Dreaming of Springtime

The temperature is dropping. B-r-r-r-r-r. How far is going down? Would you believe 7 below 0? With a wind-chill factor of 23 below 0.  Yes, TWENTY-THREE BELOW!!!

Of course, I'm in my home, nice and toasty warm and unless there is an absolute need to go out, I'm NOT going out.  It's bad enough to open the backdoor to let the dog go out to potty and trust me, she makes it a fast trip to either drop a load and/or create a mini, yellow ice flow. Plus, when she comes flying up the steps, she expects the door to be open and ready for her to come in.  And, no, I wait until I see her, THEN I open the door for the short Arctic blast to assault me.  I know, poor puppy.

So, what do I do?  Mainly I sit by the window and write.  Right now I'm on the final major edits of my Amish novel - The Secret Voice.  I'm hoping to have the ebook release by the end of the month. At least that is the plan.  While it is cold, I write.  That's right, the speedo is stored until summer!

To make things bearable I'm reading those great fantasy books that come out each January - the garden and flower seed catalogs.  I've made my selections for this year.  I will be growing in my garden this year an assortment of tomatoes consisting of Beefsteak, Roma and Mortgage Lifter. That should make a great combination when creating sauces, salsas, stewed and those ever-popular BLT's of summer.  I also plan to grow carrots (Tendersweet), beets (Detroit Red), onions (Copra), garlic (whatever I get at the supermarket), green beans (Blue Lake), wax beans (Golden) and probably some peas (Wanda) - oh! Maybe some sweetcorn - Quickie.

I know. I know. I said I'd never grown sweetcorn again because the raccoon always rape the plantings right before harvest.  I learned last fall that Quickie sweetcorn can be grown in pots or planters. What? Who knew? I'm thinking of making a 4-ft X 2-ft X 2-ft planter and plant about 25 seed in them.  Yes, very close but this is intense gardening. That would give me about 4 dozen ears of yummy sweetcorn come this fall.  AND, if those pesky critters do get my crop, I have a planter that will hold some petunias the following year.  Actually, I will enclose the planter with wire fencing and yes, even cover the top. Quickie sweetcorn only grows about 5-ft high, so if I put the fencing up right after I plant, the raccoon shouldn't be able to get ALL of the harvest, if any.  Of course, I still have the fence electrifier if I wanted to add that.  We'll see.  Still, I'm unsure about the whole corn thing. We'll have to wait to see if I want to attempt it.  Corn takes a lot of water and this is a "raised" type garden bed which means extra watering.

I'm considering a zucchini and pickle hill that will grow over the edge of the 8-ft brick wall that holds up the front upper yard from the lower front yard.  Could be interesting.  Just train the vines to go that way rather than sprawling all over the upper lawn.

I'm also considering raising about 25 chickens for butchering plus another 5 that will lay eggs until Fall comes.  I do not plan to spend my winter running out there to feed and water chickens when it is cold like it is now.  Plus, did you know you can freeze eggs?  We don't use a lot of eggs since eggs are not my friend.  No, I'm not allergic to eggs - eggs are allergic to me. They make me sulfurous so I have a limited consumption - mostly cakes, cookies, and on wild occasions, French toast.

Just call me Farmer Bob.

Oh, I also have decided that we'll remodel the RV.  Gutting quite a bit of the RV and re-doing the inside with new flooring and furniture. The stove and frig are okay so I'll keep them.  Right now I've got the wife considering color schemes for the inside.  When the weather gets a little warmer, we'll probably go out window-shopping for colors and window treatments.  We've already sort of decided on the kitchen tile -light-weight and metallic.  I just hope I can find the sofa I want and the chairs I have in my mind for the dining area.  Once the plowed snow melts and I can get to the RV, I'll go out and do measurements since I can't find the ones I got last Fall.

Okay, I'm ready for Spring.  I keep watching the weather down South but I'm not liking what I see there.  In fact, this week, portions of Tennessee are expected to get 12-18 inches of snow and ice even further south.  Uh, where is Spring?  As far as I'm concerned, it has been Cancun long enough!

Until next I ramble on...