I'm sure your dogs would be glad to get that Helen. I sometimes put a little hamburger grease on my dogs' food just to make it smell good. I don't give them very much. I haven't put out any birdseed today. You reminded me.

I think my kids' Christmas break may get extended a bit. It's still snowing here and there is already a pretty long list of school closings. They've enjoyed playing outside today. I'm sure they'd like to sleep in an extra day.

I just heard they have 80 school closings...you may have the kids all week.

The birds are emptying 4 feeders daily. I took a picture of all of them on the ground today. I can't get the tree and the ground in the same shot. I bet there were 50 birds....alas, the grackles have found us.

I haven't had any birds on my suet so got a feeder and still don't have any. Moved the suet out a little farther in the yard. With all the snow I took a walk and noticed the neighbor has 4 in trees and 2 on his deck. I am one of the weird people that loves snow when there is no ice and all of it has fallen so peaceful. Think we are suppose to get more Thur. And cold. I'm not excited about the cold. May be 2 weeks before the kids get back to school at this rate. It must be a hardship with daycare for working moms when there is no school. I was fortunate not to have to work until my baby was in the 4th grade. He is now 33 yrs. old.
Started a jig saw puzzle couple days ago and have it almost done. Had some paint that got scuffed when they put in our new furnace so got that touched up. I wuold sit and do puzzles until they are done but in my old age it hurts my neck and back. Golden years. I can't wait. Kathy

I love snow. Waking up to snow of Christmas was a treat. First time in my life that that has happened, but having lived in CA most of my life that was to be expected. I don't miss much there except that this year I wished that I could be in S.F. looking at the Christmas window displays, so I did so online, and they are now all modern. :(

Should have taken a trip to Eureka Springs as it would have been more Christmasy than S.F. would have been.

I have to make more suet today. I think it just takes time for birds to find it. We have it over our bird feeder. Last year opossums kept getting into it until my husband put a strap around it.

I can't do cross word puzzles either due to my neck. Trying to read and yet that hurts my neck too. Keep changing my posture, but that doesn't work so well.

I am so glad that birdseed is $9 for 20 or so lbs. From the looks of these posts it goes fast in the winter.

Not looking forward to this snow and very cold spell. i'm a little leery of getting out since i broke my wrist. I am feeding the birds out my craft room window, Sunflower seeds and a mix i make with lard,cornmeal,oatmeal,sometimes raisons.
I mix it and make flat cakes and put it on tree stumps i have close to my window.The birds love it. Also have an electric dog waterer that i put out for the birds.
In the past i've fed the deer some in bad weather but not this year.
I'm spending time looking at seed catalogs.
So very glad i don't have to get out in this weather. Wish no one had to.
Vickie

I don't like snow but it may save us. The weather man is not encouraging - sounds like the temperatures we used to have in the olden days. Those cannas and black and blue salvia that have been making it may not this year unless the snow protects them. The birds are hungry. I am going to plug in a light bulb in the barn for the cats.

Well, I milked in a whopping 1° this morning! I actually was pleasantly surprised by how warm I stayed, of course, I knew my hands would get warmed from the cow. I was out about an hour. All was well, no frozen lines, everything was OK.

Now if we can just get through this week.

Hope you all are warm and inside with plenty of heat.

glenda

Good to hear about your pipes.
Everything is fine here so far.
Neighbor has frozen pipes.
I let mine drip when it gets this cold.
Looks so pretty to just look "out" the window. But I will not be going out in it.
Hope everyone is well.
Bonnie

Glenda, I'm thinking about you milking in the cold today. The cold feels better if there is no wind.

Finished puzzle last night and watched Biggest Looser on TV.

Everyone be careful if they have to go out. Think more is coming. It would be nice if the first snow would melt first. Think about the animals and homeless. Kathy

Milking went fine. I was out about an hour and didn't even get cold. There was no wind which was a blessing.

I will milk again this moring so I don't have to hit that cold they are predicting for in the morning. I just need to milk about three times a week.

I am expecting my last order of seeds any day now. I was notified they have been shipped.

The plants under the grow lights are growing rapidly. I have decided the mystery plants were petunias...still don't know how that happened. I need to divide them soon. The daylilies will stay as is until spring or the first nice day when I might move them to individual pots.

I have begun a crochet project, Peruvian Earflap hats for the grands. I have ripped it out three times now and still don't think the pattern looks like the picture....it will have to do. I don't know what else to do different.

Have a good day and get all chores done before noon!

glenda, how neat that you know how to knit gld. i got a peruvian hat for christmas.

it is only 6 degrees here today. worried about the feral cats, got hay for them but they slept elsewhere. not sure where. when it warms up enough we will get more hay and make a hay house. they all look like they survived. next year or even sooner they will get an insulated house.

went with two friends to the iguana cafe yesterday for hot cocoa. that was fun. now looking at my day inside and wondering what to do.

What's everyone doing? Weather is nicer. I've been out in the snow a little. Putting stuff in compost and noticed the birds have found my suet. Crocheted a little last night while watching Biggest Looser. I'm making some of those potholders that you start with a chain and sc on both sides and it closes into a double sided heavy pot holder. I want to start a hat just because I bought some pretty yarn but still looking for the perfect pattern. I have a puzzle on the going on the table that I have to cover when we eat or are gone. One of my cats loves to knock things on the floor. Think it is suppose to be really warm today or last I heard it was. Then we will have mud for awhile. Take Care. Do something fun. Kathy

I once had a cat that knocked baked cookies cooling on the counter off to the dog -- one by one. They were quite a pair. It was nice remembering it from your comment about your cat, Ladycraft.
sunny

Cats are smart sometimes. If that cat was deliberately getting cookies for the dog, you had a genius. Wal-mart Neosho has all their Christmas colored plastic storage containers on sale. Some are clear all except for the latches of red and green. I got a bunch with green latches and clear lids. The smaller ones fit on my wide window sill in the basement - little greenhouses. I don't know why I couldn't winter sow in them. I hate to pay big bucks for potting mix in the little bags and they don't have the big bags out. Ozark Nursery my have some inside.

that is one cool cat.

so nice out that i can't believe how warm 45 degrees is.

my husband has drawn up plans for a cat house (no pun intended) for under our porch, and it will have insulation in it, the board type. so far they have survived this cold.

he is out cutting up wood, and i am in the house not doing much but going to make a meatloaf and some chex party mix today.

Cats are smart. Mine loves to tease my dogs by lieing in wait and jumping on them as they go by.She can hear me open her treat jar at the other end of the house,and comes running.

Walmarts here was suppsed to get their potting soil today.I get mine from a local nursery tho.I'm afraid to look at all my daylillys that are in pots, Hope i've not lost them. I hope the cold and snow are gone for the year.

I enjoyed getting outside yesterday and walking around the yard. Did some shopping too. I checked for seeds at Walmart and Lowe's while I was out and didn't see any.
Wish they would'nt leave those big bags of potting soil outside where they get wet. I found some at a Walmart but the bags were faded and I was afraid it might be moldy so I bought two small bags that looked newer instead.

Sunny - What a smart cat! It sounds like something that would be on Funniest Home Videos. Makes you wonder whether a dog and a cat can communicate with other.
Oakleif - We had a cat when we were kids that would hide around the corner then jump way up in front of us as we walked down the hall. lol I think she enjoyed scaring us.

Almost all of our snow has melted. Hope the sub-zero temps are over for the rest of the winter.

This actually should have been posted in December log but I have been laboring all of January on it the problem, so ---
On Dec. 23 at 10 PM I had a part of a dead limb go through one whole top panel of my greenhouse. Glass everywhere. Fortunately the temp was about 50 and there was the top of my old, old shifflera(sp?) waving above the greenhouse. It had spent years up against the top part of the glass, and boy, was it happy.
If anyone had told me I would be up on a high ladder in the greenhouse late at night, putting up an inside tarp over where the glass had been I wouldn't have believed I could get up there and do it. I started thinking if I fell, no one would know and I could die out there because freezing temps, snow and ice were coming the next day. I called a friend and she held the ladder and handed me thumbtacks to put the tarp up. We fortified it with foam panels and it was okay. What a friend!
The next day (Christmas Eve) I called a commercial glass company and they sent two men out to tarp the outside hole. Said they would come back and replace glass when the temps were warm enough to expose the plants inside.
They are coming Monday and I just can't wait!
I had kept the commercial bubble wrap on the south glass all summer and this winter, had my natural gas heater running, used foam panels and a small electric heater to keep temps at their usual winter 60 degrees. The glass break was in the middle, but the west end got to 50 and below some really cold nights.
Boy will I be glad to stop all the fussing around with heat in there. Gas company will be sorry to see that repaired!
I guess I feel vulnerable now -- in all the 40 years the greenhouse has been there, not once has anything broken the glass and it happened on my watch. I can't imagine what my 91 year old mother would have done. Probably the same thing. There are a few high oak limbs above it but they are live. At least I have a wonderful company to call if it happens again because they have 24 hour emergency service.
When I saw your bins, Helen, I thought -- no fuss, no muss -- how easy! ha It was an empowering experience, I guess and I know I can do what I have to do, knees or not.
Sunny

That sounds expensive. Trees grow and sneak up on you. My garden has changed as the trees grew. That is why I have so many pots - tree roots and shade. I would be very nervous having trees trimmed over a green house. Real professionals are very good. The guy I had before had all the work he wanted after those ice storms and wouldn't come. He climbed the tree like a monkey, put ropes on and somehow swung the chuncks clear of the house. The last guy I got recommended by my insurance man didn't know what he was doing. They were church friends not professional friends. If you use the tubs remember I not getting much sun. In the sun things might cook on a sunny day in a greenhouse, so you would need to make holes like in wintersowing you leave the lid off. But you know that already.

Wow, sunny, what a bad experience. Strange how the greenhouse made it through the ice storm and then this happened. Yes, you do have a good friend.

I love the way those tree trimmers look you right in the face and quote those high prices....the last one gave us some story about his insurance and the cost of gas......I didn't book him. I decided the downed monster elm at the back of the garden added 'interest'. Then we cut up the large evergreen that was down in the front yard. It took me a long time but we worked a few hours each day.....and it was gone. My time isn't nearly as valuable as the experts.

I forgot to say you ought to do a testimonial for your doctor. It may not have been smart to get up on the ladder, but I bet your confidence in what you can do is restored.

Yes, isn't it strange the ice storm had no effect on the GH. And I had major limbs down. Helen, you are sooooo right. I had the most wonderful doctor. Not the least bit smart, with the ladder, but essential, with a sleet/snow storm coming the next day. I was BORN responsible -- lol
Sunny

I finally got all my seed boxes cleaned out, sorted, organized and put back in the Milk Parlor. I even got both flowers and vegetable seeds on a spreadsheet. I am feeling very good about that.

All snow is melted away and it was raining lightly this morning when I went out to milk. It was a very pleasant 42°. I see we are going to be above freezing even at night for several days in a row. Maybe all this moisture can slowly sink in.

glenda

Has anyone else checked the garden section at Walmart to see if they have annuals and perennials out yet? lol I knew they wouldn't but this warmer weather made me look that way just in case.

Our yard is muddy where the dogs have killed the grass around the back porch. Hoping we don't get a lot rain this week.

15th Street W-M in Joplin doesn't have anything yet. I checked Friday. They said "a couple of weeks."
Sunny

Sigh...Still January
I'm waiting on seeds from Shumway. First time I've ordered from them. They were offering five free packs of veggie seeds if you spend $20 so I did. : ) I ordered later than I should've so I hope they're not slow sending them out. Everything I wanted was still in stock at least.

Looks like we're going to have a rainy weekend. I've been in the mood to do some spring cleaning but can't seem to actually get anything accomplished for some reason. What's everyone else been up to lately?

Not much. Been reading a lot. Crocheted a neck warmer for myself. Doing minimal house work. I did get all my yarns put away.

I think I am through ordering seeds. I will pick up some Buttercrunch lettuce off a seed rack soon and that is it.

Next month I will get busy and plant onion seeds and snaps and in the latter part of the month, broccoli and cabbage.

Hummerts had 'Candy' onion sets last year. I'm hoping they have them again this year and I'll get some of those rather than trying to start them from seed. I think I saw Candy seeds somewhere though. I might try it someday.
I called Hummerts to see if they had their seeds in and they said they have a new location. They are at Chestnut and Glenstone now. I haven't been there yet. Hope it's huge.
SoMo had $5.00 coupons for seed potatoes last year when I went to the Lawn and Garden Show but I waited too long to use my coupon and they were out of the Yukon Golds that I wanted. I'm going to check their booth again this year.

Morning everyone! Hope your weekend was good. Really cold and windy this morning. Had a quiet weekend. Started to drain down the aquarium and it was so dirty that I decided to tear it down completely. Fish are still swimming this morning so guess they are ok with it. Looking at seed catalogs, still working on a puzzle, thinking about income taxes. YUCK Wishing for spring. Christie, Thanks for letting us know Hummerts have moved. I've been thinking about visiting them. Lawn and garden show is less than a month away. Hope to go to the one in Wichita too. My daughter and me went last year and had a great time. Still haven't found some bulbs I bought! Must now of made it home with them. Kathy

Christie, thanks for the heads up on Hummert's move. I have missed that turn on Florida more than once!

We had a slow weekend here too. I finished a good book and started knitting a cotton dishcloth. For some reason the knitting is hurting my arms....may have to revert to crocheting.

I tried a new oatmeal/whole wheat pancake recipe this morning (always on the lookout for whole grain things) and we both liked them. I believe this will be my recipe now.

I am not looking forward to this cold and windy day, but still better than 60° days for the gardens.

I hope to winter sow a few things today.