Yardening Dec 2015 into 2016

Impending Doom VV? That certainly is an very talented christian metal band...

Oh you were talking about the snow. Well I welcome it. I'm jealous of my southerly friends in the greater DC metro area. It looks like we're going to get gypped with only 10-16"...

Jeff---
I love snow too--but just to look at it...and to play in it...if I was 12 or something..
Snow is so silencing.....so calming....such a nice blanket to cover all our gardens....
BUT---I have to shovel it to even walk out my front door!!! It is one of the times
I feel too old to have to do this...I also feel proud that I still CAN do this....
Like my Motto----It is all mind over matter......

Stay safe! Gita

Jan, that camper is sure handy in this situation!

I think the snow is very good at helping the fallen leaves under trees deteriorate. Smushes them down and keeps them moist and lets the critters get up in them.

But just imagine, how life was when we did NOT have a week to prepare for this. Can you imagine waking up to a foot or two of snow totally by surprise?

Yes!

That's known as being a 5 year old in southeast PA (where I was born). Never before or since has such unbridled joy been experienced as getting bundled up and sledding all day - crashing into an apple orchard tree with my head) and boot-skating on a frozen pond. Not a worry in the world.

Thanks for the memory stimulus....

Back when I was a young child, weather forecasting was almost meaningless, and it seemed that every snowfall was a surprise. We would wake up to a white wonderland and rush to turn on the radio. In those days public schools in the limited DC suburbs decided individually whether to close because of the weather, and we would listen for our elementary school's name to be read in the list of closings. Seldom were young children so quiet and focused at such an early hour. When the magic words were spoken we jumped around excitedly and bundled up to go sledding on the hill in front of our house. Older now, the forecasts are days in advance and followed with dread, much like news of an impending asteroid impact. :-)

How true! Let's try to regain our inner children and enjoy what we can.
I sure as heck hope coleup is completely excused from delivery tonight. But I doubt it.

We went to the store. Mostly, just because I know I'm stuck here until Sunday at least. We wished our favorite checker good luck getting home and she said Thanks and looked like she's not looking forward to it at all. I bet they've been working really hard this week. The milk and eggs shelf- totally empty. Parking lot traffic- nutso! I should have listened to Mark and just not gone out. (I almost asked him to go to another store to see if they had any paperwhite bulbs left...he would if I asked but not have been too happy rofl)

I can hear it now....uummmm, Mark, do you think we could possibly see if suchandsuch store has any paper whites left? Long silence....then....sure Sally anything you want. Hehehehehe

Will be keeping coleup in my thoughts.

Last Tuesday was a day from Hell at the HD. The snow panic had hit!

In the morning--we had plenty of snow shovels,pellets and ice melt.
A bit later--the greed and panic hit. I never understand how people cannot already
own a snow shovel living in this are? I have had mine for 20 years!
I pretty much hung with Glenn to "spot" for him. He is the main guy who operates the "Reach truck"--The heavy duty "truck" that gets heavy things down from the overheads or moves whole pallets of stone or brick or whatever. Tuesday--it was palates-full of pellets. From outside garden all the way to the Lumber aisle exit. Over and over...
When this 'truck" is in operation, "spotters" are required. A "spotter" walks in front of the "Reach Truck" waving orange flags to make sure customers see that it is traveling
down the busy aisles. I can't tell you how many trips I took from one end of the store to the other-and then out the door for Glenn to load the stuff in their waiting trucks.
I figure that one back and forth trip from one end to the other is easily a quarter mile+.
By about 4PM-we were sold out of snow shovels, all the big snow-blowers--all pellets
and most of the ice melt, We had 3 different ones.
I was exhausted! I bet I walked about 5-6 miles on that day just "spotting" Glenn.

The inside garden area was trashed! The floor covered in broken bags of pellets.
People calling from other stores to see if we still had this or that left over? Nope!

I left at 5:30PM. Have no idea what else was going on after that.....WHEWWW!!!

G.

Uh oh, Sally.

"Better or worse...sickness or health...snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night ..."

Here's what I went out and got. An hour to get out there and back, two inches of new snow. Just in time...

What insanity Gita. You're neck and neck with grocery store craziness, or maybe worse. Why don't we all just buy a bag of road salt every year at New Years? Like we can't have ten bucks invested in that.

Excellent choices, VV!

First flakes sighted!

I am "recording" first flakes of snow here at 3:45PM. VERY tiny flakes....almost invisible. But--they ain't gonna go away.
It is now after 5PM. Those same, persistent, tiny flakes are still coming down.
Hard to imagine that these will end up 2' deep??? So tiny!

Looking out, right now, the roofs of houses are covered in white. Not so much the
lawns yet...The roads here are still clean--but they DID per-treat them yesterday.
So did I. Sprinkled "Snow Melt" on my front steps, the walkway, and driveway.
Got the windshield of my car covered with that nylon cover. It will help if i have to
go out. Just rip it off--and--Voila! Clean windshield. Of course--the rest of it,
will have to be shoveled, broomed off, scraped, etc to go anywhere.

I am scheduled to work Sunday--8-5. I think i will be calling out--something I have VERY seldom done in my almost 18 years at my HD.I think this may be the 5th time.
Like I said earlier--the snow plow will put up a wall of snow at the end of everyone's
driveways that no one can get out through.

Otherwise--I have been sitting at my DR table working on organizing my seeds.
Listening to nice, relaxing music. So soothing....
I am pi...ed at myself! WHY, oh WHY do I have to be so anal about all this???
Been sorting and bagging and labeling seeds.....Besides my BIG BOX I will now have
a second shoe box-full of newer stuff. Seeds that have not been offered in that
BIG BOX...
Sally--I am assuming I can ride up with you--as usual?????????? YES???

Thanks, Gita

Almost 7PM--
Looking at my street light--the snow flakes seem to be floating down gently...
The roads are now covered in snow. Cars look like they have, maybe-1"-2" of snow
over them. OH, yeah--it will keep this up until......doomsday.....
Will give you a new report before I hit the sack--maybe around 10PM.
Like---you need it??????????
OK! Back to sorting seeds.....OR--watching TV. Hmmm--I am going to watch TV....
Gita

Here is my street--looking over to the houses on thee other side. Getting ALL white...

Big fat flakes are still falling here! I think we've had about a foot so far.
My husband does most of the grocery shopping - I hate it. I asked him to stop by the bird store to get some millet on his way back. When I went into that store a little later after realizing I would need more suet, the owner said he told her "I was told to buy millet. That's all I know".

Stay safe and warm everyone!

Mark has been sweeping the deck. Says two inches in the last hour.
You want anal. You should be with me sorting my random scraps of fabric so my scrap quilt is just so.. I find it impossible to just throw them together and wait for happy accidents.
Addy likes snow. This was much earlier.

Great photo of Addy!

Snow cupcakes, anyone???
zoom through my LR window this morning.
Every blackbird is all over my poor 2-tube feeder and the ground.
Could not glue together the 3rd tube. Oh, well...

Sally--that will be a nice quilt! It would drive me insane to have to sew all that together!
Never made a quilt in my life. I used to sew all my beautiful clothes in the 70's and 80's
though. They too had to be "put together". G.

Great photo, Gita. The one in back sure looks like it is set in a giant cupcake paper.

Pat--it sure does! That is a big, bowl-shaped pot.
The bigger pile to the right is my grill.
The two in front are my "tables". They are, actually, two of the huge
reels that the heavy duty, whole-house electrical cables come on.
They make OK tables--if one can make the top flat--somehow...
I stretched heavy plastic over the top of them and taped it down on the underside.

All discards at the HD. Gita

-Here is one of them--top not covered...yet
-Here is how I use them--nice "tables" to put plants on. August 2015

I had described myself previously in reference to surprise snowfalls: "...Never before or since has such unbridled joy been experienced ...

I take it back. Tian Tian has me beat.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/panda-bear-frolics-snow-smithsonians-national-zoo-36469511

wasn't he enjoying it!
We listened to news radio all day. Time to forget it and see what we have when we wake up.

VV - great video. Got to love those pandas. During the govt furlough a few years back, people were all up in arms about the panda cam being shut down and just as many people were criticizing how much importance was placed on it being shut down. Although I don't routinely watch the panda cam, it is so easy to see why people adore watching the pandas. I actually hate watching the news, but Mike has it on quite a bit. The only time I perk up to pay attention to it is when they put on a clip with the pandas LOL. Almost everything about them and what they do is adorable. Never knew they would like the snow!

Well---It has stopped snowing here for now for about an hour. No winds blowing.
It scares me to see the overhanging snow on the roofs of the houses!
Just thinking how much weight can a roof hold???
I know my Patio roof is solid (thanks to my ex-EX who built it) but but there
have been roofs collapsing in Baltimore county.

I am hunkered down at home. Nowhere to go--nothing to worry about.
Fingers crossed...working away on my seeds....
Wonder if this Swap may get cancelled??? How does one get rid of 3' of snow
all over everything? ME! Is the person that will be doing it....
If Jill switches it to the following weekend--I don't think I will make it--as it is too short
a notice to reschedule my schedule. "Calling out" will be my only option--but that
goes against my record. In 17 years--I think I have only called out 4 or 5 times.

Called HD today to call out for tomorrow. Was surprised anyone was there
answered the phone. Someone HAS TO BE there!!! Can't have a HD with NO ONE
in there! What if they wanted to spend a few thousand $$$ on something--
and there was no one there to process it??? OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An ASM did answer-and he said Curtis (the SM) was there too.
SURPRISE--cURTIS!!!! BACK TO REALITY! after having just spent a week in Cancun. tHIS was a reward from the Company for our store being #1 In sales in the region. Also--b/c we all worked hard to make it out goal--the store got a $5000 reward also which will be used to renovate out Break Room. Can't wait to see it when I get back to work. Whenever that will be.
I am down to working ONE day a week right now....Adding my unused vacation hours
to fill in the gaps. This happens every year........

I DREAD having to dig out of this snow!!! BUT--I will do it--as there is no one else to
dig me out. Thinking positive here..........It won't be the first time.
You all stay well and survive this record snowfall. I will! Gita

I LOVED the video of the panda!! Watched it several times today.

It as cute, they showed it on the evening news, too.

Aspen

I've sent you a couple D-mails. Have they gone into the ether? If you haven't gotten them I'll resend.

Yehudith

Yehudith, no dmails lately. I just looked for them and last one from you was end of December? I guess I hadn't replied thinking you'd let me know your final list and then I'd add them in with my order. Funny timing, I was just starting to relook at placing plant orders. What better way in this winter slap in the face to start dreaming about spring :-)

Cammelias have disappeared!! I looked out my bathroom window this morning and all my cammelias are gone. I put cages over them at the beginning of the winter to keep the deer off them. Evidently the snow crushed them down or just piled up so high that they're covered. I'm going to have to "gird up my loins" and grit my teeth (Oh G-d the thought) and go out and check them. I'm also going to have to dig down to the cold frame so I can get out my bulbs. I'm thinking they can wait til this mess melts and just make do with the ones in the fridge. Ziva and Sparkles are having a ball out in the snow. You can tell these two come from good working stock, we literally had to drag Ziva in yesterday even though the snow's over her head. She was making the paths like a snow plow with Sparkles following behind her. I wish it hadn't been Shabbos I'd have loved to take some pictures to share.

again we have snow today.So feeding the birds was one of the first thing to do beside feeding the outdoor cats. In the fall i left all the plants in the front yard die off from the freeze like the echinecias, Love Lies Bleeding( Amaranths)and the various type of sage and basil During the big snow the birds were feasting on all those seed producing plants and this year I will plant more of the amaranths because they were a big hit with all the birds So if you are bird lovers think about maybe planting some in your yard. and they do reseed themselves....

It's good to know birds use Amaranth. When I grow it, it gets horribly 'buckshot" by flea beetles. A dark red one usually comes up somewhere.

Sometimes I clean up the dead stems of annual Black eyed susan, and stick them into an extra tomato cage for a dried bouquet of stems.

Redwing blackbirds have flocked around me for couple days. They can throw a lot of seed out of the feeder. But then they creep across the lawn, poking everywhere, and I trust they are finding bugs or weed seeds.

Orchid--
Interesting to hear that birds can pick out those minute seeds on an Amaranth!
After my HUGE Amaranth--I have enough seeds to populate the World.
Mine was the massive upright one--about 10' tall.
I did have a smaller one--thought it may be "Love lies bleeding" but after searching for an ID and looking at pictures, I decided it was A. cruetus (sp)...
I dried the flower clusters and sifted out the seeds. I am bracing for a lot of volunteers coming up. They are so easy to spot--as they gave red stems and leaves as seedlings.

Snow coming down pretty hard right now (11AM). Everything but the Rd. is white.
Radio keeps saying the snow is "creeping up" from the South.
Suppose to change to sleet and freezing rain later. Bummer....
Suppose to rain tomorrow. That will take care of it...I hope.

Dtay warm you all. Gita

Maybe I will put out some old extra garden seeds and see if they get eaten. Gita you could feed the birds with those millions of extra seeds.

It started snowing here in the last 20 mins or so I ventured out earlier this morning and filled the feeders, tons and tons of birds are here. Ric just went down to the GH and is going to put out new suet cakes when he comes back up. We are just so lucky to have so many birds to watch.

Sally----You are brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never thought of feeding my older, extra seeds to the birds!
Like I have a cup-full of Cleome seeds....Lots of Echinatia seeds--but I think they
would be better used to just throw them to the winds and let them grow.
Not here, of course.
Do you think birds would be able to tell whether a seed is toxic or not?
Like--MG seeds? Datura seeds? etc... I would hate to see the hungry birds
eat seeds and then die.
Anyone have an input on this? Would be nice if Coleup was still around.
I bet she would let us know.
Gita

Just do not put Datura etc out and you do not have to worry.

I think that most of the birds have retired for the evening except for the snow birds . They are cleaning up whatever is laying in the snow. I do not think that I have anything that is dangerous seed wise. I will check and see what can be disposed off to make the birds happy and some space for new seeds. The water in the pond is still circulating and the birds were taking turn drinking off the water spout... where was my camera when I needed it ......

This is the best I came up with Googling "Feeding birds flower seeds"...
Maybe someone has more experience with this? Let us know.

http://gardening.about.com/od/flowergardening/tp/Plants-for-Birds.htm

G.

you can safely feed them cosmos seed as well as sage and achinaceas and of course love lies bleeding , I know about those from observing the birds eat them...