Kim, I am the same way. I don't have a job to go to, so I have more time to kill, and looking at pictures is a good way to kill time.

I have been working on the center bedroom, we have company coming for the holidays and we need the extra room. I have been sorting sweet potatoes, winter squash, and shelling peanuts this morning. I have near 10 gallon of sweet potatoes that should last near 6 months, and close to that many that I need to butcher for pie filling and cut up for the deer, some will be save for making slips this spring.

I am working on shelling 25# of peanuts. I think that the bag of peanuts gets larger every time I take some out to shell. Madge got the peanuts for me because I love raw peanuts, and they are a little hard to find around here. Madge can't eat peanuts, and I will be big as a horse by the time I eat 25# of them. I plan of saving a few for seed and freezing the rest of them. I love about all raw fruits and vegetables, and Madge will normally order a good size order of apple, oranges, and nuts each year, but this is the first time she has bought raw peanuts. We have a good supply of black walnuts on the place, but our hands have gotten so weak it is hard for us to crack them and get the meat out, so Madge buys them in a package like she does the pecan, English walnuts, and almonds.

Thanks for sharing the pictures!

The Christmas program is tonight so I'm not going home between. Once I got home, I might not want to get back out.

Practices were terrible. Oh well. If the kids aren't listening and jumping off/running around the stage, their parents will be here to witness it all. Most of the parents seem to think their little ones are very obedient and will usually blame other kids for influencing any unwanted behavior. A dad was complaining to another teacher about a "potty word" his son said and was concerned that it was another child influencing this. However, a day earlier, the dad said sh$t out loud in front of several kids.

Hmmm....

It is a really strange group of parents this year. They like to call out other kids and say things like, "don't play with Susie. She's mean". In front of all the kids at drop off time. In the past, usually parents tried to encourage their kids to get along and would teach forgiveness and second chances. Considering these kids are very young and just learning how to get along and take turns, etc., this is a better way in my opinion.

And very often, the kids whose parents act that way, are the instigators. So odd.

Oh well.

I love them all. Naughty or not.

Nothing really new in the garden. I forgot Garden Monday again yesterday. I did take a picture of broccoli, but my mind is on a hundred other things right now.

In good news, we got an inch and a half of rain last night. The coop door shut properly for the first time in 4 months. The drought caused some shifting of the foundation, I guess. Super happy that it's closing again just in time for the brutal upcoming cold weather. I was having to bungee it closed and sometimes if the wind got really bad, it would blow open anyways.

Speaking of coops. One of the hens is laying eggs again. We had nothing for at least 3 weeks....maybe 4. Now, one of the green egg layers is back at it. I'm guessing it is either Fae or Black Betty. Both of these birds are beautiful. But, not very friendly. It's the downside of letting hens raise chicks.

Obviously one hen isn't giving us many eggs, but it's still good to have them. I ate one for breakfast this morning. We only have a dozen of our eggs left in storage (shop refrigerator). I have purchased 2 dozen for baking. One was so "farm fresh" that there was poop or mud on a couple in the carton. Just like home. haha.

Are any of you trying new varieties in 2023?

I want to try the fairy tale eggplant. Maybe a Long Island Cheese pumpkin. Has anyone tried that one?

I want to focus a lot on herbs this coming year as well.

Jen, there are at least 4 comfrey plants on the west side of my house. I'll dig up one for you. They are offspring from one that I got from Dawn many years ago. I do believe the original is still there too.

Garlic is up and will be knocked down in a few days, I'm afraid. Tomorrow, I'll find the frost blankets again and see about covering a few things in the KG if I can get home before dark. I'm not putting plants in the KG next fall. Just in the hoop house and hinged hoop.

I was just locked in with the alarm set. I got up to move around and the sensor set it off. I guess they forgot I'm here. lol

That was really loud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvc3E_evvgI&list=TLPQMTgwMjIwMjFw7cZA82fALA&index=3

Putin's secret weapon.

Rick

We had so much rain today and tornadoes south and north of me. I need to get garden stuff taken care of when it quits raining.

I am glad I am past the small kid age, I am just too tired to mess with it. I still like the one on one in the garden, and trying to help with one on one projects, but I don't want any school or boy scout projects.

We have had a good bit of rain also. I don't have a lot that can be done outside now. For this time of the year, the garden looks pretty good, but I will still have a lot of work to be done by planting time.

Rick, I like the secret weapon, but I am afraid Putin may have some mean weapons that can be sent out.

I have much preparations to do before the Siberian front hits next week and right before Xmas.

-3 degrees, Grrrr... , some people's cars might not even start.

....and what about the pipes...

Putin , you suck boy.

Rick

well anyway...putting all politics aside.

It looks like a bad cold spell to hit.

I'm getting ready for the worst.

If the worst don't hit now , there's plenty of chances later into Jan / Feb.

Glad I don't live in Ukraine . Imagine what they have to put up with.

Rick

The way it looks now our coldest night will be the 22 nd. @ 17 degrees, and if I toss in my 5 degree drop, that will put me at 12 degrees, which is too cold for me, but it is much better than -3.

I am glad you posted because I need to check out my generator, it we have ice I may be without power, which will put me at an even bigger risk of broken pipes.

HJ, how'd the program go? I always loved doing our church's program (perk of being a grown up five-year-old lol). Unfortunately we don't have enough readers to do a program right now, maybe in a couple years.

I'll be sure & post pics once everything's done. Electrician comes tomorrow to install a heater in our garage & then run lines to my shed. One side has shelves so in theory I could use them to do the seed trays. But the shelves themselves are made of that crumbly plywood stuff, so water may not be a good idea. I do have 3 or 4 of those mini greenhouses so I'll put them up for my shelves, then once they're full I can just use the floor or the hot tub cover (we brought it but don't have a place for it, so for now it's just a really big table).

The program went much better than the practices.

This was the private school program. It is mostly just singing. We have Pre- K through 2nd grade. I work for them part-time.

The church children's program is this Sunday.

I'm not at the school job right now. I'm sitting at my desk with the space heater blowing on me....and getting very sleepy.

Jen, very exciting about your seed starting area and electricity!

We sure enjoyed our hot tub at the old house...especially in fall and winter.

Howdy folks! I dropped in, trying to find an old thread and realized how much I miss you folks! I am not staying away intentionally, just so busy with other stuff like Green Country Seed Savers, that I don't get around to coming here.

My gardening has to be reduced a bit in the coming year as I can't keep up. Have been struggling with some memory issues and the regimen I must follow eats up a lot of time. In 2023 I will not be advertising to sell sweet potato slips. Will try to supply for those who remember me and ask for some. I hope to plant more corn and cowpeas, pumpkins and of course plenty of sweet potatoes. Can't leave out okra. That's a must, but I must reduce the work load.

I have some little paw paw trees to plant in the yard and hope to be growing some Burr oak from seed to plant along our creek. Have been experimenting with acorns for food and am very very pleased with it. A lot of evenings I sit and shell acorns while my wife and I chat by the fireside. Life is good.

This is a picture of a breakfast with acorn pancakes. Yum!

Larry, whenever I read your posts I think that you and I are especially blessed with the wives God has given us!

George it is so good to hear from you!!! I too have had to consider cutting way back this next year. It is hard to get it all done. Looks like you are eating very well. I planted burr oak last year and had about 50% germination which was great for me. I floated them first and planted only the sinkers. Gave away lots of trees. I still have a dozen or so. It was a great experiment. I could get into trees later.

George, it is good to see you post. I agree that you and I have God given gifts in the wives that we have. In a way I am lucky today, I get to take care of her, I don't like the fact that Madge does not feel well, but I am happy she is resting and letting me do things for her, she is always doing for others, and not doing a good job of taking care of herself.

I have been shelling peanuts. Madge bought me a 25# bag of raw peanuts for my 79 th birthday. Madge had made the comment about she could use some to make peanut brittle, and I thought that I heard her say that she did not like the skins on the peanuts. Anyway, I think I have about 5 bags freezer bags of shelled and skinned peanuts, and Madge said "Why are you taking the skins off", I hope she does not ask me to go through that 5 gallon bucket of peanut hulls and glue the skins back on those nuts, some were really hard to rub off.

I like oak trees. Except for the past two nights, I have been taking corn and tossing it under some oak trees east of the house for the wildlife. I have game cameras set up to take pictures of the critter that come around to eat. At times I chop up some sweet potatoes or pumpkins, add a few table scraps, about 80% of the time I toss out some cattle cubes with the other critter food.

With the gardening activities running low I have to find other things to do besides going to the doctor.

Larry that is funny. I like my peanuts skinless too. I have never shelled that many. When mother entertained she always made peanut squares. Homemade yellow cake, cut into 2”square ,frosted with a swirled pink white icing and rolled in fresh shelled chopped peanuts. Best cake ever. Our reward for shelling peanuts was a piece of the cake. I have never made it without my mother and doubt I ever will. She was the best baker ever.

One more crazy day and then I can relax!

Tomorrow is (another) kids Christmas program and a staff party tomorrow night. In between, I'm going to have lunch with a friend that is in town. Normally, I would never add a third "event' to a day, but this friend is very special to me. We are so much alike. She is an INFP and I am an INFJ. We always say that she is the most INFJish INFP ever. And I am the most INFPish INFJ ever. (but we both use the cognitive functions of our "types" so we are typed correctly.)

I haven't seen her in a couple of years.

It's been a full day. I got up and did the regular animal chores and then quickly got my workout in before standing in line at the post office to mail Stella's Christmas gifts. Came home and literally stayed in the kitchen baking/cooking until leaving to "make an appearance" at 70th Anniversary party. These people have been married since my Mom was 6 years old! Crazy.

Anyway, came home and finished the cooking/baking.

Mom, Mason, and Mack came out tonight for dinner and cookie decorating. So nice and so fun.

I just went out to close the chicken coop....and was missing 2 chickens. They've been getting outside of their yard very often. Luckily I found them both and put them on the roost bars. I would clip their wings, but with the intense cold coming soon, I feel that they need all the feathers. And, I don't have seedlings in the garden to protect right now.

Speaking of the garden, what survives survives. I have zero time to deal with it. Rick is coming out tomorrow to grab whatever broccoli and cabbage is out there. They won't survive this upcoming cold without a second layer, and we have no time to do that second layer. We both have a lot going on.

If we have decent cabbage, I'll make sauerkraut in January or February with it. I used my last jar on dinner tonight.

Also, I only have one fermented pickle left after dinner tonight. Love the persian cukes!

Okay, just checking in. This was a boring post but it's all I got.

Never boring. Just curious what is Infj and infp? Persian and gherkin were my favorite ive ever grown. Prolific and super crunchy. My pickles that I fermented have mold on top. I need a good frig to keep in the barn here for ferments.

Kim. I got to try some peanut brittle yesterday. I thought it was better than Madge normally makes, but I think Madge often cooks it long enough that it has a light burned taste to it, but I think it is better without the stronger taste, but she roast almonds and pecans like that also, but I guess I just like things cooked less than time than she does. Many vegetables, fruit, and nuts I had rather have raw anyway.

Jennifer, I love your boring post, you cover a lot of topics very well.

The topic came on another post about soil, and it made me drag out some old soil test. I decided that I need to start back on the project of lowering the P, K, and Zn, in my garden. It is much easier to raise it than it is to take it a way. Before I would grow corn and feed to the livestock, which seem to drop the numbers on the soil test.

I visited the county agent about my soil test numbers, and was told that I live in a mining area, and often in those areas the mineral count in a soil test may be higher. I was also adding massive amounts of organic from an area right next to a coal mine. Anyway growing the corn and discarding the stalks seem to help my numbers some, but I need to get another soil test before I start trying to adjust the numbers so I can have a base line for the test.

I cant devote a lot of time to the soil test problem, because I have a lot of other projects to work on. Improving the pastures is my biggest concern right now.

My gardens are in better shape right now than any time I can remember in the past, but I will have to fight the henbit tooth and nail to keep them that way.

Kim, the INFJ and INFP are two types in Myers Briggs. It's a personality thing. It used to be more popular, but now the enneagram is a favorite.

I like both...and they're different and can work together.

However, I can understand why someone could think that Myers Briggs puts people in boxes, but if you study it deeply, it's the opposite. You have to look past the 4 dichotomies....and look into the cognitive functions instead. People often mistype, because the questions on 'tests' are difficult to answer. Because, afterall, we're all "thinkers", "feelers", "intuitives", and "sensers". We all use all functions.....it's just what is a person's natural preference most of the time that determines type.

It's just one of my many passions.

Rick came out to harvest brassicas. We have quite a nice amount in the shop refrigerator now.

I feel like I could sleep for 24 hours straight. It's been a very busy weekend and very "people-y" today.

This INFJ introvert needs some alone time.

Houzz is messing with me. I started a new thread yesterday and it can't be found. If I use the back button I can see it. It posted. But if I went to "Oklahoma gardening" it didn't show in the threads. In fact yesterday it didn't show ANY threads.

So, order propane if that's how you heat.

I hate winter. Bah humbug.

Amy I can never get it to take my start up post. Of I could I would be more than happy to start it every week. I would love to have little pellet stove or a tiny wood stove in here but right now I barely have room for space heaters. If it gets too crazy I go to my daughters. They have a fireplace.

Our weather shows Thur night 3 degrees 79% chance of rain, snow showers and wind, that could also mean downed power lines, and we heat with electric, but do have a propane cook stove. But we are just like every one else, we will just have to rake what ever comes our way.

When do you early starters start your first seeds? I started tomatoes one time on Jan 25, but for me it was much too early, but that was 20+ years ago. I want to start a few cabbage and other early plants, and have a few times in my life, but so few that I cant remember anything about it. My goal is to start plants here at my house, and then get then growing well, then move them to my neighbor's greenhouse. I could use a little advice about what plants to start first and about what date to start them. I am about 20 miles south of Fort Smith, but my micro climate is more like 40 miles north of Fort smith. In other words I often run 5 degrees colder than Fort Smith in the winter, and can run 5 degrees hotter in the summer.

Thanks for any input.

Larry

The general rule is to start seeds indoors about 5 weeks before you want to transplant them into the garden. For cool season things like cabbage and broccoli me and Jennifer start in early/mid Feb so as to have them ready to set out around the middle of March. Of course it can depend on what kind of March you're going to have. If winter hangs on into Mar like it sometimes does you might want to hold off planting seed for another week or so. If it warms up early in March you could start seed in late Jan.

Of course you don't know what kind of March you're going to have when it's still Jan or Feb . And you don't want to start cool season stuff too late if it if heats up early on into Apr/May so it's a crap shoot.

You could start some seed earlier and some more later.

I wouldn't start things like tomatoes until early/mid March at the earliest.

Here's an old Dawn thread about seed starting:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6051836/dawn-s-wisdom-on-seed-starting#n=1

here's another one:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2050039/planting-tips-for-cool-season-crops

Here's OSU's schedule for spring planting:

https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/print-publications/hla/oklahoma-garden-planning-guide-hla-6004.pdf

Rick

Larry, I've started seed in January too, but it's too early for tomatoes (for me). I think it was the year that Dawn was experimenting with starting them in December.

I've decided that around March 1 is good for me. It's what I've done the past couple of years.

I might not start any seed in January this year. Not brassicas, greens, lettuce.

Possibly some herbs. Possibly.

The brassicas and greens will be started in February.

Part of the reason for waiting, is that I have inside stuff to deal with in January. I don't want to care for trays of seedlings at the same time.

I've got to be very mindful of what I'm taking on right now. I'm a little....hmmm...."burned out" are not the words. "Overwhelmed" is a bit extreme too. I don't know what the word is, but I need to be mindful this year. It's a strong feeling.

There just really is too much to care for around here. I will not have this many pets again. Their care isn't hard, but it can be time-consuming. Also, because of all of their special needs, it's difficult to leave. Even if we just want to spend a night away. When Ethan leaves home, it will be nearly impossible. It's not the chickens either. I can get neighbors to deal with the chickens.

This cat needs this and that cat needs that. And the poor turtle's tank was horrible. She shouldn't have to live like that. I took a couple of hours last night and scrubbed her up. It's easier in the summer. In the winter, not so much.... emptying about 50 gallons of water. But it's fresh now. If I will be mindful, her tank won't get that bad again. But, it will take a few minutes a day to do that. Not a big deal if there weren't 5 others that needed those few minutes every day too.

SO....the garden will need to be a little more organized this year. For instance, I'm going to start 24 tomatoes for dicing and 24 for sauce. Twenty-four seeds for each. Not more. If a pellet doesn't sprout a seed, then I'll replace it with a store-bought. A store-bought. Not 10 store-boughts.

I really, really want to focus on herbs, the pollinator/native garden behind the shop (I don't want to put overflow veggies there again), making the backyard area look nice, and the fruit trees/bushes. Oh, and I want to work on saving heirloom tomato seeds. I love the idea that Amy shared a while ago: getting tomatoes used to/acclimated to your growing conditions by saving seed for a few years

And keeping the veggies more manageable.

I'm excited about those plans.

Y'all it's cold out there and will get worse soon enough. This afternoon, I wrapped most of the chicken pen with tarps. I'm hoping it will hold and keep some of the wind out of the pen. It worked pretty well in February 2021. I didn't get the old bedding removed and fresh put down. Maybe tomorrow.

We did get the grocery shopping done too--both weekly shopping and Christmas breakfast/dinner shopping. We've never been shopping on Tuesday at around noon. Wow. It's the retired couples time to shop. It was slow moving, but I can appreciate that. I'm getting slower too. In fact, the young lady didn't even ask for my BD or ID (I bought wine). To the young, all "old" people are the same. lol. Maybe she's 40? Maybe she's 70?

Obviously, I look much older than 21, but even still they always check IDs or at least ask for a BD. But, it's "old people" day, and I was just one of the old people. It cracked me up.

Tom is also off work this week. Well, we both worked yesterday but we're off now.

I'm about to head out and cover the broccoli with an extra layer. It's really the only thing I'm trying to save.

My hands are still thawing from covering the chicken pen. I can take the cold other than my hands. Stupid Raynauds. I have to work for 5 minutes and then come in for 5 minutes because of my hands. I can't wear gloves while using zip ties.

After Pilates, we're going to get our traditional dip of peppermint ice cream and look at a friend's computerized christmas light show.

Tomorrow will be gift wrapping.

What's everyone's plans for the holidays? Tomorrow is Yule. But, I won't have a solstice party this year. I'll do a little celebration on my own.

Okay. I've put off going back outside for long enough. Gotta get the chickens fed and the broccoli covered.

Jennifer, thanks for the wonderful post, it reminded of some of Dawn's post, I sure miss her.

You will slow down more as the years stack up. I read something today that I liked, It was "never complain about getting old, so many are denied the privilege".

Fellow INFJ, though my husband would argue that I'm too social to be an introvert. And my department seems to enjoy all of those personality tests, so I've taken quite a few too. They all have their good qualities, and help me understand my coworkers a little easier.

Once the electricity is done, I think I may experiment with starting early. I pulled all my old seed & have a lot that I could do 3 or 4 experiments. So I think I'll wintersow one batch, start one batch early Jan, & start one early or mid Feb. See how planting dates impact germination and production.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to wait until after the holiday herd leaves. Which is probably best, it's gonna be freezing the next few days so I don't think I'll be interested in playing in the dirt. Plans for Christmas include chasing after a ridiculous number of dogs, making treats for the owners & us, and digging through the seed stash again to try & start planning.

Thanks for the planting info, Rick, I think I missed your post, I don't know if it was late coming through or I just overlooked it.

I had to carry my seeds out and place them in the truck, we are planning on having company over the holidays. and I needed to make room in the center bedroom. After the first of the year I will start getting things ready for spring planting. I plan on a lot of my time to be spent on the pastures. I had planned on brush hogging this afternoon, but the Dr. and my wife had other ideas, but other than advising me to take it easy, the doctor was happy with my test. I have already done a lot of work with that tractor, I don't think it hurts me to drive it. Matter of fact, driving a tractor is one of the few things that I can still do a pretty good job at.

Hello all ............ getting ready for these severe over night temps. I've had a good crop of cilantro growing in a bed against the house, on a south facing wall. I doubt it would survive the below 10 degree and maybe below 0 temps.

But I've watered it down and covered with leaves and then watered down the leaves. Might work, might not. I saved some onions one year doing that but we had some snow on top of the leaves, which insulated the plants.

My concern in doing this, I've cut off sunlight to the cilantro plants. How long can they survive covered up ? Or is their metabolism so low in these cold temps, that they don't grow much anyway ?

My winter rye garden cover has done well, its about a foot tall now. I've never planted winter rye before, but from what I read, it should survive these temps just fine.

Pic of rye

Dawn started her tomato seeds on Super Bowl Sunday. But that was before the NFL went to a 16 game season and pushed the Super Bowl back a week. . Because she was further south, I would start mine a week later. And that was too early. But for some reason, I'd could never wait till late February. Too impatient. Most of those years I was worried about germination. How many plants would sprout ? Would germination take 2 weeks ? etc etc etc. Couple of years I had to replant seed and starting early saved me.

Last year I planted about Feb 16th and still my plants got too large. This year I'll try to have the patience to wait till last week of Feb. in not first week of March. And I plan on putting them in the ground the last week of March if the 10 day forecast allowed, or usually the first week of April .

I remember Dawn starting tomatoes on Super Bowl Sunday, but I can't make that work for me because I often have frost around May 1. I always have to have a place to protect my plants, but this year I plan on placing my plants in my neighbors greenhouse. I hope to start a lot of plants for him, he will look after the plants are potted up, so hopefully I wont have to worry about frost this year and just move the plants from my house to his.

Lynn, the rye really looks good. Grain rye Is my first choice as a cover crop. I like using Elbon Rye, because Dawn suggested it, and, it was developed at Ardmore Oklahoma. I used another rye one year because I could not get Elbon, it did well also, but I still go back to Elbon if I can get it. I did plant a few bags of wheat this year, but planted rye grass and Elbon rye up close to the house because they have never let me down. I think Elbon rye has been more forgiving to me than anything I have planted, it is sorta like a Timex watch, it will take a lickin and keep on tickin. My rye never gets as large as yours because of the deer, but this year I have planted enough out in the pasture, maybe the deer will leave the cover crop in the garden alone.

Here's how I get ready for the Siberian Slam :

This was an earlier pic . But the difference now is that I shoveled dirt all along the edges to weigh it all down to seal and keep the winds from getting in under it. Otherwise it'll all be hanging off the cell phone tower in the background.

It all really needs a 2nd layer of plastic for single digit temps but it would take a lot of plastic and a lot of work to anchor it all down. Some of them have some plastic on part of it to patch holes in the row cover. If I just had one tunnel I would put a 2nd layer of plastic. All 4 tunnels have plastic on the north ends where it really counts.

The row cover itself is pretty heavy grade , something like Agribon -30. Don't know if it's heavy enough for this , we'll see. Brassicas in the 3 tunnels to the left , mixed greens , turnips...in the tunnel to the right.

Wish me luck.

Rick

Rick, it looks great. I am not planing on doing anything to protect what little I have planted, I am more worried about my plumbing. Its a tough when you get old and have nobody to turn to for help, but most people have their hands full taking care of themselves.

Larry I know about having your hands full. I'm still dealing with getting my truck rear ended .

I've been screwed up with my usual routine ever since.

Can't even haul my tiller around.

and now with full blown winter bearing down on us...

It sucks.

I've just been getting other things prepared , like weather stripping on the house.

protecting the pipes ... etc..

Lonely are the brave.

rick

Rick, I don't think we are going to get out of this world alive.

Looks pretty bleak. But hey.... it's not our fault.

No reason to be ashamed or guilty.

Rick'

13 degrees here and in Ft. Smith. I can't remember the last time I have seem this temp at this time of the day, 1;30 PM.. We have had light snow, but it is stopped now. The computer tells me that the temp will drop to 5 degrees tonight, looking at the temp now, I would not be surprised if we drop lower than 5.

We got down to 4 and warmed up to 7 at Norman.

Wind was sure howling out of the north all morning around 30-40 mph.

burrr...

Rick

My cilantro is still covered with leaves, the wind did not blow them away. But got three more days of being covered.

I don't have anything to worry about except garlic, if the top freezes back I expect they will come back. I have walking onions and bunching onions, I feel sure the walking onions will come back, bunching onions, I have grown so few times that I don't know about them. I also have a lot of turnips, I don't know about them, but at least they can be tilled in for green manure.

Its 5 degrees now, that is what the predicted low is, but I expect the temp to drop more.

I did not go feed the deer tonight, it is just too cold. My rtv has a diesel engine, and they get cranky in cold weather, and so do I. I have plenty food plots, the deer can go eat frozen grass.

it is 5 here also.

The hardest thing is making sure the chickens get some water. I took water to them twice. I opened up the storage side of the coop and put their waterer there. Most of them came to get a drink. There are a few on the very bottom of the pecking order that did not. If they won't drink tomorrow, I'll bring them in and give them syringes of water.

Other than that, everything seems to be going well.

The shop cats seem fine. Parts of the shop are above freezing and other places are not. I can tell because of the different water bowls. Some are frozen, some are not.

The hoop house was at 40 degrees this afternoon.

I spent the morning wrapping gifts. And took a 2 hour nap.

No gardening. But I did enjoy making a soup from our garden foods. We still have quite a few (long day) onions left. So, the recipe called for onions, sweet potatoes, and kale. I grabbed some kale yesterday before the crazy cold hit us.

It's been a relaxing day. I don't really know how to relax, though.

Tom did help me work on my jigsaw puzzle this evening, so that was fun. It is relaxing but feels productive at the same time.

Tomorrow, I'll prep food for our Christmas Eve brunch. Mom and M & M are coming Christmas Eve morning to open gifts and have brunch. We'll go see Christmas Vacation at Harkins. The kids weren't born when that movie came out so never saw it in the theatre. However, we watch it every year. I watch it twice because I want to see if before they open the first advent calendar door..

I guess that's all from me. Just looking over Garden 2023 plans (that I made back in August).

It was pretty much a wasted day for me. I did shell a bunch of peanuts, but I still have some of the 25# bag left to shell.

We plan on going over to my daughters for Christmas tomorrow, but I am afraid she will have some water pipes frozen and will we have to make other plans, and we may have frozen pipes also. It is 1 degree outside, and we may have some wind also, anyway it is too cold for me to fool with a broken water line.

Holiday happenings abound. Without grandkids I have no life lol. I held babies the big three decorated cookies. Today we have gift exchange. My gifts mostly came from the garden. Herb salts and herb blends. Lard and simmer bags. They can pick and choose what they want. I better get going finishing that up. Christmas Eve I volunteered to work.

I wish we were all neighbors. I’d love to get together with hot chocolate, tea, coffee and hash out garden ideas. Maybe throw in some cookies and candy and a mess of catalogs. This picture is a gift from sons family.

Kim, being neighbors to the gardening group sounds like fun.

That looks like a nice gift. We have a thing hanging on the wall that started out to be a heart for each of the kids and grand kids, I think we are going to have to build a taller wall to hang it on.

We had Christmas with my daughter and family yesterday, part of Madge's family today, and, more of Madge's tomorrow.

We had pizza today. We will have a chili contest tomorrow. We are trying to have easier meals, we are not sure how that is going to work out, but so far I like it. I think the women work too hard making the the meals.

Uncovered my cilantro bed this morning and it appears it made it. Has the right shade of green, not dark. Some has already regained turgor pressure. Right now, IDK what to think about my rye grass. It doesn't look good but its suppose to tolerate below zero temps .

And oh yeah, Merry Christmas !!

Lynn, I think your rye will be ok, mine is not as tall as yours, but, it will be ok also. My rye did get trimmed a little by the deer ( I did not place any food out for them the past two nights, so they came up to the house and ate some of my cover crop).

I would to wish all of you gardeners a Merry Christmas, even tho my garden sure has not had a Merry Christmas, all I have is turnips, onions, and garlic, it all has been bit hard, but should come back. The temp night before last was down to 1 degree, the lowest last night was 13 degrees.

I've got a rabbit mowing my rye. He keeps it trimmed down one side of the garden. And I think I got a big rat eating on it.

My neighbor had a rat infestation back in August. They were living under his backyard shed and feeding on his dog's food and water. Both of us working together have eradicating them. Haven't got one in snap traps since Sept and there not eating the bait in my poison bait stations.

Except for this one big rat, and he's a good sized rat. He's too big for the snap traps and can't get inside the bait stations for the poison. I've got a camera set up and have been getting pics of him and I set up a live trap. But he won't go inside the live trap ..... yet.

I hope he's not living in my rye.

Up close to the camera he looks like a giant. Can see my bait station behind him. Those pickets in the fence are 6" wide.

But I moved the camera higher on the fence post and got a shot of him about to eat the bait from a snap trap. But he did not set off the trap. I took up the snap traps, I don't like them cuz they don't discriminate. And my rabbit buddy might get a paw in one.

Merry Christmas all! We did the family thing last night. We bought sub sandwiches for the meal. (We can even get gluten free). They got our order confused. They thought it was for Monday. Ron called to see if it was ready. They had to make it. We ordered 18 of the half sandwiches (about 6" long) they gave us 18 full sized, so kids went home with sandwiches, too. It is a total mad house when when 9 adults and 5 children get together, but they were gone by 6:30, so quiet night. Having trouble with houzz, so better post this. Mery Christmas!