Yes, that's an ice scraper. And yes, I'm still in my PJ's and sitting as close to the wood stove as my laptop will allow.
Paul was kind enough to grab me a scraper on his way out the door for work this morning. Otherwise I'd be pulling out the ol' credit card and using that to scrape off the car windows. Don't tell me you've never done that.
When we first moved here, I had visions of never needing an ice scraper or snow shovel or one of those long, telescoping snow brushes that we required to get the snow off the big trucks. My Mom actually threw her snow shovel out when she moved down here.
She had to go buy a new one.
Anyways, it seems as if Fall is already in it's final days and Winter is just creeping up on us. Sunday night I had to cover my remaining tomato plants and the peas, carrots & beets because it was supposed to get in the lower 30's at night. Which it apparently did as when I went into the yard Monday morning, the plastic had blown off the tomato bed and they were hit with a freeze. Not really bad enough to kill them all, but enough to make me realize that it's probably time to give up on them. So I picked the remaining five or so pounds of green tomatoes and brought them in to ripen up. And I may as well leave the covers on the other raised bed as the next four nights are supposed to be just below freezing and daytime highs only in the upper 50's. I can't say that I miss this Summer's intense weather, but I'm not really looking forward to winter. I absolutely hate chipping ice out of the animal water buckets. Not only that, but the little diva goats won't drink really cold water so I bring out fresh, warm water to them if it's cold outside. Not that I blame them; I'm sitting here sipping hot Vanilla Chai tea and warming my backside by way of a wood stove.
So I guess it's really time to finish pulling the spent plants / weeds out of the garden. Even though it seems so barren and dead in winter, the beds do look promising when they are all cleaned and tidied up. Because I can already envision my plant starts out there. I can't even believe I'm already talking about seedlings. Somebody slap some sense into me. I wonder if Tiny Gardener is having the seed-shakes yet.
Although the summer garden is but a memory, I will still be doing some gardening this winter. I have yet to plant my garlic (yeah, yeah, I know I'm late) and I'm really going to try to keep the small hoop houses on the raised beds in the front yard planted with lettuce or some other edible greenery that can tolerate our (hopefully) mild winter.
Well, off to walk to pooches. I have a feeling I'm going to have to carry Cheddar in my jacket. Lucky for me, she only weighs maybe five pounds. Oh. The dog's name is Cheddar. I don't normally carry cheese products in my coat.
Normally.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I read this because I am sitting in front of MY stove, as close as possible, drinking MY coffee, staring at my dog who really wants to go outside and take care of business... Only she isn't named after cheese...
ReplyDeleteI didn't think that when I moved south (from northern Oh to Ky)that they had hard winters. Now, don't get me wrong, they don't have the wind that we had up there, but it still gets cold. Go walk your cheese. hehehehe
ReplyDeleteI have no excuse for being surprised at wintery weather - but I am and was. This morning at 4 was rain, which changed to ice/sleet/sleety ice just in time for my white knuckle commute. Hope you didn't freeze your cheese... heehee, couldn't resist.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Renee,
ReplyDeleteWe removed the frost/ice from our windows this morning. Temperatures down to 23 - 26 degrees. The afternoon it gets so much warmer.
Dog walk, we all do plenty of that, lol.....
What a cute name Cheddar. Were in the process of trying to
get our new little dog used to us. She's another rescue, I'll have to post on her maybe later today or tomorrow.
Stay warm!
I just built a wood fire and it felt really good.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to let us know how the covered hoop thingies work. I would love to raise lettuce during the cold months. I tried under my lights but wasn't impressed with the results.
Having to scrape windshields and break the ice in the water buckets is never any fun. Please don't tell my goats that yours get warm water in the winter, please, please!!
ReplyDeleteLOL, that reminds me of when I first met hubby and he (being from a place where they don't get much snow) saw me do the windshield with a credit card - since I was from MN he was a bit taken aback that I didn't have an ice scraper - we were living in Virginia, why would I bother LOL?!
ReplyDeleteWe are quite winter-like around here, these days. Our goats like warm water, too. :)
ReplyDeleteHave a nice Thanksgiving, Carolyn.
Somebody is fooling with our minds up here in northern Minnesota. We've been having days up in the 40s. Here I am hoping for cold weather so we can ice skate on Thanksgiving Day. But there's no way the ice will form and be thick enough by then. We have had ice on the vehicle windshields a few mornings though. Wonder if we could ice skate on . . . nah, what am I thinking!
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no, talk seedlings! Talk seedlings! I need to concentrate more on the garden this upcoming year and I figrue now is the time to start.
ReplyDeleteFunny how folks in the north assume the "South" is always warm. They think the fuss about staying warm is sissy stuff, but who in the world is going to have no heat when the lows are down in the 20s every night. My pet peeve though, is that winter clothing is so much lighter weight down here than in the north. I have to get all my warm winter clothing at the thrift stores, donated by northerners who thought they wouldn't need it anymore. :-p
Have you ever thought about getting a waterer heater for your goats? They come in different sizes or you can build your own, if you have a small herd?
ReplyDelete