A Day Without Rain

It was cloudy and extra cool, but at least it wasn't raining. I put on some long underwear and got to chopping and dropping while the opportunity was there. The better to contemplate the under garden. More rain is scheduled to begin tonight.

The sun even peaked through on occasion.

One goal of cleaning up the roadside vegetable garden was accomplished. Now I can add more dung and wood chips. I still have potatoes and parsnips to harvest. There are even a few carrots, one chard and a big patch of parsley.

An added bonus today was having enough rolled wire fencing to make cat scratch guards around two of my baby trees. Persistent scratching was ripping the cambium layer right of their trunks. Bad Kitty!

After I had chopped everything down in the driveway side bed I noticed they had started in on my baby Japanese Maple now that it is big enough to scratch. Bad Kitties!

Worse though, is that for the last month, every few days this black and white psycho kitty shows up and gets into a staring and howling competition with Button. They have only come to blows once that I know of. Miss Collar and Miss Dinah run for cover immediately.

I have never seen a cat act so odd. It won't run away from me. I can get quite close. It holds the same posture and snarling attitude towards me as it does towards Button. At first I fed it, but since it had such a rotten attitude I quit. Most stray cats I see up here move on pretty quick. Just when I think it is finally gone, I hear howling. Psycho Kitty!

At least it can't scratch my baby tree.

I have chopped and dropped most of the slope below the cabin where the bulk of the evergreen winter under garden is planted.

Last year I began extending the evergreen under garden further along the slope. It still has a lot of growing to do. Living inside the Tall Flower Meadow all summer doesn't help. Competition is a very real phenomena.

On a day without rain, I couldn't put off the chop and drop. The evergreens could use the sun even now. I still have two and a half acres of chopping to go. I should be able to get it  done by the end of February.