Tomorrow is the Day!!! By my count, it looks like we'll have about 12 - 15 people here. The storm last night flattened the party tent. If we can't get it back up, we'll put the party in the pavillion under the pecan tree. There's still time for anyone within commuting distance to change their mind and decide to come. Shoot me an email through My Page on GW and I'll give you directions. I'm excited that we have a couple of new-comers this year! If you've wanted to see my garden in person, and meet lots of wonderful GW folks, this is an opportunity to do so. Hope to see you tomorrow, Connie

Two nights ago a strong windstorm came thru and knocked a lot of 'Hark' pecans down. Bill Totten and Gary Fernald said this was the heaviest crop in history. It sure was fun using our nut gathers & rolling these off the ground and chatting. Gary said, "it's like Christmas and Easter came at the same time..." Dax Carya illinoinensis 'Hark' 2015 Crop Carya illinoinensis 'Hark' 2015 Crop Carya illinoinensis 'Hark' 2015 Crop Carya illinoinensis 'Hark' 2015 Crop Carya illinoinensis 'Hark' 2015 Crop Carya illinoinensis 'Hark' 2015 Crop

Oh, dear Nell, I lost my youngest son in a fatal car wreck. He was only 14 yrs old. It had just started to rain. The thin layer of water on oily road surface caused the car he was a passenger in to hydroplane when the driver tried to stop at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. The car hydro-planed 200 ft down the hill and slid through the stop sign, out into heavy traffic. He was a passenger in the front. He was ejected out the rear window when the car flipped and then rolled three times. The driver of their car and the driver of the car it hit died too. It was Halloween night. They were going to the Fairgrounds for some Halloween fun that is held there each year for children and families. My other older children road in a different car behind them. Nine people died within a few weeks of that night at that same intersection. Many, many people died there before the state highway dept. finally fixed that grade and intersection. Yesterday was my baby boy's birthday. He would have been 27. I know this does nothing to ease your sorrow, but you have my most sincere heartfelt sympathy just the same. Sorry Lorna. Didn't mean to high jack your 'nutty' topic. :) Annie

So far we win the prize.....and it is not a prize I want to win. Nineteen degrees here and I suspect my onions are probably dead even though I covered them up with hay quickly last night as I was leaving to take dinner to the firefighters. I didn't cover up anything else but all my tender seedlings and potted plants were either in the house or in the well-insulated barn/garage. I hope to carry the plants back out at mid-morning after it warms up, but whether or not I manage to depends on the fire activity. Before I can spend time gardening, gotta run outside and feed all the animals, and then make a run to Sam's in Sherman to get several dozen cases of water and Gatorade and tons of food. It is taking a lot to keep our firefighters, now in their 8th day on this brushfire, fed and well-hydrated. Mitch, usually potatoes will regrow from the tubers even if all the foliage is blackened and frozen. After last year's late freeze in May, it took mine at least 2 weeks to put out any new growth though, so you may have to wait a while to see the recovery. I hope all the plants that were covered up made it through the cold in everyone's yards the last couple of nights. Jay, if y'all are "late" with the corn that far north, imagine how my "old farmer" buddies who normally plant corn in March are feeling now.....everyone's going nuts! Now that a rapid warm-up is expected, let the planting games begin! Scott, I'm not optimistic either. Know I'll lose the remaining fruit at 19 degrees. The native pecan trees haven't leafed out yet, but I bet they will soon. I'm ready to plant anytime after today but the ongoing wildfire issues will dictate my schedule, unfortunately. I'm running out of creative cooking ideas for large crowds, too! On the other hand, hungry firefighters will eat anything you cook for them. Yesterday, I made 15-bean soup, cornbread muffins and mixed berry cobbler. Today I am so tired that they may get hot dogs and chips. :) I think one of the other wives is going to make chicken spaghetti today in anticipation of the FFs needing to be fed tonight, so that takes some of the workload off of me. So far, our evil little fire has burned an area almost 6 miles long and 4 miles wide, but we've only lost a couple of houses and a few outbuildings. I need for these wildfires to stop so I can get back to my gardening. At least with a hard frost on the ground, we shouldn't have fire issues until the morning sun burns the frost off the grass. Dawn