On the Cusp...

We are on the cusp of Spring.  I don't smell it yet in the air, but my flowers are starting to tentatively show their tips.  The lenten roses have many buds on them right now, not quite blooming in time for the first day of Lent on Friday.

Last weekend I made about 70 newspaper cups and planted seeds for the garden once things are sunny and warm.  Thery are already coming up!

These are cabbages and kale

We had sunshine and weather in the 60's on Friday, so I worked in the garden for a couple of hours and got the blueberry bushes pruned.  Yesterday it was sunny and in the 50's.  JP and I cleared the pile of blueberry bush trimmings and the junk from last fall out of the garden.  We also tried to deer-proof my flower bed by putting in more posts around it and stringing electric fencing wire.  We still need to connect it to a solar battery to electrify it.

Today it is snowing on and off - hard to believe we were working in the sunshine in light jackets just 24 hours ago!   Sigh...we are down to a month of days before the "legal" beginning of Spring!

Febru-Scary

February always FEELS like the longest month of the year, likely because by this time I am longing to see green things growing and sunshine again!  I must say that 2026 has sped by so far, so I am willing to have it slow down for February!

January 19th was Popcorn Day, so I tried out this Popcorn-on-the-cob in the microwave.  It turned out pretty well!  I also ended up making caramel corn TWICE, because the first batch disappeared in about 36 hours.  My baby brother gave me this recipe:

D's Caramel Corn

8 c popped corn        1/4 t salt

3/4 c brown sugar     1/4 t baking soda

3 T corn syrup           1/4 t vanilla

Cover cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Spread popcorn on sheet.

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup and salt and stir until mixture boils, continue to stir and simmer for 5 min, then add soda and vanilla.  Pour caramel over popcorn and toss to cover most of kernels.

Bake at 300* for 15 min, remove and stir.  Turn oven off, but return caramel corn to over for an additional 5-10 min.

JP gave me these fun socks for my birthday, and the day ended with a sunset that looked like fire in the sky.

The weather then turned bitter cold.  I decided to do some baking to help heat up the house, so I made a fancy apple pie (and baked a blackbird in the center!)

Following a few days of cold, we received about 9 inches of snow over the weekend.  Luckily, none of us needed to go to work on Monday, so we were able to spend that day digging out.

It has stayed below freezing, so even though it's been almost 2 weeks since the big snow, most of it is still on the ground.  The sun has been shining brightly for several days, however, and started to melt the snow on the barn roof.  Now we have some pretty amazing icicles!

You can see that the deer have been visiting the barn!

This one is over 4 feet long!

The forecast is calling for another 3-6 inches of snow starting tomorrow. 

Even though the days are dark and cold, L and I enjoyed a salad of fresh, homegrown lettuce this week.  JP got me an AeroGarden for Christmas, and I grew these beauties.  Currently there is some parsley and thyme growing.

I also finished building my Lego Milky Way, including some complimentary lights.  It was an unusual project, using many interestingly shaped and colored blocks.

What have you been doing to pass the long dark nights of January and Scary February?