February 2016 - Leaping thru winter!

Thought I would move us into February since the groundhog predicted an early spring.

Like the title of the thread.

I went truck hunting today. The one I looked at seems to have a bad motor and the antifreeze reservoir was the color of rust and sludge and they don't have mechanics on hand or detailers. Inside smelled like dogs and skoal. Ugh! I'm going to keep hunting although this one is still on my list just because of the chance possibly to put another motor in if I can get the price down far enough.

Oh Pep surely you can find something in your range better than that. Dogs and skoal I kknow you can clean them because we have a dog car...lol And there is smelly stuff that will erase the order, don't give up yet

Ok, so I had to goggle "skoal". Yuk! Best wishes on your truck search Pepper.

Thanks Bernie for the link.

Joyce, how are things going with your indoor gardening activities? I need to kick mine into high gear.

I'm having to expand my range now for my search. We forgot that we limit the miles on the big truck to keep interest rates down and basically have it as a "farm truck". So I'm still going to be picky but won't hesitate to drive a couple hours for a truck that meets all my requirements.

Don't know which is colder. The outdoor temps or the absence of warm conversation on this thread. If no one joins in soon, I will have to find another forum to hang out. Hope everyone is well and staying warm. I am just busy keeping up with the 4 legged kids in my household. Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello to anyone still out there. Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day. I did and need to get busy starting veggie seeds in my basement grow area. Lots of white stuff here.

Hi GB I am here....lol Just been busy working,1st of Feb lots of people file taxes, March not so much Apr those are the unhappy folks who have to pay ;(

I also have been sick and then taught a class on Mason Bees for the Master Gardeners, then doing it for 4h, and then lastly the other garden group. GB your kiddos might really like this. Mason bees are amazing and rarely rarely sting and if they do it is like a misquote bite. Check out these videos on youtube.

http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/solitary-bees-pollinators/
and the other good one is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXubOScx6E put on by the master gardeners. You don't have to have special clothes or any expensive equipment.
I built two bee houses in less than 30 mins. I'll post pics later gotta get ready for work.
Are your 4 legged friends keeping you going? One of our old chickens died ;( She was trained to sit and was a sweetie. She would come sit in your lap if she got the chance. Pretty good about not pooping on you either. No seeds started yet. I want to cover the fence row in big spotches of plants, like bee balm, or something big and colorful. Cant hurt anything along the fence row. We are going to be warm for a week, not sure that is a good thing. Too early for budding out.

Hi Happ, Let's keep the home fire burning! Our oldest cat "Jake" who is around 20 now isn't doing too well. He is very feeble and can barely walk. The kittens cuddle around him and also groom Jake. I love how they respect their elder! Our kids could learn from the kittens. The puppy is learning fast and has proved to be very trainable. She is also very eager to please. I am sorry to hear about your old chicken's death. Do your chickens have names? I have started working on my own taxes. It took me a while to find my password from last year. Once I found it, I was able to login and get started. It seems that every year something changes that I'm filing differently. It will be easier than last year when I filed for my hubby's business after he passed away. That wasn't the toughest year ever! I need to finish my taxes by this weekend and then start my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant seedlings. Chloe is over tonight and on my desktop pc because she plays games on it, so I'm using my laptop and prefer using my desktop for tax filing because it's in my office with all my documents and hooked to the printer. Have to go. Chloe is ready to go home. Maybe I'll get to use my pc tonight after all. Good night. Good to hear from you!

My cat is also not doing well either. I took her to the vet a few weeks back and they gave her thyroid pills and she was doing great. Now we are back to throwing up and not eating. I guess this morning if she doesn't eat I will be forced to force feed her again. She is my buddy out in the garden room/studio. I have faithfully been giving her the pills 2 * a day. Maybe she caught my cold....lol

Bet Chloe has grown a foot since I saw her at Sedalia.... I use laptop when I am on here on the couch. When I get serious about something I use laptop upstairs in my office area. You just need room to spread out
.
So warm this week, hope it doesn't cause any problems with the plants breaking dormancy.

Going to meet a friend for breakfast this morning. She is having a rough time. I am so very lucky.

Think I am too lazy for a puppy...lol love to play with them but the whole training part I dont know. Well better go check on hairy the cat.

I thought that this was a nice day weather wise until I stepped out into the gusty wind. Maybe the ground will dry things out.

Joyce, I hope that your friend is doing better. Yes, Chloe is a big girl. I'll log back in on my phone and post a recent pic for you. Chloe turns 12 on 8/4. I've been a grandma now since I was 48. I bet your little grand-daughter has grown quite a bit too. Chloe is looking forward to our visit to Powell Gardens. I renewed my Mobot membership so that we can have free admission at PG. It would be nice if you could attend with your grand-daughter. Chloe would love it!

Here is a pic from Purina Farms taken a few weeks ago.

Enjoyed reading your posts. From searching for a new-used truck to the pretty redhead in the picture at Purina Farm. It was good to find familiar people to read about and chat with. No seeds planted here, but I need to. No tax work done here, but I need to. Yes, we too are expecting a 3-4 much warmer days - Yipppeee! Blown in by some strong winds tomorrow.

I had bought a gallon of paint a month or so back and day before yesterday I decided to get busy and paint. I painted (colored almond milk) on 3 walls in the dinning room, one wall in the living room (which covered a chartruse area), a small area in the kitchen and a small section in the one bath. Then I saved just enough paint to use for touch up if need be. I was so pleased with my painting and how much of an improvement it was I decided to open a can of stain that I have had for maybe 20 years (yep 20 years) and I painted the front door with stain. That was probably the wrong thing to do. It is still sticky and yesterday was when I did that little trick. The door sure looks better. I sent an email to ZAR, the manufacturer of the stain, to see if it would ever dry on the steel door. Guess I'll see. I may have to lick my calf over and take that stuff off.

Will see.. . . . .

Hi Brenda, Thank you. The redhead is my grand-daughter Chloe. She will be at the Spring RU. I hope that you can make it. It would be nice to have one down your way. Beautiful countryside.

Oh my Cloe is getting older Grandma bet your glad your not getting older...lol She still looks like the little girl in Sedllia just a grown up version, Very pretty. My Gdaughter rides horses EVERY Saturday I dont care if it is 10 below 0. if the horses can be ridden she is there for her riding lessons...lol so I am sure she won't come with me. Sarah seems like she has grown a foot since Christmas...lol She is a little different from the little girl digging in the dirt to this pic... ;) Don't know how she ever knew she would like to ride, no one in the family rides at all. She did the dance stuff and then decided on riding... She isn't a tom boy like I was she is more a girly girl, so riding was a shock to us all.

I am lucky enough to be off today and I have been outside since 8:30 cleaning gardens. I know it is probably too early, but I may not be off when it is warm again until it is too late. I have hauled 4 tractor buckets full of yard trash to the pile. Winds have
been horrible and part of today was picking up stuff that has flown across the property.

Wow Brenda I hope you don't have to redo the door. I hate redos, I should be use to them but....I am not. I should just actually plan for them...lol I have some bags of soil I was thinking about dumping them along the fence row and then tossing out some seeds, cover lightly water and see what happens? Is it too early for that?

My taxes arent done either, course we have been so busy at work I wouldn't have time to work on them anyway.

It is really dry here, guess I didn't realize it until I was out in the garden. Fire dangers for sure.

Happ, there was a fire over off of 92 hwy by Beverly yesterday. Big grass fire that ate up 1500 acres last I heard. Will could smell the smoke at his place.

Joyce, your grand-daughter is a lovely girl. Chloe has always wanted to ride horses, but hasn't had the opportunity. I hope that she gets to some day. I got her the puppy hoping that she would keep Chloe busy. So far, it's working.

I heard there was a big fire. Glad it wasn't close here, it is so DRY. I did finally get daffs planted...rofl. better late than never. They had just started to grow a tad. the ground is perfect for digging wish I had a week like this I might get something done...lol Started to cool off and with so much wind it feels alot cooler.

Only reason DGD is riding is she is an only child of an only child of an only child...whew! So there is financial support to do it. 45 a week over by the new race track in kck. Believe it or not right off of i435 over there, there are actually two stables who have riding lessons. I may live in the country but no horses here, too bigg and way too expensive. I can barely feed the chickens dogs and cat.... Don't think I could do a puppy again, old lazy dogs which suits me...lol But Chloe is young and full of energy and what a great thing to spend it on.

Pep did you find a truck? I had to drive ours to work the other day while DH got tires put on my fiat. I felt like a tank going down the road! Glad to get my little car back. We can actually afford to drive the truck now.

I havent worked on any projects or done anything. Just work and seems like I am always looking up trying to figure out how to enter a form on the new software of some sort, or the odd things people come in with. I am consciously going to make an effort not to be a grouchy old person. If they have to wait 5 minutes you would think you committed capital murder. Sad thing is they usually don't have anywhere to go or anything to do....very sad. Found a quote today 'you control your attitude' . Course I didn't like that because then I had to take responsibility for it...lol
I have a love hate relationship with quotes...lol This one I am going to cross stitch on my two great nieces pillows. The hardest lesson to learn is to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, rather you like it or not. If you just go by that life would be so MUCH simpler... apparently I don't like simply...lol

I found one exactly a week ago today in Tulsa. lol. Now I have to deal with Olk when it comes to the title because the state holds the title not the dealer. Which then means that it takes twice as long and I probably will be late getting my tags. Have to have new tires put on in 2 weeks and an oil change while it's in there. Have several small little things to take care of too on it but will get there eventually.

Oh and the green truck that's behind my new one in the pic? That was my backup truck and now my brother is driving it because the truck he just bought has crapped out on him. We would be lost without that truck.

Beautiful truck Pepper. Glad it worked out for you. Just stay safe on the road.

Wow great truck Pep. It looks really nice.
The bedroom circuit breaker blew. Bout made my husband crazy! He was unplugging everything in the bedroom when it dawned on him the outside wall had an outlet and the outlet has my pond heater plugged into it. the pond heater has an element to heat it and the whole side busted which shorted out everything. Yuck!! Glad it didn't burn the house or kill my fish. I have another to plug in suppose to get colder next week.
Enjoy tomorrow we are going to get colder.

Not cold enough for me. Not for this time of year. Love the warmth but I expect cold. Makes it harder to stay warm in cold weather when it can't make up it's mind. lol

Thanks on the truck. I have stuff to do to it but I'm getting the tires done before I worry about the cheaper stuff.

Visited my mom in the country today. They still have the horses Pepper! It was 75 F and sunny, and big mosquitoes were out too! We had a very nice visit. Their dog Samantha is our puppy Grace's mom. So Grace and I both visited our moms today. lol

He's got some really nice looking horses!! I was drooling over them and my fingers were itching to hop on and go for a ride. LOL!! He didn't help with the stories about them in their heyday either. lol

Pepper - Like your wheels. Glad you found it. Hope all works out between states to get the paper work complete.

61 degrees this morn when I work. Yes - supposed to cool off here again.

Really don't know if I will renew, went to renew and now the only way to renew is thru paypal...... ;( I have til March to decide.
I did go over to all things plants and say HI to some of the old group.
I have played on the internet now for over an hour...lol
I am trying to build a class on leaf cutter bees so I haven't been just playing...lol just mostly playing. When I stopped work I thought I will have all this time but now it doesn't seem like I get anything accomplished so I started writing down what I am doing with my time....I sure got alot done yesterday when I started doing that. lol
It cooled off alot but I might go out and try to clean some more gardens while the wind isn't blowing. later guys

What attracted me to Dave's Garden was the Garden Watchdog. That is why I joined. I feel like I've gotten my money's worth just from this feature alone.

Then there are the articles. I have my favorite authors.

I joined for the plant files, omg I used them all the time and now it was for all the friends I have made.

Yes. The plant files are priceless. I also like to read about others experiences growing different plants and the pics they share. When everyone around you thinks your plant obsession is strange, this is a place where I fit in.

Here are some of my favorite pics from different years and seasons.

ATP is free, if you get a second pop over and say hi, I am under the same name and so is BillyPorter. Pepper has posted the get together over there so we will see you at Powell Gardens!!! I will miss alot of you.

Brenda I will miss your wonderful pictures of your beautiful grounds, that is what I am going to work at achieving, don't know if I will ever get there but it will be fun working at it. I have saved many pictures to keep me on a plan.

I don't like the changes that were made to the Dave's Garden format and have chosen ATP as an alternative.

That goes for a lot of us. We still pop in here but most of us are more active at ATP now. Be sure to say hi over there!! :~)

My subscription ends I think on March 3 and I won't be able to pop back in after that, they will cut my life line...lol

73 here this evening everything is popping up way too fast! As much as I love the warm weather it is not going to be good for my flowers I am afraid. We have a bad history of warming up too early and then when it is suppose to warm we hit the deep freeze and kill my peach blooms and things.
Tax season is really quiet right now, couple of weeks will be all those that owe ;(

I have been signed up at ATP for a few a weeks now under greenbrain. I recently renewed my Mobot membership so I will have free admission for me and family at Powell Garden. About 8 years ago an unhappy DGer left for greener pastures and tried to convince me that I should follow. I chose not to because she was unhappy, not me. Same here. I will come over and visit, but I am giving DG another year. I have gained so much here over the years. I still plan to stick around for a while.

I go back and forth still. I ignore the site forum on here though.

GB I have been a member here for 9 years now, and will miss things about it and alot of people I will miss. Truly wish they had not been so stupid as to launch a new program that obviously was NOT tested. I was a programmer for 33 years starting with old main frames and ending with networks across the country and can say I have never seen such a mess. I realize the 25.00 is not alot of money but the blatant disregard for us the consumer is just amazing. This old website is/was amazing not because of them but because of us and all the work we did to make it. We made the plant files, the forums, loaded the pictures and paid for the access to share and use our own information. I only have 3 days left and will say I honestly will miss it and tried to hold out but have resigned myself.
Please stop by and will see you at the get together, so until the 3rd, later.
http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/6855/Midwest-Weather-and-everything-else/ here is where folks are chatting.

Joyce - It was good chatting and gardening - I will miss you. Good luck gardening.

It was a beautiful day here as we felt temps in the mid 60's. I cleaned birdhouses and relocated a few houses and tossed a few. Trimmed on my lenten rose outter ugly leaves as they are blooming like crazy. The snowdrops and a few daffodils are also blooming. How wonderful!! I fished a big tarp out of the pond that had blown in from recent high winds. An otter has harvested 7 of our ducks - so now we are down to ten. Hope the otter has left our area and never comes back. Expecting thunder bummers by early morn.

Will really miss alot of people from here.
Brenda will miss you pics of garden they are spectacular and hope to achieve something close, doubt they will come out as well as yours.

Yeah. I am back and forth too. Lately, I haven't had time to be online. Remember, you can always send me a DMail. I spend a lot of time on Facebook keeping in touch with family. I get updates from DG and ATP on Facebook too.