I got a kiss for New Yorks new year, then he went to bed and I watched tv. This is our normal routine. We did go out to dinner.

May all of you have a happy year and a productive garden!

Happy New Year fellow gardeners!! May all our gardens be rich in harvest and a bountiful blessing!!! Here's to 2017! :)

Happy One For All You's !!

We are really a party group, aren't we? I listened to the fireworks as I crawled into bed.

Happy New Year's Day everyone!

We had been fighting multiple fires over the last few days, including two yesterday for at least six hours, so we were dead, dead, dead tired and asleep long before midnight. That's okay. Sleep was more important that fighting to stay awake to watch the calendar switch over from one year to the next. I don't even remember the last time we stayed awake to welcome the new year. (Clearly we are not party animals.) The new year arrives whether we pay any attention to it or not.

Happy new year everyone!!! I stayed awake past midnight. Drove home the 27th my birthday because my dear sweet 81 yo friend passed, the one i just mentioned how young and active she was. Well she was quick about everything.

Last night drove back to church at Newark and to Denton. Lots of fireworks going off. They are pretty but I don't like them when they are dry either

Kim, I am sorry to hear about your friend. I hope you will be comforted by all the memories you have of her.

If there were fireworks here, we slept through them. Tim said he heard some around 8 or 9 pm when he was finally returned home from the fire station, but those must have been closer to the fire station than to our house because I never heard them....and I was glad.

Today we got 1/2" of rain in the early morning hours which was just a perfect way to start the new year. Today will be sunny and warm and then the weather quickly deteriorates day after day for the rest of this week. Have I mentioned about 1 million different times how much I hate winter? Not wintery days like today when it is moist, sunny and warm, but the rest of the wintery days that will follow today.

Dawn

Happy New Year everyone. Had a busy day today, trying to get everything done before winter returns tomorrow. Missed the rain again, hope we get some snow later this week.

Kim, sorry for your loss.

Dawn, hope the fires slow down or just stop all together.

Kim, so sorry to hear about your friend passing. Hopefully the good memories you have of her will bring you some peace.

We did get some rain this morning but not sure how much. I was too lazy to go out to the side of the house to check the water gauge. Oh, and after we took our 2 teenagers driving I needed some rest and caffeine. We are teaching them to drive. Whew, what an undertaking, lol. Thankfully the DH is doing most of the in-car teaching. I don't think my nerves are strong enough to handle it.

The news shows a cold front moving in just in time for my birthday Wednesday. I'd love to have some snow to play in!!! But then it heats up again. Ugh, I'm over it already.

Dawn, hope you're still getting some much needed rest.

I saw this idea where you take a quart jar, or bigger, and each week you write on a piece of paper something good that happened that week. You place it in the jar and at the end of the year on New Year's Eve you open each one up and read it. I think we are going to do that this year....sounds fun.

Melissa, I hope you and your DH have nerves of steel! I don't envy y'all having to do the driver training!

We got another night of real sleep with no pagers going off. I hope this quiet lasts for a while, but with wind returning today and cold air from the north normally being drier air, my hopes might be dashed. My real hope is that everyone in this county noticed that grass fires ran wild and burned down sheds, barns and at least one family's home last week and maybe that will make people think twice about burning brush, trash or anything else on a day that has any wind whatsoever.

I saw the jar idea on facebook and thought it sounded pretty good. Going back and reading all the notes you stuck into the jar would be like a recap of your whole year as a family. I also saw a money jar idea, where you take a jar and put $1 in it the first week of the year, $2 the second week, $3 the third week, etc. By the end of the year, your jar will have over $1300 if you don't miss any weeks. I thought that sounded like a fun way to save money up for the holidays and might try it.

I know it won't last, but so far we have had rain on every day of the new year.....with 0.02" on New Year's Day and 0.50" yesterday. Today there isn't any rain expected, so I guess our wet start to 2017 will end today.

Dawn

Thank you all. My Mary was am extraordinary lady. She was the most positive encouraging loving person I have ever known. She was a great problem solver and never judged anyone. I am so thankful to have known her but also glad she is never going to suffer like so many do as they get older. I had a few selfish days and got over that new years eve. She will be greatly missed by the town and church and me. She always encouraged me to pursue my dream of gardening although she wanted nothing to do with it. She said I hoed my cotton that was enough. Lol

Kim, I forget to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You're not getting older, you're getting better! I know you'll miss Mary, but just think how much knowing her enriched your life. A lot of the older women I know here in my area have that same "I hoed my cotton, that was enough" attitude as well, and I cannot say that I blame them for feeling that way either.

Dawn

Me either. And duke her husband was raised on a dryland cotton farm. He always said honey you know they sell all that stuff at Merrells, the local grocer.

Cracks me up every time I think about him saying that. He's a character.

I have a friend who shares his feelings about not bothering to grow stuff because they have the same stuff at the local store, but I kinda disagree that it is the same stuff. Buying stuff at the local store means it isn't as fresh as home-grown, and unless it is organic, you have no idea what chemicals were used in growing it.