Last week we went out to The Basket Barn to get good soil for seed starting, and I took a couple pix inside the greenhouse.  

 

This is what it looks like in winter, just a little bit of color.  They are gearing up for spring.  Pots planted with petunias, begonias, geraniums, and lots of other pretties.  I will take another picture around Mother's Day;  that is a sight to behold.  

 

But for a cold day in winter, being inside a greenhouse is one of my favorite things.  

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

I thought you'd like to see what's happening here.

 

We had a couple inches of snow on Wednesday, but it all melted by lunchtime.  And I was very surprised when I woke up on Thursday to more snow!!!  The temperature was 15 degrees, with a wind chill of 2!!!!  I did NOT go out to take a picture at that time.  I waited a while, and got this picture of more snow coming down.  

 

It wasn't enough to get out the sled or build a snowman, but both Wednesday and Thursday were beautiful days in the mountains.  

 

WISH YOU WERE HERE!!!

 

I know you know Crape Myrtles.  In the summer they bloom white and pink and red, and are beautiful.  And in the winter we get to enjoy their gorgeous smooth trunks.  But, there is this odd practice of drastic pruning in the winter;  we call it Crape Murder.

 

I get it...the point is to bring the blooms down to eye level, but this looks totally bizarre to me.  When summer comes, we will forget all about this, and enjoy their blooms and fragrance, but for now, it just looks like murder.

 

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

Look at our mushroom logs!!!  They are sprouting shiitake mushrooms.  Yay!!!

 

We plugged these three logs in November of 2020, and each year they have given us a few mushrooms, but this is the biggest fruiting yet!!!  Judging by the size of these logs, they should continue fruiting for a couple more years.  

 

I am seriously thinking about plugging the stump left from our big maple tree.  Maple isn't the BEST wood to grow shiitakes, but it is acceptable.  And this is so exciting!!!

 

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

Our beautiful maple tree died a few years ago.  We had Lopez cut out the canopy a couple years ago, and yesterday we had him come and take it all the way down.  He estimated the tree at 60 years old.  We will certainly miss its beauty and its shade.  

 

What an amazing character:  Abraham Lopez!!!  He climbed up into the tree and took it out piece by piece.  The main portion of the tree may have been rotted, so he did the work from the smaller section.  Stand by for this:

 

 

He cut the main part of the tree from this angle.  I'm not sure I can stand on terra firma at this angle.  But he did it, and the tree is gone.  Well, its parts are still on our property, but it isn't standing next to the garden, waiting to fall down.  

 

I hope you will call Lopez Tree Service for your next tree removal;  his company is listed under Neighbors sharing, vendors.   He is a gem.

 

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

 

 

Walking in the park one day, we saw these growing on a fallen tree trunk.  I thought they were interesting standing at attention like this, so I checked in with my Seek app for ID.  I always thought they were some kind of lichen, but Seek told me that they are False Turkey Tail mushroom, Stereum ostrea.

 

They are native to our area, and I've seen them lots of times before.  But it is always kinda fun to know what to call plants when we see them.  

 

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

 

Oh yeah, I just remembered that Julie sent me this picture of baby armadillos in her yard in Mississippi.  She told me they wern't afraid of anything, that she had to make a lot of noise to get them to shoo.  ICK!!!

 

I remember a road trip that Julie and I took back in the 1980's.  We were traveling from New Mexico to Virginia.  Sarah was really young at the time, maybe 7 or 8 years old.  Anyway, Julie would send her postcards all along the way until we got home.  And I remember her writing, We saw 6, 8, 10, (however many) armadillos today.  Of course, they were all belly up on the highway, but Julie didn't tell Sarah that part.  We laughed, not at their demise, but at Julie's funny word play. 

 

OK, that's all I know about armadillos, except that they don't just live in Texas and Mississippi.  They also live here!!!

 

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

Well...it was such a beautiful winter day on Thursday, we got busy and pruned the blueberry bushes.  I told you that they get pruned when they are dormant, when the flower buds and leaf buds are tiny.  No pictures of them, but...

 

As we were tossing the cut branches out into the driveway, Jon heard a snuffling noise across the road.  We looked up and saw this armadillo digging under the leaves.  All we could see was his back, and the leaves moving ahead of him.  (I HOPE it was a HIM, definitely don't want "rolls" of these things around.)  It took about 5 minutes and 10 pictures to finally see his head.  For perspective, I guess he weighs about 5 pounds.  Bag of flour?  Yeah, about that, maybe a little bigger.  EEK!!!

 

I bet Gizmo has seen him, but this was the first time for me.  I thought they lived in Texas.  

 

HAPPY FEBRUARY!!!

 

We went for a walk yesterday, and saw several patches of snow and ice still!!!

 

It's been three weeks since our big snow, and it is still hanging around.  Does that mean it's waiting for more?  I doubt it;  for the upcoming weekend and all next week the predictions are for highs in the 60s.  

 

We will take it, and be happy.

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

 

 

 

 

The sun was out, and the temperature was almost 40 degrees, so we went for a walk yesterday.  I was surprised to see that there is still ice on the rocks just below our house.  It has been two weeks since our big snow, but it has been so cold, the ice and some of the snow hasn't melted YET!!! 

 

We are so happy to see that it should be getting warmer this coming week.  I hope you are warm wherever you are.

 

HAPPY JANUARY!!!