I WAS WRONG!

Sad to say, I was wrong. Snow lasted about another day, maybe two after my pictures and then nothing. We've had a couple of days with rain since then but nothing "serious." And it was all brought home in a big way this week.

Hubby went out to move the fence you can see in the first snow pictures. He wants a bigger front yard. He hauls out his trusty pick, post hole digger, shovel, electric drill and chainsaw. I figure he's good for hours. I mean, all those "man toys" should have kept him happy. NO! Back in he comes to tell me that he finally believes me when I say "drought." Seems he digs down just a hair more than an inch and the ground is dust dry!

So, he spends a couple of days moving his fence and then announces one morning that we need to prepare the garden and "get serious about growing some food." This from the city boy (born a few minutes south of Boston, I mean CITY boy) who has spent years treating my gardening as a cute hobby.

Today he "attacked" the garden. I told him I needed to redo the raised beds because critters were eating my plants. And that I needed to redo the lasagna rows.

So, raised bed #1 has been dug out and 3 of the lasagna rows. He even marked off the area that I've been asking him to dig out to put a hoop house in! I figure by the time of the last frost I will have ALL of the raised beds and lasagna rows I want. Yippee!

Tomorrow I will be laying hardware cloth and the dirt will go back in raised bed #1. You see, the cats may have cured the squirrel problem but they haven't put a dent in the mole, gopher, vole problem. I am on a mission and wonder of wonders, finally something is on sale -- hardware cloth -- when I need it. I shall defeat the highly acid soil, the VERY short growing season, the lack of dirt and abundance of rocks AND the extreme cold and heat.

Now, if I could just convince the STUPID city folk that are moving out this way to keep their blooming mutts home!

Maybe Not A Drought Anymore

O.K., so the rains have finally arrived. And arrived and arrived and arrived. Then the snow arrived. And, not to be out done by the rain, it came in and dumped on us. Captive for a week, power out for a day and a half and, horror of horrors, no internet for THREE DAYS! Pure torture.
It was quite a learning experience for DH, the city boy. And I do mean CITY boy. He was born and raised just outside Boston. When his family moved to California they first moved to San Luis Obispo and then up to Wine Country. Big city followed by city followed by city. Quite a learning curve when I drag him from a city of almost 200,000 to a county with less than 130,000 and a city of only 28,000. THEN I drag him to a county where the population is less than the city we left!

So when the power went out, he thought it meant no food since I have an electric stove. Woodstove works fine for me. Drag out the cast iron and enamelware and dinner is served! Well, maybe not quite that fast but who can starve when your hens are laying, you've got a pantry full of home grown and made jams, jellies, salsa, pickles and spiced veggies, a 50# sack of organic flour and bacon from the little piggie down the road? Denver omelets, bacon, homemade biscuits with jam. Dinner is served.

After hauling wood in first thing in the morning and feeding the chickens, we all putz'd around the house. Later in the day we spent time watching the hummingbirds play in the snow. We have two resident males who spend the whole year with us. If we don't keep their feeder filled, they fly back and forth in front of the livingroom window demanding attention. They come up and eat out of our hands. AND, they eat mosquitoes by the thousands during the spring, summer and fall. Beautiful to watch and a real bonus to have around!