Tag Archives: frost cloth

Sow: Welcome to Mayvember

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I’m amazed that I can actually type after this evening’s smooth edge and trim removal. Bang bang bang with the hammer on the crowbar. For a couple of hours. My wrists are still vibrating. The good news is that there is officially no more trim or smooth edge to be removed. Tomorrow morning when it’s light, I’ll re-vacuum the floor with the shop vac and then the regular vacuum in that back bedroom to get up any remaining 47-year old dust and grime.

Tomorrow night will be about moving furniture out of the lounge and our mattress on the floor will relocate to the living room. We just need to make sure everything is ready for the bamboo dudes. Saturday everyone—Bruce, the Gs, me—will be outside. Except for the bamboo dudes.

I’ll be weeding the award-winning front yard because I’m a little embarrassed by the quantity and quality of extra plants in the beds. Maybe there will also be time to lie in the sun and take a nap or read a couple of magazines. It would be nice to relax a little bit and enjoy the patio.

That is, IF IT GETS WARM EVER AGAIN. Our crazy North Texas weather has sent the temperatures plummeting. Right now it’s 43°F (that’s 6°C), there’s a 40% chance of rain, big gusts of wind, and the temperature will drop to 40*F.

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Welcome to Mayvember                    (Image courtesy of WeatherBug)

The local news has dubbed this storm Mayvember (get it: May + November) because it is just like our late fall weather tonight. I’m a little worried about the Urban Farm, mostly because I saw three good sized baby tomatoes that weren’t there yesterday along with the bounty of blossoms. The plants are almost as tall as the tomatoes cages. They are beautiful and look like the harvest could be awesome.

We’ve also got snow peas now. It’s like everything is suddenly happening. And that’s why I’m stressed.

So Bruce and I covered everything with frost cloth. Those frost cloths are certainly getting a lot of use, unfortunately. We’ll just have to hope for the best (and no freeze) and for warmer days ahead.

PS: Guinness seems a lot better. The swelling on his mouth is down and he actually let me have a peek at the tooth. The antibiotics are working. I may need some of his giant anti-inflamatories tomorrow!

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So: procrastination

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Logo courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service

I’m usually a get it done kind of person. For example we’re having funky weather in Dallas. It’s been raining and unseasonably cold. No hail though. So, while it’s still light I’m covering the raised beds and stock tanks before it gets colder. I’m not putting it off because it’s getting colder quickly.

(By the way, we had our AC on for a little while last night. Now the heat’s going. Welcome to North Texas spring.)

So why the hell have I put off doing my taxes this year? Usually I do them the minute I can because I want to get the refund. Or know what I’m paying.

When I was a US expat living in Canada, I was given an extra month to fill my forms out and mail them in. They were pretty straightforward since the US and Canada have clear cut rules with regard to earning money in each others countries. It was more of a formality than anything since the forms were full of zeros.

This year, I guess I was a little distracted. Seems the weekends were busy. So is this one.

The deadline is Monday.

Guess what I’m doing right after I cover the raised beds and stock tanks…

Sow: weather change

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It’s back to the wild North Texas weather again. Rain. Wind. Thunderstorms. Mud. Back to 40°F temperatures. Pollen galore.

And it’s not even consistent across the metroplex. A coworker mentioned that there was some sort of snow-like ice pelt-y thing that wasn’t hail landing on her front lawn. She didn’t even know what to call it. At dinner tonight with some friends, the husband mentioned snow in Oklahoma.

Yet today was the first day my favorite nursery had tomato plants. Go figure.

Spring comes shockingly early in North Texas. Spring bulbs are already poking through the soil. Our daffodils are already 3-4 inches out. There are buds on the peach and plum trees. I’ve seen a neighbor’s tree with big pink flowers in full bloom. In February. Tomorrow it will be 66°F.

I still can’t get used to it.

A green zebra from our spring 2012 crop

A green zebra from our spring 2012 crop

However, I’m not complaining. My plan still is to pick up eight lovely tomato plants either Friday night after work or on Saturday morning and get them in the dirt on Sunday. Don’t worry, I’ll keep the frost cloth handy.