Bloom Day Reality

Or as close to it as I can get.
This is my garden on January 15th.
I will leave you here to click on a picture for the slide show and wonder about on your own. The Witches are out.

'Jelena'

It has been warm, too warm, and wet. Two out of three 'Jelena' are in full bloom.

I'm good with that.

My backgrounds are off for the best pictures of the Witch Hazels. I think my natural vibration is amping up another notch too. But you get the idea. In person is better for the full effect. One day the Witch Hazels will be large shrubs.

I really do think Button had a paw in Solly Kitty's survival during her time in the wilderness. She is his baby. He checks to make sure she is safely in bed before coming in at night.

We have reached a stage of full acceptance for the stranger living on the front porch. Everyone is back to business as usual.

This warm makes me feel like I should be doing things. Fortunately the wet makes that difficult. This time of year I am supposed to be power lounging, I am, while it snows and blizzards and does wintery things.  Much progress on the slow act of accounting and paperwork has actually occurred despite the warm.

It has been warm enough that everybody could go back outside, but I have been busy power lounging in a warm winter monsoon.

On A Warm January Day

Yesterday in the warm passing sprinkles ahead of the storm,

A strange thing happened. I felt an urge to do some gardening. The warm felt nice.

I just couldn't come up with anything in particular that needed doing. I'm still holding out for a good meadow crushing snow and there is plenty of time before spring. Normally.

But the truth is the garden has reached a state of being. Now it just needs to grow. The editing and mowing of the meadows are a timed, routine and simple chore. There really wasn't anything that needed doing.

The bigger truth is, the garden is fully planted.

That changes things for a wise gardener.

Then I remembered the garden next door. It definitely has things that need doing. But the storm arrived. The power was blown out. There was nothing that could be done.

The storm rushed through in the night leaving a calm, warm, sunny new day in its wake. I went next door and gardened for several hours. The plants over there need me.

Ignition

Tuesday was gross. Have I ever mentioned the wind is evil? There was rain and sleet, heavy wet snow and WIND. It was evil and well below my minimum operating conditions. Ten minutes after this picture was taken, the ground was white again.

The snow ended first. The wind persisted. The witches and I waited patiently.

The cold did not linger. Minus that over the following days, the witches ignited.

The wind however has not stopped blowing. It did back off to half evil at least and there was sunshine.

Tomorrow will be a cloudy day.

The next monsoon rain is coming.

It is looking to be a week long...…………..

I made a grave error yesterday and said yes - update and restart Windows now. That was a mistake.

…….. a long week of monsoon rains. We haven't really done winter yet. I still want my meadow crushing snow.

There is a lot of wet ahead. I see forms in the near future.

Things Changed Rather Quickly

Solly Kitty has been hibernating on the front porch in what is Collar's Safe House and Button's House of Horrors. It's a multi-purpose rabbit hutch. She is this tiny growling thing that three other beasts are trying to safely tiptoe by to get in and out of the house. Good thing is, Solly is standing her ground. She's not leaving.

This warm has pushed the Witch Hazels into bloom. The coming cold isn't going to be enough to stop them. There is more wet and warm ahead. They could be in full bloom by next week.

I wandered out in the still misty rain

Before a giant, hour long blue hole of sunshine passed overhead.

The clouds rolled back in low on a good strong wind.

Then a blizzard like blast of snow arrived.

The ground was covered white in less than ten minutes. The wind went to howling and the temperature disappeared.

Solly Kitty's hutch got another layer of insulation and another blanket inside. She has already been through colder than this without the food and luxury accommodations. She's not leaving. She's having a post blizzard sunny afternoon nap.

So far she has only peeked inside. I may have to give that a little test run this week. In the meantime, this warmer side of cold is a good thing for a fur covered sack of bones.

In A Warm Winter Garden

It's going to turn to snow and ice tomorrow. As it should. It has been a touch on the warm side for this time of year. Cold and wet and icky, but warmish.

For all practical purposes, the gardens I tend have been put to sleep for the winter. I will have the time to tend to other things, or not, as slop and sloth permits.

In winter

Through snow and ice

Is the new beginning of the gardening season

In the wild cultivated gardens.

The Witch Hazels are wanting to bloom.

Solly kitty has been to the vet for her childhood immunizations. If it turns cold, cold, she may have to come inside. The other three spoiled beasts can sense it coming. There's a new kid on the block. A hissing fit won't help.

I should make a nice list of possibilities to guide my sloth. Procrastination works better with a good list.

In A Warm Rain