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Coffee and garden .... got those subjects ‘covered’ LOL!

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It’s been an “interesting” week weather wise. It looked like spring, it felt like spring, but it is Not Spring! Temps got up to 72 Wednesday, 77 on Thursday, then a front came through yesterday & the temps crashed from 60’s down to 28 last night. This past week, the maples were putting out little red leaves, the crocus, daffodils and camellias are blooming on our place, and on business landscaping near us, trees are blooming – solid ‘balls’ of pink flowers. It is supposed to be above freezing tonight – hope last night’s dip below the freeze mark didn’t kill everything that’s been blooming.

It is cold this morning, high will be around 50, then the temps will creep up again next week (mostly mid-high 60’s) to 80 (what??) next Thursday, before another front comes through and drops the temps. It’s a roller coaster and just past mid-February so on the calendar, it’s still “Winter”. January/February are my two least favorite months. Once we get to March 1, I know any snow, even a big one, won’t last but so long on the ground.

Monday & Tuesday (when I did manage a late afternoon dump run with a PU load of junk) were taken up with phone calls/letters, etc. (estate stuff). Wednesday, after a day of paperwork for an estate lawyer & having to drive downtown (ugh!!) to deliver that paperwork, I finally made it into the garden at 3:45. Of the 4 veggie raised beds, I got 3 & ¾ weeded (being taken over with Creeping Charlie & some other weed – just awful). I had to quit at 6:15 when ‘dusk’ ended and I could no longer see what I was doing. The marvelous discovery for me was finding the perfect stool to sit on and weed – it’s low enough I can easily reach down, but high/sturdy enough that I can push off/stand up easily despite my knee (still not ‘normal’). We have a couple of these old step stools around …. I can’t believe I never tried one in the garden before.

Thursday, I was out of the house by 10:30 and I worked outside all day until 5:30. I got bed #4 finished, got everything lying around out of the garden and sprayed the weeds in the walkways. The weeds were already coming up in the slits on the shingle tabs and I wanted to knock them back before I put down wood chips. It was so warm that I got sweaty in a T-shirt!

After getting the spraying done, I tackled the 3 magnolia trees I wanted to come down. Two of them are on the sides of my garden, blocking sunlight & dropping messy leaves & majorly getting in the way when I mow around the garden. Two of the 3 had been thrashed by a buck in rut some years ago and it messed them up – one growing crooked, one badly leaning, etc. The third was a fairly big tree – big enough I could have killed myself if it landed on me. I got all 3 trees down safely – left the trunks about waist high so we can push them over with the tractor or my brother has also offered to cut them off with his chainsaw low enough to mow over. I was using a battery pole saw & waist high was the most comfortable position for using the saw. All of the trees that I cut down have been hauled away (same day). After that, I had to come in – my back was talking at me (more like ‘cursing’, actually) and it was almost sunset (5:50).

This weekend, I am dog sitting my furry mental health therapist (the Collie) and watching out for the chickens. I am also watching the Iron Dog Snowmobile race – Pro class started yesterday & will end next Saturday (I’ll be on “Wasilla AK time” until next Saturday). I can watch on GPS and also follow along with ‘commentary’ from friends, family, & Iron Dog officials on the Iron Dog Group (Facebook: Iron Dog & family are the only reasons I put up with FB). I have been off of coffee for a month now – totally lost my taste for it – just ‘blah’. This morning, it’s cold here & watching Iron Dog, where it’s also very cold/snowy, I decided to try some coffee. It actually tastes pretty good after not having any for so long. :-) I might have to have a cup once a month or so, just for a ‘treat’.