A better month is coming

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:31 am

I hope a better month is coming. January was NOT our best one. It started out with Colds and Sneezes and ended up with the flu. In between we had the coldest January since 1979. I wonder what happened to the warmer, wetter winter that was in the forecast back in the fall. Since our house has no central heating and we heat with wood we have no night time heat. DR always gets up and at least gets the fire started before I crawl out of bed. If we are going to be home the fire gets fed and burns all day. If it's a workday, it goes down before we leave the house. We never leave a fire burning unless we are just going to the post office. DR bought a chimney cleaner at the flea market Sunday. I never saw anything like it but he's figured out how to work it. He did climb up on the roof and check the chimney before we started the first fire last fall. When we quit for the summer he will give it a good cleaning with his new chimney cleaner. I will make him take a picture of it tomorrow if it isn't raining. Their is rain in the forecast for the next three days with temps in upper 40's and lower 50's. That could mean snow at night. Yuck!! Today, it was really nice out so I went out and finished cleaning up that pile of branches in the lower yard. Chance helped. Every time I turned around she was in the middle of what I was trying to do. She just wanted to smell everything under the pile before I got it moved. I managed a tub of kindling sticks and put the rest in the trash. Today was trash day so it was a good day to do it. DR came out and said he'd like me to clean out the cosmos and coreopsis plants. They were dead and brown. I had some time before I had to get ready for work so I pulled and cut and tossed them out into the yard. Chance helped me do that, too. Soon, she was covered with brown bits of dead plants. There were new little green plants coming up around some of the stems so I cut them so I wouldn't pull the plants out. There are some poppies coming up too. We need to work on the bank because the rain we had back in the summer washed a gully in one spot. I need to find some big rocks to rebuild it there or Chance will be able to go under the fence. She normally doesn't dig but there are CATS!!!! back there at night and mornings the first thing she does is run up and down barking so they know she is on duty again. I hollered at her the other day. She was outside barking, barking, barking and I went out to see what she was so disturbed about. There was a cat across the alley, across the yard and across another alley in the backyard of a house. I could barely see it. I told her that if the cat is in the yard she could bark at it. Otherwise she should just keep her big mouth shut. Of course, she listened to me and hasn't barked at a cat since that day. FAT Chance!! No Chance isn't fat. But she still barks at all the cats she sees. She hasn't caught one so I don't know what she would do with it. A little puppy from across the street came calling the other day. Chance stuck her head through the square hole of the fence. She couldn't get all they way through. She was nose to nose with the puppy. She wanted to play. We don't really need another dog or I would get her a friend. She gets lonesome when we aren't here. She always wants DR to play squeaky with her when we get home. Next week, after the rain or snow it is forecast to be sunny and in the upper 60's. That probably won't last long. 60's is the usual February weather so maybe during part of the month. I want to get those old squash vines out of the garden. Maybe on Sunday so they can go in the trash. I never put them or tomato plants in the compost. I need to rake all the dry leaves out of the front yard. I have daffidols coming up under them. I always wonder if I should leave them to keep the daffidols warm or move them so they can get the sunshine. They do okay in the cold. Last year they got 10 inches of snow on them. Of course it melted by the end of the day. They liked the moisture. Well, my book for today must be long enough and it's about bedtime. Dooley

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glendann wrote on Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:47 am:

You did a lot of work before going to work .I didn't get much done today.I did add onto my totem today .Trying to get it finished and the new bed out front needs finishing so my totem can make its home there.I did grt some shelves in my little green house to set my seeds on. I have 3 more that I can put in there I think one more will do for now.I know Chance is just so much help to you Lol.I must go dig some of the daffodils from my mothers old yard soon they will bloom soon.

jubabe296 wrote on Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:57 pm:

Dooley I enjoy reading your blog entries soooo much!! Your days are so full and interesting.
I can definately see that Chance and her antics keep you and DR on your toes!!LOL
I look forward to the pic of DR's chimney cleaner!!
I do hope next month is better for ya'll too!! You,Dr and Chance are always in my thoughts!!

pondlady wrote on Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:23 pm:

Dooley, you continue to do more in one morning than I do in a month. Where do you get that boundless energy? Your garden must be a showpiece!

wannabe wrote on Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:06 pm:

Gee, Dooley. After breakfast, dishes, making the bed and taking Fred out I am ready for a nap. Wannabe

zuzu's petals wrote on Tue Jan 30, 2007 5:47 pm:

Whew, I just read that and I'm ready for a nap. *lol*

Glad you two are feeling better now,
I sure hope the cold I'm getting doesn't turn into the flu!!
;-0