November 26th and I still have one solitary beautiful bloom; its a swiss pansy ... purple and yellow and huge. I also still have leaves on the trees. Its weird to have a bloom and leaves on the trees this late in the year in my woods.

I'm happy to say my gardens are all winter prepped; my wife and I worked very hard to get it all done. The pots and hanging baskets are finally corraled in hay bales topped with leaves. It was only last week that I got my elephant ear and canna bulbs dug and peated for winter storage. But as I say ... we are done with that for now.

I broke down and sprung the forty bucks needed for a 28 x 28 foot square of fine mesh pond netting. It just took too many hours last spring fishing leaves and acorns out of Robert Alexander's playground. I moved the butterfly koi and frogs from the front yard pond to the much larger rear pond. The waterfall does a better job of keeping a hole in the ice throughout the winter then the small fountain does on the front yard pond. Pond gases need to escape the ice or I will run the risk of fish mortality, and I love those fish too much to let them perish by my neglect.

I've decided next season I am going to concentrate my work on moving the many volunteers and out of place perennial plants I've got around the yard from these past five years winter sowing. Although I won't be winter sowing many perennial flats, I will be doing lots of flats, pots and baskets of annuals for color splashing of course.

A couple of truck loads of top soil and compost over the next few months will allow a doubling of the vegetable garden. I'm going to begin experimenting with the idea of planting tomatoes and my other homegrown goodies with sufficient room between plants for old, portly guys to navigate with ease. A novel approach, eh? Maybe this year I will actually locate and gather more of the rewards my toils reap before the local woods denizens make off with them.

Speaking of lords of the woods, my wife saw a 14 point buck in the front yard the day before Thanksgiving. Also last week we saw the albino deer that's been hanging around the rentention basin up the road for the third time this year. I hope they both make it safely past this year's hord of trophy hunters.

The hummingbirds have gone for the year and the feeders are all cleaned and stored away. My compost bins are absolutely chock full with the garden refuse and clippings. I hope they get hot enough over the winter to kill all the weed seed that always makes its way into my black gold.

We are in this house we've built for 5 full growing seasons now. We've made the landscape around it into a park like setting which gives us much joy throughout the year. I have one more retaining wall I want to build and yet one more flower bed and then the entire of our workable two acres will have been formulated into the plot plan we envisioned so many years ago and have now had the pleasure and opportunity to realize.

I was thinking the other day that I so want a really cold winter this year. I want the snow up to my ass at least once or twice, and I want to see my breath whenever I take the garbage out the driveway to the cul de sac. I love the blooms and scents of my flowers, but I want them to go away as they are suppose to while Old Man Winter does his thing. I want our planet to work the way it is suppose to work; the way it worked when I was a kid ... or at least the way I remember it working as a kid. It's not good that the cold season comes so late now and goes so soon. Our children will have to solve for that goof up we've made for our grandchildren since by all indications I see we lack the collective fortitude and foresight to solve for it ourselves.

I came tonight to this familiar and friendly place and saw posts of many new folks and a good many of those I've played here with before. The sherry and warm feeling of nostalgia keep me typing this evening ... if you've sat there long enough to read this far ... nice of you to share a bit of time with me. I probably should have written something much more profound or perhaps abit more like my usual smart ass wisecracking nonsense. Then again ... why get myself all spent before the winter's even started?

And one more thing before I go to bed ... where the heck is that link to Ron's Winter Sowers picture page. I really wanted to see Trudi's jugs ... errr ... I mean winter sowing cap ... before I turn in for the night.