We made it to 31 this morning. I'm about to head to the hoop house to vent it and remove the coverings because we're at 36 and it's SUNNY. If I wait too long it will be 90 in that hoop house. Funny how those things work. I brought in the tray of kale because it had a few herbs in it. They would have been fine, tho. The cabbages stayed in the hoop. I nearly forgot the calendula. It can take a light frost, I THINK. But didn't want to risk it. It's one of my focus herbs. And I have quite a bit of it. Those extra trays didn't fit on the light shelf, but they're big enough to be okay just sitting next to it. The door to that room has to be kept closed. I have 2 sister cats who love herbs--all herbs. I always say that their ancestors must have belonged to herbalists, wise women or witches. My herb cabinet is such a fascination for them. Even closed, they'll nose at it. Anyway.... I'll take the trays back to the hoop house and only bring the calendula up tonight. Tomorrow, night, the cabbages will come indoors too. How did everyone elses plants do? I hope the lows on Sunday morning don't harm those lovely plant volunteers in the burn pile. Or my red poppies. The seedlings on the light shelf really need to be potted on. (I like saying "potted on" now. There's a girl I follow on Instagram from the Isle of Man and that's what she calls potting up or up-potting.) It's a messy job and I prefer to do it outside or in the shop. Maybe after this cold spell. The tomatillos HAD to be potted on, tho, so I did those last night in the house. Okay. it's time to open the hoop house now.

Impressive, Larry! Once again, I love how everyone has different gardening goals and reasons for gardening. All reasons are good. I would probably enjoy that large type of gardening if it was my fulltime job--and the produce was going to market. I'm not sure how any individual would have time to preserve all of that. Or even eat it all if they didn't have a large family. It IS impressive, tho. Jen, you do have a full day tomorrow. Our butternut squash and pumpkins and cucumbers have just popped up, so you're probably right on time for planting squash and cukes. I had some time this evening to keep clearing out the hoop house, which basically means inventing places to put things. The only things remaining are a couple of borage, Dawn's zinnias, one cup of basil from Rebecca and the basil from Megan. Oh, and a Heinz tomato-just one. As soon as I pull the lettuce and broccoli out of the hoop house beds, I'll put that Heinz in the hoop house. It's a determinate. I put Dawn's tomatoes at the end of the butternut squash and cantaloupe rows. Rick has a couple of superhot peppers left as well. Mostly things look really good. Some things are being chewed on, but I won't go into the details of that. Back in the day, this was a forum to troubleshoot with others, but not any longer. And that is okay. It's more of a conversational forum. My dumb foot flared up. It's not been this bad in nearly 5 years. I do NOT have time for this. The only treatment is rest. There's no time to rest. But, I did learn the hard way nearly 5 years ago, that if I push it, I'll end up unable to walk and stuck sitting on the couch. That was awful. I simply couldn't stand or walk without support. It's when I discovered Roots and Refuge, being unable to walk, I watched videos. I have been working but carefully. Asking Tom to carry things here and there to save me steps. Not exercising or walking Josi. Sitting more at my jobs. We're all planned up for our trip in a month. Our niece was going to stay at our house, but her brother (my nephew) is graduating from boot camp (or something like that) and they'll be going to San Antonio for that. Luckily, my neighbor is going to handle our animals. Josi is so neurotic, that I'm afraid to board her anywhere even with Jen. Diana is mean, Juno is also neurotic, Finbar and Sturgeon don't get along. But, my neighbor can handle it all. She has many animals herself. Rick will water the gardens if we don't get rain. Hopefully I won't lose any flowers in pots, etc. My Mom will come out on the days she's not at my nephew's graduation and will water those things. We really have to downsize on animals and rethink gardening. If E stays in Oregon, we'll be making trips there obviously. The chickens are the easiest. The dog is the hardest. So...no more dogs. And only one cat. In the future. We didn't get much rain last night. Maybe a 10th. Maybe not that much. Hoping for some rain over the next couple of days. I don't want to drag the hoses around with the stupid foot thing. I'm very distracted by work and our life changes,, but still am excited about the gardens. But, I have to be excited in my own way. Normally I cater to everyone in all areas of my life, but there's no time to do that this year. If someone is excited about something, they can be excited and I'll support them....but I cannot be actively involved in everything that everyone is excited about. If that makes sense. I'm having to say "no" to people a lot more than normal. Don't y'all hate that? Our daughter is currently in Venice. So pretty. Just left Tuscany--wow! There's a place to garden. So beautiful. Tomorrow is the OKC Flower and Garden Fest. I will be going even if Tom has to carry me around. I've been looking forward to this for months. Anyone else going?

Jennifer, I did not check the turnips and beets today. The guy that baled the hay and ran over the beets and turnips was here today working on the baler and hauling hay. I did not want him to feel bad about a crop being in that mess he ran over, plus my grand daughter came to visit, the rain also kept me in the house a long time today. I don't know how much rain we got, but, it was at least .3 inch. The rain, hail, and wind was a little rough on the tomatoes. I was so proud that I was doing a much better job keeping them tied up, but I fell off the wagon and they got out hand in just a few days. I tied some damaged plants up today, and hope to do more tomorrow. I harvested our first pimento pepper today, and I have a sweet banana pepper ready for harvest. All the peppers are green, I wont expect any ripe ones for a long time. We are getting a lot of squash and cucumbers, but I don't thing we are getting many customers at the produce stand yet, but this is only the second day the stand has been open, and they are trying to sell the garage sale stuff out first. I hope to get up in the morning and pot up the last of our sweet potato slips. We have a few late slips, which I may try growing in hay. I have got to quit gardening, and start working on equipment, it seems like everything I own is broken down.

Still not much to talk about really. Just getting ready for all the holiday festivities. But, really, some changes need to be made. WHY are we buying gifts for each other at work? Trying to come up with 10 reasonably priced gifts that are meaningful is not easy. Guys are harder. Girls usually appreciate a cute holiday hand towel, an ornament, a nice bottle of lotion or hand soap, cute earrings. Still, tho, it's a lot. And all the gatherings where you're required to bring a finger food or side dish or dessert. Finding a recipe, shopping for the ingredients and then making it. There's gotta be a way to simplify all of this. And I have ideas on that...and will be sharing those with involved people. And, I'm noting on my 2024 planner to shop for holiday clothing in November. I've purchased zero clothing items this season and really it's too late at this point. Oh well. It's a thing for me because I'm involved in a couple of programs and need to look nice. Side note. "fashion" this year is not for me. The styles are weird. Then add in my feet issues. I currently have no black shoes or boots because it requires a trip to Brown's shoe store and around $200. How I wish I could just pick up some $40 shoes. But, if I want to be able to walk, then I've gotta spend it. Finding clothing that looks good with my brown boots is another factor. I spent way too long (precious time!) trying on clothing last night at 3 different stores and found nothing. I'll be caring for our neighbors' animals for a couple of weeks and she gave me some really meaningful gifts. A package of Beulah tea--it's Roots and Refuge new coffee roasting company. They also do tea. I really love tea. And a couple of rustic, handmade knitted gnomes. Absolutely precious. Things I would like to be doing: making ornaments with the orange slices I dried last week and making candy/baking cookies. Also, reading books and watching Christmas movies. Also, preparing my home for my family. I can't believe Ethan will be here in 9 days. I haven't touched his room since he left in June, other than to put cardboard on the floors and spread out onions/potatoes. But, those have been out since October. The room is very dirty--like dusty dirty. So, needs to be deep cleaned next week before he comes home. I'm going to do that on Tuesday. Open the windows and burn some sage in there. The sage really seems to cleanse the air. Oh, the garden. Still harvesting lettuce, arugula, spinach, a few herbs, radishes, kale and turnips. The calendula is surprisingly still alive and blooming. I have a couple of mystery chickens that look a little like Welsummers, but not exactly and I think they are laying small green eggs. They are the most skittish pullets I've ever had. This morning when I went to the shop to feed the shop cats and open the door for them, I heard a noise and it was one of those pullets roosting in the rafters. I absolutely do not want them in the shop. It's a shop not a barn and they poop while roosting. I'm going to have to check each night. I caught one and clipped her wing this morning. I was late to work. Getting stuck by a train didn't help either. Tonight will be a late work night because of a school program. That's it from me. Seems like everyone is equally as busy as I am. It's the season.