I had a post, I lost it looking for a link to a video of tumble weeds in west Texas blowing across a road as the front came in. It was cool, if you find KOTV News on 6 on facebook you can find it. I couldn't figure out how to link it. By the time I came back, the page reloaded and my post was gone.

I let the dogs out at 9:15 and couldn't figure our the noise, big engines? Machine? Tree grinder? No, the wind ROARING as the front came through. Kind of freaked Honey out. No sign of chickens, or even wild birds. I kept checking for chickens, but wasn't seeing any of them. Finally, I went outside, they were huddled in a corner of the camper shell we have in their run. (Yeah, we're the Clampetts). We keep their food under this camper and it has straw and a pallet in case the ground gets wet, but the side windows are gone so it only partially blocks the wind. And WHY is one of the brown ones molting NOW in the cold?

I do have checks, they are meant to be printed on a computer. The address is wrong, since the post office decided we live on Place, not Street. I fill them out by hand, for SHP and the occasional medical bill, since the software is long gone. I can't bring myself to spend the money on new checks, though I suppose they would last the rest of my life, LOL.

Rebecca, don't go out in that wind, it can't be good for you.

I am envious of your carrots and beets, Kim, but not of moving and packing. Hate that. But, presumably your new place won't rock in the wind. I read Ruth Stout's book in the early 80s. I recently bought a copy I need to reread, and have DH read. I sent him an article on no till gardening. It's a concept he has not figured out yet. And OUCH! I hope you're okay! I hate that you're alone out there. Will the new place be closer to people?

Nancy, we'll meet when all the seeds come in. Kitazawa has already shipped. I will have to look up Thompson and Morgan.

Amy, When our dogs act that way, it usually is because there's a wild thing around, and it is sort of predictable because some of the wild things come out right around dark, others come out later, and in winter, they come out earlier than the rest of the year, perhaps because the wild things are hungrier in winter.

When our dogs are really spooked, it usually is coyotes or cougars. They don't get very wound up over bobcats (but our kitties sure do). I've been seeing quite a few cougar reports, including some livestock attacked/killed, on FB from various parts of TX, but mostly parts of TX that are far away from us. When our dogs start refusing to go outdoors, that's when we know a cougar likely is about---the dogs generally want to bark at coyotes and hide from cougars. Smart dogs. Well, they'd be smarter to hide from the coyotes too, but their brains apparently aren't wired that way.

Poor Sophie. I bet she is lonely. We only had one dog for a couple of years, and other than that have always had 2 or more. I do think a single dog or cat gets lonelier than one that has a fur buddy around.

Rebecca, At least it is a toy mouse that Audrey puts in bed with you instead of a live one.

We have pretty high humidity here today, though the dewpoint has dropped a lot since the cold front came through. We had sunshine for maybe an hour and it was nice, and then those big storm clouds came rushing in from the northwest---some gray and some white---and blotted out the sun. There hasn't been any precipitation yet, and I'm okay if it misses us. Or, if it is going to fall, it needs to fall now while the air temperature is still in the mid-30s to upper-30s, and hopefully not after the temperatures fall below freezing.

Nancy, I have found even the difficult seeds are not all that difficult if you pay close attention to their needs and try to meet those needs. I think too many people who are new or new-ish to growing from seed tend to overwater the seeds before they germinate and cause them to either rot or to damp off as soon as they sprout. The longer I have raised plants from seeds indoors under lights, the better I've gotten at it. I know I overwatered seeds and young seedlings when I first began, and now I lean in the opposite direction and keep them slightly on the dry side.

Kim, I love Ruth Stout's books. I don't remember quite when I discovered them and starting reading them---maybe the 1980s or the very earliest 1990s. She always had an awesome garden in what is, admittedly, a much milder climate than ours, but she also had to deal with a much shorter growing season. She was a visionary and so far ahead of her time, and a lot of her contemporaries sort of thought she was nuts, but she stuck to her guns and let her results speak for themselves. Who could argue with her results? Nobody in their right minds, that's who! Of course, she also didn't have bermuda grass, lol.

Sorry about your face. Ouch! Gotta watch out for that wicked wind.

Jennifer, It really did change quickly as that front came in. I tried to take a photo of the clouds being pushed by the front before they got to out place. I shot the photo while the cloud line was a couple of miles away, sent Tim a copy of it with a brief message like "here it comes", and found the cloud line over my head as I scurried back indoors. It was here in the blink of an eye.

I don't know how many chickens we have left. Not a lot. The predators probably were picking them off one by one all autumn---whichever chicken roamed farthest away got captured and eaten. I haven't counted them in a while---I'm guessing we have maybe 10 left in the little coop and about 20 in the big coop, but far, far, far too many of those are roosters. Whenever I let our chickens hatch out their own eggs, it seems like we get 90% roosters and, for egg-laying purposes, roosters are worthless. Now that we aren't letting the chickens free-range any more, I might get about 10 or 12 female chicks in a month or so---whenever they show up in the stores. I doubt we'll ever let the poultry free range again. We've just lost too many of them the last couple of years. (Maybe we should turn the excess roosters loose and let them free-range 24/7---that might take care of the rooster problem---you cannot hardly even give away a rooster because no one really wants to feed them and house them....and listen to them crow every morning.) I just threw away the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog that came in the mail because looking at it made me want to order 100 chicks, which is about 90 more than we need---so it is better to not have it here to tempt me. I do think the very last batch of chicks that hatched was all female, but there was only two in the batch....and they don't look anything like their mother or any of the roosters so they have some sort of interesting mix of genes that makes them not fit in with anyone else. My favorite chickens are my Copper Maran rooster and the black Spanish hens---they are the most calm, docile, obedient and laid back hens I've ever seen.

Amy, I saw that same video this morning. It was pretty cool, but it also made me grateful we generally don't have to deal with those here. (Every now and then someone will mention there being a lot of tumbleweeds out in western parts of Love County, but I've never been out there at the right time to see them.)

I heard the same roar quite a few minutes before the clouds rolled in ---- maybe 10 minutes? I thought to myself that surely it was the storm, but then it took it a while to get here so I started thinking I had imagined it until, suddenly, here it was. Really, the wind hasn't been as bad as they said it would be, except it was strong as the front came in and a little bit thereafter. I'm looking out the window now and the trees are barely moving in the ground. Maybe the worst winds haven't hit us yet, or maybe the forecast was way off. We've only gusted up to 34 and originally they said we'd gust to 45 or 46, so that's quite a difference. We're cold though, and the wind does come and go, so it certainly could get stronger again.

The little visitor cat, Lucky, goes to the vet tomorrow for a check-up and to be spayed so we don't end up with a surprise litter of kittens.

We're feeding a ton of wild birds every day. I hope they return the favor by sticking around this summer and eating grasshoppers. I don't think that's too much to expect.

Dawn

Ha, HJ--nope have never preserved eggs with lime--also have never tasted a pickled egg. I often freeze eggs, however, after breaking them--sometimes separating, sometimes not.

How did you come upon your words of the year?

Yep, the cold suddenly moved in here, too. BRR. Ha. Dawn. That was funny, your timing was perfect, commenting on sowing seeds. I had just finished separating herb and flower seeds into the "WS" ones for the end of this month vs ones to start on the cart. Two--Stokesia and to a lesser extent, verbena bonariensis. Ha! I googled Stokesia and stratification; ended up throwing up my hands and saying, "THAT was a dumb one to buy!" Ha! Oh well. I threw it in the fridge for a while. Verbena--makes sense that it would need stratification, but sure read a lot of funny things about germinating it. Johnny's suggested keeping it a bit on the dry side while trying. . . and also saw directions for it germinating in the dark. I decided I will WS it; and I threw some of the seeds in the fridge; I will try some directly on the cart but with a dark cover over them. Glad I got a bunch of them. How funny, then to read your comment about seed sowing! Got a kick out of it. I do believe I recall you mentioning that verbena bonariensis could be tricky to start from seed--or am I imagining that? I figure my 3-pronged approach might be the way to go. . . .

I have a craving for our local Chinese buffet this evening--always shocks GDW when I suggest some place to eat, since I so rarely do.

Yes, another Ruth Stout fan here. I had her no-work book but lost it in one of my last moves. I may have to re-order it. Thanks, needed that.

She had such a lackadaisical way of gardening and life. Wish I had known her lol. I need neighbors like that.

Even though I am going to gardening inrows my heart is in patches blocks beds. So I will continue to plot plan and dream for my space and place to be more whimsical.

I'm so excited for you, Kim! It's getting real now. Are you taking the orange kitty? And I"m so jealous of your carrots. I'm hoping to have better carrot success this year.

Amy, our dogs have been upset lately at night/early morning. Almost every night.

Nancy, everyone just chooses their word and shares why. Sometimes it just comes to them...and by the end of the year, it's apparent that it was a perfect word. Sometimes, like me this year, I needed to find a word that comprised things that was lacking and that I want to work on. I felt a lack of...aim and organization in all areas of my life and the word "aim", just came to me and is so perfect. Many things have changed at work...and I get a little sad when I think about how we chose words last year. And who would know that we would be in such a different place by the end of the year. We sure didn't know what was coming. And now two co-workers who I cared about deeply and considered friends, are no longer working with me. We chose words differently last year. Each of us had the task of choosing words for three other staff members in teams of three. It sounds confusing but it wasn't. My personal word that was given to me wasn't so good. However, the words I chose (along with the other ones in my groups, although I actually chose the words and they liked them) were awesome...and ended up being very fitting..particularly for two of the three: Valor for one and Seek for the other.

Now I'm rambling. I am so lazy tonight. I should have been more productive. I did make a new list of "things-to-do".

Kim, I'm not sure if my garden is whimsical or trashy. There's can be a fine line. lol

Kim, I know my garden isn't whimsical. It's more 'hot mess' than anything else. And I kinda like it that way.

It's officially cold here. Again. Weather like this inspires me to make soup and bread. Stuff that warms up the house. Maybe Saturday. Kneading yeast dough is a very zen thing. Pretty sure hot tea is going to be my best friend this week.

It's official. Without a garden, I'm bored. But I'm also gearing up for all out war on the squirrels. Psyching myself up to deal with the rat traps.

Now...foxgloves. Going to try to WS them this year. I know they are biennials, so I'm trying to figure out how to treat them, like hardy perennials, more tender annuals, or somewhere in between. My mom and I just love foxgloves. Yes, we know they're poisonous.

Lazy was my word today lol. After the run in with door, dizziness and nausea today I played it safe and rested. I went to the library and cut out pictures in magazines. I have not decorated a home in over 20 years so I was not sure of my style. I got some great ideas and plan to greatly purge my current furniture, most of which is hand me downs and buy what I like.

My word for this year which I have never had before came after seeking direction for my life since February. I don't want to waste time hence the plan ahead planner. Although I do not watch TV at all I can lose hours traipsing around the computer.

Back to packing in the morning.

My own garden's kind of non-existent. :) I would appreciate it if all the mulch out there will break down a bit in the next 3 months. Then I will be a happy camper. Rebecca--rat traps? You invested in some? You have a rat trap helper? Anyway. I hope they work! Yes, WAR is being declared! I hear you re cozy winter foods that warm up the house. I envy the bread-making, but nope, I won't go there again.

So you can grow foxgloves in your yards? I assumed it would be too hot for them down here. I have some questionable ones, too, and some I'm going to WS AND cart/or direct sow, to see which works best--wanna compare notes in a FB message? For example, I know you said you WSed Cape Daisies. . . and that worked really well? I'm really going out on a limb this year, with MANY many I've not grown before. Dawn you talked about learning which ones needed wha when one is growing them by seed--and this year truly is a half-way educated crapshoot for me growing so many unfamiliar flowers and herbs. . . . which is why I've had my nose in the virtual on-line books for the past month. I'm not paranoid, but would kinda like to have an idea of how all these little things grow best! Some of them are fairly up-for-grabs, and that's where the experience comes in, Dawn! BUT. My resolution is to have a great learning experience with it all, and to observe and learn and take it lightly. Yeah, I probably took on too many this year, but am trying to track them carefully so I can get to know them.

Yeah, it's cold here, too. GDW and I were laughing at ourselves. We DID go to town for Chinese (it always is better in my mind than it is in reality. Nevertheless, won't need to go there for another 3 weeks, but satisfied the craving.) But it was COLD, and we were making fun of each other. He went out to warm up the truck. And then we ran out and jumped in. And we were whining about how cold it was and then I said, "REALLY? Me from Minnesota and Wyoming and you a tough Wyoming guy? REALLY? We can't handle 27 degrees?" And we laughed. But then I said, "On the other hand, when it was 27 degrees in MN or WY, I had my heavy heavy winter coat on. Down here, we have no such things as heavy winter coats! No damned wonder." And ya know what? It's true. Here's the thing. When it's 27 degrees outside here or in Wyoming or Minnesota, you need a heavy coat and gloves, not a hoodie or warm wool work shirt and no gloves. THAT's the difference! LOL Woo-hoo--just figured that one out.

Tryin' to think of what my word for this year would be, HJ. Don't want it to be "inspire," but would prefer, "GROW," but would settle for either.

Realized I was doing the Ruth Stout method without even knowing it, even though I did read her books 20 yrs ago. At the time I read it, I thought it was up for grabs, and yet, without realizing it have been doing exactly that. (Guess what, because I'm lazy.) I love studying--with art, with quilting, classical music, cooking, gardening. I have never subscribed to anyone's recipes. I have always picked the very best teachers I could find, learned from them, and thought. And in the end, I formulate my own opinions, based on the wisdom of great teachers, combined with my own ideas and experience and explorations. Gardening is one of the very most enchanting and wondrous adventures.

Years ago i was in a youth minister's group where someone was taking about choosing a word for the year. He & a couple of friends came up with the "my one word" campaign, and encouraged us to join in. I've been doing it ever since & it amazes me the way that word connects with my life. Or maybe it's just selective sight: I'm focused on that word so I see it more often (like how you buy a car & suddenly notice how many are on the road). I love reading the stories of other participants and how their word seems to have influenced their year.

I have a "fluffy" parka in the spare room closet that I wear when it is really cold and what I call a car coat for the rest of the winter. I believe we got the parka at Army Surplus. I remember wearing that parka to Daughter's softball games, so it's 15 years old. When did all my clothes get so old?

Dawn, if you pay for vet bills, Lucky won't be a "visitor" any more. I think she has been yours since the day you fed her.

After I searched for half an hour yesterday, I later saw the tumbleweed video on several other facebook feeds.

Here it is Friday, and I only this morning read "the week of tomato cravings" in the thread title.

I don't know what Honey was barking at the other night. I'm not rural at all, but we do have the drainage ditch next to the house. She was barking at the ditch. I worry more about 2 legged varmints than 4 legged critters.

If I remember the stories right, Kim, Ruth also gardened nude. She obviously didn't live in snake and bug country. I'm so sorry you got hurt. It sounds like you have a concussion. Be very careful!

H/J, in late June I describe my garden as a jungle, and I like it that way. My OCD husband would prefer neat grids in the beds and carefully restrained tomato plants. Someone he works with called it companion planting and suddenly my methods were legitimized. ::eyeroll::

Nancy, DH has a no-knead recipe for bread that is very good. It is left to rise overnight, so it's not quick, but it is tasty.

99% of the herbs you will grow will be easy because they are one step above weeds. Maybe they are weeds. A good portion of the flowers, too.

DH cleaned out some shelves in the pantry yesterday. "What is this?" Something unusual I bought from the bulk bins at Sprouts and never cooked. This happened over and over. All my forgotten experiments. Well, except for the yarrow oil and tincture. Those were keepers. Fed the chickens barley he bought last year (I don't like it.) and the wheat I bought to grind for the ONE LOAF of Ezekiel bread I made. I guess I have to can chicken broth today.

My son brought my grandsons over yesterday. Oh how I adore them! The baby will burst into a smile that lights up his hole face (and mine, too.)

That's encouraging. I have never participated so the word Intentional is a wonderful word to me. Like you said was it always there and I am just now noticing it or is it a new catch word. Whatever it is , I will take it personally. I believe it's for me at this time in my life and 1 year from now I will sitting in a much better place.

Now if it would warm up so I could dig irises.

Amy you and were typing at the same time.

Yes it is a mild concussion. I slept from 6 last night to 9 last night. Getting back on track.

Those grand babies are IT. It's the best.

Nancy, Verbena seeds, in general, are poor germinators, so if you can get a 50-60% germination rate from a packet of verbena seeds, then that is considered outstanding. The verbena bonariensis seeds are very tiny, like poppy seeds, and I think the first time I tried to grow them in flats indoors under lights I probably covered them too deeply. They do best when sown on the surface and just pressed into the growing medium or very, very lightly covered. Of course, after finding them hard to start indoors, I've never had to worry about it since then because they self-sow with reckless abandon, and even pop up in random places in the pasture.

Jennifer, The nice thing about a garden is that is yours and you only have to answer to yourself---well, unless you live in a neighborhood with an HOA, in which case you also have to answer to them. I love whimsical gardens and, if there are people who do not appreciate a gardening style that is not the same as theirs, so what? I'd rather go into a whimsical garden with many personal touches and quirky things that express the gardener's personality that walk into a technically perfect garden with no whimsy and no personality.

Rebecca, I feel like my garden starts out looking whimsical in the spring and has progressed to being a hot mess by mid-summer and it doesn't bother me at all. Anyone who doesn't like my hot mess should feel free to come into my garden and do all the pruning and weeding they think should be done, and while they are at it, I hope they feel free to round up all the rattlesnakes and copperheads they find lurking in there.....because when it comes to making a choice between stepping on snakes or getting bitten while working, or letting the garden progress to hot mess status....well, hot mess status wins every single time. There's a point in the midst of heat and snake city in the summer where it is all I can do just to manage to harvest without getting heat stroke or snakebit, and I'm okay with that. No one should judge our gardens but us....one person's hot mess is another person's treasured garden retreat from the world at large.

It is officially cold here too and I'm over it. On this date in 2000, which was our first winter here, the high temperature was 80 degrees (still a record high for the whole state of OK for this date). It isn't that I think every day in January should be 80 degrees, but right now 80 degrees would feel like paradise compared to this weather. In fact, I suppose 50 or 60 degrees would feel equally like paradise---and it is easier to imagine a 50 or 60 degree day right now than an 80 degree day.

Kim, It does sound like you experienced concussion symptoms. I hope you are feeling better today. Playing it safe and taking it easy isn't laziness--it it intelligence---taking care of your body is important.

Foxgloves aren't wild about our summer heat or poorly drained soil so I don't grow them, but I think those of you in NE OK have at least a good shot of keeping them happy if you grow them in well-drained soil and in morning sun/afternoon shade. I have grown them and they are not that hard to grow from seed. I had the best success when sowing the seed in the fall, getting it to germinate and make some growth before we got too cold, and then mulching them well. Some hybrid varieties, like Foxy and Camelot, will bloom the first spring from seed if you sow the seed early enough, or sow it in the fall like I did. I think foxgloves are gorgeous and I always want to buy them and bring them home when I see nearly full-sized ones blooming in pots in a nursery, but know from experience they don't like our soil or heat so I don't buy them or grow them. I feel the say way about delphiniums---love, love, love them but they don't love our heat, so I satisfy myself by growing their cousins, the larkspurs.

I've never picked a word and probably won't start, but my unofficial word for every year probably would be the same---gratitude. I never forget that right after we moved here and I thought we were going to have our dream of living on acreage in the country, with gardens and animals and in harmony with the wildlife...instead, what I got was a diagnosis of cancer after we'd been here five months. I was so grateful to survive that and to be able to 'live the dream' here that I try to operate from a place of gratitude at all times.

Amy, I have an equally old parka that I wear on the coldest days and, like you, I find it hard to understand how my clothing (and footwear) became so old. I suppose I've been aging right along with it. I still have a London Fog raincoat that I bought way back in the mid-80s and it still is in great shape (and, as a bonus, it still fits, lol). I remember thinking it was costing me an enormous amount of money when I bought it, but if I had known then I still could/would be wearing it more than 30 years later, then I wouldn't have worried about the cost at all because I would have known it was a great piece of investment clothing. So much of the clothing sold nowadays is crap that may not last a year, much less 30 years, and that gives me a deep appreciation for clothing that was/is made to last.

I did know that Lucky would be ours from the moment we fed her. I'd seen her hunting around the neighborhood long enough to know she probably did not have a real home---perhaps she was a barn cat at best. She's a very sweet gray tabby and she is young, so I am hoping she and Pumpkin can get along and be buddies because he needs a playmate with his same high energy level. Our other cats are substantially older than Pumpkin and generally are lazier and more laid back, so he should be thrilled to have a new sibling who wants to play hard like he does.

I call my garden a jungle by summer and I'm okay with that. I feel like it would be equally snakey whether it is jungle like or not, so I go with the flow and try to enjoy the jungle.

I'm glad you got to see the grandsons. That's a terrific way to brighten up a gloomy winter day.

We did indeed get snow yesterday, but of the brief transitory type that melted pretty much as it hit the ground. It certainly wasn't much snow---the band was incredibly thin on radar....like a long ropey type tornado flying across the radar screen. Chris called me a little after 3 pm to see if we were getting snow or sleet---they got sleet up in Ardmore but we weren't. Maybe a half hour later we started getting fine snow and then bigger flakes for a few minutes. Then, it was over, the sun came out, whatever had tried to stick to the ground melted and that was that. It was like a quick hit-and-run snowstorm.

When I went outdoors this morning to feed the chickens (and, believe me, I stalled for as long as I could), our wind chill was 7 degrees. Even though I was wearing my warmest gloves (and they really are warm), by the time I took care of the chickens and put out food and water for the wildlife, my fingers were frozen. It is sunny, though, which is sort of deceptive because it makes you think it might be warmer outdoors than it actually is. At least it looks good out there as long as you are inside a warm building staring out at the sunny landscape.

Of all the dogs, Jersey likes the cold weather the least, so after she's gone outside first thing and then come back inside and eaten her breakfast, she goes back upstairs and sleeps on her dog bed. It is almost impossible to get her to come back downstairs and go outside again. If she does happen to come downstairs and you make the mistake of asking her if she wants or needs to go outside, she gives you this look---like you are the dumbest person on the planet---and runs back upstairs to hide in case I'm thinking of 'making' her go outdoors. She's got very short hair and never has liked the cold, but her hatred of the cold gets worse every year. I can't say I blame her. I don't like being cold either.

Dawn

Haha, re verbena, Dawn--last year I managed to get 3 verbena going. . . one moss, 2 trailing. It was touch and go. By the end of the growing season, though, the moss verbena was probably, oh, 3x1 1/2 feet in spread. I was impressed! So yeah, I know this is going to be a challenge--I'm just thrilled there were so many seeds in the bonariensis packet. Surely out of all those seeds, I'll get a couple! Oh, and on the funny side, here's what Clothier's database said, about the Stokesia: Stokesia laevis , Sow at 20ºC (68ºF), if no germination in 3-4 wks, move to -4 to +4ºC (24-39ºF) indefinitely. That cracked me up! Like for a 2 or 5 or 10 years? See why I laughed and threw my hands up?!

Yeah hot messes. Well this year I have no illusions. I know it'll be a poor facsimile of the beautiful garden I have in my head. See, now that's a good thing. With such a low bar of expectation, I should be satisfied, right?

Speaking of seeds, I decided to spend time today filling up WS pots--not with seeds in them, just the potting soil. That's KINDA like gardening, right? I notice that so many people start their indoor seeds in seed starting trays. I think I went with the little paper cups last year for less hassle with root disturbance, and have more than enough for this year. I kinda am regretting that, as it looks so much easier to fill a seed starting tray. I'm aware that many of you use the little cups, too--how many of you use the seed starting trays or flats? And I think I'll start some asparagus ferns and begonias today or tomorrow, too. And some of the others that can take forever to germinate.

Titan likes cool weather best, but even he doesn't stay out real long on days like yesterday and today.

My SIL was commenting on the phone today that she can't believe how many different kinds of tomatoes there are. So I told her to check out Tatiana's database. Now just got additional emails from her. LOL

Chili dogs for dinner!

I buy the trays with 6 pack starter cups, I used them once. Didn't like them and use the paper cups now instead, in the trays. I can't remember if they were first, or the paper cups. I found them harder to water, harder to remove the plant for potting up and obnoxious if one plant died so I had an empty cell in the six pack, and maybe a disease in it. If it happens with a paper cup, I toss what is dead. I also remove the cups from the domed tray as they sprout, to an open tray in front of the window. Can't move individual cells in those 6 packs.

I have naively ordered seeds for both moss verbena and bonariensis (boy have I been pronouncing THAT wrong.) Out of curiosity, I bought a plant last year only labeled verbena. It seemed to be doing well. Can you tell from this photo what it is? This was in Nov. I'm glad I didn't buy the gorgeous peach foxglove. I'm a sucker for peach and salmon.

LOL Dawn, I had a London Fog trench coat that some how got ink on it (maybe DD wore it?) I believe I outgrew it by then any way. But DH has one. Now Nancy and Eileen have seen him. He would put on a pin stripe suit, the trench coat and a fedora and people thought he looked like a gangster.

My daughter got her short haired dog a coat. He was a rescue, and had had mange. The hair on his ears is still very thin and I guess the rest of him is sparse, too. My beagle gives me that look. She's just old and doesn't want to go down the steps...or deal with Honey outside.

Thanks, Amy. I love my little paper cups! LOL No starter packs for ME!

Boy, Dawn, THAT was a blast from the past! Our beloved London fog coats. They were THE cat's meow. My favorite one was kind of plum-colored.

Hahaha, yep, I can believe that, Amy--a real GANGSTA!!

Dawn might know the flower. The leaves kinda look like verbena rigida. . . ?? Well last year I was naive with the verbena--this year, just being stubborn.

Just happened onto this Netflix docuseries this evening, ROTTEN. . . any of you seen it yet? I just began watching it; here's a review of it: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/netflix-rotten-review-food-documentary

Really, did no one comment here this evening? This forum has been acting a little strangely of late.

Okay, starting to freak out a bit--are you all there??

I know it has been quiet here. Maybe everyone is busy trying to stay warm.

I use 72 cell trays. I tried paper cups and absolutely will never use them again. Could not get the hang of watering right at all. Most of what was in them suffered or died. It was sad. This year I am trying to decide 138 and 72 or soil blockers. I have to decide soon so we can order them. I have several new 72 cell trays to get started and I have the 2 inch block maker so I will take them next week and see what they think.

Can not not believe I am finally moving. It will be such a relief. I am mostly packed and have quite a few boxes to go thru that are in my walk in cooler storage. Did not realize I had that much stuff. How many canners does one need lol.

And I don't want most of the stuff anymore so I am having storage sale after I go through everything. Not the canning stuff tho. I will keep it. I rented tiny unit in town and have been putting the keep items there. After Friday I will reverse it and put the sale items there. Two of my kids were hovering around waiting for certain family heirlooms, furniture my dad made etc and I have been very vague as to what I am doing with it all lol. They will get their pieces but I am making them wait until I am ready. This one piece a beautiful custom entertainment center is too dark and big for me and since my dad made it I do not want to refinish it. So my youngest son will get that. My daughter wants it all but never had time to help me go thru it. I have been asking for 2 years. My youngest son helps me the most. My oldest son does not care at all and he lives in apartment so has no room. There are certain pieces I will use that he will get later. I did give my daughter my cradle I used for all my babies and my dad made when I was 11. And my favorite table for plants her dad gave me.

Speaking of plants I think I will start some seeds in my new house next week. I have quite a few tomato seeds already so I don't have to wait on orders to come in. Has anyone started tomato seeds yet?

Kim, I think you are the furthest south of all of us...or are you in the TX panhandle and north of Dawn. Tomatoes are a ways out here. I am so tired of cold.

I am happy for you about the move! I just want you to be warm and "stable".

I have a FB friend who is a market gardener in upstate NY who uses the soil blocks. I have always been fascinated with them.

Nancy, there just wasn't much to say last night, I had vertigo bad again, so did nothing yesterday. I did get the Kitazawa order. Haven't even opened the package.

Hey Nancy. I'm here. I've been reading along. I just really have nothing to add. Anything I say would just be a repeat of what I've already said really. NO one needs to be bored with that. lol.

I am so excited for you, Kim. I know I say that everyday, but I really am.

I have not started tomatoes, Kim. Looking back at my notes from last year, I started them the first week of February and they outgrew my light shelf vertically. And I'm pretty sure they were potted up at least twice. I'm wondering if I should start some in early February and "risk" planting them early in March...and then start some more towards the end of February and plant mid April. Have two sets.

Last night, I started a new series on Netflix. Watched one episode...I'm not in love with it. There's one on Amazon that I want to watch, but we couldn't get it to load up (or whatever you call it.) It's called Pioneer Quest. My good friend thinks I will like it. I made Mexican food last night for dinner. It feels SO weird to buy peppers! You know how it is in the summer...you have so many you can't possibly eat them all. Even the ones I pickles have been used up. Tom took them to the band competitions and apparently everyone preferred them to the store bought ones. I'll take that as a compliment. Except now I don't have any. But, I needed fresh ones for my food last night anyway.

I'm reading a book--a fiction--and that is fun. I love reading but just don't do it much any longer.

I'm thinking about starting a painting project today. We have an armoire that was used in our bedroom 2 houses ago. Mason used it in her room in our last house and now it is setting full of crap in our 3rd bedroom. Soooo...I'm thinking about "whitewash"ing it today. But first that means I have to unload it, clean it, drag it out to the living room (where we have a big empty space to work), go to the store to buy a drop cloth and paint brush...and hope that my technique looks good. But I've decided to be fearless about stuff like that. It's not a precious antique, so if I mess it up, it's not the end of the world. I have a small table that my Grandfather refinished and, like Kim with the entertainment center and her Dad, I hate to paint over his work. But this armoire is not that.

I like to use those little seed starter disks things to begin my seeds--they have the tray and dome--jiffy? I don't like the jiffy cups that you can plant right into the garden. I'm not sure what I do wrong with those things, but the plants always die. Maybe I'll try again.

im editing to show a seed rack. Was so excited to see this at Walmart last night.

Ha Amy "stable" is a good word for the new year. I will take that one too! You need it too with that dang vertigo. Can you track what you eat for a month and write down all your physical symptoms when they pop and see if there is correlation? It is sometimes an easier fox than we know. Like psoriasis. Many people are healed by simply avoiding nights shades.

I will be straight west of Dawn but a different zone and climate. You are nearly tundra right? From what I understand tomatoes go in ground in march in plastic wrapped individual cages. Our plant sale will not be until April.

I put my tomatoes out early last year, with the cages wrapped in plastic. They did fine, until the squirrels.

Not a lot to talk about here. Sorting seeds today.

Nancy, My favorite trailing verbena is a perennial called Homestead Purple. It spreads out really wide and endures all sorts of awful hot, dry weather without flinching. Other than that, the only verbena I grow is Verbena bonariensis (which comes to us from Buenos Aires so should be able to endure our heat as well---and it does). I love verbena when I see them in photos or in 6-packs or whatever in Spring, but a lot of those just don't like the summer heat here and don't rebloom very well so I think they generally are a poor investment, and I'm not investing time in raising those sorts of verbena from seed when their track record here is poor. We do have native moss verbena here, but not many of them. There's usually 1 or 2 down along the driveway near the gate and mailbox. If they pop up there, we just mow around them, as we do with all the wildflowers to the extent that we can.

I start cool-season seeds most often in flats and warm-season seeds most often in paper cups. The cool-season seeds might get potted up from starter flats to paper cups depending on how cold the winter is and how long I have to hold them indoors. Some years the weather is favorable and the cool-season plants can go straight from flats to the ground. The warm season plants generally get potted up from smaller cups to larger cups, again depending on the weather. Some years in the past, I started all seeds in starter flats and did tons of potting up and potting up and potting up. That eats up a lot of time, which I don't mind in a quiet fire season. However, if it is a bad, busy fire season, I don't have time for potting up and that becomes an issue as the plants begin to outgrow their tiny starter cups. So, I just sort of watch the weather and play it by ear. Right now it looks like I'll do the standard method of starting cool-season seeds in flats, and I don't have to decide about warm-season seeds until Super Bowl weekend. When stuck in the cold, sunlight-deprived (even when we have it instead of clouds, there's just not enough hours of it) days of January, I try to avoid getting ahead of myself and starting too early or over-planning. I usually decide on the Thursday or Friday before Super Bowl Sunday how I'll be starting my warm-season seeds so that if I need to buy cups or flats or anything, I can do it on Saturday. I used to then spend Super Bowl Sunday cooking (mainly by putting something in the crockpot) and starting seeds while waiting all day long for kickoff time to arrive. Since we basically have given up watching the NFL, I am not sure how well the Super Bowl Sunday routine will hold up---maybe I'll just start them the day before or whatever.

Tatiana's tomato base will blow someone's mind. That's how I felt when I first discovered the European tomato data base (whose name I no longer remember) that preceded hers. I could look at that thing for hours, but I don't think it had all the data on its pages that Tatiana has on hers. What she has accomplished is truly amazing.

Amy, Probably Verbena rigida (aka tuberous vervain, I think). Does it grow more upright or does it trail and spread?

I got ink on my London Fog coat once, but was able to remove it with Aqua Net hairspray......which I'm sure was one of Heloise's Hints (and I guess nowadays they'd call it a hack).

LOL at the gangster look with the trench coat, pinstriped suit and fedora---all of which are clothing I love and like seeing together, but it certainly can give off a bit of a gangster look.

Nancy, Sometimes we all are just busy doing other things and that keeps us away from our computers even if we'd rather be here. Here's where I've been and what has been occupying me lately (especially last night):

We had a chimney fire around dinner time last night (for some reason, it seems like we always have chimney fires at dinner time, which certainly is better than having them in the middle of the night), so that messed up the rest of our night. It did make Tim take my complaints that "I smell something burning when the heater is on" more seriously though.

I've been smelling a burning smell inside our house all week whenever the heater is on but couldn't figure it out, and Tim would sniff the air, say "I smell nothing" and go back to watching TV or whatever. So, last night, after the chimney fire, when I smelled that burning smell in the air at our house, I got him, dragged him into the room and made him stand in the exact place where I was standing when I smelled the burning smell, and lo and behold, he smelled it. Finally! So, then he got busy climbing around (in the attic, in the closet with the furnace is located, etc.), and started banging around, making a ton of noise, opening and slamming doors, searching for answers....and discovered that when the furnace blower shuts off, the heating coils don't shut off, so they are staying hot all the time and never cooling down. He said they were hot, really really hot...and I sarcastically asked him "burning hot?" To get them to shut off, we have to throw the circuit breaker in the heater closet. So, now that we have established that he'll never again ignore my complaints that I smell something burning, we are sitting around all day today, doing pretty much nothing, waiting for the HVAC repair guy to get here. (I'm not complaining---assuming he shows up, I know how lucky we are to get one on the same day we call during the height of the winter season, especially on a Saturday.) And he just called and said he's on his way....and about 30 or 40 minutes out.

As a funny aside to all that, Tim talked to his sister on the phone a couple of days ago as he was driving home and she told him she smelled gas in the air earlier this week, so called the gas company and the guy came right out to search for the leak. He told her that women have a better sense of smell, so when a woman calls and says "I smell gas", he goes there right away because if she believes she is smelling gas, she IS smelling gas and there is a leak. Between Colleen and I, I believe we educated Tim about women smelling things in the air that indicate possible problems.

Our heater issue is probably only going to be a malfunctioning relay or switch or something, and I'm just glad we found it before the house burned down. In order to playfully indicate to my husband how irritated I was that he ignored 5 days of me saying "I smell something burning...", I told him I was mad at him....because now that he took it seriously and figured out the problem, he ruined my plans for the new house. He said "What new house??" and I told him "The one we were going to have to build after this house burned down". lol lol lol. He had that deer-in-headlights startled look like he finally realized he shouldn't have been ignoring my complaints about the burning smell. Then, around 2 a.m., the smoke detector in the office went off (and the HVAC closet is in a corner of the office) and scared us a little---not too much because we had flipped the breaker and shut down the heater when we went to bed, but it still never is good to wake up to a smoke detector going off in the middle of the night. He replaced the battery in the smoke detector and it didn't make another sound all night long, so eventually we both fell back asleep in what was, by then, a very cold house.

I don't think I even have to explain to him the old tale of the shoemaker's children having no shoes as it relates to the fire chief's house potentially burning down because he ignored that burning smell his wife kept mentioning.......I think he's got it now. I'll add that last weekend he had to change an outlet in the sunroom that I told him didn't seem right to me. Sure, enough, there was something wrong with it...it had little black soot stuff on it. That was also a thing I had mentioned several times over a long period of time and he had ignored it. A circuit breaker kept flipping and he'd just go flip it back on. I finally asked him if he was ignoring the fact that the circuit breaker flips for a reason and the reason is that it detects a problems and shuts down the circuit so a fire won't start? He finally checked the outlet I suspected was the problem and replaced it after I told him several times that "it will be embarrassing if the chief of the local VFD has his house burn down...."

Ever since his big promotion at work (almost exactly one year ago), his head is never here in this house---it is always focused on whatever the big issue at work is at the moment, and I have to lasso him, rein him in, slap him upside the head and get him to PAY ATTENTION to what is going on at home, at least while he is at home. Part of the problem is that his phone gets phone calls, e-mails, text messages, etc. from work literally 365/24/7 so it is like he is working 24/7 and I have to remind him that it is still just a job and they aren't paying him to attend to things 24/7, and that he still has to have a life away from work. I'm not talking about someone at work contacting him with a critical issue that is am emergency---I understand that. I just mean that there is a constant flow of info and questions 24/7. After the smoke alarm went off last night on the heels of the burning smell/hot heater coils, and he went flying down the stairs like a crazed maniac thinking maybe the house was on fire, I think the house and I finally have his attention again. And, I'm not sure I want it now....because he seems to feel like he is coming down with the flu, so at this point, I just want for him to stay as far away from me as possible. lol.

Kim, I haven't started tomato seeds or anything else and am in no hurry to do so. I always listens to my instincts, and right now they are telling me to not rush into anything. I won't say they are always 100% right, but they are right most of the time.

I did finally sit still long enough today to order the few seeds I needed, and I even went to Burpee and ordered a handful of things because....I hate their high prices and their high shipping/handling so I won't hardly order anything from them any more. They have a Buy One, Get One seed sale today though (coupon code GROWSEEDS), and free shipping, so it seemed like a good time to stock up on what I wanted from them. I got 8 packets of seed for under $28 and that includes the shipping and handling, since it was free. Considering how high their online prices are for Burpee exclusives, it was a great deal. Now, I should be good and shouldn't have to order from them for another few years. So, if nothing else good comes out of sitting around twiddling our thumbs and waiting on the HVAC guy, at least I was able to sit still and order the seeds I wanted. Or, at least most of them. I might go to the Hazard's website and cruise around it and see if there is anything I need in large quantities....I know there is one thing they have that I want and it is very hard to find elsewhere (HPS does have it, but for a slightly higher price), so if I go there to get that one thing, I'll probably find something else. That's how it always works.

I've used a lot of restraint on the seed ordering though as there really isn't much I need. I'm sort of making my warm season grow list as I go, even though it isn't written out as a list.

You need at least two canners---one to use and one to have as back-up just in case. So, if by saying that I mean two BWB canners and two pressure canners, then that means you need 4, right???? You could double that to 8 if you had a commercial canning kitchen and could keep multiple canners in use on the same day. (grin) There. Do you feel better about how many canners you have now? I hope so.

Amy, I'm sorry about the vertigo. It must be so frustrating to have it hit and stop you in your tracks.

I like the idea of soil blocks, but fear the reality of keeping labels in place with a family of cats prowling around would mean that they wouldn't work well for me. I have a hard enough time keeping plants properly labeled in containers where you can stick the label down deep into the container. I cannot imagine how it would work with soil blocks. I can kinda picture your playful Honey dog racing around the yard with a soil block/plant in her mouth as if she has found something like a squirrel or baby bunny.......

Kim, Do you know your average last frost date at your new location? Mine is March 28th. We can probably figure out a bit about your new location just from knowing the average last frost date. And, what zone? I am in 7b. Do you know if your new spot is also 7b or is it far enough west to be 7a?

There. I have been writing forever, but think I am all caught up now. Oh dangit, y'all mentioned Kitazawa, and I haven't ordered from them yet, but I will now. The HVAC guy ought to be here to solve our burning issue any time now. Hooray for that.

Dawn

hahaha, the tundra! Almost rolling on the floor laughing........... Tundra! Good one, Kim! Oh you are funny.

Yes, I'm trying not to jump the gun on planting. I so remember juggling all the too-big plants last year. I WAS going to start asparagus ferns and begonias yesterday, but they'll want more heat than is in the house, so a heat mat is in order. But won't have the heat mat til next week. SO. No seeds planted yet.

Let's see, what else will take forever to get big. . . oh well. I'll just keep waiting, I guess. I DO now have 8 little pots of sweet tater vines growing. . . . lots of spillers for the containers. I think it's interesting that the aphids destroyed the lime green sweet potato vines (as well as the morning glories) but left the black ones totally alone. Wait. I am SURE they're aphids, but could I be wrong. Know they're not spider mites. They HAVE to be aphids. At any rate, they left the black ones alone. So that's what I'm growing--black ones! I hate spending $7 for a flat of asparagus ferns or sweet potato vines, not gonna do it! That's a lot of $$ for no flowers. :)

And so looking forward to growing my petunias. I have to laugh. I cannot picture the Mpls Nancy being excited about growing petunias. They were a pain in the neck to me up there, and I never kept them deadheaded and they always ended up frying by end of July. I was visiting in a friend's yard last summer, and he had petunias growing like CRAZY in his large circular raised bed in partial sun (and they were not Laura Bushes).

The begonia cuttings are doing well, too, indoors. Coleus. . . don't know why I even kept those. I may toss them if other stuff gets too big. I want to start some indoor seeds!

I assumed you would have been using the cell packs, Kim, since you're sowing on a grand scale. Little paper cups would not be the least bit feasible for you! Okay. . . I see arguments for both ways.

Oh my gosh, Dawn! What a hassle! I'm so glad you finally convinced Tim to investigate, though! We've had some HVAC issues too in the past month AND electricity issues, too. The short in one of the electric lines took Garry 3 days to find and entailed him crawling around in the attic. Here's a funny one. He figured out that our heating unit wasn't working, except on the emergency back-up cycle. So after he got the fireplace blower/heater wires coordinated (another 3 days) and discovered the new problem, he called our HVAC guy, who was able to come out right away. Took him 10 minutes of investigating before he asked Garry if the breaker switch for the AC was off. Why, yes it was, because GDW forgot it was the same switch for the heating. LOL. So Mr. HVAC only was going to charge $20, just for coming out. But GDW was so happy there was nothing wrong that he gave him $40.

Amy--you've been dealing with this vertigo for all your life? What a royal pain! I hate that for ya.

Dawn glad he listened to your nose. It would be exceptionally embarrassing if it got out that you warned him several times and he still ignored the danger. I had that happen one time at work and they insisted I was burning something. Weeks later they found it in the ceiling before it burned the place down.
I am zone 6b -7a in Lubbock, same as here. my average last frost date is April 3.

Nancy I said that jokingly so I am glad you got a laugh lol. I remember weeks of temps below zero and snow so deep we didn't leave the house for uh forever. And that wasn't even the real tundra. I do not miss it and I wasn't a gardener then really but cant imagine the short growing season. I listen to Jean Martin Fortier in Quebec and all the hoops he jumps through to get certain crops going. I wouldn't care for it at all.
But even Amy's season is so different than mine its hard to grasp. I guess I feel like we are all neighbors doing the same thing at the same time lol

One of my Y friends posted this on FB a little while ago: False alarm sent out to Hawaii - where I am right now - about an incoming Missile Strike - Terrible half hour plus. People crying, taking last photos, running up and down flights of stairs - incredible sadness. Watching CNN at first make light of it was upsetting. Juliette Kayyam blaming it on Social media - Twitter and Facebook. Ignoring the Civil Alert and local TV reports which we all saw. Very real.

What tragedies will come of this?

Yes, Kim, we could both use the word stable. I chuckled at the tundra reference. Not me, too cold. I am a little more than an hour from the Kansas line. Which is north, but not even tundra north for Oklahoma.

I've been having vertigo since I worked on the ranch. Maybe 8 or 9 years ago. I recognised that I could not bend my head back, like looking at a high shelf or putting clothes on a clothes line. Went to ear nose and throat guy (mostly ear) who said it wasn't in my ears. As long as I didn't tip my head back, I was ok. Had to learn to shower sitting down and bend head forward to rinse hair. After I left the ranch and had my surgeries it started again. Someone told me to try a chiropractor. Well, artificial hips can't be put in those positions my former chiro used. Found one with Cerebral Palsy. He can't do it the old way, he has a little tool that taps on you till the muscles (?) release. That worked for awhile. Here lately I think it might be sinus/ear issues. I was fine yesterday till I ate breakfast. It was a sausage biscuit, which I've eaten many times without issues, so I don't know. It might be a touch of the virus DH had. It IS a pain.

DH went to Tulsa and brought home Desi Wok ;) he got the tandori (sp?) cooked stuff. Nancy, GDW could eat the Tandori chicken with out sauce. Mild is kind of like grilled chicken. I know, gourmets will tell me different, but, without sauce, it's cooked chicken, LOL.

Dawn, it is really scary about your heater! I assume it's electric? Some times I smell strange smells. You are so lucky you caught that when you did!

I don't exactly remember what happened to my trench coat. I think some one sat an a backpack and got ink AND pink highlighter on it. The ink wasn't very noticable, but the pink was.

Oh, dear, the breaker, Nancy!

I'm so sorry you have to deal with veritgo, Amy. Sounds miserable.

I haven't heard about the false alarm! How scary for everyone...really, for us all. The TV has been on all day, but it's on some weird channel.

Hope your heater is all fixed up, Dawn. Yes, women have a stronger sense of smell.

What is a soil block? I wonder if it's the thing I got at the Spring Fling last year. I keep meaning to look at it to figure out what to do with it.

The armoire is painted. Went with regular paint instead of whitewash. The whitewash wasn't going so well. I'll probably slightly distress it tomorrow.

Y'all can just guess how aggravated I have been with him this week when he kept ignoring my "I'm smelling smoke" comments. He feels really bad about it now and we are in agreement he won't do that again. . He has turned into his father in a way that I am not happy about---he gets off in his own little world and just doesn't notice anything else that's going on around him. He doesn't do it on purpose---just like his dad didn't----but the house could be burning down around him and he wouldn't notice it until I went into the room and hit him over the head with a brick. If I say to him that he is just exactly like his dad was at the same age, he gets offended and insists it is not true, but it absolutely is.

So, the HVAC technician thought it was some sort of little switch or capacitor or something that was going to be a quick repair, but that wasn't it....once he got into the thing, he discovered that one of the heating coils had burned out/broken/fallen in pieces onto the coil beneath it. Then, there was something wrong with the second coil (I think he said the end broke off of it) and normally that something would prevent it from working, but one of the pieces of the first coil fell in such a way that it completed the function of the second coil, so the second and third coil were still working....but were working too hard, hence the burning smell. He had to order the new parts to fix it, so expects to be back Monday to fix it. He felt really bad leaving without completing the repair (we weren't upset, we know how these things are), but he had removed all the parts and pieces that were loose and could short out something, so what we're left with is slightly reduced heating power but it works, and he says it is safe. Says the whole thing would shut down automatically before it reached the stage of setting the house on fire, so I'm relieved to hear that, and said we could expect to keep smelling the burning smell because the two coils left are working so hard so not to be alarmed. And, all in all, he said he couldn't believe the heating coils had lasted for the entire 19 years we've been here, so at least they have outlived their expected operational life. Thus ends the saga (I hope) of the malfunctioning heater. As long as he gets it repaired before that 14-degree night next week, it's all good.

I think you and I can agree, Nancy, that Tim and Garry should not combine forces and work on any repairs together...who knows what would happen? I am laughing here, as I know you must be. Tim's always been able to fix pretty much anything, but at the rate he's losing his ability to focus and to remember things, I'm starting to think maybe paid repairmen might be the way to go in the future. Really, he had no trouble fixing last week's electrical problem, after I convinced him it was a problem. Once he looked at the outlet, he did realize there was a problem, but I practically had to hit him over the head with a two-by-four to get him to look at it. Then, he couldn't really explain why he'd ignored a recurring flipped breaker for years when that breaker is supposed to be telling you something is wrong. (sigh)

Kim, Well, blame it on the weather. We all want to be doing the same things at the same time, but the weather refuses to let us! We all know how uncooperative the weather can be in this region.

Amy, I saw news of that false alarm on FB and was horrified. I cannot even imagine what it was like to be there in real time and to feel so very much in danger. I can only assume that the next time a similar alarm or alert is issued, some people will ignore it thinking it is another mistake. Let's hope not.

When y'all talk about the frozen tundra, all I can think about is the Green Bay Packers who do, indeed, sometimes play football on the frozen tundra.

It is an electric heater. Our house is all-electric. The firefighting men in my house won't have gas at all (or working fireplaces, or even a firepit outdoors) because they've worked too many fires started by them....and they felt that way 20 years ago, and feel that way even more so today. My brother's propane heater blew up once in, I guess, the 1990s, and burned Tim, so Tim's never going to trust any sort of gas heat ever again. I don't mind having an all-electric house---at least we never have to worry about a gas leak.

Your vertigo is so puzzling. I've never known anyone to have it recur over such a long period of time.

My seeds are ordered and I believe I'm done. Well, unless I feel like I don't have enough flower seeds in the seed box, which could happen.

Dawn

hahaha, yeah, you may not have enough flower seeds. You should look at those Cape daisies Rebecca made me look at on Swallowtail. That divine Select Seeds catalog showed up a few days ago and I decided I really did need some sunflowers and Ammi white and green.

I haven't grown sunflowers since my first year when the seedlings lasted exactly one day before the deer got them all. BUT I realized this year I can grow some in the raised beds area next to the north fence and they will be fun for passing cars to laugh at.

And thanks, yep, I laughed pretty hard at the Tim and GDW partnership.

Speaking of Desi Wok, Amy, my SIL sent me a recipe for chicken masala, and it looked divine! Am I repeating myself? I can't remember who I was talking with--her or you! At any rate, so had to send her a link to Desi Wok and tell her about the masala.

HJ a soil blocker makes little blocks of soil either 3/4 inch, 2 inch, or 4 inch squares. You pack the soil in and plant in the block no pot necessary. It eliminates pots and the transplant shock is less. In the big system you plant in the 3/4" transfer to 2" and then up to 4". Money saving in the long run for commercial growers. Johnny's has a great video on these. I was gifted the 2" last year and it worked really well. I planted some of my stuff straight to garden from the block even tho i did not have the 4" blocker.

Dewpoint tonight at 6 was 2 degrees. Had to use extra leave in conditioner in my hair to keep from having mad scientist electrical outlet hair. The house smells like static electricity.

Working on the master list of what seeds need to be ordered this month. Glad I started early, because otherwise I'd be ordering stuff I have too much of, and not stuff I need. I need to force myself to order only what I need and will use, because I have enough software, but need to spend some money on the hardware (grow bags, soil and amendments, new watering wand, fertilizer).

I'd long forgotten I'm out of SS 100 seeds, and only have about 2 Sungold seeds left. I'd have not ordered those at all. And, forgot I have a pack of Fourth of July seeds that haven't been opened. That may be my final variety. I have a TON of lettuce seeds, but they're so damn tiny. I am going to order some heat tolerant pelleted seeds from Johnny's. Maybe I'll use the tiny seeds on a bed of loose leaf lettuce while I wait for others to head up. I'll use up the carrot seeds with aggressive thinning. Stuff just needs bigger seeds, or more stuff should be pelletized. Says old me. Which reminds me, I need tweezers to help me thin. My fingers are too clumsy anymore for the fine detail work.

Nancy, I don't think Dawn will like the Cape Daisies, because they don't reseed themselves. I don't see her starting new flowers every year, with all the stuff she does start. I, however, will probably order even more seeds, because I can't get enough of them.

What would happen if I planted garlic now? Any chance at a decent harvest?

What have you gotten me into, Rebecca??! LOL So none of them self-seeded, not one? I'm enchanted by what I'm reading about them. Wouldn't it be fun to try and grow some from the seeds? I'm reading it's not likely, indeed not at all likely. It seems this is a very confusing flower. I love it when that happens. We had a similar situation with the perilla magilla. I found it in Lowe's two years ago--it looks like a coleus but isn't. I bought one--it was glorious, but it was mislabeled (I know they labeled it a perilla, but I think it was a perilla coleus, which was what sent me down the wrong path. And so I embarked on a search. Decided it was a perilla. But it really wasn't, that is, an heirloom perilla. So in OK FB garden forum, someone found it again last summer (maybe Jason? I'm sorry, I forget who, but suspect it may have been him) and identified it. I had to laugh about the ensuing confusion about that particular plant. THAT's why I've got cuttings of it going now!! lol So I happened upon this delightful post about this daisy, which seems to have several names, both common and botanical. I just had to laugh. http://dailyimprovisations.com/fun-flowers-to-grow-from-seed-cape-daisy-or-venidium-fastuosum/  I'm so confused about it that I am determiined to try and harvest some seeds and sow about a billion of them next year just to see if I can get one that may resemble the parent.

And I also got a good laugh about your question about garlic. I asked that very same question LAST year here when I had absolutely no idea about what was going on with ANYTHING. (Okay, I asked it a few weeks later than you did a year ago, like about Feb. 10 or so as I recall.) And I recall Dawn's answer to me, which was, "Go ahead and plant it, what have you got to lose." I did. We actually harvested a couple dozen heads later, but the bulbs were very small. Can you imagine smashing open a 1/3" x 1/2" x 1/2" bulb? I ended up not using them. What a pain THAT was! lol So I'd send on Dawn's message--get em in and now! And hope yours do better in your good soil than ours did our just baby soil!

I also use tweezers. But not to pick seeds up, just to scoot them out of the flour scoop cup I use. I put the invisible seeds in it--it's a translucent white, so they show up in it--and then scoop them out with either the tweezers or else my special very sharp-pointed steak knife. We do what we have to do, right!?

I know I got trashed in the FB winter sowing. . . it was actually very funny to me. But thanks, buds, for at least sticking up for me! LOLOLOL No, really, I got a good laugh. REALLY?? So much passion! I should've kept my mouth shut, because, after all, the proof is in the pudding. If it's a bust, can I steal someone else's photos and say, "This is what I grew?" LOLOL

XOXOXO to you all.

I missed that Nancy on fb

I have been busy with little momma and 7 puppies. Too cute and all different

I've noticed some people in that group are...rigid. I thought about saying more, but in those situations nobody wins.

My friend in Hawaii posted again later, as she boarded a suddenly full plane for home. She said the airport was weird. Happy people getting OFF planes and shell shocked travelers anxious to leave.

Oh my goodness, Kim!!!! Congratulations and blessings to the babies, the mama and the Super Mama!

Adorable, Kim!

Quite okay, Amy. . . . I KNEW I was stirring the pot, and tried to refrain, but when I saw the photos of the WS in flats, thought, "Oh what the heck. . . throw it out there." My bad, but my funny, too. Hey, we're all in this together, and yet we SHOULD all be thinking about how it will work for US. . . I've never been very good at following a PLAN. I've always been a tweaker and questioner. Got me in trouble at work at times, got me rave reviews at others. But the whole point is to think. God didn't give us a brain for nothing. And life isn't about the result, ever. It's about the journey. As Rebecca said, "Don't overthink this." And as I replied to her, "I overthink EVERYTHING." LOL And I do. . . . and I study and study online, and think and re-think. I was really kind of scared not to put in bottom hole drains, and couldn't find one single thing that would support my thinking. But what pushed me over the edge was seeing how very miniscule so many of the seeds were, and so decided bottom-watering would be best. But before I totally committed, I bottom-watered all the pots before I put the seeds in, to see if they'd soak up the water sufficiently. They did. So forward I went. But will still post fake photos if I fail. LOLOLOL

Oh my

Well I had nothing else to do since pups are keeping me awake so I found that fb thread. WOW it always amazes me when people act like that. Some of gw acts like that which is why I hide here. It is silly to me that people hide behind the screen and act so rudely. If they don't have anything constructive to add they don't have to add anything at all. I wanted to jump on there but figured they will not listen to facts that our climate is so different than theirs that slight adjustments have to be made. Oh well. I believe in you and I belive your way will be perfect.

Rebecca, I love the leave-in conditioner when the air is dry. The one I use has argan oil in it and I really like it. I couldn't find the exact same one the last time I was in the store, so I guess they have changed it and renamed it or something, but I found something similar. Our dewpoint was around 10 this morning, but made it up to at least 20 by the afternoon---but we had grass fires anyway.

You can plant garlic now and it should be fine. By fine I mean it will grow and produce and you will get bulbs/cloves but probably a smaller harvest than if you had planted them in October or November. What garlic really needs to do well is to spend time in the ground while the weather is cold, and there should be plenty of that cold weather left even now. It seems like we get another cold front every 3 or 4 days, and that could last for months yet.

If by cape daisies y'all are referring to osteospermum, I've grown them. Specifically I grew Asti White, which was an AAS winner almost a decade ago. It did okay until the weather got hot, and then it withered away. It wasn't until then that I realized that osteospermums are cool-season plants that thrive in basically the same weather as pansies, snapdragons and the like, so it makes sense that they'd peter out once we hit that big wall of summer heat in June. When Asti White was announced as an AAS winner, they made a big deal of it being heat-tolerant and drought-tolerant. Well, it might be both of those things in some places, but here in OK in the year I grew it, it didn't like the heat or the drought, and I did mulch and water it more than the average plant. Y'all know me, if something has to be babied too much, it is outta here....so, no more osteospermums for me. Perhaps they'll do better for those of you up there in NE OK. One problem is that the last three years have been cooler than average and rainier than average for much of OK (at least until the autumn of 2017 arrived and the rain stopped), so if you've only grown them in those conditions, you may get an unpleasant surprise when we return to our usual heat and drought. Time will tell.

Kim, The puppies are so adorable and Sophie obviously is a very attentive mother. I'd be busy too---mostly just watching them wiggle around and grow. Who doesn't love puppies? I'd rather watch a litter of puppies than watch a TV show any day of the week.

I don't winter sow and that allows me to skip the Winter Sowing FB group which I do not find as easy-going as the folks here. Too many people (not just the WS group, but in all walks of life) think their way is the only way, and I disagree---there's always many ways to accomplish a task. Different strokes for different folks and all that, plus we all have different climates and weather conditions and I think we must tailor our processes to the lives we live in the area where we live and I guarantee you that we all find what works best for us. Apart from that, I don't even care how other people do things---they aren't here dealing with my soil, my climate and weather, etc. Why some people think they can mandate what the exact proper way (and only way) to do something would be for someone else is completely beyond me. Amy's use of the word rigid is a good one, but some people are even more than rigid---they are hyper-rigid? uber-rigid? lol.

I was on my feet and busy all day long and now I'm tired. I feel an early bedtime looming---I cannot lay around and sleep in late tomorrow because the cats, dogs and chickens expect to be fed at the break of daylight and start making tons of noise if it doesn't happen.

Something evil lurks outdoors and it is driving our dogs insane, especially during the night, but also in the afternoons. I think it is something worse than coyotes. It upset Jersey so much last night that when she went outside during the night to use the bathroom (if Jet gets up to go out overnight as he often needs to nowadays, Jersey goes out with him whether she needs to or not), she was all riled up and would not come inside. It took forever to get her back in. If she hadn't been penned up in the dog run, I think she would have taken off after whatever it is that's lurking out there. Once she was indoors, she was obviously upset and couldn't sleep. Instead, she sat on the floor right beside where I was sleeping in bed. If I stuck my arm out off the edge of the bed, I could feel her sitting there. I think she was too scared to sleep. Even when she finally fell asleep hours later, it was on the floor beside the bed, not on her dog bed about 5' away. Then, this morning, she refused to even go outside until we finally made her go outside so she wouldn't leave a puddle on the floor. Then, once outside, she was frantically scratching at the door to come back in. I cannot see whatever it is that's upsetting her so much, but coyotes never have affected her like this, so I'm thinking it probably is a big cat. I hope I'm wrong. I wish it would rain enough to make mud so I could check certain areas (namely the open area where the woodland meets our lawn) for animal tracks.

Dawn

https://www.seedsavers.org/zulu-prince-daisy-flower

This one, Dawn. Not osteospermum. This one really did hold up to heat and drought. And its stunning.

Nancy, I'll admit that I DO have my own concerns that your seedlings might unintentionally get cooked under those lids, but you're at home enough to watch them, and you do know what you're doing in the garden, so I'm just going to sit back and watch and see how it goes. Definitely not something I'd trust myself with, though.

That's scary, Dawn. Poor doggies.

Cute pups, Kim.

I purchased some collagen tonight at Natural Grocers. Collagen Type 1 and 3. I'm not completely sure what that means--I've just glanced at an explanation. I'll try to find something that compares that is also vegetarian, but the more I've read about collagen, the more I think I need it. Since becoming vegetarian, my knees hurt as well as other things. So...I can say I'm not really vegetarian now, since I will begin this product.

Nancy, which fb winter sowing group was mean to you?! I'll go have a word with them. LOL.

LOLOLOL. Doofus. No one was mean! Not at all. Just that they don't like folks going onto the site and doing something different. I can really actually see their point. It'd be different if I'd been winter-sowing for 5 years. It'd be like a brand new gardener coming into the FB forum and telling everyone they're going to plant their entire garden in hay bales. Or stuff like that, you know?

What was a little exasperating was that some of them didn't read the post entirely and so it wasn't really a dialogue. No matter. All is good. But if they're mean again, I'll sic you onto them. ROTFL!

AND, can't you find anything that contains collagen on a vegan diet?? (Not being vegan, I would not know that, you know.)

Rebecca, I'm not as worried about them frying, I mean there are a ton of holes in them. Further, cross currents are usually more effective at bringing breezes through than from just one direction. I will say, that even had I put holes in the top, I still would have put holes in the sides, too. But. Okay tell you what. I'll go put a couple holes in the tops of some of them! LOL My larger concern is the bottom watering, just because I haven't seen anyone else doing it. I can't imagine why it won't work, since the indoor seedlings prefer bottom watering. But I'm still nervous about it. Could you please give me your thoughts on that? (Our first row of holes above the bottom is 1 1/2 inches high, which was exactly as much water as it took to dampen all the pots.)

At any rate, yes, if I notice anything going awry, I'll spring into action to correct. I would say in Oklahoma ANYONE who WSes is in danger of frying the plants! We ALL need to keep our eyes on that possibility, right? But yes, with you working, you're not around to hover over them like I am.

NOW. In the horrible event that I get called out of town for emergencies, I'll have to hire my nearby gardener friend! . . . Then I'd probably move everything closer in to the house for a minimal amount of sun. But then so would a lot of the rest of you be in trouble, too. Last year, I spent a good bit of time scooting my 15-gallon fabric container pots back closer to the house (and under the half roof on that part of the deck, either to get them out of the sun, or to protect them from the rains POURing down. I can certainly do that with the totes, too.

Yes, Dawn. . . . Rebecca's cute little daisy was discussed in this article. I loved it and got a good laugh. http://dailyimprovisations.com/fun-flowers-to-grow-from-seed-cape-daisy-or-venidium-fastuosum This hybrid. . . . I think it'd be great to actually get even just a few seeds to see if any of them turn out to be true to the type--that would be very cool.

If I live another 4 years, Dawn, I won't be winter-sowing anymore either, as I believe I'm growing everything I'll ever need to grow (perennial/herb/hardy annual-wise) this year. Hmmm. Who am I gonna unload these totes and pots on. Here I was thinking it was going to be one of those depreciation items. Perhaps not. . . .LOL

Oh, Dawn, that is very upsetting about something scary out there. Please keep us posted. And along the subject of pets, I also would rather watch puppies OR kitties than almost anything. We are loving Tom and Jerry. . . even Titan is just fascinated. These guys certainly are not anything like Daffy. He sees possibilities with them being entertainment. But occasionally gets over-enthusiastic. He thinks it's fine for him to lunge at them as they race past him (and it's not, we tell him), but he is VERY touchy so far when one of them tries to attack his tail or foot. We think it's very funny of course, but he at least hasn't snapped at them, just kinda growled/woofed them off. That is VERY good on his part. Also when they would approach his dinner. . .THAT is his wild animal trigger response. We've worked and worked and worked with him on that one. We normally shut them in the cats' room (formerly the art room) to be eating their own dinner, but before we got wised up to that, they'd go over to HIS food dish--I almost got bit once, as did Garry once. There were severe penalties involved. Also a bratty 3-yr old liked to tease him with it--unfortunately, he was the one who paid--but so did she. So it was fairly miraculous that when the kittens tried to interfere, all he did was growl angrily and boy did they back off quickly. We're feeling very good about the kittens and Titan, they all three are fascinated with each other and full of good cheer. But Titan IS part wolf, after all, and we always are very aware of him--in unexpected situations. I am 100% certain GDW and I are gold with him. But I always keep an eye on him when he indicates he's uncomfortable with someone or a certain situation, and usually take him into the house then. The kittens are his first test situation with trust, and he's doing SUPER, but we still keep an eye on him. Little thinker, Tom, has now finally decided GDW is okay, too, and so now is landing on HIS lap and in HIS way. They're just precious, both of them.

Kim, I missed your supportive post earlier, that was SO sweet!!! Thanks for believing in me--you KNOW I believe in you, too. You are a marvel! We're both kinda Ruth Stout people, I think. Ruth definitely figured out what worked for her and followed that path! But if the rumor Amy heard about Ruth is true, that she gardened naked, I know neither of US is gonna do that. I don't even like wearing short-sleeved T-shirts while gardening. Gardening is like full armor down here! Okay okay, I admit. Oklahoma gardening is not easy!!! It's the damn bugs!!! The critters! The aphids, the bad beetles, the slugs, the ticks, the chiggers, the fleas, the voles, the gophers. .............................................. a person in OK would have to be insane to be gardening in their shorts and tank tops and flip-flops and bare-handed, in my opinion! Let alone naked.

Amy and Eileen, tomorrow our trip to Broken Arrow. Our whole day affair. Short notice, so maybe we can actually plan the next trip. But if you can meet up, let me know. However, Amy has a good point--will have more seeds if we meet up in a couple more weeks--maybe we should start talking about that--the seeds we have to give. Aldi, then back through Wagoner for buttermilk and candles, and then back home. We have been SO hunkered down here. And you guys who are so tired of winter? We are, too, of course, but you know what? I've made my peace with it, somehow. I wasn't allowed to hunker down in MN or WY, working every day all through the winter nonsense. It was COLD. Not easy, especially with vehicles. Those of us smart ones (sometimes I was smart, sometimes not so much so) had engine heaters for the cars plugged in for overnight. When I lived with my son and his family in Mpls, we had a street-level garage, but the rest of the property sloped steeply up. When it snowed, we'd have great fun the first few snows in December; partying out there in the driveway--with the snowblower and the others using shovels. By February or earlier when the drifts next to the driveway were up to 5-6 feet, not so much fun. It was so MUCH colder and more brittle and so much dryer in WY and MN in the winter. But I don't care. It's COLD here. I'm with the rest of ya. I used to trot out on my patio in Mpls when it was -10, in my short nightgown, for a last cigarette. It's all just so weird!

Well, HJ, speaking of rambling!

Nancy, I could have said you wanted to control things and "set it and forget it" was not your style. But poop on them. I totally understand your reasoning. I'm going to try something similar with my perennials. The truth is people have no clue what OK gardening is like. As Dawn said, heat tolerant/draught tolerant is totally different for...shall we say...south west gardeners than north easterners.

I have not gotten the Swallowtail order yet, so lets plan on your next Tulsa trip, ok?

Dawn, I am terrified for you that there might be a cougar around. You strap a pistol or a shotgun on before you go out!

H/J I read an article this week regarding collagen. The premise was, eating right meant you didn't need collagen supplements. Sigh, but if you can't can't keep up with the good eating...

Jennifer, Well, you still eat vegetarian meals right, so I think you still qualify as a vegetarian. Sometimes it is just really difficult to find certain supplements and vitamins that are vegetarian or vegan and people just do the best they can.

Nancy, I am pretty sure that I read somewhere once upon a time that Ruth Stout gardened naked as well. I don't remember where, but here's a video where she admits to doing so. (grin) I think she was a real character and it would have been fascinating to know her back in the day.

Blog about Ruth Stout

Amy, I have been sure to carry my gun with me 100% of the time outdoors ever since my friend's granddaughter was attacked/killed by 5 pit bulls back in December. We have too many stray/feral dogs running wild in packs for me to ever really let my guard down. This morning I did hear a dog bark outside the house around 4 a.m., but the dogs either slept through it or it didn't bother them so I fell right back asleep.

I am not convinced it is a big cat because I haven't heard or seen any sign of it, but the dogs are horribly spooked and that bothers me. They act a certain way around deer, coyotes and stray dogs....and that's not how they are acting now, which is why it bothers me so much. Usually when a cougar is around everything, including the deer, coyotes and bobcats change their patterns, so I'm trying to keep my eyes open and watch for changes in their routines.

Yesterday's fires were disturbing in one sense---it appeared they originated on the property where they were burning, like someone might have been burning brush or trash and lost control. And, in both cases, the fires came very, very, very close to setting the homes on fire. When will people learn they must be extra-vigilant if burning anything when we are this dry? I'm trying to stay on top of all home and garden chores because fire season usually takes off in earnest around February. I want to be caught up on everything in case we start getting really busy. I've been busy lately feeding lots of stuff to the compost pile. It is hard to keep it actively hot in winter.

Dawn

Thanks so much for sharing that, Dawn! I hadn't thought to youtube her myself--loved it, of course--why could not love it! GDW just watched most of it with me. Just amazing. I like that no-work idea! Can you imagine no water in OK? Still, now that I'm in love with alfalfa hay anyway, will be buying more bales this spring, if I can find any. Maybe I'll call the co-op in Coweta tomorrow and see if they have some left from last summer and fall.

Good luck with your fire season down south. Will be hoping it's a light one.

We got to Aldi, back to Wagoner for my buttermilk and GDW's candles, and then home. Garry got hooked on cinnamon candles and frasier fir ones. I like them a lot, too. But last year we were so sad that Walmart quite carrying them in the spring and summer (because they're "Christmas" scents. Well he got 8 of them today--but they're expensive--$6 a jar. When we got to the check-out line, with the buttermilk and candles, the bill was only $28-something; we looked at the receipt and asked her if they were really only $3 each. She said, "Yep, half-price because they're Christmas scents." Our jaws dropped, and I said, "Let's go get the rest of them!" So we did. There were 9 more; so we came home with 17 candles! We laughed all the way home. Score!

Congrats on the candle score!

I wouldn't expect a summer garden that wouldn't need water here in OK, even with deep hay mulch. Ruth Stout's climate was just so very different from ours. However, I think you could really reduce how much you water if you have a very thick, dense layer of mulch. In drought years I always try to have mulch as deep as possible in the garden---a minimum of 4" in the pathways and I shoot for 4-8" in the beds, but I don't put that all on the beds at once or the little seedlings would be smothered. I start out with an inch or two of mulch and just keep adding more throughout the growing season. And, with a big garden, some areas get more mulch than others. The tomatoes and peppers always get the most mulch because they need it the most. Some other things, like bush beans (relatively short lived and closely planted, so harder to mulch deeply) and southern peas get much less mulch and do fine without it.