As of Today.....

When I checked one of my "garden experiments" this morning, I found one of the lettuce seedlings went MFB (missing from bag). Three seedlings instead of 4. Hmmm.......pondering...... Bunny? Mouse? I doubt a deer. Maybe one of the barn cats nibbling on greenery. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

The parsley may be coming up already. Only 3 days? Seems awfully, awfully fast, but there are little sprouts right where I put the seeds in. The herbs are coming back. The thyme seems a little worse for wear, but hopefully will bounce back. Looks like only one lavender survived, and just barely. Then I accidentally pulled it with a handful of weeds......twice! I hope it will retake again.

Looks as if the horseradish is coming up. This year I have to harvest some, as it has now been almost 2 years since I planted it, but wanted to give it time to spread a bit. I'm going to start the ghost chili seeds this weekend along with some beans and peas. In fact, I may put the beans and peas directly in the ground on Saturday. If we do get frost yet, which we can, I can just cover any seedlings that might sprout.

Looking at the aftermath of the tornadoes. Makes me work harder at trying to get Spirit Seed going now.
We pretty much lucked out here. We did get a good thunderstorm last night, but not what was expected during the night. Our tornado watch came and went.......5hrs long. Sun is shining today, but the winds have been at it all day. Other areas to our west and south, however, didn't fare as well. Nothing like in the south, but still some very, very bad winds with outages, a few had some roof problems, trees......still,this area was lucky 

Storms.....

We had a good storm earlier this evening, and still on tornado watch as I write. Although we are still under a watch, I think that we're OK, as the dog has finally settled down and zonked out. Up until about a 1/2hr ago, she was a nervous wreck, long after the storm had passed. It did get a little funky looking in the sky with the weird bright yellowish light, but the peepers were yelling and I could hear crickets as well, so I figured we were fine there as well. But I kept checking, as if they abruptly stopped their "singing", that could signal a problem.

As it was a beautiful, warm day today (hit 80), I put a few plants out, but brought them back in due to the storms tonight. I'm hoping the cool weather seeds that I planted don't get so wet that they rot in the ground, but I guess we'll see.

I've been following the weather channel, not only for updates for this area, but seeing what is happening down south. Just awful. It is for situations like these that I hope Spirit Seed and Garden will be able to assist in the near future.

Wind is kicking up, and as the laptop is plugged in as I type (battery is low...figures), I'm signing off and unplugging in case of thunder popping up again. Although our sever storm warning was canceled an hour ago, we're still not out of the woods for bad storms later tonight. It will be a loooong night with Chance if it does storm. She'll be pacing, panting and keeping me up. Even radios on loud don't seem to help her.

Everyone in storm areas.......stay safe!

Missed Us.....

Well, not quite. But we didn't get the large amount of snow during the night that was predicted. Problem is, it is heavy and wet so even 3 or 4 inches can be a pain to shovel. Especially with a screwed up leg! But 'm getting it done a little at a time.

Glad to hear that Phil didn't see his shadow. I'm thinking he's sick and tired of all of this crappy weather as well.

Going to be working on a course today. So hopefully I can get the first one up in a few weeks...or less.

So, it's back to work I guess. If you're stuck in the storm or the end results, be careful and don't go out on the roads if you don't need to. Of course if you have critters, we all know they still need to be done no matter what the weather.

It's the "S" word......

OK, enough is enough. We're now waiting for yet MORE snow. 15-22". Yes, it is January up by Lake Ontario, and yes, when I was a kid I remember snowbanks up to the power lines and Dad having to shovel a tunnel out the front door so the dog could get out, but I'm in no hurry to relive that part of my childhood. In fact I wasn't that crazy about the snow and cold then. Well, I guess my hopes for an early spring are shot. We sure got an early enough winter though. I think an early spring is a fair trade-off.

The storm is only supposed to be one day, and the ice is not supposed to be anywhere near us, but I ran out today, while the sun was shining (it was so cold though, the sun wasn't even warm), and got some extra bags of animal food...just in case. My own shelves are pretty well stocked.

I do hope this winter has not been too hard for my berries, horseradish and asparagus. And I just put in a new blueberry bush in last fall.....

As the snow is supposed to start tomorrow (lake effect) then the storm on Tuesday night into Wednesday, I should be climbing the wall by Wednesday morning. So I'll be taking that day and doing some cooking, I think. See what I can come up with. Better than looking at all that white crap coming down.

New Livestock????

Nope! I'm not raising sushi now. It's just Shamu, my kitchen fish (because his tank is on the kitchen table). The little bugger will come over and beg for a hand out when I walk by. And now he has the one of the guppies doing the same. He also likes to eat out of your hand.

Ok 'Mu, there is the 15 seconds of fame you've been pestering me about.

Guess it's too nasty for outdoor work today. Winds are really blowing, and it has been pouring on and off. Cold too. I put some cold weather things in like broccoli and lettuce. I have eggplant, tomato and artichokes waiting to go in. I've started some other seeds.....little later than I wanted, but......

I did jump the gun a bit and put in 2 cherry tomato plants. But I put those up at the house (for quick munching), so if we do get a quick frost, hopefully they will be protected enough. We'll see!

Escape!

Yesterday afternoon and today, the crappy weather stopped long enough for me to "escape" the 4 walls and get out to do some necessary running. A few groceries, cat food (they get testy if their food runs out), post office stop, etc.

The little local grocery I go to makes fresh country sausage. There was some on sale yesterday, and when I saw it, sausage gravy on biscuits sounded soooooo good. So, for supper last night, I whipped some up, making my own simple gravy from milk, flour, butter, seasoned pepper, some drippings from the sausage and of course, the sausage. I made enough for a few more meals as well, but I need to watch how much of it I eat (not what you would call a diet food). Some will probably go in the freezer.