Saturday, February 6, 2010

A Winter walk

After sleeping for 13 hours straight, I woke this morning feeling better than I have all week. Still nowhere close to 100% but much better. To make it even better, the sun was shining and it was right about freezing. So the children and I took the dog for a walk. Then V and I took a walk together, just the two of us, talking about plans for the coming year. I remembered to take the camera along and snapped a few photos.
The stream is running. The grass is beginning to show through.
The little pool.
The tunnel.
Actually, it's the old culvert under the highway. Rumor has it that it was constructed so the cattle could use it as a tunnel to pasture on the other side of the highway when this was a dairy farm. I'm not so sure about that- but the deer use it- we can tell by the tracks in the snow.
Grrr, rabbits!
We have had snow cover for so long (since around Christmas!) that the rabbits are short on food. They have been hard at work on the apple. We were going to do major pruning on it this year anyway, they are just helping us decide which to remove. It sure looks like someone cut it off at the ground and it came up from the roots. Fortunately, the root stock was tasty. We noticed rabbit damage on all the shrubs in the yard as well. At least the blueberries and currants are well protected with wire cages. This just tells me that we will have to be very vigilant with our new trees that we will be planting this spring.
We are off tomorrow to my parent's farm. It is Dad's birthday tomorrow. My sister Julie is here from Colorado and J15 will be playing her violin at my parent's church tomorrow morning as a gift for my father.
I'm going to be starting a few more herbs soon, I think. I especially want to get my parsley started since it takes a while to germinate. We made a trip to the farm store this afternoon to pick up a new tie out line for Ticket (his old one got a serious kink in it and the cable is starting to rust and fray- I think someone drove over it when we had the sledding party). They had seeds there (of course) and I picked up some heirloom Four O'Clock seeds and some for purple coneflowers (Echinacea). I also picked up some seed for white patty pan squash. We had some from the farmer's market last year and they were so good. The kids nicknamed them UFO squash. I haven't grown much summer squash other than zucchini or yellow crookneck for a long time so these should be fun. I think that, other than a few herb plants, I'm done with seed procurement. Of course, I say that but whenever I see those colorful packets, they draw me toward them like a magnet..... It's like an addiction---JUST---ONE---MORE.....

8 comments:

  1. LOL, you are so funny Judy. I can picture you standing in front of the seeds saying, Just One More...lol It does get a little tiresome haveing snow for so so long. Ours had just melted and then this snow came. But, there isn't much and if it'll just warm up one whole day, it should melt off. I think it's absolutely wonderful that your daughter is playing her violin for her grampa's birthday. What a wonderful gift! Hope he has a wonderful Birthday! Drive safe!...debbie

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  2. One more, five more, whats the difference eh? :D I cannot wait til we not only thaw out but dry out. I am waiting a few more weeks until I start seeds. Last year I had too many plants too early and the weather would just not cooperate. So Im waiting and learning to crochet

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  3. HI Judy,

    Blog hopping and came across yours. Lovely pictures. Are these on your new property?

    I'm in southern/central Illinois...farm country, although I just have a manageable little piece of dirt out in the country..big enough for gardens and fruit trees and chickens and maybe a little more. Just big enough that it's all I can do to take care of it, lol.

    I'll be back...hope you're feeling better. We've had a bug too :(

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  4. Love the snow pictures, looks like a nice afternoon. Glad you are feeling better. I know that seed isle is so hard to pass by. I have a few seeds popping up here already but we are having the most cold winter I can remember in Florida in the 15 years I have lived here. I may have started too early.

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  5. The first picture is really nice. Must be a relief to see the snow cover start to go - I remember your posts about all the snow and the ice you had. Looks like a calming walk. I'm glad you're feeling better, and hope you get to 100% soon!

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  6. You've probably heard by now, of course, but another 8 inches on Monday????

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  7. Your walk sounds very nice. One of my favorite things to do is talk with my husband about our plans. It's just so nice to think about and know we're on the same page.
    Are you going to plant out your herbs or keep them inside? Oh, and when do you plan on pruning your fruit trees? I need to do ours. Last year I waited too long so I was thinking about doing it soon.

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  8. I'm coming out of a winter cold myself. It feels so good to be able to think again.
    I'm dreaming of all things I want to put in our back yard. Lots of different flowers and plants for the daycare kids to taste and experience.
    I've been surfing youtube and found some vedios on creating a green house out of pvc pipe. The corners of my gardens have metal fence stakes. It's going to be easier to create a green house top, to start plants earlier this spring. FUN
    bre

    www.thefrugalsuburbanhomemaker.blogspot.com

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Glad you stopped in. I would love to hear from you.