I Don't Live in Texas for This

I have tried not to complain. I really have. Well, I've been complaining nonstop on Facebook and Twitter, but I spared y'all because, well I just respect you a little more. However, I have had enough. This winter is killing me. I cannot remember a winter ever that has been as cold as this winter. We have had multiple freezes. The potted plants have been inside more than outside. This makes the Monkeys happy because they do not have to transport plants as often. Tomorrow it is supposed to get down lower than it has been since 1997. Ironically, that is the year I married Manly.

Here are a couple of real problems. The lemon tree is in full bloom, but has no pollinators in my kitchen and I do not know how low the temperatures have to get before broccoli and cabbage die. I've never had to consider these things. The broccoli and cabbage are on their own, but that lemon tree is another issue all together.

I asked twitter last night if I should hand pollinate the lemon or not. The answer was yes. At that point the conversation got kind of dirty. I'll spare you. After I suggested ripping off the stamen to pollinate the blooms. Someone gently suggested I use a paint brush. Well, I couldn't find a paint brush so I used one of my extra special make-up brushes. The lemon tree apparently did not like being molested by a make-up brush as it has dropped a lot of blooms.

We will just have to wait and see if we get anymore lemon babies after all of that.

Stay warm y'all.

New Years Resolution Just a Little Different this Time.

It is that time of year again when we make those New Years resolutions. I think I have resolved to lose weight every years since I was 13. Didn't work out too well, although I am eight pounds lighter than I was this time last year. I'm going to call that a success. I always strive to be a better housekeeper. We are going to put that in the failure column. Every year I am going to have an amazing garden. Well it is a garden, but I wouldn't look too closely. There are more weeds than intentional plants. I won't call that a success or a failure. I love my garden as if it was a person pretty flowers and weedy mess.

This year I want to go about this resolution business a little differently. I have a couple of bad thought habits. I tend to regret the past and worry about the future rather than living and thinking in the present. This year, I hope to break these habits. Regret and worry do not serve me well. Being with myself right here and right now in the present is what I need. So it won't be about how I will be thin in the future. It will be about what I eat and how I exercise now. I won't think about the garden that will be or regretting the neglect that lead to the current state of disgrace. It will be about the gardening I will do today. I won't worry about how hard it will be get the book written. I will just write or edit a little today. It won't be imagining when I will be able to speak that second language or why I haven't learned it yet. It will be about the work I do on that language today. It won't be about my misspent youth, it will be about my happy middle age.

Happy New Year Everyone

Snow

It snowed all day here. Very little of it stuck, but the monkeys scraped up enough to make a few snowballs. Loved seeing them have snow on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas y'all.

Merry Christmas Y'all

We Wish You a Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...

Merry Christmas to all of my Blogging friends.

What a Difference a Few Years and Some Organic Matter Makes

I bought this house and started this garden 13 years ago. The native soil is clay. Well it might have been better before the years of cotton farming. However, after that, all that was left of the soil was clay. Over the years I have amended this soil with tons of compost. I used to dig it into each plot a couple of times a year. I don't do that anymore. I just mulch with finished compost, shredded leaves, coffee grinds or the neighbors grass clippings. The soil is now beautiful, friable, drains well and smells good. It is a pleasure to work in it. Weeds pull out easily and flowers, herbs and vegetable thrive.

Today I went and volunteered to work at the local middle school. The campus is less than I mile from our home. There is a very dedicated teacher who is leading the Environmental Club. She and the club put in a flower bed in front of the school last spring. They amended the soil with compost and used mulch. Today we were planting tulip bulbs in that flower bed. Under that heavy layer of mulch was wet, sticky, heavy clay. I think it could have been used as modeling clay. It stuck to everything and had no humus at all. After a few years of mulching, they will have the same crumbly, sweet soil I have in my garden.

I hope those children don't get discouraged by that soil and give up gardening.

Driving the Slug Bug

We have a 1971 VW Super Beetle. We bought it at a pawn shop (not kidding). It is Manly’s daily driver and I think it is the cutest thing ever. It has been blue, green, gray and striped. Right now it is white and has oversized fenders. Obviously, this is a work in progress which may never be a “completed” project.

Most days I drive the truck and Manly takes the motorcycle. Today it was bitter cold. There is not a heater in the bug, so I told him to take the truck and I would do the fetching and delivering of the monkeys with the bug.

The little guys walk across the street to school, but Teenage Monkey needs a ride. The little bug didn’t want to start because of the cold, but we got it on the road. It was fun watching kids walking to school stop and punch each other playing the slug-a-bug game.

This afternoon, I had to run a few errands and needed to put the bug on the highway. This can be a challenge because sometimes it’s get up and go has got up and went. It did just fine today.

There is a certain way a old VW sounds, smells and feels. When I was a little girl, my dad had an old bug. It had a hole in the floorboard. We could watch the road go buy under us. I remember riding along while the hum and vibration of the thing made me sleepy. Baby Monkey road along with me today. I looked over and he was barely awake. It has the same effect on him that it had on me when I was a little girl.

Thanksgiving.

I am grateful for.

My amazing enormous family
My wonderful husband
Our house full of critters
All the plants who grow, it seems, just to make me happy
Good food
A great job
Wonderful friends both in my physical and virtual worlds
Being asked for my ID to buy beer today. Kid says, 1964, really, you don't look it. I wanted to kiss his face.