Over This Nonsense

Here we go again with another massive, potentially dangerous nor'easter.  This one is full of rain and possibly heavy, wet snow.  We somehow missed the splitting of the polar vortex and our cold air drifted over to Europe, which is getting all kinds of snow.  I wouldn't mind a regular snow storm, but these massive 5 alarm storms are just too much.  We're soooo close to spring!  A few more weeks and all of this will be a distant memory, and I'll be turning myself inside out with worry at every thunderstorm.  Huzzah!

Begone, Winter Banshee

The recent warm spell has spoiled me, and I'm positively aching for spring.  Unfortunately we have a little more February and a whole lotta March to get through, and it's looking rather stormy at the moment.  Tomorrow we're supposed to get 3-6" (possibly 8), and dirt driveways are already semi-thawed.  It's mud season at ground level, and we're going to get buried in snow.  To make matters worse, Thursday night through Saturday night at this point look like they could be a never ending snow, so who knows what we'll have on the ground by this time next week.  Ugh.  I just want warm weather and daffodils and...black flies and mud and ticks.

Yeah, so maybe this snow ain't so bad after all.

Porches and Cats and Warm Nights

Insanely warm today!  It's not often the girls and I can enjoy sitting on the porch in February.  It was 64* when I got home tonight, and all this crazy warm weather is doing is stoking my desire to get going on yard work.  But this is New England, and the weather changes in the blink of an eye, and March is notoriously temperamental.  Rein it in, lady...rein it in. 

A Case For Virgin Potting Soil

Oops, I've done it again.
Years ago I acquired some quince fruits from a neighbor, and I was determined to save some seeds and grow my own quince tree from these fruits.  (If you've never had quince, it's very pleasant, with a mild flavor somewhat like a watered down combination of apple and pear.)  I dried, froze, thawed, and planted my seeds.  I delighted in the emergence of a lone bit of green.  I babied that plant, tracked it's measurements, rejoiced at each new leaf.  By the time it was a year old it was nearly forty inches tall and began to blossom.  I was overjoyed.  My husband at the time dug a special spot in the yard where I could transplant it, sheltered from howling winter winds but with more than enough sunlight to help it grow.  The little tree thrived, and then it began to fruit.  Within a few weeks it was painfully obvious that the precious little quince tree I had raised from seed was, in fact, probably the tallest, most coddled green pepper plant ever grown.  What an embarrassment.  Well, lesson learned - don't reuse potting soil! 
And yet, I never learn.  Those butterfly weed seeds I carefully harvested, dried, and packaged for myself that I planted last month?  Well, the three little green bits that have been living a life of luxury under my grow light look an awful lot like catnip.  *sigh*  Used potting soil fail, once again. 
I've also lost a good many plants, which is par for the course in my life during February.  My 4 year old parsley plant finally gave up the ghost (read: somebody over-watered it), and my lavender that had so much new growth suddenly took a turn for the worse.  Also on my casualty list is the potted palm gifted to me by a friend, and my rosemary plant.  My King Tut papyrus and water lettuce plants in tubs have petered out, but on the upside I have a wicked healthy algae bloom going on.  [insert eye roll here]
Some day I'll get this plant thing down pat.  Until then, I forge ahead, undaunted.