Miss Dinah

And an unknown grass.

Almost Melted

The First Coat

I love that first coat of sunshine as it crests the mountain and bathes the skeletal remains of the tall flower meadow in a glowing light. A coat of frost makes it even better.

And when it had warmed a tad, I headed next door for some sunny day winter projects. The first coat of paint was applied to the newly refurbished arbor.

I removed, as in killed, the invasive Oriental Bittersweet vine that had covered it and replaced the rotten lintels. One more coat and it will be ready to plant something nice like a giant bloomed clematis vine.

A new handrail by newly reconfigured steps got its first coat of paint. The new step configuration isn't exactly standard to code. I have walked up and down them over and over to try and convince myself it was good enough and I wouldn't need to take out that last old cemented in step. Didn't work. It is better yes, but they are too odd. I need to break out the sledge hammer again and make it right.

The garden's sign post lost it's arm in last year's ice storm when the top of a sassafras bounced off it. It is repaired and drying after it's first coat of paint.

I can't quite scratch these projects off the list yet, but progress has been made. Another sunny, above freezing day when I'm not working should do it.

I start moving after that first coat of light breaks up the chill. By the middle of next June I hope to be working on a brand new list.

Look. Up In The Sky

Poking Through The Snow

There hasn't been much incentive to go outside.

But when I do I see things like the wispy bloom spikes of Flattened Oat Grass, Danthonia compressa, waving above the snow. I also saw deer tracks crossing the garden becoming and what I hope were fox tracks at the top of the drive and directly around my truck. I prefer fox over coyote.

A baby Bosnian Pine is growing taller. Slowly. Maybe next year it will leap.

The spine tipped colored rays of Yucca filamentosa poke through the snow and remind me that the growing winter interest garden is still there. It gets more visible with each meadow crushing snow.

This is my down time. I wait for many more crushing snows before the chop and drop of the meadow's last  remnants begin. I wait because when I watch, the receding remains of a once Lush meadow is filled with birds harvesting a bounty of seeds poking through the snow.

A Quick Trip To The Mailbox

At 20 degrees with sideways snow on a steady 20mph wind with higher rattling gusts, an official snow day was declared. I was staying put.

I stayed put except for a short trip to the mailbox. The mail was delivered in a Jeep today. That was different. She doesn't have much choice. All that other traffic I watched creeping by on the snow covered scenic byway is another matter. Why I wonder?

Three kitties know better. They have been outside, but very, very briefly. It's cold out there. I'm just happy that now that they are older their impulse control is better. There is less bouncing off the walls.

I did much better today being cooped up by snow. Yesterday I was trapped by a steady heavy rain and was feeling cold and a bit antsy. Today was twenty plus degrees colder and I felt warmer and more relaxed. Adjustments.

This is the first real snow beyond a dusting. What does it portend for the winter ahead?

Where's my list? Do I have enough indoor winter projects?

A quick trip to the mailbox won't keep me occupied all winter.

It Was Just My Imagination

Taking Far Longer Than I Remember 

So when did this little basement patio project begin? As a sanity saving device I shaved two years off of my memory. The truth is my imagination was sparked and a project was born a full six years ago in the late fall of 2007.

The lower wall was thrown up quickly. I had plenty rocks close by for that wall. Then I slowed way down for the second upper wall. Ohmm...

You can tell the difference in the stacking. The upper wall is much prettier with tighter joints.

I slowed down so much the upper wall took five years and ten months of the six years it took me to build these two walls. I did slip in another short retaining wall along the entry path to the patio in that time.

In my slowness I also managed to build two small grottoes into the upper wall.

There is a logical explanation for how long it takes my imagination to be made real. When I started these walls, the cozy cabin looked like this. Half of the garden becoming was a barren slope.

So the upper wall is now done, but the basement patio itself is not finished. It needs a gravel base for fill and a stone floor to cover it. That will cost some money I do not have. There is no telling how long it might take to actually finish the patio. The gravel I can swing. That much flagstone is another matter. I'm now plotting how to scrounge remnant flagstone. I only need 400+ square feet.

All those years. It is a bit discouraging if I think about it. But look. There's a cozy cabin above my walls now and it only took four years to do that.

Remnants

As winter rushes in all that remains of the tall flower meadow are dried seed heads ready to disperse on the chilled winds. Both memories and the future are contained in a white froth. It is nature's turn to play gardener.

Now is my chance to play stone mason. I have a dry stack stone wall to finish.

Out there in the garden becoming are plenty rocks for the fetching.

In half an hour with two buckets I collected a fresh batch.

It was a cold morning, only getting colder as the day wore on, but the upper wall is now done. I was determined. The weathers for next week are looking even worse. A cold misty day above freezing would have to do.

Here is a closeup to give you a better view of the top. The light under the cozy cabin isn't the best for picture taking and wet rocks are a different color than dry rocks.

It is done. Now all I need are massive quantities of gravel sized rocks to cover the dirt slope above the wall. They are here, hiding in the ground. I will dig them up over time, bucket by bucket.

As winter rushes in the last bit of a long project gets scratched off the list. But I decided a while ago I need a new wall. The lower half of the switch back path needs to be widened and a short little wall, 12 to 18 inches, will need to go on the uphill side. I have a new project.

Will I have enough rocks?