the ruts the electric company dug when the pole light went out.

A friend is coming out today to help with a few projects. She was here for dinner Wednesday and spotted a young squirrel by the sidewalk. At first, she thought it was dead. I detected some breathing and put down a little bowl of water.

The little one can walk --even along the top of a short, narrow cedar garden edging. It has no visible injuries but definitely has issues. It doesn't run away and has let me touch its feet. It has no blink response when I put my finger near its eyes -- something I've learned to check from having two blind pets. I'm not even sure it always can hear me.

I watched it attack a walnut shell with great vigor. So, naturally, I've been feeding little Walker chopped walnut meats from my freezer. Yeah, I named it Walker, even though I know it probably won't live long.

While my previously mentioned friend was here, she spotted the biggest coyote I've ever seen, eating fallen pears under my tree. I know coyotes CAN breed with dogs (coy-dogs) and this one may have had a mastiff for a daddy!

When I tossed on boots and went to run it off, a second (and smaller) coyote popped up its head and the clever things ran off in opposite directions, leaving me stuck in the middle, using as much loud, bad language as I could muster.

It's 53 degrees this morning and is predicted to drop to the mid 40s overnight tonight -- a terrible reminder that winter will be here too soon. Guess I'd better think about getting propane.

 

[jvls1942]

before i turned the compuer on, i thought about the coyotes. haven't heard about them for awhile.
yesterday i did a test run on the driveway. i dragged the cultivators up and back a few times. it loosened the granite up quite easily. good. today Joe is going to pick up the box blade for me.
lots of green tomatoes on the vines. i had to tie up a few sagging branches. next year i will have to modify the poles. Annie has plans for next year, too. she wants to cut paths through the blackberries. She has picked enough for a 5 gal batch of wine.
now the everbearing raspberries are almost done blossoming. hope it doesn't get cold too early this year.

 

[jvls1942]

yesterday i went with plan B. Joe drove up to pick up the box blade. when we went to start her tractor, found the battery was not in it. she called sil. oh yeah. it is in the back of my pick up truck.
i am going to Fleet Farm to buy a new one. so the battery was not purchased yet and FF is over 3o miles away. we ended up leaving the trailer there and they will load the box blade and call us.
it is better than I thought. not a 4 foot, but a a 5 foot. perfect for my tractor.
it rained a little yesterday so i didn't water.
51F this morning and sunny