Suzy, you've had snow & we've had cold rain. On the whole and on the average, I'll take our rain any day, but it has been dreary &,to someone who has lived down here for a while, cold.

We're hoping for a nicer weekend ahead, although I don't know why I even listen to our local weather forecaster as he's only right about 10% of the time.

We listened to the news last night of the storms in the northeast and the inevitable anecdotes about travelers stranded in airports. I remarked to DH how great it was not to be working in my old job as I would undoubtedly been one of the stranded yesterday.

We have frost this morning, but the temperatures are supposed to warm up into the 60's & if that happens, I'll be outside pruning my rose bushes which should have been done last week. Also it's time for serious winter debris clean-up to say nothing of a giant weed attack. The weds never stop down here, we just get different varieties in the winter vs. the summer.

My daffodils are all blooming as is my saucer magnolia & Japanese quince. And yesterday as i was delivering Voters Guides to the library, I saw a hedge of forsythia blooming in eye-popping yellow. You all up north may be frozen, but spring has started its march towards you.

Must of been this Ohio weather, Calliope. I had a similar day. Nothing horrible happened it just never got right. First, clean up cat vomit and blood (old male has a sore that just won't heal because he just has to go out in the cold and he just has to tear off the bandage. We go to vet today). Then the first people in the office were a sourpuss negative nellie and an Eyore. And the whole day went like that until... The ds called and said his school was having their annual book sale and someone had donated gardening books and did I want any? He had picked out 3 he thought I would like, 3 landscape books from my favorite era, turn of the last century (have you noticed that people still say turn of the century when they mean 1900?). I was so tickled because I didn't think he had any clue what gardening books I like and he thought of his mom. Geeze, they do mature eventually, don't they?

We've had heavy blowing rains lately which were welcome though we're still in drought mode. In this morn's sunshine I notice that the windows now have rivulets of mud instead of dust on them...LOL I think I'll ask one of the lawncrew if they also "do windows"...they are hard workers and maybe aren't too busy just yet. And after all I think most dust came from mowing our parched lawn.

Suzy, how do the tender plants survive shipping...are heat packs used? I won't receive catalog orders of tropicals until April from NC and probably May from CN and MA, which is fine as I don't have a greenhouse or an empty windowsill...LOL I received for Valentines an overstuffed planted basket of 8 tropicals but I figured it came from local greenhouse. I'll be separating/replanting it today, plus taking cuttings of Coleus, etc. which I've wintered over. And starting seeds. But first I've got to water outside containers and check for new growth.

We've luckily missed the cold/flu bullet here but I attribute that mostly to my greeting DH with "Go scrub your hands" as soon as he returns from a jaunt in public. LOL josh

Can we say a whole month to just crawl back under the covers? Lol.

In late January DH left on a business trip to India for 2 1/2 weeks. He came home just in time to leave for a two day trip to Boston during an ice/slush storm. Which I ended up having to shovel.

Of course he had to bring us a stomach bug back from India -that's fun!

He was gone over Valentine's Day and got home late the night of my 40th birthday, so I bought myself 6 bunches of flowers. :^)

Three days later he left for a week in Mexico, where he got to attend a state dinner with the President of Mexico. He also had a dinner with the Queen of Denmark and the Prince Consort, who were there on a joint Denmark/Mexico business summit. He got to meet and shake hands with them both.

Meanwhile I was digging out yesterday from our newest round of snow, and hoping the last of the India bug had worked its way out of our systems. I sure hope he doesn't bring home a Mexico bug as the two might combine in our household and create a whole new super-intestinal bug. 0_o !

Please let February be over soon!

I was having a conversation with a neighbor who's a bigwig at the state mental hospital yesterday and I told him the weather has really gotten me on edge lately... so much so that I was thankful for my impulse control, because I find myself constantly tempted to stab someone (anyone) in the eyeball on account of it. He laughed and confirmed that there's a lot of that going around in a literal sense and his work is extra busy because of it. He told me he could arrange for me to have a cozy room with a lake view in a comfortable facility with a friendly staff any time I needed it... I let him know that if the lake view to which he was referring had trucks parked on it and a village of ice fishing huts, I'd just end up stabbing the "friendly staff" in the eyeballs, so we should probably just skip it.

Then we both laughed about the manic bounce the state is going to experience come spring time. I can just feel mine simmering away beneath my skin and layers of warm clothing...

This Thursday is my turn to host our neighborhood Bunco group. Yes, it's an inane game, but it's good for the mommies to get together and cut loose on a school night. The last time I hosted it was a couple years ago in February, and I worked real hard at perfecting a "chocolate and flowers" theme. Someone asked me what my "theme" was going to be this time and I hemmed a bit and said I wasn't sure, but I was thinking of going with "I make the best (@*$ chocolate martini you'll ever drink so sit down, shut up, and don't ask me about my (@*&@ theme again." Without a trace of irony, she told me she thought that was the best theme ever.

The weather guessers said it was going to be heavy rain, cold and heavy wind, gusts up to 60 mph - "Look out for power outages!" they screamed. They are partly correct, it's cold and it is raining. If that bad storm is going to roll in, it's late, but perhaps it fizzled out over the ocean. Should the big, bad weather come arrive, I am prepared, there is water for drinking and for other uses, the flash-lights have batteries, the hatches are battened.
I do like candles in a storm, but with young cats around, it is not recommended.
Still, the dark sky is depressing, the cats and dogs are keeping a low profile.
I feel for Joann, who is at the feed store, where it is really cold in that big barn of a place located right over the creek.
It's my turn to make dinner, and unless the weather gets really vile, she will come down the hill and up the hill to my place to partake of Kale with onions and Italian sausage, served over polenta. I found the recipe in the SF Chronicle on line, made a couple of slight adaptations, as the San Francisco gourmets always come up with at least one ingredient which is hard to find even in the City, impossible to find here in the Boondocks and most likely not missed.
There is a fire in the wood stove, the house is nice and cozy and by Monday the sun is going to shine again and there shall be daffodils, they are just about ready.

That storm is coming in here too and will add to the mush around here. Went to the dump today where the view of the mountains is spectacular and of course forgot the camera. Then I remembered my cell phone has a 2 mp camera in it. My first mistake was pulling off the dirt road to get out of the way. I swear it looked solid.

The old International did well for about 50 ft. then sunk to the rims. The 20 ft. trailer did not help even if it was empty. ?The thing weighs a ton and a half all by its lonesome. While I was stopped any way, I got out and snapped a few pics and turned the locking hubs.

When I got back in an tried to shift the transfer box to 4 wheel low it stuck in neutral. I had not used it in a long time and the linkage was loose and stuck. The only way to fix it is to crawl under with a big screwdriver and reposition it.

There was at least 5 lbs. of So Cal clay stuck to my boots by this time. If you have ever tried to scrape that stuff off you know that I did not relish the idea of crawling under there.

My luck turned and a tractor trailer rig stopped, the driver got out with a big tow strap, tied it to his trailer and threw the other end to me. He did not say
a word, just smiled when I said thank you. Less than 5 minutes later I was on dry solid ground and fixed the linkage and was on my way. The clouds were rushing in from the coast so fast by this time I really believe the flash flood watch is appropriate this time.

Will down load the pics in a while and see how they came out. Hope they were worth it.

Suzy, how do the tender plants survive shipping...are heat packs used? No, Jo. We more northerly growers refuse to hang up the shingle and keep on keeping on. The tender plants come in on every imaginable means. Sometimes, if it's a large order, the grower brings them on their own heated truck. I even have one of those rescheduled, because the high that day was still below freezing, and the goods expensive. They come overnight on the familiar shippers, they are picked up at airports, they even sometimes come courier. And today, we went and got THEM! The bigger wholesale growers are pretty adept at shipping them between the worst of the weather fronts and put them in what they call winter pack boxes, it's like a box, within a box, within a box. Expensive way to move perishables, but still cheaper than frozen plants. The small liners (rooted cuttings) and plugs don't seem expensive until you look at a bench of the packs and realise there is a couple thousand dollars sitting in a few square feet.

Michelle, I cracked up at your description of winter madness. I have worked in those facilities and sometimes I wondered if the staff were as grounded as the clients at times. It's all relative, I guess.

My cabin fever is late coming on. It usually hits in January and by this time of February I'm in spring mode, even if the weather isn't cooperating. I think I did myself an injustice by biding through January without going a little mad. I feel like a big zit about to pop when I need to be the most functional. The sun did come out for about an hour before it set. The ice was falling off the trees in big chunks. The whole d*mned property is a hard hat zone.

Lilo-I owe you a big thanks. You mentioned polenta. I never made it, or even eaten it. I picked up a bag of it at Henry's because I'm always on the look out for gluten free food, so I made some tonight. I put some vegetables and chicken on top, added grated parmesan cheese. This might be my new favorite food.

You are welcome, Marilyn!
I just got on this thread again because it's snowing now! This big storm was said to have snow-level at 3500 to 4000 feet, I guess we got elevated, or the snow level it a lot lower (1795 ft. here). Taffy cats wants out, but he went out a while ago and wanted in, so I don't think he means it - maybe he thinks I can miraculously change the weather? Wish I could.

Thanks for the "behind the scenes" glimpse into your worlk, Suzy. (I think I'll leave that typo...I couldn't decide on work or world...lol)

Strange that there's been so little news followup on the earthquake in Nevada...I had to Google for info. Has Gandle posted since then?

And where is everyone this morning? josh

Reading these posts reminds me of when I lived in the icy north & used to call February the dark night of the soul of the calendar year. There are no good holidays to perk you up, you're absolutely sick of winter & there always seemed to be yet one more snow or ice storm.

Now that I live in the south that designation has moved to the horrible summer & I've assigned it to August. But I can still sympathize with the travails of my northern pals on this forum in this month.

Note to Self: Never, ever accept an invitation from Jaz during Jan., Feb., or March.

I survived one winter in Illinois and, having lived in the South my entire life having MAJOR cabin fever, I ended up in the hospital with snow/weather/shut-inside non-stop migraines.

Busy, busy, crazy week with grands and outside work.
Planted more snapdragons and pansies.
Getting vegetable garden cleaned out.
Already a little late on planting potatoes.
Trying some new varieties this year for an experiment for the Auburn/Master Gardener experimental garden.
(Now is when the tire towers come in use.)

Went to the first Home and Garden Show of this year in Biloxi.
Still so, so sad all the destruction that is evident.
The Home and Garden Show was wonderful...a breath of fresh air with hope for Spring to come.
Took a new neighbor with me.
She is a transplant from England via a few years in Alaska.
Boy, talk about a sponge...loves gardening, composting, volunteering.
She said the day was such a learning experience in more ways than one. LOL (Wonder what she meant by that?!)
Bought more herbs than I should have but I can always justify buying herbs.
Wonder how I'm going to justify those 82 orchids I have coming in.
Hey, they were 2 fer at that auction site that keeps me in so much trouble.