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Friday, April 6, 2012

Out! Out! Darn Farch!

Waking up to 20 degree temperatures every morning is making me cranky.  (No, really?)  I am SO over winter, such as it was (or is, as the case may be).  Sure, the longer days are nice, the warmer sun is nice, but fercryinoutloud, enough with the frigid mornings already!

I am now more than ready to get things going in the garden - but, wait!  It still might snow/freeze/hail/locusts.  No wonder it's said that April is "the cruelest month".  I did a walkabout around the place and re-thought some of my "big" plans.  It really is amazing, sometimes, to realize that I have gotten smarter as I've gotten older.  It just takes a while for the 'smart' thoughts to rise above all the noisy dumb thoughts.  My plans to wheelbarrow-out all that tasty compost (for the garden, of course) from the sheep's old paddock has been downgraded to wheelbarrowing out some of it to amend the fill in the raised beds.  I bit the bullet and ordered five yards of topsoil to be delivered next week.  And it will be dumped within easy transport distance to the raised beds.  I started calculating just how many loads I would need to shovel and wheel up the hill, around the house and to the front and those smart thoughts were able to just pop right up above those persistent crazy thoughts - "It will be good exercise"; "it will be cheaper"; "I can do it in a weekend".  I had thought, briefly, about hiring a teenager to do the heavy work, but that is problematic for many reasons.  Besides, by the time I paid him, it wouldn't be much more expensive than ordering the dirt.  So I did.

The second smart thought to rise above the slosh pit of dumb ones, was my decision to order our Easter pecan pie from a local baker as opposed to making one myself.  Since going gluten free, I have no wheat flour in the house.  And I rarely, if ever, have things on hand like dark Karo syrup.  So I would have had to buy pecans, flour and Karo syrup.  And then I would have had leftover flour that I wouldn't use for another year.  Pbbbfft.  Enter:  Pie Squared.  I am supporting a local business and getting to check something off my pre-Easter list.  Besides, I still have to whip up my natural egg dyes tonight, hard boil eggs (thinking of Carolyn Renee the whole time, bless her), dye same eggs, and tackle our main course: a 20 pound, organically-raised, Tamworth ham.  For four people.  Don't ask.  Thank goodness we like leftovers.

And, lest I forget, I need to finish Sage-proofing the fence line that runs along the road.  After getting an email from my neighbors who found  and rescued Miss Sage who had her head stuck in the fence (FOR THE THIRD TIME), I have had enough.  I pulled out every bit of miscellaneous fencing material I could find and have pieced together a crazy quilt of chicken wire, garden fencing and more chicken wire.  I just need to make sure it is securely attached to the existing fence.

I think that's enough to do.  Maybe it will keep my mind off the fact that winter won't let go?

10 comments:

Charade said...

Ooh, you need a big ol' dose of warm sunshine and a yard full of dandelions to prove that spring really is on its way. Think of all you blog friends sending that to you in the most virtual of ways. Happy Easter!

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

I am getting a little tired of the cold too. I am starting to wonder if May is going to be much cooler than normal too? I think it is very smart to buy the pie, that way you know there will be no sneaking a taste.

Carolyn said...

I'm sorry, but I can't remember anything before or after your mentioning of the 20 lb. ham.
Mmmmmm......ham.
Why do you live so darned far away!?

Susan said...

Charade - Oh, you are so right! I love dandelions! They are my first 'crop' of the year!!!

Jane - You know me so well.

CR - It's probably a good thing we don't live closer. The Universe couldn't handle the combined force of us on a regular basis :-D I'll save you some leftovers - there will be TONS.

LindaCO said...

It'll be nice to have all that soil put where it's going to go. Your plants (and you!) will benefit.

I had six yards of mulch deliverd last year, and it really did spiff the place up a lot.

Mama Pea said...

A twenty pound ham?? Have I ever SEEN a twenty pound ham? All the same, it sounds delicious. I would have no trouble at all using the leftovers from any ham.

How are you getting so smart? Buying good soil rather than killing yourself behind a wheelbarrow? Buying a ready-made pecan pie you can't eat yourself anyway? I need to know where you're getting all your wisdom. (Not to say, you haven't always been smart. Or wise. No, no, not saying that at all. I have to go now.)

Unknown said...

It supoposed to be 29 tonite, and 75/80 Sunday! Holymakanoly!

Tom Stewart said...

Susan,
It will be cold here tonight too (34) and just three days ago it was 84! I turned the heat lamp for the Chicks off and even opened windows!
But the lamp is back on and the "Kids" are doing well!
I do not know if our getting the top soil "By the BAG" was any cheeper, But it filled the raised sunflower bed and we still have 40 bags left over for the main garden.
Now if it would just get warm and stay that way, I might be able to get some planting done!
Tom

Candy C. said...

Good move on the topsoil and the pie! I think of CR every time someone mentions hard boiled eggs now too! LOL!! Good luck with the "head proof" fencing project, silly critters!

Erin said...

You have a big list there, but you can do it! I'm so tired of shoveling "stuff" (insert anything, topsoil, mulch, compost LOL)! You are right about the weather, in years past I have my tomatoes and stuff in the ground by April 10th but we are looking at a full 7 days with lows in the upper 30's which is unseasonably COLD here, so much for the mild winter - doesn't help much when the Spring is so unpredictable!