Ok, ok, so we’re due for another 8 inches of snow tomorrow. It’s today I’m talking about! And we’re just so glad to see the sun. Even though it was -3 degrees F last night and the high is only 28 degrees, the sun is shining brightly, and the snow is melting. Hooray! Yesterday, I got wild and crazy and ordered a dozen or so very rare and very hot pepper seed packets. They are just so cool looking I couldn’t resist, even though we have a short season and have a hard time with many long season hot peppers. But we do have the greenhouse — I plan on planting them in big pots and bringing them inside in the fall so they can (hopefully) set mature seeds. We’ll see how that works. Next week, I’m going to start planting my main-season peppers and the week after that, start in on the 120 tomato varieties I plan on planting. (Of course, I always end up planting some must-try new ones, too!)

My sister, Sue, snapped this great picture of granddaughter, Ava and her beloved Whinney, out enjoying the sun.

We laugh a lot at Buffy and Mastiff “puppy” (now 100 pounds), Sarge. They are very best buds. They play tag and wrestle every day. Buffy runs and lays down under Sarge and bites, claws, and wrestles with his front legs while he “bites” her. (His tiny love bites are so soft and gentle … he does that with my own ears, so I know!) Sometimes he takes her whole head into his mouth! She’s not a fan of that, running off, shaking the dog spit off her wet head fur. They play just like our late Labrador, Spencer and cat, Mittens used to play, from the time Mittens was so little she’d stand on Spencer’s tongue to bite his nose. So much for cats and dogs fighting, huh?

Here are Sarge and Buffy playing “dog and cat fighting.”

Will is continuing to work on his flatbed. He wants to pressure wash the rust off the truck’s frame, then use a rust-treatment on it, before bolting the flatbed into place. Around here, rust ruins a lot of vehicles prematurely. With warmer weather, that project will be possible soon. Our days are usually in the low thirties and nights into the twenties. Yes, Spring IS coming. — Jackie

13 COMMENTS

  1. Jackie, tell Will to try Flood Co. Penetrol. My Grandfather, John W. McLarty, and my Uncle Earl Flood, did some crazy stuff because the little boats and big boaats kept rusting out on The Great Lakes. Uncle Earl tinkered with it until he got Penetrol. It stops rust even under water.

  4. We hit 40 three days ago but had 0 night before last but 15 last night and 35 yesterday. That is in the Copper Basin Alaska. Still three feet of snow in the woods. I started peppers last Friday and hope there will be enough sunny days in May to transplant them to the green house and only need a fire in the stove at night. I’ll start tomato’s next week. I’m pushing because days are getting longer in April and May up here rapidly so it makes sense to extend the season in May because in October we loose light just as rapidly!

    • Wow! You had a heat wave. We MAY get to 40 this weekend but we’ll see. Still two feet of old snow on the ground and we just got another 6 last night. I’m starting my main season peppers this weekend.

  5. We have 58º and sunny today even though forecast was rain. Wind is of course blowing 15 mph.

    I’ve started my tomato and peppers and tomatoes are up with first two leaves. No peppers up as yet. I was late starting them and ended up planting peppers and tomatoes the same day. I usually do peppers a couple weeks before tomatoes but missed that goal again this year. Last year my peppers were so tiny when it planted them in the garden that I barely had any harvest before frost and we had a late frost.

    March weather here (NW Iowa) is likely to give a person whiplash it changes to fast and so drastically. At least today gives me no reason to complain!

    • NW IA is really experiencing climate change. I sympathize with any in that area trying to grow a garden. Some towns are short on (city) water and don’t want you to water period. Grass I understand, food not so much.

    • It’s been a real switcharoo here too. Warmer and sunny, then below zero, snow and wind, about every week. I’ll be glad to see it steady up a bit.

  6. We’ve had dog-n-cat buddies. First one grew up as kitten and puppy (actually puppy found the kitten). While not a Mastiff, puppy got much bigger, much quicker. I had to discourage the kitten from grooming the puppy – hairballs I did not want. Kitten used to grab onto puppy’s tail and go for a ride lol..
    Snow is gone (again) except for a few shovel/plow piles. Still in the forecast however.

    • With our pets, we don’t need to watch TV. They’re much more entertaining!! We’ve still got 2 1/2 feet of snow. But March is getting over. Whew! The beavers were sure right about this winter; lots of snow and not so cold.

      • No kidding – the pets can appear to be sleeping/chillaxing then they are off and chasing each other or pouncing on toys. Never a dull moment. Newbie #1 takes high offense when a neighbor’s cat and/or the stray out marching around the yard. Newbie #1 will live, I just remind him he’s living the life of Reilly. At least he doesn’t get all puffed up when one or both are here. Unlike when one not-seen-for-awhile other cat was here. Never seen Newbie #1 so irritated and mad as I did when that cat was here.

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