The second half of January brought us a mix of early morning lows in the 40's to this week's 11 degree lows. It's been dry, windy, and brutally cold. Daytime temperatures reaching low 30's by late afternoon. It's been hard on the joints. I'm doing more Epsom soaks, heating pad in the evening, and saunas at the gym.
Last fall I planted kale and spinach seeds in my kitchen garden to see how they would do when spring arrives. The beds are covered with old sheets which I remove when the sun is on the soil and cover again as the sun sets. During this frigid week, the covers remained over the gardens.
kale
spinach
The gardening articles I've been reading claim winter seeds will produce nicely in the spring. I'm also going to try another method of winter sowing that has proven very successful. We'll see how the little seeds do. My 2019 seed catalogs arrived before Christmas but I delayed my seed list until the first week of January. During the winter months I come up with fresh new ideas on how I want to change things in the garden. Of course most of the changes involve Cliff's muscle. I don't like that I can't do all my own garden work anymore.
Normally during the cold winter months ice-cream has no redeeming factor for me. Cliff loves his ice-cream all year long. One day a few weeks ago we both wanted bar-b-que chicken and restaurant-made fries from Hawg Wild in Hiawasee, GA, the best place for bar-b-qued food. Hawg Wild is owned by Chef James Reaux who owns The Chop House in Murphy. After a satisfying meal of slaw, chicken, and large fries Cliff craved his ice-cream dessert. Actually, he wanted his frozen yogurt from Menchies but since we don't have one around our area, he asked the Tom-Tom GPS for the nearest ice-cream place. Tom-Tom routed us to nearby DQ. Not my idea of ice-cream but off we went. When we were still working, before my happy retirement, we used to comment on "old retired people's" parking skills. Or lack of them.
Cliff's park job at the DQ!
Last fall I planted kale and spinach seeds in my kitchen garden to see how they would do when spring arrives. The beds are covered with old sheets which I remove when the sun is on the soil and cover again as the sun sets. During this frigid week, the covers remained over the gardens.
The gardening articles I've been reading claim winter seeds will produce nicely in the spring. I'm also going to try another method of winter sowing that has proven very successful. We'll see how the little seeds do. My 2019 seed catalogs arrived before Christmas but I delayed my seed list until the first week of January. During the winter months I come up with fresh new ideas on how I want to change things in the garden. Of course most of the changes involve Cliff's muscle. I don't like that I can't do all my own garden work anymore.
Normally during the cold winter months ice-cream has no redeeming factor for me. Cliff loves his ice-cream all year long. One day a few weeks ago we both wanted bar-b-que chicken and restaurant-made fries from Hawg Wild in Hiawasee, GA, the best place for bar-b-qued food. Hawg Wild is owned by Chef James Reaux who owns The Chop House in Murphy. After a satisfying meal of slaw, chicken, and large fries Cliff craved his ice-cream dessert. Actually, he wanted his frozen yogurt from Menchies but since we don't have one around our area, he asked the Tom-Tom GPS for the nearest ice-cream place. Tom-Tom routed us to nearby DQ. Not my idea of ice-cream but off we went. When we were still working, before my happy retirement, we used to comment on "old retired people's" parking skills. Or lack of them.
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