Ten years quit today!!

I shall ignore the winter all around and celebrate my success!

Finally! Friday arrives and we are one day closer to sunshine and warmth. It has been a gray, wet week, though the sun did shine briefly Tuesday, the rain returned and has not left since.

Next week is a big week for me. On the 10th, I will have ten years of no smoking. Quitting was the best life choice I have ever made.

On a side note, I have not had a diet-Coke since Jan. 1.

Excitement!! Two of the heirloom tomato seeds I started last month have sprouted. In a few days I will have to move them to a bigger container. Not sure how I will keep a certain cat from playing in the dirt...

The current of cold that came through has ameliorated, slightly. We appear to have hit a February flatline with no rise in temperatures in the foreseeable future.

I have been quietly busy the last few weeks as school kicks in full-time once more. My courses are going ok so far, though I have only completed two weeks of work. What has happened since I last posted:

A flock of robins flew in Friday exciting the cats. Baby Charlie, who is getting huge, made lots of meeping sounds as he tried to decide which bird had the greatest potential to satisfy his hunger. At one point there must have been 50 robins working the back lawn. I suspect they are flocking up getting ready to move north.

I have attended two cataloging classes. My teacher is so very young. :) The class should be interesting, but I am not sure that is where my interests lie.

Because of the weather, I have been locked inside a great deal. I have not done anything outside in the garden patch at all. It is like Christmas eve as a kid every day, but no Christmas day has arrived yet.

The days are getting longer. Cats are content, mostly. Charlie had to get a needle as he was showing signs of tape worms, but he appears better now. Carol is crazy busy, so same old with her.

January was one short month. Can we slow the train for the next few months?

Post MLK day

Classes begin today though I have only two online courses that I can begin to labor on. Both look interesting and work intensive, so the semester should be busy.

I did not get down to Ft. Worth over the weekend. Saturday I toured garden places and box stores looking for supplies for summer gardening. Sunday I went to Lowe's bright and early and picked up the wood and 1/2 inch PVC tubes necessary to build the frames. Monday I cruised around picking up the stuff to create my own soil to fill the boxes, and today I finished them off.

I decided to go with a variant of Mel's Square Foot Garden (link to be added later). I made some changes due to being a cheap/poor student. However, the basic idea is still his. My raised frames are 4x4 squares made out of 2x6 studs. I put in a variety of peat moss, compost, mineral sand, and soil mix to fill the boxes. After putting them together, I planted some onion sets, though I suspect it is still too early to plant anything. But, having played in the dirt all weekend, I could not resist, and besides, it was only 16 of the little fellers.

Right now the boxes are covered with plastic, and are, I suppose, a cheap mans green house. I am very curious to see how well they can grow veggies. Given the alternative, it was relatively low cost. The space out back is limited, the soil is extremely hard, and there is very little space in which to bring in any kind of motorized earth working equipment. A small toro type tiller might fight round back, but I don't know how effective it would be in chiseling through the clay. And given the soil quality, it would have taken a great deal of amendments to produce anything other than crab grass. Later today I hope to have a cost estimate for the boxes and such like, though I may not share that price with anyone. :)

I will put a link to some photos of the boxes later today.

Right now I am sitting outside on our back cement pad soaking in some sun before I have to go in to begin my virtual ref desk session. The weather has been great the past few days and is responsible for my desire to play in the dirt. It feels too spring-like to stay cooped up in the house. I am sure we will get some nasty winter stuff yet, but this is awesome. It reminds me of one winter as a kid, mid January, walking down the lane from the house to the road with Mom and Barb watching the water run along side the piles of snow. If I work hard I can forget that spell of white stuff we had a few weeks back. Denial comes easy to me.

The photos as promised

January 2010

The weather has improved greatly since my last post. Tuesday's forecast is for a temp of 74, though I have my doubts we will achieve that. The long term forecast shows a decrease in temps through Feb, and from what I have read, Feb is a fickle month here in Texas. Some years it is mild and delightful, others cold and harsh. I am sure everyone knows what I am rooting for.

I spent some time yesterday looking into the cost for a square foot garden for this spring. I should be able to do the frame for two 4 x4 boxes for around 60 bucks. I am going to start on that in the next few days. I think it will make a nice little hobby for me to build and prepare the boxes. I think it is the logical, and cheapest, way to put in a garden given the soil conditions here.

In anticipation of planting (50% last frost is March 16 or 8 weeks away) I will begin some seeds in house today. A few heirloom tomatoes and a few pepper plants. I have started purple passion flower seeds soaking as my challenge for the year. The package says germination will take place in a few weeks to several months. A fun plant to start it seems.

I am debating whether to head off to the Fort Worth botanical gardens today or tomorrow. Today would be best traffic wise I suspect, but tomorrow will be a bit warmer. Given the fog that hangs about this am, I won't be leaving for a few hours.

If you would like to see a list of what is currently in bloom at the gardens, you can go here.

still cold

Today I have one week of no Diet Coke. My simple new year resolution was to give up this icky stuff, and I am doing well.

The cold weather from western canada is still here, but we should begin to win the war against the bitter brr.