And Jane and I bestirred ourselves and started prepping.
We’re at 50 degrees today. We’ll be in the 30’s tonight, but tomorrow, it doesn’t warm up. We have a high of 20-something and several days of nights in the teens.
Jane’s working on her book, and at a sticky spot, so I was trying not to disturb her.
I went and got 10 bags of fine mulch from Home Depot…which entailed shifting the charity stuff from the back of the Prius and going to the store. Thought I’d get 15 bags, but when I saw the size of them, I whittled that down to 10. THose stacked to the ceiling of the cargo area.
Then I tried to offload them (they’d been rained on) and got out one dolly. Didn’t work. Load of five wouldn’t budge. Load of two wouldn’t budge. Fell right off. I went and got the other dolly. No joy either. I went and got the wheelbarrow, and began loading it when Jane came out, got the broad-bottomed dolly I thought we had, but didn’t know where it was—and we got the mulch off. It’s pretty heavy. I shouldn’t have lifted it—got a little twinge in the hip—since I’m like in couch-potato shape at the moment. But I’m ok.
Hoses in from the front yard, lotus pond filled to brim, main pond filled to good level, heater in for fish, lilies sunk deep. Then take up all the rubber hoses, take off all the brass spigot manifolds (I’m sure there’s a precise name for them) and store those for the winter.
We got all the mulch in, then needed burlap tree wrap, and couldn’t find it; so off to Lowes.
And we’re in pretty good shape for the 31 degree night tonight, but tomorrow we shut down the outside pipes and drain the lines. Got the fish tank (indoor) automatic topoff barrel filled. Clothes washed. Chrysanthemums and dahlia cut back to be covered in mulch.
And the mulch was on sale, too.
We decided to go out to eat, and in a bar full of people watching Seahawks football, we tuned our set to the Cup of China skating. 😉 People around us had to wonder why we were cheering out of time with the rest. And boy! that collision Han Yu was in was nasty. Poor fellow. When you have your chimes rung like that, it’s real hard to stay standing, let alone to go out and do a balance-based sport at an Olympic level. Bravely done.
I’ve got a pot of stew in the crockpot, but that’ll hold a day: I’ll just heat it up for a few hours tomorrow, and it’ll be fine. We keep our house about as cold as our ice box used to deliver in summer, so I figure we’re not going to get botulism from a recook, eh?
We’re not as ready for deep cold as I’d like: we still have stuff to pull into the garage, still got the patio table umbrella to get in. But we’re pretty well prepared, all the same. Thank goodness we did some of this a week or so ago.
My rhodies will get a little chill which will prep them for taking cuttings and giving them to Van Veen’s for rooting next week. A little chill before they go into the heated bed “makes” some of them break dormancy easier in the spring. (I’ll also have to empty the ornamental pots so they don’t get broken by ice expansion! 😉 )
“Manifold” is good. I like to have a couple 6′ pieces of garden hose–you’d be surprized how useful they are! 🙂 I put one of those on the spigot, then the manifold on the end of that. I think that puts less strain on the pipe.
I’d make them out of good hose if I didn’t have a broken one around. Once the cut is mended with new connectors one hasn’t lost any of the length! 😉 I prefer the “clinch” style mending connector that has a “crown” of teeth around it one pounds into the hose with a (ball-peen) hammer.
It is quite warm here. We’ve had only scattered nights below 60 or 50, and a half week where it was supposed to get below 50 but may or may not have. Although it is not unheard of to be this warm in winter, it is still, well, too dang warm. My heater works fine, unlike my air conditioner’s compressor. I have one or two sweaters I have not worn since I got them, and am loathe to give them away, still new and good looking. But gee….
It’s winter. It’s supposed to be coler here. It is, instead, El Niño or global warming or both in cahoots.
I will admit I like warm weather better than cold. I hate sleet, from college memories northward of here. But…I do not like it when it’s too hot (over 100) and I expect it to be cooler or cold in winter. It’s…it’s the way of things. … If I lived even 200 or 300 miles north, I’d probably say it was too cold and complain of sleet and snow. LOL, just no pleasing some people, eh? Laughing at myself, here. 😀
A cold snap last winter took out decorative, flowering vines and some other much-missed plants. The yard is sparse, but the roses and azaleas and trees are still happy. … As are the weeds, too often, before they’re cut. LOL.
Here’s hoping your cold weather is welcome and not unduly severe, y’all.
Got up about 8, 58°F in the house, 28°F outside, so I turned up the
thermostat. No joy (have electricity, obviously). Called the furnace
installers, but they say they’re busy and can’t come until Monday,
earliest. So I laid a fire in my emergency “Earth Stove” with wood I’ve
kept for emergencies like this, though they’ve been few and far between.
(Used it for several days during the cold snap last winter just because
the wood IS very old and should be used up.) “Be prepared.” Isn’t that
what they say?
This seems to be the season for discovering your heating systems are on the fritz. First Mom found that the furnace needed to be replaced; years ago, it had a burner repaired, but the installers put in the wrong type of nozzle, and it eventually ruined the whole thing. Then she discovered that the radiator in the living room (we have hot water heat) had developed a slow leak and needed to be replaced as well.
Out here in Hawaii, it just got below 75 and rained overnight — please don’t throw things at me 😀
Around midnight, we woke up to a barrage of flashing white and blue lights. The police were doing something at the neighbors’, the same ones who dump their leftovers in our yard 😛 No idea what the problem was; no one was being carted off, either in a police car or ambulance. We were wondering if the new style of police strobes has ever been studied for inducing epilepsy.
I just had this one three years. Took about 4-5hrs to warm up the house. Now I have turned down the “draft” to slow the fire. Fortunately I still have electricity so I’ve set a fan at the door to blow cold air into the family room where the wood stove is–the hot air at the ceiling has to come out.
Lol—I think it’s neat that we have different climates—I actually prefer snow and ice to summer.
Mmmm, interesting neighbors. Leftovers, eh? Perhaps their tenure will be short.
First house I owned, it had brickwork below and clapboard above, and when the neighbors across the street catty-angled across the street would open fire, I’d duck below the brickwork and pop up occasionally to see how the fight was going. I didn’t have the cheek then to knock on the door and ask what caliber they were firing, since I wanted to check it against the stopping-power of brick facade: nowadays, I’d knock and ask. Give ’em this, though: never had one hit the house. I was IN their house, though, when it finally came up for sale, and there were door frames splintered and numerous bullet holes. Did I mention my next door neighbor was a cop, who had more than once arrested them? I used to get all the gossip.
I’m pretty sure the neighbors own (or at least don’t rent) their house; they put on an addition shortly after we bought our house. There are at least 3 households on the property, at least 2 of which rotate, and a number of children, so I don’t know who the slobs are. After the last party which resulted in an involuntary compost heap, I printed up a sign and stuck it on a chunk of rebar: “Please do not dump your food scraps in my yard. Thank you.” I planted it right in the middle of a pile of fried noodles.
we’ve got about 1/2 inch of snow here at my home….projections are for 2 – 4 inches in my county, with the heavier bands further south getting upwards of 4 – 6 inches. I’ll see in the morning when I get up whether or not I need to fire up the snow thrower and clear off the neighbors’ driveways.
I just found out I’ll have to put a project into overdrive. A couple of my friends finally set a date for their wedding — in December. I have their wedding present, a king-sized bed throw, half done. No problem; I’ll just take off a couple of weeks to finish..! Oy!!!
Ah! The gift, I’m sure, will be loved whenever it arrives.