I forgot to mention I got my seeds from Pine Tree. I forgot I bought this Super Seeder. And I couldn't imagine why they sent the seeds in such an odd package. The plastic strips are about 2 feet long. DH looked at me and said I guess we're going to have a big garden next year. Uh, yeah. Wonder if I should have future seeds shipped to my daughter. Bountiful Gardens hasn't shipped yet.

I sure am glad nobody's told me to clean up my garden. I looks pretty bad right now. We made sure there was no home owners association before we moved. This is an older, somewhat rundown neighborhood. I don't think anyone cares.

I wish it would rain, well, maybe not right now, DH has a saw or router set up on the driveway. The dog wants to go somewhere. I should take her to the dog park. It is gray and dark out.

Remember those two trees GDW was going to cut down for sun? This first one,

Uh. . . little snag at this point (pun intended). We'll see how he resolves this! No prob, he pulled the tree back by putting a chain around the bottom, snugging it to the nearby tree behind and that broke it loose enough to fall most of the way.

Well, good enough. LOL Didn't go quite as planned.

When we talked about this over the summer, he had it all figured out, what was going to have to happen. And we never talked about it again. I love that about him. Last week he said tree cutting time was coming up. I actually said, "If you don't feel like doing it, you don't have to." "Nope, nope, he says; those two trees have to come down." Bless his heart! And there's an additional huge branch on our big neighbor tree that will have to come off before the black walnut can be cut. Those 2 trees and that big ole branch are going to make a significant difference in the amount of light the center bed gets.

Rebecca---that ticks me off for you. Wow. I hate that kind of nonsense.

Amy, I love jazz sax, too. I actually like lots of different kinds of music; just that with my always limited budget, I couldn't and still can't afford concerts. I made an exception for the symphony in MN because good tickets were usually about $50. Well, the two country music people I'd buy a ticket for are Willie and Don Williams (Obviously, I'll not be doing that now. I was sad he died.)

Very very funny, Jen--how to win at the casino! Loved it.

My Instant Pot will be here today, along with seed starter mix. Yay.

I just got back from my great-aunt-by-marriage's funeral. They did a very nice, low-key job with it. Unfortunately, my uncle (husband of the aunt's daughter) had a rough time there with his dementia. Just too many people, too confusing. And he asked me where he knows me from. It's sad. I have to suck it up and go in to work this evening for a bit, though. I did get to see my cousin, who farms and teaches farming in Hawaii. They deal with a lot of the diseases there that we do here, only they never go away because they never freeze. He says it's almost impossible to grow completely organically there because of the disease pressure. They use mainly neem, insecticidal soap, and BT, but sometimes they just don't have a choice but to use other things, or lose their crops. I wish I had time to talk to him more about that. Oh, and for the squirrels he suggested a crossbow. They had a feral hog on their university owned property they farm, and they weren't allowed guns. So the crossbow took care of it. It's an idea, if I can find someone who does that.

Kim, When we were looking for property to buy here in 1997, someone we met at the county tax office mentioned she had some land she might be interested in selling. By then, we had our heart set on this piece of land where we now live so we didn't even seriously consider buying it. Had we bought that land, WinStar would be our next door neighbor---or maybe they would have bought this land (still undeveloped now but very near the developed area) from us and we would have had to find another place to start all over again. To this day, I count my blessings that we didn't buy that other piece of land because I'd hate to think of having built a house and outbuildings and then worked for years to improve the soil to build it into a nice garden plot only to give it all up and move away,

Johnny's does have a lot of great tools, and I believe their major target customer is and perhaps always has been market growers---though they happily sell small seed quantities to us home gardeners as well.

Amy, We do have tons of places for birds (and other wildlife) to overwinter near and all around us, so I'm used to seeing them, but I'm just saying the birds we're seeing this year are not the same ones we always see, and they're not behaving the same way. Something is 'off'. Today we had oodles of seagulls flying in circles over our place. I have no idea why. Usually they are much higher in the sky and headed someplace. Today they were circling like vultures. A lot of farm ponds are getting low, so maybe that has more birds on the move.

I agree Willhite could be a great source for Kim as well.

madabouttomatoes, I have thought about doing that. It gets touchy because a lot of the people we give salsa to actually work for my husband and he doesn't like to ask them to return the jars. A few of them do return the jars, and when they do, I promptly send them a new jar of salsa if I have any left at that point in time. I'm just completely over canning 200-300 jars of salsa a year to give away. I've cut way back, and intend to continue cutting back. Tim is close to retirement age, so we'll give away a whole lot less after he retires. I'm just trying to hang in there until that day arrives.

Amy, I worried about rain late this afternoon after we clouded up at mid- to late-afternoon because Tim still had the wet saw set up outside, cutting tile. He finished, got the saw put up, and lo and behold, after being gone to an earlier fire for about 5 hours, he had to leave to go to one more---this one closer to our house---about halfway between this morning's fire and our house. I "think" this fire may have been started by someone burning something and losing control, because Fran could see smoke from her house, then flames, then people running around out by the flames....Tim, Fran's husband (also named Tim because we like making life hard on everyone by having THREE firefighters with the same first name on our VFD) and one other firefighter from our VFD are out there now, putting out that fire. So, out of however many hours we've been awake today, Tim has put in 6-7 hours at fires, and this is on a day when our temperature wasn't bad (only 77 degrees), our relative humidity and dewpoints were high and....well, the wind was bad at times, gusting up to 30 mph in the early hours of this morning's fire. The tile floor is laid, but just barely, and I guess we'll try tomorrow morning to grout. My plan to get some food for the firefighters prepared and in the freezer almost worked, except the food went straight to the fire (the minute it came out of the oven!) and then the leftovers went into the freezer a few hours later. I'll get up tomorrow and try to cook to get ahead again. Today I was taking requests for what they want to eat tomorrow. I'm not saying they are spoiled, but......

Rebecca, With neighbors like that, who needs enemies? I'd be so unhappy if my neighbors did that, but since we live in an unincorporated part of the county, it is something I don't have to worry about. That is just ridiculous! Dementia is a terrible illness, and it seems like we see more and more people with it every year. A lot of guys hunt deer with bows....one of them got a deer west of our back fenceline a few days ago.

Nancy, Well if you lived here, someone would solve the tree problem for you by setting your woodland on fire, not that you want that sort of solution but it is what is happening in our neighborhood over the last week or so.

Oh, and Tim just came in and said the fire he just left, which now has been extinguished, was started by someone welding. I hope they'll use a welding blanket from now on because we are dry enough that any spark will start a fire. We have a lot of low clouds, but they do not appear to be the sort that have any rain in them. Our chances are low (20%) so I don't have very high hopes.

Drought conditions are advancing here and fire conditions are worsening, and it is just a bad combination. An inch or two of rain would be nice, but would not significantly reduce fire danger because dry, dormant vegetation that already has cured is not going to green up again. Still, I'd rather have rain than not have it. I've got the evening news on---yesterday's single-fatality house fire across the river from us in Gainesville now is a double-fatality, as the second injured child has died. How very sad!

I'd like to have a normal day tomorrow, where I wake up with a plan for the day, and get to execute that plan with no interruptions. Do I think it will happen? Probably not, but I'm going to hope for that anyway.

Dawn

Looks like the rain missed us.

Rebecca, sorry about the loss of your family member...and the dementia. It would be fascinating to talk to your cousin about gardening in Hawaii. I watch a youtube channel of a woman who gardens in southern California. She has an urban garden and it's quite lovely. I wonder how she keeps the pests away. It rarely freezes there.

...and, Rebecca, sorry about your neighbor! What a pain.

...and Rebecca again. From what I understand, the Irish and/or celts are anciently related to the Basque. I do think the modern Basque look different from ancient Basque due to influence from Spain. Also,the Basque spread out to many places, as Nancy showed in her link But, back to the Basque/Celt, ...there's some genetic similarities in the two, especially with the y haplogroup.

I have fairish, freckly skin and reddish hair. Specifically, I have the allele T in rs1805008 in chromosome 16 from both parents, which gives me a 7 to 10x higher likelihood of red hair and melanoma. BUT, I doubt that comes from the Basque. It probably comes from other family lines. It's just interesting that the Irish is related anciently to the Basque. My haplogroup line escaped the Basque witch hunts during the Spanish Inquisition. ;)

Nancy! What in the world! Y'all be careful with those trees!

Dawn, I sure hope you get a normal day tomorrow. I'm guessing the rain missed you too. Is your cold better? I hope you are able to rest and get things done tomorrow.

Amy, I'm so impressed that you are already receiving seed!

I am German German norwegian native american. Would love to know more but have never had time to study it out.
Amy my garden is/was 65x100 and 20x65 and 4x24 and 20x20. Still waiting for the big move. Going thru everything with a fine tooth comb is tiring. I will check out Wilhite. Is it organic?
Apparently we buy only organic seed to be able to qualify for usda organic license.
Dawn if I weren't so excited I might slow down get depressed and have a good cry... oh wait I did that lol. It did not help but it felt good for a minute. My new boss is so excited to have me and I am so thrilled to be had! It is so difficult to give up this place but I know something better is coming. I just try to focus on the better. And I have learned so much from this place. And I have a better idea of what kind of property I want.
Rebecca why do people have to be difficult. My sister lives in an HOA neighborhood and she gets notes all the time about what to do or not do. It is frustrating because she works so hard on her yard and it is stunningly beautiful but dont let too many leaves pile up or too many plants dry up (waiting for seeds). They go nuts.

What's so crazy about the report is that I can't figure out who it's from! I have 3 neighbors who butt up against my back yard. One has a veggie garden of their own, one used to have one when her husband was alive, and the other has an 8 foot privacy fence between us. Maybe it was someone like the meter reader or utility lineman? Do they read meters in person anymore? I didn't think so. No one goes in my back yard but me. And we have no HOA.

Dementia is awful. This is something genetic, not Alzheimers. It comes through my paternal grandmother's line. She was one of 4 sisters, and 3 of the 4 had dementia. She did not. My grandmother had 4 kids, and 2 of them have dementia. It's weird, for some people it moves very quickly, within a couple of years, but for others, it moves slowly. My uncle, his is moving quickly. Last Christmas he knew exactly who I was. Today he didn't. My aunt's is moving much more slowly, and she's blissfully oblivious to what's going on. My uncle has an idea about it and gets very frustrated and lashes out. It's heartbreaking.

.

HJ, there apparently were Spanish basques and French(?) (Italian?) basques. I have the line that's mainly Spanish. I ran my Ancestry raw data through Promethease to get much more detailed health info. I have dark brown hair, dark greenish-hazel eyes, and very fair skin. Genetically I should have straight hair, but it's naturally curly. And it doesn't appear that I got the genes for the dementia, thank God. What I'd love to know is where the 0.4% East African came from. I know we had ancestors who owned slaves, so I assume there, but can't find documentation of exactly where.

Garry is a terrific cutting-tree down person. Whenever anyone around us needs trees cut down, they often talk to him about it. These two are tricky because they have such a narrow way to fall--he had to keep in mind the power lines on one side and two enormous oaks right on the other. This was exactly where it WAS supposed to fall, just that the few small limbs were much tougher than he (WE) thought they'd be. It was really a little amusing. Had it fallen anywhere else, it would have been MUCH more problematic! lol When it hung up, we looked at each other, laughed, and I said, "Wow--tough little buggers, aren't they!" Yeah, Dawn, for sure your way would have been easier!

The black walnut is going to be more of a challenge. It won't have the small branches at the top problem, but it will entail GDW cutting off a huge branch off the biggest oak about 15 feet up. This is the way HE wants to go with it, and though it will be harder than the narrow clearing that faces the truck/car port, we're not sure the tree is short enough to not hit the railing of that port. So, he's thinking he'll go the first way. To be honest, that will delight me, because that is one big branch (of several on that tree, and gives off a LOT of shade. This, of course, will entail a bunch of transferring of existing plants. . . but maybe I can grow some good nicotiana that don't flop over, and maybe a couple datura or one of my brugs! Woo-hoo! Oh the heavenly smells that will be emanating from that bed!! That's the dream. We'll see how that goes, :)

BTW, Basques. All the Basque folks and friends I know in Buffalo, (except some who married non-Basque people) are dark-haired and brown-eyed, skin TENDING to be that easily tannable darker tone, spectacularly beautiful friends with that coloring. Ah-- more names--Curucharry, Pradaire, Bordarrumpe. Really, SO many folks there. I grew up with these names, but think you'll agree, most of them are not common. All Catholic, of course. Some fine fine people.

I know my initial countries of origin are Scottish, 75%, English 25%. Genetically, who knows. Maybe I'll do it some day. I am convinced we have some African American in our family, judging from my brother David and sister's looks, with their dark tightly curly hair and general darker complexions--my sis got an Afro in her 20s, and she could have passed. She was gorgeous when she did that. I had the almost black hair, but a very fair complexion and hazel eyes with wavy hair. My other brother Jim, was the outlier. Towhead with blue/hazel eyes and fair complexion. Genetics are fascinating, and one of my favorite classes involved studying the science of genetics.

I somehow got off onto thinking of this house and property. Thinking of all the work and love and building up of soil we've been doing in the outlying flower/everything beds, and the raised beds, enlarging the garden area, and so forth. I was thinking of the time when the house will pass on, and we will not. I then was so worried about it, like I have been about my pets. I told GDW yesterday, we need to get some arrangements made for the kittens, as they very possibly will outlive us and who wants an aging plain old gray tabby. We laughed about it, but I actually am serious. So tonight I was going through it with the house. It would break my heart if someone ended up with this place who had no appreciation for gardening or weeds or Bermuda (hahahahaha!!!) if I were, say, still living, and in an assisted living place. I wonder if anyone ever buys houses specifically because it has beautiful flower/plant beds. I wonder if folks can market houses because it is a great property with gardening beds. . . . so that's what I've been thinking about this evening.

Rebecca, dementia is so sad. Alzheimer's, too--devastating. My own Dad had an undetermined dementia that manifested the last, oh, six years of his life. It was slow; and he did still know his immediate family when he died (one of my great gifts was getting to be with him the last week of his life--loved him so!). He got very confused about place and time. You have had quite a sad week. Blessings to you.

I got a catalog from Totally Tomatoes today. I thought, "Wow, I should paint some of these pictures!" I saw Medusa peppers; may have to cave, even though I ordered two other ornamentals from others." DARN it, Nancy. WHY did you LOOK!

Rebecca, I hate it when those anonymous complaints come in. Makes one a little paranoid. We got an anonymous note about Titan raiding garbage cans about 18 months ago. At the time, there was a black evil female living across the street from us, a black lab mix. She was aggressive and mean, and I was afraid of her; she would stalk us, and actually nipped Garry from the back at one point. I talked to her owner, a lovely person, very nicely and voiced my concerns. She said they WERE aware of it and would try to monitor her and were trying to work on it. And they DID, to the best of their ability. Conversation went well. But this dog would get free and Titan liked her, and she was like, "HEY, let's go have some fun," and off he'd go with her. We had no idea who the complaint came from, however. Drove us crazy. Well, thank GOD, the folks sold their house and the dog was gone. But the habit had stuck with Titan, so we got another anonymous note. So THEN we drove down the street. road we lived on. MOST everyone, like us has huge trash containers that shut down tight with a lid. One, down several hundred yards away, had open, smaller trash cans with trash bags stacked up next to it. Seemed logical to us that those were the unhappy people. Further, four of those who live close to us are fond of Titan. We thought about buying big fail-proof containers like we have and delivering them to those people and another one we found further down the way. But, first, I began walking Titan on the leash for about 3 weeks, and would stop at those 2 places, walk to their garbage cans, and sternly tell him about those were a NO-NO. Titan loved those walks and to this day, although he is free to roam now (but is never gone very long, just to get his breakfast from this neighbor, or dinner from two others) (obviously this dog needs to cut back his calories), we've had no further complaints and he's still alive. As far as him harassing anyone, only problem we've had is him hassling, not people walking, not dogs, but golf carts zooming by. One particular kids loves harassing TITAN. He drives by, and then when Titan comes, he zooms it up and taunts Titan. I THINK we've got Titan to ignoring him; I have spent a lot of time when this kid (about 16-18) visits someone in this area and is on a golf-cart annoying binge. That dog has gotten into SO much trouble from me because of that horrible kid's bad behavior. Oh well. YES, I feel (well, felt) guilty for Titan's bad behavior. SHOULD we have had a fenced yard for him? Yes, But we didn't, nor could I see anyway to afford it. Which is why we had to monitor him so closely, and now I think we're all safe and good, and I trust him more and more. But I ALWAYS keep an eye on him while we're outdoors.

Kim, I know I keep saying this, but I'm SO excited for you! So, will you sell your produce to stores...or how will that work? Farmers market? Both? Maybe you already said and I missed it.

I have African ancestry...1.1% I also know that some of my ancestors owned slaves. However, they weren't my southern ancestors who lived in big southern plantations that everyone thinks of when they think of slaves and slave owners. These ancestors all lived in New England. My southern ancestors were poor...or by the time they came down south, they had lost their money or something. Not sure. In one of my family lines, the slaves are mentioned by name in a will: Arrey, a female and Gustave, a male. "both to serve until the age of 31 and then freed". This particular ancestor came from England in the 1700's with his parents and a brother and sister. The parents died on the voyage and were buried at sea. There were others who owned slaves too, but I haven't researched them much. I also have curly hair. Mom's and sister's hair are much curlier than mine though.

My church is starting a gardening group. You know how some churches have "small groups"? We are starting small groups of special interests. Gardening is one of them. The groups will run for a few months. I told them end of January/first of February would be a good time to begin it.

I need to work now.

Have a great day everyone. Sorry the rain missed most of us.

Jennifer,

I'm sorry the rain missed y'all. As far north as you are (compared to me), I thought your chance of getting rain might be pretty good.

We had a perfectly normal day for a couple of hours, and then the fire pagers went off. It ended up not being a big fire, but it disrupts your day for a little bit even if it ends up being minor. Some days I don't know whether to laugh or cry! I was in the kitchen early cooking firefighter food. I sincerely hope today's food gets to go into the freezer without being used. Yesterday's food literally went straight from the oven to a fire, so we not only fed our firefighters, we fed them a hot meal, though they also had the option of eating a cold cut sandwich if they wanted that. We have tons of humidity today compared to the last few days, and low wind speed, so if any sort of grass fire starts, it ought to be small, minor and easy to extinguish. The next few days ought to be that way, but we'll just have to see how things play out.

My cold is about gone, with just a hint of a lingering cough. As long as I stay home, indoors, I don't cough, but when I get out to a fire scene with all the smoke and ash in the air, I start coughing non-stop. I can control the cough somewhat by trying to park upwind of the fire, and by staying inside the vehicle as much as possible when we don't have any firefighters coming to us for drinks, meals or snacks. I should just stay home a few more days and get completely over this crud. It's the worst upper respiratory infection I've had in a while. Honestly, it felt more like the flu than a cold, except I didn't have the aches and pains that come with the flu, so it must have been a mere cold. Regardless, I'd say it is 95% gone and hopefully in a couple more days it will be 100% gone.

Kim, I don't think Willhite seed is organic. A lot of Johnny's Seed is organic, and High Mowing Seed is 100% organic. I like High Mowing---they are a lot like Johnny's as their main target customer seems to be market growers, and they do a lot of their own breeding too.

I never, ever, ever can, could, would or will live in an area that has an HOA. Some of their guidelines are ridiculous. I know that some HOAs dictate to you exactly which trees you can and cannot plant. I guess they want to create a Stepford Wives type neighborhood where every yard looks the same.

I went to find High Mowing's webpage and guess I hit submit on the above post, so here's High Mowing's webpage:

High Mowing Organic Seed

Rebecca, My cousin's husband has an illness in his family that produces symptoms that present a lot like dementia. It is called CADASIL, and at the time he was diagnosed with it about 10-12 years ago, his was only the third known case in Texas. However, a review of his family history led him to believe that CADASIL affected and killed both his father and grandfather at very young ages (in their 30s and 40s, I think) as it advanced quickly, almost without recognizable symptoms in them. Yet, his dad's aunt who had it lived with a sort of bedridden, non-verbal version of it for decades---a prisoner inside a body that wouldn't die, but with a mind and other capabilities destroyed by dementia type brain changes. There's a lot of it in his family background, though all that they thought was that they had cardiac issues and dementia issues, never realizing it was different manifestations of the CADASIL. Technically speaking, CASASIL is more of a brain disorder/stroke disorder, but because of the way the mini-strokes can destroy brain tissue, the behavior of the person presents like dementia. In his case, it has moved slowly, but after his initial stroke and diagnosis he never was able to return to his career, and his mind has left him bit by bit over a very long period of time. He has somehow managed to keep a great attitude and his sense of humor, both of which I think have helped him remain happy in spite of the many changes in his life. It is tragic, and there's no cure--just treatment for the symptoms. Back when he was diagnosed, they thought CADASIL was rare, but now they think it is much more common and just not often diagnosed correctly. Genetic testing could tell his kids if they carry the gene for it, but the last I heard, both daughters declined the testing---they didn't want to know since there's nothing preventive that can be done.

Dementia ran through my dad's family, especially with him and his siblings (his parents died of other causes at young ages, so there's no way to know if they might have developed it had they lived long enough), and with some of them it presented as Alzheimer's Disease, but in others it was a different form of dementia. One had Lewey Bodies Dementia. One thing I found interesting---my dad and most of his siblings had fertility issues and me, my siblings, and many of my cousins are adopted, so that leaves us hopeful we escaped our family's predisposition to develop dementia.

I can see that a lot of y'all are into the genetic testing. I'm just not into it. I know who I am---a native Texan (grin) and that's good enough for me.

Nancy, Well that is exactly why they mail us the catalogs---because they know we cannot resist looking at them, and all those plants in the photos look extra desirable when the weather outside is cold and gray and gloomy.

Tim is back just now from the small fire, and he asked me "what else can go wrong this week?" before he went back out to resume grouting the tile. I told him I had no answer for him---that every single kind of fire you could dream up, we've already had, so I guess now we'll go to reruns...or, even better, nothing at all.

The sun just came out and it looks better than it feels. The air is a little chilly, which I find preferable to it feeling hot. They say cold weather is coming in December, and I hope they're right---bring it on!

Dawn

My dad's twin sister died of Alzheimers. But he is 90, soon to be 91 and I don't see dementia. His mother had it, and her sister. I don't think there is anyone who hasn't been touched by these diseases in some way. I am sorry for your loss, Rebecca.

High Mowing's website is not working well on my tablet. I didn't realize they were completely organic.

Nancy, there is a joke among gardening groups. "Organic garden for sale, house included". Y'all be careful with those trees. I can't remember, do you have a fireplace?

H/J, I ordered from Pine Tree black Friday. There was supposed to be a discount, but I guess I missed some code, so didn't get it. I've also ordered from Bountiful Gardens, because they are closing their seed business and also had discounts. I'm inventorying seeds and trying to decide what I want for next year and what I've used up. I think there's more flowers and herbs on my list this year than veggies.

Dawn, flying in circles is normal for flocks of gulls, though normally you see them do this over water. When I first started birding we went on a field trip which included the water treatment plant at Lake Yahola (north Tulsa). They were frenzied. Many different species. There must have been a place where fish were screened out and easy picking for the gulls. Perhaps they are looking at your baby grasshoppers. I agree it is a weird year.

My mom did genealogy so i know a good portion of what I'm mixed with. Too cheap to do the DNA testing, but think it'd be cool to find more relatives.

We're another "never live in an HOA". Unless they're paying the mortgage, no one is telling me what i can and can't do.

I remembera news article several years ago. A lady in Tulsa had a huge garden that the city declared an eyesore & ordered her to remove it or they would. She took it to court & got an injunction to prevent the city from doing anything until the judge decided. Well, the city waited until she was at the courthouse and then came in & destroyed it all. And the judge's attitude was "oh well, it's already done." I would have been livid!

Hahaha. Yes, we do. But we really don't burn it all that often. GDW gives a lot of the firewood away after he splits it. Hysterical that you don't remember--it's like the biggest thing in the living/dining room. Isn't it funny, the things we key into when we're looking at something.

YES. That's exactly what I was thinking, if we had to sell--or else, screen potential buyers first to see if they are true gardeners!

Speaking of seagulls, I've caught seagulls twice in two years while trolling for bass--neither was hurt badly but hook caught on their bills. Then, last time we were out, I was having fun watching them. I swear there were a couple that were racing us. And cannot believe how fast they can fly. Neither had any trouble catching up to us; and then they'd drop back, and pretty soon race to catch us again. Fun.

I didn't like today's activities. Really, Excel, could you make putting a checkbox a little more difficult? And then filling a column down with them. Sometimes I hate Excel. Then the Instant Pot arrived, and I felt like it was Excel all over again, reading the manual. Then GDW needed me to look for lineman's tools over the internet and then used lineman's tools, and then find a hammer drill repair shop in Tulsa, and then mapquesting where they are......... looks like we'll be all over Tulsa tomorrow. AGGHHH. Then the washing machine door locked and wouldn't unlock (the problem I have periodically with it). I cringe every laundry day. If I can get through 4 loads without it happening, it's a good day.

It is VERY damp and humid and not all that friendly outside. I need a new seed catalog to look at. LOL

Didn't get the seed catalog. . . but got totally sidetracked with the spreadsheet, and updating OneNote Journal. Haha, Amy. AND, I got the washing machine to work on a re-do of the "rinse and spin."

AND I remembered we had a frozen leftover ham and beans container! And it was yummy the first time. So whipped it out, heated it up, quick batch of cornbread--VOILA! It was perfect for this dank and dreary day. Comfort FOOD. I always doctor my ham and beans up with minced carrots, celery, onions, tomato sauce, ketchup and a bit of vinegar, or whatever. AND I got to go back studying with my gardening journal and spreadsheet.

GDW was out strategizing on cutting the BIG limb off. He cut one off one of our daughter's trees a few years ago, it fell against the ladder and he fell 6 feet--only tree-cutting accident he's had. . . but now he understands more than ever how ANYTHING could happen. He'd decided that pole-climbing equipment would be safer, but it's super expensive, as we found out, online. Ironic, since two of our sons-in-law climb poles--one a lineman, the other an electrician/outfitter foreman. Both had said they'd get stuff to him, but of course, both forgot. So when we priced the pole-climbing equipment, he got out his tall ladder--and the branch is just about 15 feet high, so the ladder fit well--he studied and studied, and has determined that if we buy a long length of heavy-duty nylon rope and anchor it to an "away-from where he is," it will work fine. My question was, "How strong is the nylon rope?" Ha. But when we did a walk-around, even I agreed just some slight pressure would most certainly pull the branch away from him, as long as he takes cutting through it slowly, so that it gives and falls slightly before it breaks off. Oh my, I am learning so much about tree-cutting! Yippee. What he lacks in youth and strength, he makes up for in experience and studiousness. It'll go fine. And I ALWAYS am there--not because I'm worried or don't trust him--just that it'd be plumb stupid not to have someone there when the unforeseen could happen.

Oh--so when I mention having to go to Tulsa, if any of you guys are there and have time to meet up, let me know.

Yes, my fingers are itching, ready for another go-round of starting the seed-to-grown-up plants all over again.

Right now my Mom's doing super, and the rest of my family; and the silly cats and silly dog. I hate that I don't have the 24/7 energy I always took for granted. And so does GDW. I refuse to admit it's because we're older. But it probably is. And ticks me off! And yet. . . when I consider the alternative, I am SO grateful. Blessings.

Amy, I'm still watching the birds, or watching for the birds, so of course, none of the big flocks flew over last evening as they had been doing for every other single evening. They must have known I was watching for them.

My favorite birds to watch in the winter are the eagles. Sometimes we see bald eagles, sometimes we see golden eagles---never in large numbers, but always fun to see occasionally. Every now and then they nest somewhere along the Red River, but generally in a hard to access location so you're more likely to see them flying than nesting.

Jen, I remember that case in Tulsa, and was extremely frustrated on her behalf. I don't know what I would have done after the fact once the garden was destroyed---probably sold the place and moved out somewhere more rural so I could grow whatever I wanted with no stupid code enforcement people to object. It is crazy that people who attempt to grow fruits, veggies, herbs and flowers instead of dull, flat carpets of lawn grass can catch such heck just for growing something considered non-standard, but it happens.

Nancy, I wish they made washers and dryers like they used to---you know, when they actually worked as expected and didn't throw any prima donna hissy fits and refuse to work, to open, to close, to spin or whatever. Our first washer/dryer set lasted about 27 years with very, very little trouble. Our second set is about 7 or 8 years old and nothing but trouble pretty much from Day One. If we'd known the replacement set would be so bad, we would have kept the old set forever and been willing to pay any price to have them repaired as needed. When Tim replaced the rollers on the dryer recently, he didn't get it back together exactly just so and somewhere in the drum there's a tiny gap where clothes occasionally get hung up and shredded. I want him to take it apart and part it back together again---but what if that just makes the current problem worse? So, I've been gritting my teeth and waiting. Nothing has been torn up in the laundry this week, but last week it tore the drawstring out of a pair of yoga pants and then shredded the drawstring so it was just a mass of shredded thread, and it did something similar to a hooded sweatshirt the week before that. It also still makes a noise that it didn't make before he fixed it. He doesn't want to work on the dryer any more (and I hate to distract him when he's getting the mudroom finished too), but he'll work on it if I start waving torn clothing around in the air and talking about how we need a new dryer.

Tim has only had one tree-cutting accident in his life, but it was a bad one, resulting in several broken ribs and a few days spent in the hospital. He was actually trying to cut a limb for an elderly neighbor and he slipped and fell off the ladder, landing with his rib cage hitting the top of our wooden stockade privacy fence. That was so long ago---I'm guessing around 1991 or 1992 or so. As far as I know, that's only the second time he's made a trip to the hospital as a patient in an ambulance---the other one involved a motor vehicle accident at work. Tim worked in the detective division back then and while waiting for the ambulance to load him up, I called his boss to let him know that Tim wouldn't be at work the next day because we were about to go the hospital and he undoubtedly had some broken ribs. By the time I dropped Chris off at my parents' house and got myself to the hospital, 4 or 5 of the guys from the detective division were already in the waiting room at the hospital (I'm assuming they broke the speed limit a bit to get there that quickly) and knew more about his current condition at that moment than I did! That, of course, was in pre-cell phone days when you couldn't get instant updates on everybody and everything. Y'all be careful with all that tree cutting--it can go so badly so quickly.

It is very cold here this morning. I think the forecast low was 39. Well, Burneyville dropped to 30---the coldest temperature recorded since midnight at any Mesonet station showing on the map this morning. I feel sorry for them. That's too cold! (grin) It is only 36 here, so not quite as bad. We're going to be cold for a couple of nights, and then nice and warm again over the weekend, but thankfully not hot. After that, real December weather arrives next week. We might actually have the weather one expects in December, at least for a few days. This is almost an exact repeat of last Nov-Dec in which November was very warm and December turned very cold, but then the cold only lasted a few days and we warmed up again.

We only got paged out to one additional fire yesterday and none overnight. The fire sounded bad (tractor on fire in a field, fire spreading to grass, homes threatened) and wasn't bad at all. Not. at. all. The first unit arriving on scene cancelled the response from the other 5 VFDs paged, saying "all we have on fire here in one tractor tire, nothing else, nothing threatened". I have little to offer by way of explanation, except that perhaps people panic and overstate how bad a fire is when it is their stuff on fire. After texting back and forth, Fran and I decided our fires were done for the day and that each of us was going to try to fix a real dinner (you know, one that doesn't have to be eaten while standing at the rear end of a fire truck, lol) for our families. We were hoping we were right and weren't going to have to stop and run somewhere else. Well, we were right, and our families got to eat a real meal at home at the table like civilized people. Woo hoo! How sweet it was. Then, we got to sleep all night with nothing waking us up---that's an incredible luxury for us here lately, and I got more than 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I feel incredibly well-rested and probably will have too much energy today. I don't even remember the last time I got 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in one night.

Another catalog came yesterday---Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I love their catalogs and always find something I want or need, but yesterday when I quickly flipped through it, I didn't see much of interest to me. That's not a bad reflection on them---it is just that my seed box is already full of seeds from SESE. Most of what they have this year is stuff I already have purchased from them either last year or the last couple of years. Maybe I really and truly don't even need to buy any seeds this year. I need to find a quiet afternoon to drag out the seed box, go through it, pull the seeds I'll use in 2018 and see if there's anything at all I need to order. SESE had one lima bean variety I thought sounded interesting, but if that's the only thing I "need", I won't order just one single packet of seeds in order to get it. I either need to find more than I need, or save that one for another year. Obviously I've been gardening too long and growing too much for too long when I cannot find much of interest in the SESE catalog, because that rarely happens.

Dawn

Dawn, if you want just one packet from SESE I will order it for you and send it to you. ;) Who's the enabler now? I don't know if I get paper catalogs from SESE. I've been looking on line.

Birds rarely cooperate. Maybe they were "staging", that's where they gather together in bigger flocks before migrating. I'm sure you've heard about Purple Martins staging in huge flocks that show up on radar at dawn and dusk when they're leaving and returning to the roost. They used to roost in down town Tulsa, but this year they chose somewhere at the airport. That worried me. I was afraid it would interfere with the airport operations and there would be human intervention. I did not hear of any problems.

I remember the garden thing, too. I would have been livid. I DO know, especially in Tulsa, they are worried about drawing rats. They move through the storm drains. We had one come up in the toilet once! But my memory was that it looked like a garden, not a weedy rat haven.

HA HA HA HA Nancy, check boxes?!! We ARE getting fancy. You need to build a database instead. Do you have MS Access? Of course, that is a whole other world. I have a database started, but I have to use the desk top and my neck hurts after an hour or so.

The Insta Pot manual was a little overwhelming. I haven't pulled it out of the box yet. Maybe today.

I'm glad your mom is doing good.

While you're at it, Amy, order something from Totally Tomatoes, too, and then you can get my Medusa peppers! lol

Right, Dawn, it can all change in an instant. I'm okay with GDW cutting trees, but sure don't like the idea of ladders and chainsaws. OUCH on Tim's behalf. Can't imagine how much pain he was in for a while.

Yeah, well, the check boxes were for a grocery list of staples--I thought, "This is STUPID," so just put borders around cells I'd narrowed down. :) YES! I DO need a database, you are correct!! You just have all kinds of jobs for me. I had never even checked Access out. Thank YOU!

I've been browsing online at ideas for cat litter buckets. You cat owners should google them--some clever ideas. I think I WILL actually get some spray paint and turn several into gardening containers; have GDW add some holes to the bottoms. Then I saw this CLEVER idea . . . giant pipe cleaners just twisted into spirals for kitty toys. These guys are gonna LOVE those!

I'm torn, Nancy. I looked to see if any of my current companies had Medusa. Seeds n Such does, where I get seeds for county fair cucumbers and I was going to get some Prism F1 kale. So SNS Medusa pack is only 8 seeds for 2.79. (It goes lower on volume orders, but that is the base prise.) Totally tomatoes gives you 100 seeds for 3.15! I think 8 seeds is way to few. So then I looked for the other items on TT. They have Prism kale, and twice as many seeds. But they don't have County Fair cukes. Sigh. I don't need to be perusing totally tomatoes, I'll get in trouble with DH. I told him I want seeds and dirt for Christmas. But I think he's getting burned out on gardening.

Access is a whole other world, Nancy, if you've never used it. But it is what we need when we have a zillion colunms. Way more work than a spreadsheet to set up. Possibly more work to use once it's built.

I fell this morning. Trying to push the city trash can with the lid open. You know the big green things. I stepped on the lid, the front wheels went out front and I went down with the can. Nothing like falling into a smell trash can. DH was right there, helped me get up. It was about this time last year I fell and broke my wrist.

I looked to see when our Persephone days were. Nov 26-Jan 17. We're already in them. These are the days where we have less than 10 hours of daylight and things either don't grow or grow super slow. I really have to work on prepping for fall earlier, even though it's hot. My fall stuff is too small. The purchased kale and collards look healthy, but they aren't big enough to harvest any. My seedlings are smaller and some have died.

Amy, Thanks for the offer. I'll let you know if I decide to take you up on it. I still haven't pawed through the seeds in my box to see if I 'need' anything. I suspect I still have too many lima bean seeds as it is because I bought a lot of them a couple of years ago and haven't come even close to using them up yet.

Maybe the birds were staging and preparing to migrate because they're not flying north over us tonight either. Either that or they know I am waiting and watching so they are being difficult on purpose.

Nancy, Medusa is overrated and generally overpriced. It stays so short and never looks as dramatic in real life as in the photos. I don't know why. I've grown it several times, and then sort of have gotten over it. Because the plants stay so incredibly short (it might be stretching it to say they reach 8 or 9" in height), and because my garden always is (putting it kindly) overpacked with plants, Medusa tends to get buried beneath other plants even though I thought I had planted them far enough away from other plants to prevent that. The Medusa might do better in pots somewhat further away from anything in the ground that might tend to loom over them and make them disappear. Even moss rose plants that I use as a sort of ground cover underneath them/around them can get taller than the Medusa pepper plants, though the moss rose isn't supposed to get that big. In my garden, moss rose becomes a glorious thug plant that reseeds everywhere, but that's a good thing because even our usual summer droughts don't hurt moss rose.

I have used cat litter buckets, on and off, in gardening since at least 2004 or 2005. Painting them is pointless, even when you use special (and expensive) paint specifically made for plastic. In our climate, the paint washes off and flakes off, and I don't really want that paint in my soil, so I stopped painting the buckets a gazillion years ago. You can wrap them in burlap and tie or glue it around the top and bottom to keep it attached to the buckets, but it will rot in our rain and heat too so is fairly short-lived. And, for the record, scorpions adore burlap and will hide on it and underneath it, just waiting for your hand to touch that burlap, so beware. The first year I used tons of cat litter buckets was when it rained so much that plants were rotting in the ground, even in raised beds. In that year, it was hard to ever, at any point, put tomato plants and pepper plants in the ground, so it must have been the big flood year of 2007. The peppers did great in the cat litter buckets, but most tomato plants didn't do nearly so great. The tomato plants survived, they grew, they produced fruit, but the size of the plants and fruit both told the tale---that the cat litter buckets are too small for anything but the smallest tomato plants, especially once the heat sets in---I had to water the plants in some cat litter buckets three times a day. Some of the determinate and mini-dwarf varieties (Red Robin, Canary (like Red Robin but with yellow fruit) and whatever orange-fruited variety I grew that was the same size as those two---might have been Orange Pixie---did pretty well but larger varieties that produce larger fruit had a lot of trouble staying happy---and by happy I mean alive, producing and relatively disease-free. After that, I switched to growing tomato plants in cattle feed tubs that are much larger than cat litter buckets, and reserved the litter buckets for smaller types of plants.

In some subsequent drought years when you could not keep tomato plants well enough watered in the ground to keep them producing, I did grow some newer, shorter varieties in cat litter buckets---Cherry Falls, Sweet N Neat Red, Sweet N Neat Yellow, Tumbling Tom Red, Tumbling Tom Yellow, Rambling Red Stripe, Rambling Yellow Stripe, Totem, Patio, Terenzo, Lilzzano, Tiny Tim and Micro-tom and most of them did well enough in cat litter buckets but the Rambling Gold Stripe and Cherry Falls got pretty large and the ones I had in molasses feed tubs did better than the ones in cat litter buckets. Again, in the hottest, driest weather, the plants in litter buckets needed to be watered thrice daily. Your area tends to not be as hot and as dry as mine most years, so you might get by with watering them less. The easiest way I found to keep them happy was with a drip irrigation system set up on a timer so that I didn't have to stand out there with a water hose in my hand watering them at mid-day in ridiculously hot temperatures.

One of my favorite ways to use cat litter buckets is when I plant tomato plants in the ground early---once soil temperatures are staying above 50 degrees consistently but nighttime lows might still drop down close to freezing at times. I didn't do this at all this year because we were staying so warm, but have used it in some previous years. After I put the early tomato plants in the ground, I place a cat litter bucket on the north side of each plant, fill it up with water, and snap the lid closed. The water inside the buckets collects heat all day, and releases the heat at night, which helps keep the plants warm on cool nights. If a freeze or frost is expected, I throw frost blanket weight row covers over the entire rows, buckets and plants both, around 3 pm, in order to capture and hold in whatever heat the water-filled cat litter buckets and the ground have managed to accumulate. I leave the buckets there until I am convinced the cool nights are gone for good. I've never had tomato plants die even on sub-freezing nights when they have a cat litter bucket filled with water nearby to serve as a solar collector and a heavyweight row cover to help hold in and maximize the heat. This is how we manage to harvest tomatoes as early as April of each year, no matter the weather. Last year we had SunGolds ripe inside in February or early March, but that's another tale and it did not involve litter buckets.

I have held on to every cat litter bucket we've brought home since moving here, using them until the UV rays finally make them crack and fall apart. Storing them can be a huge PITA, but I just pry the lids off the buckets (like Tidy Cat) and stack the buckets inside one another, with the pile of lids beside them. Then I snap the lids back onto the buckets when it is time to use them.

Amy, I hope you're not hurting from that fall. Please be careful. I notice that I fall more than I used to. For a long time, I blamed it on not being careful. Then I blamed it on menopause brain. Now, let's face it, I might as well just blame it on the fact that I'm getting older. (sigh) You cannot sugar-coat that fact, huh?

I have a missing cat---Tiny Baby, our white and black spotted little scamp. He usually comes in between noon and 1 p.m. but did not come in this afternoon and there's no sign of him tonight, and I walked around outside, beating on a cat food can with a spoon, calling his name, for over an hour. I walked all over our property. If he is on our property, he either is hiding from me deliberately or....who knows? He wanders around more than most of the others, which worries me because his white fur stands out in fields of wheat-colored grass much more than that of the non-white cats. He's not in the garage or the garden or the chicken coops. His body was not, thankfully, floating in a pond or creek. I'm hoping he wandered off to play with a neighbor's cat or barn cats and still will show up. He's only six years old. Usually if we can keep a cat alive through his first or second year (young ones that wander off too much often get killed by bobcats or coyotes or whatever), they live to be 15 or 18 or 20 years old. I hope something wild hasn't gotten him today.

Dawn

Poor Tiny Baby! I'm glad he's okay.

Wow. It sounded like the coyotes were just outside my window last night. Their howling woke me up and then, of course, the dogs started barking and howling like crazy. I was worried about the neighbors' animals--the ones to our east because the howling was coming from that direction. They've recently lost a dog, Walter, to them. He was a large, black schnauzer. He was a cool dog and I miss him. They've also lost many chickens... and, either they've sold some of their goats or the coyotes are getting those too. They had 20 at one time and they have half that now. There is a pond on their property and then a wood and on the other side of that, a small lake that mostly belongs to Sunset Memorial Cemetery--only not the section that is closer to them. Anyway...

A SESE catalog came today and I actually took the time to look through it. You know...I'm considering focusing on herbs and lettuce this year. I'm growing no squash varieties at all--giving the garden a break from them. It will be hard because squash is so good. Lettuce and herbs..that's where I'll put my normal squash "energy".

Amy, be careful! I hope you're not sore or hurt from this fall.

Ha Ha, Dawn, I figured out the stuff I could get at Totally tomatoes, in order to get the Medusa Peppers and you discourage her from getting them. It's ok, TT had better deals and I eliminated one of the companies I planned to order from, so it it doesn't add any NEW orders to my list.

I'm glad Tiny Baby came home. One time we took our beagle to my friends house over near Ponca City. They were basically country. I don't know what that beagle met, but in the middle of the night he started baying frantically and trying to come through the screen door. I came out in time to see a beagle half way through the screen. When he made it inside he ran under our bed to the back corner and shivered.

I don't seem to be injured from the fall. Maybe strained my hand a little. It was just stupidity. If I'd closed the lid I would have been fine. I should have listened to the voice in my head.

H/J, I can't find my lettuce seeds. I inventoried all my other seeds, but I must have some in a jacket pocket or something. I skipped a year of squash. I believe it helped take some bug pressure off, but I think they found me again this year.

We did some clean up today. Mostly messes the dog made. I had put welded wire fencing over the garlic when I planted. Then tossed straw on top when we were about to freeze. So today pulled the fencing and straw off. The garlic on half the bed has sprouted, but looks light starved. The other side (different variety) has not sprouted. I left it all off so hopefully it gets enough sun so I can mulch it again.

Made beef broth with the Instant pot today. Truth is, I could have made it in the crock pot easier. We had 2 packages of soup bones, but only one at a time fits. Oh well.

Thank goodness he showed up! I bet Tim's right. Whew! That made me so happy! Tiny Baby. Love it. I have dear friends on FB who have just begun fostering children in the past 2 years, and they don't have any children themselves, so this has been quite an education for them--heartwarming and painful to hear about, because they don't do anything halfway. Their whole hearts have been in the 3 little ones. The two older ones were oh, I'm thinking 2 and 3 when they got them, and then last year they got a wee one about 2 months old--all boys. Well it was a sad sad good-bye to the older two some months ago when they were integrated back into their mother's life. How this reminds me of you and Tiny Baby is that they don't divulge the boys' names on FB, so they call their little guy Tiniest Dude.

Yes, Dawn, did you get scraped up or bruised from the fall. SO glad it doesn't sound like you broke anything!

Yes, Amy, I can tell Access is going to be a bugger for me. The last time I loved and worked with databases was in the 90s for 3-4 years. So I imagine it will drive me nuts for a while, and you KNOW Access is not anything like databases in the "old years."

Thanks much for your input on the litter buckets (yeah, the big Tidy Cats ones). If any of the rest of you have input, happy to hear it. Like you, Dawn, have not thrown a single one away since I've been here. But don't have that many, since Daff was so tiny, and also outdoors as much as possible in good weather. I know I can always use them for toting stuff around. . .can never have too many large buckets. And I guess one can get the labels off them, which would be nice if I use them for containers. . . and no, wasn't even thinking to tomatoes for them. More like lettuce, some herbs, and flowers. Loved the idea of using them as solar collectors!

And thanks for your input on Medusa. Will stop considering it altogether! I HAD already ordered Explosive Ember; I may find more hot peppers that would be good ornamentals, too. These will be in containers--planted with some planning this year, I am hoping.

We made it to Tulsa and back. Downtown to drop off a hammer drill for repair, then on the way back to Broken Arrow stopped to get an adapter for the other hammer drill; then to Aldi on Kenosha, then to Reasor's right down the street from Aldi, then home. Wasn't bad--only 4 hours. It's a nice Aldi! I was happy. Felt like winning at the casino! Could not believe the prices. Since I had spent SO much time researching them, I was quite comfortable buying/trying everything! I remembered what you'd said about their chocolate, Rebecca, and the rest of their sweets looked very pretty! I don't really do sweets, you know, and so GDW did a double take when I picked up a small bag of caramel corn. I shrugged and said I wondered how it was since you liked the chocolate so much. (We each had a handful this evening, and it was MMMMMMMM, really good! I got more groceries that I've ever gotten since I moved here, including meat of all kinds. They even had the grain free cat food and it wasn't Purina! Fair trade coffee! I got many many different things, just to get them on the receipt so I could fill in my "grocery store comparison" spreadsheet--and to see how flavors compare. They actually had everything on my shopping list, so we only went to Reasor's to see what it was like, and to pick up the green chiles and Ranch dressing I forgot while at Aldi. It's a nice store, too. AND best of all. I realized that THEY're only 35 miles from here; and that's how far we have to drive from our house to Muskogee, too--so guess where we're going from now on every couple weeks.

I think the main problem they had with the garden lady here in Tulsa was that her garden was in her FRONT yard. Apparently that was the crux of the situation, as she didn't have a usable back yard. The city confirmed to me that a back yard garden is perfectly fine, but it has to be kept spotlessly clean and well manicured. Front yards may not contain vegetable gardens. She needed to depend on that garden for food, due to her income level, which is why she felt an exception should be made for her.

I haven't gotten a seed catalog yet. Sad.

I have a couple old litter buckets that are pretty much falling apart by now. Unfortunately, the litter Audrey and I like comes in cardboard boxes, so no litter buckets anymore. If only litter could be packaged in grow bags.

haha indeed, Amy, re Medusa. Yes, my SESE came today, too. . . I'm sure I will find I missed something, but not tonight. Also, I looked through the little recipe book and and got a laugh out of the some of the things. . . liked mashed potatoes! It only takes me 20 minutes to cook them on the stove top. I'll be using it mostly for some meats and poultry, I expect, or beans. . . stuff that takes quite a bit of time to do. I actually had never thought to make my chicken or beef broth with the slow cooker--duh. I always did it on stove. Well. Thanks for that!

Both kittens have taken to trotting around behind me during their wide-awake hours. I went into the bathroom this morning to get cleaned up and shut the door--they sat out there and cried. I got to laughing so hard, I opened the door. They don't really meow good yet, so they both were just squeaking and squeaking and squeaking. Too funny. Just like human kids!

I keep meaning to tell you, Rebecca, I LOVE that her name is Audrey! How did you come by that? Did she just look like an Audrey? Daffy just looked like a daffodil. Kitty was Kitty because she was singular (code for freak), first cat I'd had in like 15 years, and because she was my savior. (Wade had brought her home as a surprise to me about 5 months after Russ died. He was always with his girlfriend, and he had left me a note on the counter saying he thought I needed her. First thing I saw when I got home--walked in the door and there was this tiny tiny tuxedo kitten sitting in the entryway, just sitting there.)

Audrey came about because of her classic, traditional black and white coloring. Chic little white slippers on front, thigh high white gogo boots on in back. She was itty bitty and skinny scrawny, and I had visions of having a delicate, gamine little lady cat around. I went to classic movies for name ideas, and a friend suggested the Hepburn sisters. Audrey won out, but the next one will be Kate. And instead of a lady cat I got the female version of the Tasmanian Devil, lol. She is rather awkward for a cat, moves at the speed of light and as quietly as a herd of elephants. She is also a determined huntress, with a tally of 3 mice in the past year and the intensity of a wild hunting panther. She's also afraid of the kettle whistle and is currently asleep in her blanket fort. So. That's Audrey. The many faces of.

I don't know how to insert hearts/love/ here, Rebecca, but would if I could. Thanks for the story of her name!! I LOVE her!!

There's a TED talk about this guy in LA who planted his entire yard, and wound up fighting to get the law changed. There's also a documentary about him and other "guerilla gardeners" that's pretty good. If you ever need something to watch, look for "Can You Dig This" (think that's the name.)

Jennifer, Tiny Baby is grounded this morning, but he doesn't seem to mind that I'm keeping him indoors. It is warm inside and much cooler out. Perhaps he intends to stage a jail break later in the day. I was so worried about him yesterday when he didn't come in, and feared I'd never see him again. Rural and semi-rural living can be hard on pets, especially pets who refuse to stay put in the yard where you can see them.

Coyotes do often sound close like that. There have been times I've told Tim that it sounds like they are right outside our window, and he disagrees....but a couple of times I have found coyote scat directly outside the bay window downstairs (and upstairs, directly above, sits our bedroom with its matching bay window). Other times, after a loud coyote night, I've found coyote tracks or scat in our driveway. I've noticed that coyotes become used to human conveniences pretty fast, and prefer to travel roadways and driveways as opposed to traveling through the woods and dealing with all the underbrush. They also will scavenge at compost piles and trash cans (if they can get into them) as opposed to working harder to catch something live in the wild. Around here, coyotes eat green persimmons all summer long, leaving the seeds highly visible in their scat. They must not have taste buds that are picky, because green persimmons cannot possibly have good flavor.

Most people here who have goats either have a livestock guardian dog or two (like a Great Pyrenees, for example) or some sort of donkey or burro, as they too will aggressively protect their animal family. Or, they have electric fencing which can serve the dual purpose of keeping the goats in and the predators out if the strands are spaced correctly and the fence is tall enough a coyote cannot easily leap right over it.

We have had a persistent coyote problem all year, but I haven't seen that specific one lately, so maybe he or she finally has moved on, or at least has been scared away by all the deer hunters running around in the woodland areas and river bottom areas at this time of the year.

SESE has a lot of my favorite lettuce varieties that hold up pretty deeply into summer, all things considered, including Crawford, Anuenue, Jericho, Sierra and Drunken Woman.

Amy, In our first or second year here, when we were still too inexperienced to think seriously about predators getting our animals, some friends of ours who live a couple of miles NE of us lost an older, well-loved, well-experience Australian Shepherd dog to a cougar. At the time they thought a coyote got it, but later on when we had more cougar experience here, we realized that only a cougar would cashe his body away in the brush, as coyotes leave their kills out in the open. Then it seems like we didn't hear about anyone else losing livestock or pets to a cougar for a long time until the bad cougar year here. In that bad cougar year, our cats came fleeing to us in abject terror several times and we always wished they could tell us what had been chasing them. Mr. Emmitt Smith (the cat, who recently died of natural causes at a very old age) had a big bite taken out of his back that left a scar forever a few years prior to the bad cougar year, and he was gone for 4 days before he came home injured, but still alive. On the first night I was out calling him in the dark, a cougar roared and scared me beyond all belief. I couldn't see it, but it was tremendously loud and I felt like it was very close. Neighbors who lived almost a mile up the road checked in with me the next morning because they heard that cougar and figured it was at or near our place. They were right. We usually heard cougars, off towards the river, a lot more often than anyone saw them, but in that bad cougar year, everyone saw them and our neighborhood alone lost at least a dozen dogs and cats and about 150 poultry. We also had bobcats that year, but no coyotes. I always wondered if the cougars scared away the coyotes. Regardless, we have lots of coyotes this year and no cougar sightings at our end of the county. Most people here with pets keep them indoors or penned up in sturdy, tall pens (sometimes with a roof, so more like a kennel) and only let them out to run wild when the people are outdoors too and can keep an eye on them.

Several visiting dogs have disappeared in the last year---brought from a town somewhere out here to the country with their families, and they take off running and playing and disappear and are never seen again, even though we locals watch for them in the hopes we can find them and reunite them with their city folk families. One man lost 3 big dogs in one day last year, and another family had two disappear a few months ago---one (the young dog) made its way back an hour or two later, but the older dog simply vanished into thin air. We all think either feral hogs or coyotes got that dog.

Nancy, A person has to have nerves of steel to foster children. My aunt and uncle did that, and it broke their heart (several times, but one in particular) when they saw children put back into homes that had previously been found unfit. I admire people who can take in those children, love them, treat them as their own, and then relinquish them if the system decides it is in the best interest of the children to be reunited with their parents. We do know several people who have adopted children who came to them as foster children, so I know it happens. With one of them, her children are in high school now, and she adopted them when they were toddlers....so I think it has been at least 10 years she since and her former husband adopted them. They've been hers so long I tend to forget they weren't born to her. Another family we know adopted 4 foster children---all siblings---ranging in age from pre-school to probably middle school at the time they were adopted. Imagine going from zero children in your home to 4 children just overnight, and then having it work out as a permanent situation. How lucky those 4 kids were!

And, yes, the foster parents we know do take certain precautions to protect the foster children's privacy, and using sweet nicknames on social media is just one of the ways they do that.

When I've fallen, I usually just bruise my pride. I've been lucky not to break any bones. And, not surprisingly, it usually happens in the garden. We have widened the pathways---they are twice as wide now as they were when we started, and that has put a halt to a lot of the tripping and falling. I once tripped over my own feet and dropped a whole flat of tomato seedlings. I was more upset about the plants than about myself! (grin)

Those of you who are interested in Medusa ornamental pepper, but perhaps disheartened by its small size, might prefer Chilly Chili. It looks similar, gets only slightly taller, but spreads out about twice as wide.

Rebecca, I still am, and always will be, of the opinion that front yard gardens are fine and, if you own your place, no one else has a right to tell you that you can only garden in the back. I do remember her fruit trees were in the front, and they cut those down. I think they should have left her fruit trees alone, as they do not necessarily look worse than any other tree, but that wasn't the decision the city mage. Naturally, I would not be a good city resident because I'd dig in my heels and fight the city on rules about stuff like that. Now, if people move to an neighborhood with an HOA, they have no sympathy for me because they knew when they bought their homes that they were going to be stuck dealing with a Home Owner's Association that has very specific rules. I think if someone wants an edible garden, they should avoid HOA neighborhoods. Trying to change the rules after you buy a home in an HOA community probably just isn't going to happen.

I love the idea of litter being packaged in grow bags, and yes, more and more we are buying litter in boxes and not buckets, but luckily I've got a stash of 20 years worth of buckets (minus the ones that have fallen apart) so I'm in good shape. Nowadays, if I want new buckets, we buy pickle buckets from Firehouse Subs while eating there. They are (last time I bought any) $2.00 apiece for 5-gallon buckets, are my favorite garden color (red!) and are very sturdy. Plus, the money goes to firefighter charities so it is a win-win. I like to put them in the garage with the lids off and let them air out over the course of the winter after I buy them so that the pickle smell will go away, and it takes it quite a while to go away too.

Your kittens are a hoot---and every kitten we've ever had has been exactly the same way---once they imprint on their human parents, they are unconsolable when you go into a room and close a door to keep them out, exactly like little kids.

Jen, Sometimes guerilla gardeners win, and sometimes they don't. We think we have freedom here in this country, at least until some gardener breaks city code and incurs the wrath of a city that wants every yard to be a flat, green lawn that supports no life to speak up. One of our neighbors fought city hall and won way back in the 1970s when she ripped out her perfect green St. Augustine lawn and replaced it with a no-mow blend of wildflowers and short prairie grasses. She had to fight for years to get them to just leave her alone and let her be. I always preferred her native lawn to her neighbors' perfectly manicured green carpets, and it was her yard that was full of hummingbirds, birds, butterflies, bees, etc. while you never saw any of those creatures in the neighbors' yards. Think about what a fierce pioneer she was to fight city hall way back in the 1970s! She was my hero even then, though I still was a child (probably in middle school) when she fought that battle. I suppose she isn't still living---she would be in her 90s if she were, I believe, but she lived long enough to see more and more yards put to good use like hers was.

I am not expecting fires today with low wind and higher humidity and all that, but I got up at 6 a.m. and made enough Sweet Bacon Chicken Wraps to feed at least 15-20 firefighters. There is a method to my madness. If I have food ready to go, we generally don't have big fires. It is when there's no food pre-made and nothing pre-made in the freezers that we usually have big fires and have to make a quick grocery store run to pick up cold cuts for sandwiches, chips and packaged cookies. So, by having a lot of food prepared and either in the fridge or freezer, I'm trying to ensure we won't have any fires today. I hope it works. I only got the grout haze removed from half the mudroom floor yesterday, and would like to have a quiet day today so I can get the other half of the floor done. Then I can seal it and call it done.

Dawn

Jenifer, that may be the guy I've seen. (Where? You Tube, PBS?) Where he got the whole neighborhood involved, and they changed the curbs on the street to collect and save water. I think it must have been PBS. I looked up your movie, not the same guy. I have no idea what the name of my guy was, I think it might be Brad Lancaster. He has a You Tube channel.

I love that your cat is named after Audrey Hepburn! We have a beagle named Holly, who got that name because we already had one named Buddy. My cat has had 3 names, Nameless, Sonia and Miss Priss. She really only responds if you yell CAT. I get that herd of elephants thing! Where are the little cat feet the fog comes in on? How can a cat that weighs so little feel so heavy walking across your bed? Nancy, Priss will stick her paw under the door and try to open it if you shut her out. She considers you a captive audience in the bathroom and pushes to be petted.

I agree, some things in the Instant Pot book (and why have I been calling it Insta pot?) seem silly. Some of the pots have a delay feature, so the potatoes could be cooked just before you return home, which could be a reason for doing them in the IP. I look forward to trying hard boiled eggs. But my chickens aren't laying much.

Y'all. I love when you talk about your kitty cats. My animals often have famous names including a last name. Rosa Parks, Dolly Parton, Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) Harry Potter. I keep meaning to tell Dawn that Charlotte's first name was Pumpkin. She was born on Halloween. Mason went to adopt an adult cat from the shelter, but a couple was returning Pumpkin (because their older cat was mean to her). Mason saw that cute little tortoise shell kitten and fell in love. She renamed her Charlotte. Although I think Pumpkin is a perfectly cute name. Charlotte fits her though. I think female cats might have more of an attitude. At least in my experience.

Amy, are your chickens molting? My older hens are finishing up with a molt, but they haven't laid an egg since it started.

My Christmas tree is already turning brown. Really brown. We have in sitting in a tree stand with plenty of water. It will never make it until Christmas. In fact, it's so bad it won't make it through the weekend. I'll have to remove it after work on Sunday. That will be a job. Then I have to redecorate another tree. We purchased it from a Boy Scout troop and paid twice what Home Depot, etc. charge. But I don't mind...it's for the Scouts. And supposedly their trees are from Oregon, cut just the week before. Something went very wrong with this tree. We stopped by the tree lot (in the middle of shopping and unpacking/unloading stuff for OMEA) and the woman was very nice and indicated that she thought several trees were looking a little "dead" already. She needed to call the leader, so gave me her name and number to call back after awhile. So...I did. And the leader said they could do nothing for us. I thought he would offer something. Anything. But nothing. So...we are done with real trees. I'll scrape up the money to buy fake one. The weirdest thing is I was SO weird about buying a tree this year. I looked at several fake ones....something just felt "off". As I'm sitting here looking at the tree--it has a beautiful shape and the smell is wonderful. But the ornaments are starting to drop. Sad.

I thought we were feeding about 60 judges tomorrow. No, It's 250. I'm trying not to freak out. Internally, of course--it's rare that I freak out outwardly. We've had a few issues already, but nothing too bad. Just ingredient issues...and other dumb things.

Have a good weekend everyone. Enjoy the warm temps. It's about to get cold.

Oh, I forgot. Is there a Roy here on the forum? I keep getting a fb friend request and I've declined it...but wonder if it's one of y'all.

Ted talk story about the guerilla gardener, Ron Finley, in south L.A. Does that ring a bell? You guys got me totally sidetracked on reading about some of the examples for folks growing front yard gardens. I think Minneapolis was pretty lax. I had friends in south Minneapolis who shared yards with their next-door neighbors. They owned chickens jointly and their entire (small) yards were planted in veggies and flowers. It was quite charming. . . . and used to see many other front yard gardens in that area. Also in north Mpls. Front yard garden complaints would be loathsome but understandable in some communities--but BACK yard gardens? CRAZY.

Wow, Amy, impressive! Quoting Sandburg? How did you remember THAT? (I did not--I had to google.) I also look forward to doing lots of eggs at once, steamed. Steaming them works like magic for fresh ones that are hard to peel.

Ha--Amy, Priss putting her paws under the door made me remember that my 22-yr old Kitty did that, too.

Dawn, I did not know about guard donkeys and burros! The things one learns every day. I swear, who knew there is so much to know! And I think it is so uncool that even though I spent tons of time in the mountains of Wyoming and in the country, I had never seen a cougar or coyote (or wolf) and you see coyotes and cougars like they're common-place. Finally here about 4 miles from our place, we saw a couple coyotes trotting across the road.

I'm writing at the wrong time of night! LOL. I have to comment on HJ's post.

HJ, do not accept, under any circumstances, whether we have a Ron or not. If you don't know who it is, do not accept. I get friends requests from strange dudes every so often. You can click on their name and it'll take you to their FB site--none of the weird dudes ever have family info or hardly anything about themselves and usually either have no friends or very very few.

On the other hand, if you see they are a friend of one of YOUR good friends, you might be tempted. But often, that's a mistake, too, as you find you're not all that crazy about them being YOUR friend. I used to accept folks as friends, but it has never worked out to my liking. So I simply don't. If I don't know ya, I don't care how many of my friends you might be a friend of unless one of my friends TELLS me to accept them as a friend. Then it's good.

And. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow and PRAYING it all goes as smoothly as it can go, and that you're anxiousness between now and then is quieted. XOXO

Not my night for trying to post. Just lost my continuation! LOL SHEESH. What a ditz I am, was the essence.

BC catalog came--how do they DO that? What a beautiful catalog. Wonder how much that costs to publish and send out. I should write them and many of the others, telling them to save their money and take me off their catalog list. I like SESE's because it's reasonably produced, so you know they don't spend a ton of money with it. On the other hand, I'm sure there are many who are swayed by BC's. That's probably why we see so many folks on the FB OK gardening forum who LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Okay, I admit it. I love seeing the catalogs. Kind of bums me out that I've already ordered more seeds this year than I can ever successfully get going this year. Veggies work out better than herbs and flowers and shrubs, because at least I can plant them in succession. . . the cabbages this fall look SO spectacular, that I realized I won't even bother with them in the spring. However, planted them just a hair too late. They may make it, they may not. But the cats are gone, so they are healthy and happy.

I'm humbled by what you all have taught me this first REAL year of veggie gardening here. I love finding a way to shorten the learning curve! Bless you.

And now whenever I see something from one of you I need to remember, I immediately copy and paste it, either to my journal or to my garden spreadsheet. . . and soon, maybe(?), Amy, to my database, providing I have enough brain left to kind of get it going.

Audrey Hepburn being a cat. I love that, and love who your Audrey is, Rebecca. And I do believe Tom and Jerry fit these two, also. Did I tell you I thought Garry's idea was funny, because I thought of Tom and Jerry Christmas drinks. The cartoon never even entered my mind. But I soon realized from FB and perhaps here (?), that not that many folks know about the Christmas drink, and then the joke was on me. Still, the names fit. Tom's the pill. Jerry's the normal one. And just as I feared/predicted, Jerry spends his after dinner nap time on GDW's lap. And I'm getting stuck with "the pill." Believe me, when he wants attention, no WAY can I do anything on the computer. GDW said I need to just go into the computer room and shut the door. Maybe a good idea.

He's thinking about cutting that limb off tomorrow. I am very nervous about it, and if not actually nervous, he certainly understands how things can go wrong, and so he (and for what it's worth) and I have strategized ourselves silly. I have told him repeatedly and sincerely that I really don't want him to do it, unless he can do it safely. But he is bound and determined to get that black walnut tree gone! And the only way he sees to do it is by cutting that big branch down. I wondered today about rigging up a rope harness for him, as well as a stronger rope for the branch to be anchored to an away tree. He said he'd been thinking the same things; so he'll go to town tomorrow to get some more and stronger rope. Told him about Tim's accident, so coupled with his own accident a few years ago. . . Wish us luck--for him not to get hurt, and for me not to be a widow. Really? Cutting down a tree is that big a deal?? Ah well, both of us have done a lot of stupid things in our lives without first considering what could happen. What's one more when we've carefully studied it. No prob, with God's help.

HJ, everyone I know who knows cats, from friends to rescues to my vet, says that girl kitties definitely have the most attitude. I love that attitude, usually. Usually.

Dawn, one of my non-negotiables when I was house hunting was NO HOA. Thankfully, I couldn't afford anything with an HOA. We have a neighborhood association, but it has no legal teeth and it's basically us communicating on crime, hazards, lost pets and stuff, garage sales, needing recs for home repair people, advertising home businesses, buying and selling, etc. This is a post-WWII tract home neighborhood, so they can't very well HOA it now.

I keep forgetting about the red buckets. I have several of the orange and blue ones, and this year I figured out that peppers seem to grow better for me in those instead of grow bags. I had a few in each and compared. So, I need to remember to go by occasionally and pick up a few. Herbs, cucumbers, green beans, and sugar snaps all liked them too. I also used them to mix and deliver fertilizer.

Nancy, yeah, Audrey is a little spitfire, lol. No sweet little ladylike cat for me, she is a wide open book and does not care what people think of her. No diva. Right now she's wrapped around my foot, napping, but earlier she helped me unclog my toilet, played soccer, and reminded me about her dinner.

Still no seed catalogs.

Rebecca--I totally agree about the females. Kitty was just like Audrey, a black and white, beautifully colored tuxedo. . . her front legs reminded me of a puzzle, her back legs, a match with the black and white; plus the complication of being a 5-week-old kitty from a pet store--she wasn't feral, she was traumatized and TOTALLY unsocialized. I referred to her for the first 3 months with me as being a cat doily. She wasn't responsive in any way. I'd pick her up and hold her, and then put her next to me on the couch, on the arm, and she'd just lie there, legs draped over. No purr, no nothing. She did come around. . .finally began behaving like a kitten, and then maxxed out as Audrey on steroids for a while. She was MY best friend after that until she died at 22. Son Wade told me if I died before she did, they'd have to kill her and put her in the coffin with me. Ornery? I'd always tell everyone who visited me, DO NOT pet the cat. She was so little and so cute and so friendly-acting, no one believed me. And virtually ALL were the worse off for it.

Except granddaughter Evyn, who first encountered Kitty when she was 2 mos old. And Wade (who was the one who got her for me.) And eventually Stephanie to some degree.

Imagine. My very very best friend for 21 years (that's not counting her first year with me).

And then after her, another 10 years with another beloved and temperamental Daffy, also a female. (Daff was with me the last 5 years of Kitty's life.)

I would swear in court, that to the best of my belief, female cats have "the" attitude. (With the exception of new Tom--ATTITUDE in spades.) LOL

I think this is God's reminder and joke to me. I think this is to tell me that I get what I deserve. LOLOL

Yesterday was a tough day.

We buried our beloved Yellow Cat, who spent about 10-13 years roaming our neighborhood as a feral beast who'd fight any animal he encountered, and then spent about 8-9 years in his cozy retirement at our home, turning more and more silver and white-haired, and in recent months, getting thinner and thinner and sicker and sicker with chronic kidney disease. Anyone who thinks a feral cat cannot be tamed and turned into a regular domestic cat is just wrong---it took a long time to tame him because he wanted to fight our other male cats for control of "his" territory, but he became quite soft, plump and laid back in his later years. He even allowed himself to be a lap cat at times these last few years, though there still was trouble if any other cat wanted to sit on a human's lap at the same time that Yellow Cat already was sitting there. He spent most of the last week of his life sitting in the sun and watching the world go by, as if he knew the end was coming and he wanted to enjoy life and soak it up while he could. He deserved a better name than Yellow Cat but Fred always had called him That Ol' Yeller Cat when he roamed our neighborhood and attempted (for a year or two) to live with Fred and Jo, so Yellow Cat already was his name when he came here and we didn't want to change it as he was quite old and probably wouldn't have taken to the change very well. They took in a stray dog that Yellow Cat didn't like, so he fled here, to a home with (at that time) 8 dogs, but 8 well-behaved dogs. It kinda broke Fred's heart, and he'd stop by here and try to talk to Yellow Cat and pet him, but Yellow Cat wasn't going to go back to a house with a dog he despised. YC is the last (I hope) in a string of deaths of very, very old cats of ours this fall. I thought that Shady would go first as he gave up eating after his dad died a few weeks ago, but he since has rebounded and looks pretty good for a cat who's close to 20 years old. Now Shady is our last old cat, and the next youngest cat is only 9 years old. I haven't even been in Yellow Cat's room (the guest bedroom) yet as I can't bear the thought of looking at his empty cat bed.

Ironically, I saw Fred later in the day (more about that in a minute) but didn't mention Yellow Cat's death to him as it was not a good time. I kinda hate to even mention to him that YC passed away, as Fred is 95 years old now and increasingly frail. Very few of his siblings and other contemporaries remain alive and each death seems to hit him harder than the one before. Maybe I won't even tell him that Yellow Cat died.

The weather here is crazy, and we're expecting to hit around 75 degrees today. I don't want to complain about that because the cold weather is coming soon enough, but that kind of heat along with low humidity and moderate winds is a bad combination in an area as dry as ours. We are expecting a pretty bad fire day tomorrow with even stronger wind, and tonight might not be a picnic. We've had 5 or 6 sub-freezing nights here in the last month, with some of them dipping down as low as 25 degrees and staying below freezing for 8-10 hours, so there's very little green vegetation left and we're having too many fires for this early in the fire season. Anything can and will spark a fire in the grass now---hitting a rock while mowing, or clipping a fence post while plowing too close to the fence line or just whatever.

Yesterday's plan (ha, ha, ha) was for me to cook firefighter food early in the day (I did) and then for us to work on the mudroom (Tim managed to do that for a very brief while). Then the fire pagers started going off---4 times within about 4 hours, and the calls came in pairs, so that while we were out on the first call, we were paged out on the second call. Once we were back home again, the third call was pretty major (it involved Fred) and while we were out on it, we were paged out on the fourth call. Needless to say, no leaves got raked up out of the yard (my afternoon goal) and no finishing work was done in the mudroom (Tim's afternoon goal). Oh well, today's a new day.

Fred's fire involved his cattle feeder truck (a flatbed type pickup with some sort of big cattle feeder on top of it---they drive it right through the fields to feed the cattle, though I'm not exactly sure what they do or how they do it). He and Billy Fred apparently had just driven through a field feeding cattle and, based on the truck location, I'd say they were headed to the Old Home Place down on the river where Fred used to live, and which he still owns. It is 3 or 4 miles from the house he lives in now, which also was a family home he bought after his uncle's death a few decades ago. A relative drove up to them on the road, told them their truck was on fire (under the hood I guess) and got them out of it. Someone called 9-1-1. The call came in as a farm truck, with two full tanks of fuel, fully engulfed and catching the adjacent field on fire. We were told there were many round bales of hay in that field which would be lost if we didn't get there in time to stop the fire and save the hay. The firefighters responded very quickly (it was late enough in the afternoon by then that some of them were arriving home from work, which helped), got the truck fire put out, got the field fire put out before the fire reached the hay, etc. Fran and I put Fred in our Fire Rehab truck, which is a suburban and doesn't sit too high off the ground (unlike the tow truck he thought he'd ride home in) and took him home. Even though I told him several times that a relative and the tow truck driver both told me they'd be bringing Billy Fred home after the tow truck loaded up the burned-to-a-crisp feeder truck, as soon as we got to Fred's, he insisted on getting in his truck and going back to pick up Billy Fred. Fran and I tried, to no avail, to get him to go inside and wait for someone else to bring Billy Fred home but he was having none of that idea. And, for the record, his family prefers he not drive but no one in his family has been able to stop him yet, so why we thought we could stop him is beyond me. By the time Fran and I got back to the street where we had the fourth call, our guys were clearing from there and headed back to the station.

So, nothing got done at home after those pagers started going off yesterday, but I have, by cooking one thing every morning, managed to fill up the freezer compartment of the station's kitchen refrigerator this week, mostly with savory (not sweet) food, so at least I have a good supply now of stuff to thaw out, microwave and take to fires. Today and tomorrow I'll bake the cookies and cinnamon rolls to put in the freezer compartment of the other refrigerator out in the fire truck bays, and we'll be ahead of the game, food-wise. I told Tim that cookies were on the baking agenda for today, and he said I needed to make cinnamon rolls for Charles (the chief of another department, whose favorite rehab food at any fire in any weather is home-made cinnamon rolls). I said I'd make those tomorrow.

None of this relates to gardening, well except that Yellow Cat loved the garden beyond all reason and would stay out there with me 15 hours a day if I stayed out there that long....and Fred is my oldest gardening friend here. All the catmint and catnip in the garden belonged to Yellow Cat, especially the Six Hills Giant catmint, but he'd graciously share it with other cats from time to time. I suppose it is a good thing the gardening season is over here because I wouldn't have time for the garden anyway. It has been a while since we have had a prolonged bad fire year because the last few years, 2015-2017, have been fairly wet overall, with only moderate and short-lived bad fire months squeezed in here and there in between longer wet seasons. I have a feeling the winter of 2017-18 is going to be a bad one. Our rain deficit for 2017 remains about 10" and there's no way we're going to get that sort of rain in December.

After I spend the morning making cookies, I hope to spend the afternoon cleaning the grout haze off the second half of the mudroom floor. I got the first half done the day after Tim grouted, but haven't made it back to do the second half yet, and the longer it sits there, the harder it will be to remove.

I had a random thought about starting some tomato seeds December 1st, so I'd have early plants at the same time the stores have them, but that thought flew right out of my brain with each fire page we received yesterday. Who am I kidding? There's no way I'm starting seeds in December. I wouldn't have time to do it even if I really, really, really needed to get it done.

Since yesterday was such an awful day, I am expecting today to be a better one.

Ok, I'm going to try one more time. I've lost 3 posts. I missed Dawn's post that mentioned donkeys. When I worked on the ranch, one of the guys we worked with told me a story about this city fellow who bought some land and cattle. This guy was managing the place for him. City guy read somewhere that a llama would protect its territory from coyotes. So he bought a llama and immediately turned it out in a field full of calves. The llama began stomping on calves. They were foreign to it, so it considered them a threat. For many years I wondered about random donkeys in fields. It was late in life when I found out why they were there. Some people tether a young horse to a donkey or mule to slow them down before breaking the horse. The horse learns he can't control the mule. The mule isn't moving unless IT wants to. Is it cruel? IDK. Not everyone does it, so it might be considered cruel.

H/J, at least 3 of my chickens are molting. Speckles looks like she's been plucked. One of the brown ones is showing white under feathers. Sh also has a place where a hank is missing. I think that is from when she met the dog. The white ones look ragged, but none look so ragged as Speckles. We're getting an egg every other day. I figure much of that is that we aren't getting enough day light. Dawn, what do you do with all your eggs? You have more chickens than I do, but you've never mentioned what happens to all your eggs?

And SO sorry about your tree, H/J. I would be mad. We go to a local tree farm and get our tree. Sometimes we cut it down ourselves.

I hope the OEMA goes well for you today!

Hey, did y'all hear? Owasso won state in football. They went to the playoffs the year my son played, but I don't think they've one since we've lived here (25 years.)

Nancy, that Sandburg poem is just what I like. I can picture a big gray cat settling down on a city. I like e.e. cummings and Walt Whitman.

Some of those unknown friend request people are spammers or hackers.

The mailed BC catalog is nothing. They have one you have to BUY. Sometimes you see it on magazine racks. I get more catalogs from people I DON'T buy from. I'm on somebody's list! The places I buy from I go on line for. Though some of the websites are a pain to navigate!

I hope the limb cutting goes/has gone okay!

Dawn, I'm so sorry to hear about Yellow cat. He had a long life and was lucky he found such caring humans to live with.

Also sorry to hear about all the fires. I hope Fred has insurance on that truck and glad the round bales weren't burned. When I worked for the ranch they had storage bins for cattle cubes that were filled by the feed store. The truck could drive under the bin and fill the feeder. I THINK those cubes got off loaded to a trough in the pasture. If there is a hay spike on the truck, they will take a round bale out and unroll it in a pasture. Or, they have bale holders, which are supposed to be less wasteful. Fred is probably sadder about the feeder than the truck.

I think DH would divorce me if I started seeds now. Maybe parsley for indoors, and lettuce. He would be okay with that. He was ready to pull rye out of a bed yesterday because it looked like grass.

I was daughter's date to her company Christmas party last night at the Mayo Hotel. I am about to the point if i have to dress up it's not worth it. I had leg cramps all night. From shoes? From walking? IDK. It was a nice evening. The salad had ranch dressing, which is bad for the lactose intolerant, so I was picking lettuce out lettuce from lower layer. It was so sweet it didn't need dressing. I wish I knew what it was. I want to grow it. The green beans were also naturally sweet. Skinny, too, maybe fillet beans (is that the right term?)

I have finally managed to complete a post!

Oh, my, Dawn! I am so sorry about Yellow Cat! You've had quite a time this year with your beloved kitties. Thank goodness Shady has rebounded for now, though. And yeah. I can understand your reluctance about telling Fred. Blessings to you. I have enjoyed hearing about each one and their personalities.

I hope Fred's okay, after the fire! How'd he take it?

VFD really is your entire life at times, isn't it! I can't imagine all the COOKING! What kinds of hot dishes do you prepare for them? What are their favorites? (Always needing ideas, you know. :) )

I SO hear you regarding the dressing up, Amy! The dressiest I get most of the time is slacks instead of jeans. :) Congrats on completing a post and actually making it a decently long one! When I do that, I'm usually totally wordless. I recuperate quickly, though, as you all know.

Funny you mentioned e.e. cummings. Although I KNEW he wasn't the author, he came to mind when I read about the fog coming in, and I was remembering when I spent quite a bit of time with poetry. I also like Whitman and cummings. Did you all see Four Weddings and a Funeral? I had to look up the author of Stop All the Clocks. I wasn't before familiar with W.H. Auden. . . this was a few years ago, He has some remarkable poems, too.

I shouldn't have laughed about the llama stamping the calves. But I couldn't help it! Poor calves.

Yes, the tree-cutting project is over. I am SO relieved. And so thankful it went almost perfect. AND so thankful GDW didn't fall off that big old ladder. Whew. And yes, there will be significantly more sun, in 3 nearby beds. The branch he had to take down was on our big beautiful oak at the front of the bed, and the branch was bigger at its base than the black walnut TREE was. So 2 trees and one enormous branch later, it's over.

Then before he could get it cut up, the starter on the chainsaw went out! LOL. That's fine--neither of us were excited about clearing all the debris up this afternoon. We just wanted to relax and be thankful it all went well. So we'll go get the parts Monday and carry on.

Later--will look forward to hearing how HJ's big food day today went.

Amy, I think the feeder on Fred's truck was the type that would drop cubes into something. This truck had a hay spike, I think (I should know for sure as I've seen this truck drive by our place a million times), but they weren't doing round bales yesterday. Billy Fred thinks that as they drove through the pasture (the pastures near the Old Home Place looked to have grass maybe thigh high), some bits of grass got hung up underneath the truck between two things, and I think maybe he said transmission and something else, perhaps engine block, but I don't remember....and then the grass first ignited as they drove up the road from one pasture to another, and the burning grass ignited the truck. The round bales in the field belonged to the guy whose land is across the street....but I am sure Fred's ranching insurance or auto insurance would have paid for the loss. By the time we got there, the guy whose hay was in danger was standing in the yard near the house, watching the firefighters extinguish the fire. I am sure he was feeling very relieved that his hay was safe.

Our eggs get eaten, used in baked goods for the firefighters (I can use a lot of eggs when we are having fires several times a week) or they get taken to work by Tim to give to folks. We are using tons more eggs since giving up grains and sugar because we eat a lot more protein and healthy fats than we once did. Most of the grain-free recipes for tortillas, bread, muffins, pancakes, etc. have a lot of eggs in them---the flaxseed muffins I make every week, for example, have 5 large eggs per batch of 12 muffins. Some of our chickens are molting, some have molted and are done, etc but we aren't getting many eggs now because daylength is too short and I don't like artificially forcing egg production by keeping a light on in the chicken coop all night. While we have quite a lot of chickens, many of them are useless roosters because we are too soft-hearted to execute all the roosters hatched out by our hens. I guarantee you that if we let a broody hen set on eggs, 10 out of 12 that hatch will be roosters every time. Why? Why? Why? Every time we lose a chicken to a coyote (haven't lost any in the last 2 months, but before that we were losing them quite regularly if they were stupid enough to wander off into the woods, well away from the flock), I secretly hope it was a male. We also don't kill chickens when they get too old to lay and be productive, so we are in effect running a retirement home for geriatric chickens. While it is not very cost-effective to feed so many non-laying poultry, they do seem to keep the snake population down and each one of them eats its weight in grasshoppers, so at least they are useful for something.

I think Fred took the burning of the truck very, very well. You know, by the time you are 95 years old and have been farming/ranching your entire life, there's not much that can happen to you now that hasn't already happened in the past. I am sure he had insurance because he's just that way. There's no shortage of trucks at his place---when we took him home there were 4 or 5 late model trucks lined up in front of the house, and one was a really nice flatbed that only needs to have a feeder added to it and he'll be back out there feeding his cattle again. I teased him about having more trucks than people at his house. He's a wheeler-dealer who's always buying vehicles, tractors, mowers, etc. for well-below value and then either keeping them or flipping them for a profit. He's just good at stuff like that. I was just mostly worried about him and Billy Fred---both have bad backs and mobility issues (even though I think Billy Fred is exactly my age, he seems to have inherited Fred's bad back genes)---afraid they'd inhaled smoke or gotten burned or whatever but they seemed fine. For the last 3 or 4 years, I've had a creeping feeling of fire disaster related to Fred---I cannot tell you how many times I've told Tim that I was worried about Fred's house catching fire at night and him not being able to get out of it---like a premonition. I don't know why I had that feeling, and I feel pretty confident he no longer sleeps in an upstairs bedroom but has instead moved to a downstairs one. Still, I've just had that feeling. Maybe this truck fire is the thing my premonition was leading me towards. Does that sound crazy? If so, then I am crazy.

I did hear about Owasso winning state and thought that was cool!

Yellow Cat's death hit me extra hard---perhaps because he had such a hard life as a feral cat roaming the countryside and I know how much he appreciated finally having a family, a climate-controlled home and steady meals that he enjoyed. I spoiled him all that I could these last few years as I saw his once ginger-colored hair turning snow white. I could see him aging, and could see his health failing, but stayed in denial for so long because I couldn't bear the thought of letting him go. When his health had deteriorated to the point that he wasn't going into the garden any more, I cut him catmint and/or catnip and brought it to him daily. He was such a garden cat when he was young and healthy. These last few weeks, I knew the end was coming soon and tried to make sure he had lots of time outside on pretty, sunny days and lots of loving when he was inside. He was purring up until shortly before his death, as I held him and talked to him and promised to see him again at the Rainbow Bridge.

I agree with you that there's not much worth getting dressed up for any more. If I am going to put on pantyhose, heels and makeup, it is going to be for something at a church, a funeral home or a big family gathering. I don't hardly wear heels much either, preferring low heels or flats. I'm beyond thinking that heels are worth wearing to anything.

Nancy, We went through this same thing with dogs several years back---we had 8 dogs, the oldest of which was about 18 or 19 years old when she died. Then, it seemed like we lost a dog a year (or even more often than one per year) for a while until we went from 8 dogs down to two. Then Ace and Princess showed up and we were back up to 4 dogs again. That's the down side to having a bunch of dogs or cats live forever and forever and forever---once one of them finally dies, it seems like the others just fall like dominoes. We've certainly had what with the old cats these last few months. Pumpkin seems the most upset over Yellow Cat--he came to me this morning from the direction of Yellow Cat's grave and had the oddest little expression on his face. I think he knows exactly where YC is and that he is dead. He even seemed sad, which is odd, because the only thing he liked to do with Yellow Cat was to hiss and growl and try to challenge Yellow Cat to a duel. YC dealt with it by ignoring him, a la' W. C. Fields "go away kid, you bother me...." Sometimes I wonder what the animals know---when it is practical, we will let the other animals see and sniff the deceased animal before we bury it because it helps them understand and accept that animal's death, but yesterday we got paged out to a fire while burying Yellow Cat so just had to hurry and get it done so we could leave. It is hard for me to believe that Shady is our last old cat left. I really thought Yellow Cat and Emmitt both would outlive him, but they didn't. (sigh) I did notice today that Shady took over Yellow Cat's favorite porch spot and was sleeping there in the sunshine. Maybe he's waited a long time for that spot to become his spot. Shady was bitten by a copperhead when he was a couple of years old. He survived, but was very sick---the bite was in his groin area. He actually got the raised copper-colored rash that they say "can" happen, but which we've never seen with any other animal of ours. The spot where he had the rash didn't stay copper-colored forever, but after the rash eventually faded, hair never grew there again, so when he sprawls on his back sleeping, you see the white scar still, after all these years. It amazes me because the vet really didn't think he'd live, and now he has outlived all his siblings, his parents, and even cats a few years younger them him. He had a twin brother named Slim, who was very skinny his whole life and who died several years ago. Shady was a big bruiser---like a big offensive lineman on a football team---but was gentle and didn't throw his weight around. Slim and Shady were identical, except one was thin and one was big and hefty. As Shady has aged, he's gotten skinnier and skinnier, and now I find myself accidentally calling him Slim more and more because he looks so much like Slim now---then I hastily add Shady, calling him Slim Shady, which is the Emimem song they were named after when they were born---we were running out of names for a litter of almost identical black cats, and had named their sister Emimem because she was the spitting image of their dad, Emmitt, so then from Emimem to Slim Shady wasn't much of a stretch. (And now y'all know what sort of music Chris was listening to in 2000.)

Yellow Cat once was very sick similar to what Titan had this past summer, and we thought we'd lose him then. We had to keep him caged up and medicated and worked so hard to keep him eating/drinking and alive. The vet kept him in the clinic on an IV for several days before we even could bring him home and take care of him here at the house. He was still about half-feral when all that happened, but by the time he was well, he was my little shadow cat who followed me everywhere I went. He also thought he owned the house (prior to that, he preferred the yard, the garage, the chicken coops---anything but the house) after that. So, I feel like he had another good 7 or 8 years after that round of illness, and he appreciated every day. He was just a happy, purring machine all the time.

When Tim joined the VFD, which was way back in 2002, I believe, I never, ever, in my wildest imagination knew how it could/would take over our lives at times. We can have very long periods of relative quiet where he runs on a ton of medical calls and smallish fires and it doesn't really involve me at all. But then, let drought roll around as it has this fall, and let everything dry out after we freeze, and suddenly it takes completely over our lives. You just do whatever you have to do. Our worst years have been 2005-2006, when we had horrific drought and wildfires from roughly October 2004 through probably January of 2007, when we would have fires almost daily and sometimes, at its worst, up to 5 fires in one day, and then 2011 when we had incredible summer drought and had multiple fires daily (or sometimes one big wildfire that lasted for multiple days) from June through August, with lesser periods of fires for months before and after the summer. Really, then, we had recurring drought in 2012, 2013 and 2014, but nothing like the summer of 2011.

As a gardener, the hardest part for me is that the winter wildfire season's peak tends to coincide with spring planting season, so I'm constantly trying to put transplants or seeds in the ground and having to drop everything to run to a fire. On April 9, 2009, I couldn't even get all my seedlings moved indoors into the sunroom (which was still a screened-in porch then, but it had half-walls that protected the plants from the wind) before I had to rush off to a fire just after lunch, and I lost most of my plants to the wind that day. We had a 15,000 acre wildfire that kept us away from home for about 12 to 14 hours, and when I got home and wearily carried in the seedlings, most were windburned beyond saving---our wind had gusted as high as 53 mph that day. We built the greenhouse soon thereafter so that the plants could get sunlight as I prepared to plant them in the ground but wouldn't have to be out in the wind if I had to run off to a fire. One year, in 2012, I was trying desperately to get fall transplants in the ground. I was so far behind and finally had just decided I was going to do it period. I was not going to leave no matter what was on fire. And I didn't. When our VFD became the 9th department paged out to a wildfire at the eastern end of the county, I called Tim and told him I wasn't going---I had to get those plants in the ground that day or else it wouldn't be worth planting them and that was that. He was fine with that. Our local county emergency management director was not okay with that---he kept calling me and calling me and calling me and I kept telling him I was busy and couldn't leave and he'd have to find someone else to bring drinks and food to the firefighters. I pointed out to him that 8 other VFDs were paged out before us, and surely one of them had a fire rehab person bringing drinks. It was like my words were going in one ear and out the other, and I finally quit answering my phone because he wouldn't stop calling. That's probably the only time he ever really just infuriated me. I remember asking him what part of "volunteer" he didn't understand, because on that specific day I was NOT a volunteer who was going to a fire, I was a woman making a last-ditch, late effort to get a fall garden planted in the midst of tremendous drought. I did, by the way, have a marvelous fall/winter garden that year and we were still harvesting from it in April....and I had to yank out overwintered plants to replace them with new Spring plants.

On one other day, probably in 2013 or 2014, I was behind on getting tomato plants in the ground and told Tim one morning that I absolutely, positively was not going to any fires that day. I was going to start planting in the morning, and was going to plant, weed, water, mulch, etc. and wasn't leaving my garden for any reason. I was so determined to do this that I did not take my fire radio or phone out to the garden. So, guess what happened? I looked up from my garden at some point, and the ranch across the street had a fast-moving wildfire. They had been burning a brush pile and the wind kicked up and the fire got away from them. I could see our neighbors and their hired hand running around with a tractor and hand tools, but the fire was moving faster than they were. So, I had to run to the house (no phone, no radio, remember?), get Tim and Chris on their way to the fire station, with Tim using the radio to tell Dispatch to page out 3 VFDs and then using his cell phone to call the neighbors and say "we're on our way", etc. Then, I came back out of the house with my radio and cell phone in my hand, but couldn't decide what to do. I finally decided to run across the road and open the ranch gate and stand there directing the trucks where to turn into the property. So, the firefighters came, got that fire put out, I checked on our neighbors and made sure they were okay and eventually headed home to the garden. Tim headed inside to take a shower because he worked 3 to midnight back then and needed to quickly leave for work. I returned to planting the garden. For me, the important thing was that we kept the fire from jumping the ranch road and hitting their gigantic barn/indoor riding arena.

As luck would have it, after Tim left for work, I looked up about an hour later, and there was fire running across that field again. The firefighters had put out the wildfire burning through the pasture, but not the huge pile of burning trees (not enough water available to put out that brush pile), and somehow the fire had escaped from the brushpile and was burning across the field just east of where it had burned previously. This time I had my phone and radio and could call everyone, and then I ran across the road with a shovel or rake or whatever and helped Chris fight that fire by hand after he got there with the brush truck. It seems like I got there in time to open gates for him, and then as he drove across the field to hit the fire head on and stop its forward movement, I followed on foot and worked the fire flank with hand tools, as the owners also were doing.

So, I learned an important lesson about never, ever saying I am absolutely, positively not going to a fire on any given day, because the last time I tried it, I had to fight fire by hand twice just across the street from my garden. There's no way anyone involved with a VFD can ignore a fire across the street from their own house---I never would do that to our neighbors. I don't think I've had that much trouble getting the garden planted since then, though I know I have had to postpone planting a few times because I cannot be away at fires and home planting the garden at the same time---it just doesn't work. : ) We've been very lucky and had 3 wet years in a row and so our winter fire season has only lasted maybe a month or two, usually in Jan-Feb or Feb-Mar, so having it start up pretty strong in November is very discouraging. It is a long, long time until we'll green up enough out in the fields to drop the wildfire danger.

We now are at the point that anything will start a fire---several wrecks have started fires recently, as have chains being dragged by a truck, or pieces of a rubber tire coming off a semi truck on the interstate, or a spark from a welder or whatever. Once it is like this, there basically is no justice, no peace, and no rest for the weary, so to speak.

However, even though there were several fires today, none of them were in our fire district or involved us, so we got to stay home and get stuff done at home. Both tomorrow and Monday are expected to be much worse in terms of fire danger. Our Keetch Byram Drought Index numbers really are climbing now and we are in severe drought, so our county commissioners ought to be considering implementing a county-wide burn ban. However, they are elected officials and all the farmers and ranchers tend to give them hell over passing burn bans because it interferes with their ability to burn off crop stubble or do prescribed burning to burn brush out of pastures, so getting a burn ban passed here is like pulling teeth because the elected officials don't want to irritate potential voters,

The firefighters aren't picky. They get lots of coldcut sandwiches when the weather is hot, but in the winter I like to make them stuff that's easy to eat by hand and quick, so often it is sausage balls, Sweet Bacon Chicken Wraps, cinnamon rolls, muffins, or breakfast burritoes (and coffee) if it is an overnight/early morning fire (and coffee of course). If we have time, Fran and I have been known to make Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, taco soup, chicken tortilla soup, meat loaf, casseroles, chili, stew, etc. Much depends on how much advance warning we have, what food we have on hand, and how much we cook in advance. If we are going to have a Red Flag Fire Warning and we know the day before, we often cook in advance because any day that there's a Red Flag Fire Warning, we're likely to have fires. For snacks, we always carry prepackaged snacks, which we usually buy at Sam's Club or CostCo---a blend of sweets and proteins (we have lots of firefighters who are diabetic or pre-diabetic and have to watch their carbs), so we've always got several kinds of cookies (Nutter Butters are a special favorite of the firefighters), packages of nuts, Sweet and Salty trail mix, etc. I often make (as I did today) a copycat version of the Doubletree Hotel's Chocolate Chip cookies---today I made the standard version with chocolate chips and walnuts, but also a separate batch with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. These cookies are big, like the cookies you buy at mall cookie shops, so are the perfect size for a firefighter to wolf down (with a bottle of Gatorade or water) while he's refilling his brush truck water tanks at a tanker truck.

I have been making things daily and freezing them if we don't use them for a fire that day, so just about have filled up the available freezer space now. It will pay off later.

I do not mind, ever, ever, ever, going to the fires except when it interferes with planting time day after day, but my efforts to put the garden first do not exactly pay off, so I tend to just drop everything and go to the fires instead.

Tim went outside intending to mow a lot today (as a method of slowing down fire with very short grass) and I never heard the mower start up. I was cleaning grout haze off the mudroom floor, so I wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. I still have no idea what he did for a couple of hours, but when I finished the floor and went out, he had the dead lawnmower on the charger because he wasn't able to ever get it started---and nothing got mowed. I guess if the battery isn't charged up by tomorrow, we'll go buy a new battery for the mower.

Butterflies were out all over the place today (our high was 79 degrees so it was nice weather for them) but I still have no idea what they're eating because nothing is in bloom.

I won't say it felt hot outdoors, but it did not feel like December. Of course, in a couple more days it will feel very much like December and we'll be wishing to have that 79 degrees back again.

I need to find time tomorrow to go into the garden and see if any zinnias are sprouting or anything. If they aren't, it is because the rainfall has been MIA for the last couple of months, but it wouldn't surprise me if they are---we've certainly been warm enough. There's pink evening primrose plants sprouted all over the place down by the road---and I mean those plants are 2-5" tall. If we weren't expecting freezing weather in a few days, I'd expect to see the pink evening primrose plants blooming soon.

Dawn

So the forecast for the week is 34 Monday night, 30 Tues, 29 Wed, 28 Thur 25 Friday. So is that a gradual enough acclimation time? I'm going to cover my 2 brassica beds any way, but I expect there will be no flowers left. :(

My father's in the hospital. I really don't know anything except that he was very weak. He does not have pneumonia. Will be going up there later today.

My BC catalog came yesterday. Darn it. They have me suckered in for 2 different kinds of chard that weren't on my list. Has anyone purchased plants from them as opposed to seeds? There are 3 things they sell as plants that I'm considering, but of course, plants cost more. There is this huge mangle beet. Some people use forage beets to supplement chicken feed. There is also a cool looking cabbage, Violaceo di Verona, that is on my maybe list, as much as I hate names I can't pronounce. It's Italian. Since I spent my whole evening examining the catalog, I guess it's surprising I didn't come up with more.

I think the lettuce I had at the Mayo was a butterhead (?) Is that the right term? I have only grown leaf lettuce and romaine. I have Adriana from Johnny's on my list. Does anyone have other recommendations for that type?

Nancy, that sounds about right for chainsaws. I looked out the kitchen window once to see one sail over the back fence. It wouldn't start for him ;) The last time DH needed one he went and bought a new one. He doesn't abuse his tools (well, unless they tick him off) so chainsaws seem to me to be temperamental.

Here's another laugh for you Nancy. The same city guy wanted the manager to tag the cattle with different colored tags so he could tell the breeds apart. He was raising black angus and herefords. (And for you city folks, black angus are black, herefords are reddish brown.)

Oh, re dressing up. I got out of the car and the bottom button popped off my top. I spent the night holding my shirt together. And the dang thing was a covered button, which got lost. Mutter, mutter. I spent $15 on panty hose, which I thought I had a run in, but it was the scar from my knee surgery, It looks like I have a run in my leg.

Amy, I have Adriana on my list too. Johnny's pelleted seeds may be my downfall. I've never gotten lettuce to head up before. I'd like some Johnny's recs too.

My Harris seeds order came in yesterday. I like the clear growing directions on the packs, and the no-nonsense packaging. Feeling the itch to plant. If I WS seeds that must be cold stratified this or next month, will that be sufficient time for stratification?

Amy, Y'all will get cold a half-day or maybe a full day ahead of us, and then we'll catch up with y'all once the cold front finally makes it this far south. Our high today is supposed to be near 80 (forecast for yesterday was 76 but we hit 80, and forecast for today is 77) but the difference will be that tonight we're supposed to hit 40 degrees, whereas this morning's low temp was only 65 at our house. I'm going to miss the warm mornings.

I don't think the abrupt change will be good for your plants. It is unfortunate that there couldn't be a more gradual cool-down. After our one night in the 40s, we are headed for lows in the lower 30s or upper 20s for the rest of the week. That will take care of the bermuda grass that has dared to green up and resume active growth over the last 7-10 days.

I hope your dad is okay, and I'm glad it is not pneumonia. Please keep us posted on how he's doing.

I had to laugh at your description of your scar as a run in your leg. By the time people reach our age, of course they have scars (and wrinkles and such). It is just a part of life---I wear my wrinkles and scars proudly---they each have been earned one way or another and are a badge of honor celebrating a life well-lived. I was thinking about Fred the other day because Fran hadn't seen him recently and was shocked at how small he is getting (he is 95, after all) and how frail. I remember that when we met him in 1998, he had just had really serious back surgery and could hardly walk at all. His doctor told him to walk a mile a day to help aid in his recovery, and it is about a mile, round-trip, from his house to ours, so he'd walk over to our place daily and check up on the construction crew who was building our house. Then, when we came up on Saturdays, he'd walk over to our house and give us a recap of the week's activities. If someone had shot himself in the hand with a nail gun and bled all over the subfloor, Fred told us all about it. Since then, he's had both hips replaced and both knees, but has stayed really active in farming, ranching and gardening until very recently. His son has helped him a great deal, and taken over some chores like plowing and planting, over the last few years. Fred wears his scars proudly though, as those knee and hip replacements, and even the back surgery, have enabled him to keep doing what he loves for so very long. He's not a guy who's ever going to be sitting on the porch when there's crops to tend and cattle to feed, so he just keeps going like the Energizer bunny. He has often commented to me that the guys he knows who retire and just sit on the porch drop dead young (in theirs 60s and 70s) and he doesn't want to be like them. I'd say he had achieved that goal for sure.

There are butterhead lettuces and buttercrunch lettuces, with butterheads being slightly more tender and less crunchy than buttercrunch types. You probably did have a butterhead based on your description of it. The butterheads do not have as much of a bitter taste to them as other types of lettuce, and are easy to grow and use as cut and come again harvests.

I am rolling on the floor laughing at the city guy! Even I can tell one form of cattle from another, even when the color isn't an obvious clue. Long ago (in the 1980s and early 1990s) I worked with a city girl whose dad ran cattle. It always amused her greatly that city slickers thought that all cattle with horns were bulls. She'd go through the whole dehorning explanation only to realize the city slickers really weren't listening and really didn't care.

Rebecca, I've always liked the no-nonsense packaging of Harris Seeds too.

With cold stratification, it just depends on how much cold stratification any given variety needs. And, of course, it depends on what your weather does. I cannot imagine y'all will not be cold enough long enough this winter, but stranger things probably have happened in Oklahoma. Many of the plants that need cold stratification do perfectly fine with alternating hot/cold weather as long as the cold gets cold enough for long enough---even if the cold days are not all in one consecutive block.

Most of the lettuce types that do well in our climate are non-heading types. Summercrisp lettuces form a fairly open rosette early in their life and I often harvest them, using the cut and come again method, at that stage, but if you leave them in the ground long enough, they eventually head up. I've had good luck with several of them, including Muir, Nevada and Cherokee.

Dawn