The More of Snow

The wind began yesterday evening. The snow snuck in during the night.



It continued to fall all day in slowly decreasing density with lifting and at times parting clouds. Bits of sun at midday melted half of what had accumulated in gusty winds filled with moving flakes and ongoing sub-freezing temperatures.

The rhododendron never gave up its death curl. It's such a pitiful sight.



Late in the day the most sky and the distant mountain made an appearance before darkness returned.



Slivers of frozen glass crystals fall in the darkness. The penetrating deep cold has returned.

Before More Snow

There was more siding.

It took some effort to get the long corner trim boards put on the tall end of the cabin where the ground is the shortest. Those two boards took a couple of hours to get placed right and securely nailed.



That allowed me to do the siding on the other side of the back kitchen door. If I squint hard I can tell my siding seams on opposite sides of the door don't quite match up. The next piece of siding above the door will straighten that out. It wasn't enough to worry about.



I'll finish the siding to below the porch roof, as far as I can go before the roof needs to go on. I have this hankering though to do the lower courses of siding on the downhill side now that my corner trim board is on. That is the side you see when driving by on the scenic highway, the big house of Lowes side. I want to cover that up.

Right after this snow passes and a brief day of warm returns some time next week.

I Was Robbed

Robbed, I tell you. It never came close to the suggested high of forty degrees today. The House of Lowes lingers in an unworkable cold on a clear sunny day with only light winds. I just know I can get quite a bit of siding done on these walls before I need the scaffolding, now that I have my hanger method down. The next weather approaches for Saturday night. Tomorrow there will be trim and siding with a suggested high of 51. Yes, tomorrow.

Instead I re-insulated and improved the insulation under the leaky shower and freezing drain at the resident gardeners house and closed it all back up. The fifth time with the silicon caulk was the charm. No leak was seen which was good because I had given up and was going to close it up no matter what. I'll still recommend replacing the shower's framed glass walls. Any shower that needs that much caulk has a major defect.

It was cold crawling around under the house and a chill deep into my bones hasn't left me yet. A hot shower will fix that and I can look for leaks again. Maybe I shouldn't.

And the mouse/mice is/are now sealed in the house. I hear it now scurrying above my head. I must attempt to get it stuck to a sticky trap in the basement utility room. Cats and sticky traps are not a good match in the rest of the house.



The first Crocus was discovered yesterday. Tomorrow in warmth it may open.

30/30

It looked pleasant enough out there, a nice sunny day with passing clouds, until you stepped outside.



A meager high of thirty degrees may have lasted for a few minutes. I can handle that now surprisingly. It was the constant rip roaring thirty knot winds that was the kiss of death for a pleasant day.



I stayed inside and did my taxes for an anorexic income.

Intermittent Warm Sun

You've got to make the most of it.

The area around the pond at Client #1's got cleaned today during a hole in the weathers and I got home early enough to utilize more productive sun.



More siding on the cozy cabin. That is about as far as I can go until I put the corner trim board on the right hand side and get the siding done on that side of the door. I could do that with the ladders and keep on siding a bit higher up. To trim that window way up there is going to require the scaffolding though.



The Spots get tossed outside when I leave and the second I come home mama Spot dashes inside. The spotlets seem more interested in being outside when the weather is nice. They need to be coaxed back in half the time.

The weird thing is when I go out, mama Spot wants to come. When I go in she is watching to make sure she doesn't get left out. They do enjoy their garden tours though. There are all kinds of things to scratch and sniff.



I have to check on the progress of things. The daffodils are coming along. More are appearing with each miniature bout of warmth.



The rhododendrons have plenty of flower buds. It'll be a while before that show starts.



The next bout of weather is headed this way.



It is a rain, maybe sleet, maybe snow, maybe rain and sleet and snow event according to the diagnosis.



It seems the low temperatures will be hovering around the low thirties in that indecisive moisture configuration range while this weather passes through. It could be anything and it could be everything.



Then it's gonna get cold again. Back to the teens and twenties for lows. I'll have time to give the shower its fourth and final leak test before I give up in despair and recommend ripping the whole thing out and starting over. Crappy *^@@++!!** shower.

Clear And Cold

It Can't Always Be Colorful

Sometimes the clouds are too thick because there is something headed this way and the sky at sunset is just shades of grey.



Sometimes a story gets put on hold because the spark of ignition for typing only flickers, never lights, like a sunny utility meadow waiting for multiple days of warmth to take flight.



Sometimes we go hunting and only see a slight rustle. Tiny nandinas with winter red leaves only hint at some color being next to some green.



Sometimes all the parts are on hand with weather that cooperates and some siding that lines up just right with the wall around the corner is tacked into place. It's a good thing to since I did not think to check until I stood back and looked after five boards had been nailed on. I think it means my cozy cabin is essentially square and level. I had meant to paint, but thought I'd put on just one Hardie Plank once the flashing above and below the back kitchen door had finished taking shape.



Sometimes the blooms are just promises to come. Two sacks of daffodil bulbs jump in my cart a little while back and the bulbs from one sack are coming up nice and fat.



Sometimes the blooms for a Garden Bloggers Bloom Day that started two years ago on a cold winter day in a place we'll call May Dreams have to be used again cause that's just all we've got. There is a very distinctive white spot on a hillside of brown that gives me much hope that things will come around.



It's the Snowdrops. That's what I got for a February Bloom Day in the upper most low spot on a North Carolina mountain top.



They very much enjoyed their last week in the sun. Little seed pods are forming and the petals are fading. They won't last much longer and tomorrow they will be gone. The other kind snow drops are covering them now. Those too thick grey clouds have arrived with their cold load.

Preparing For The Bulbs

It is a bit odd for this transplanted Hawaiian gardener, yet feels quite enjoyable, that I have not been to Client #1's since last December. I stopped by a couple of times to have a look, but that was it. The time is getting close though. The flowering bulbs will be arriving soon.



All the perennials that are left to stand through the winter need to be cleared out before the early spring show begins. It is much easier to cut them all down with a pair of hedge clippers when the bulbs are just beginning to show. I can get a closer and neater trim when the bulb foliage is not in the way.



Cleaning all the iris foliage around the pond was left for another visit. This is most likely Iris virginica, the Blue Flag Iris. It has not bloomed with any significance that I remember and is more foliage than anything else, squashed and matted brown foliage right now.



I should have taken a before shot. This side bed has daylily, Shasta daisy, Baptisia, Echinacea, Iris, Mallow, Perovskia, Joe Pye Weed, Rubbeckia laciniata, Rudbeckia hirta and hundreds of emerging tulips, daffodils, crocus and muscari to name the bulk of the perennials. It is ready for the upcoming show.



Last fall I planted another 500 bulbs, mostly tulips. The bulbs are poking up through the ground all over the place.



Even this island bed in the parking lot is filled with tulips. There is also lots of tunneling activity in the soil, so I wonder how much loss there is to what ever critter this may be. The mole is the benign one as far as bulbs are concerned. The vole is the enemy of bulbs.



The weather diagnosis says I need to prepare for some more cold and snow headed this way during the week. The bulbapaloozathon will be here in due time and I will have more time to finish the preparation.



The sky blooms for me every day. I can wait a few more weeks for the bulbs.