January Color

Once upon a winter dreary, while it mizzled, bleak and bleary.

There bloomed a witch hazel in full glory.

...

And that's as far as I got. :P I can only manage a parody for so long before it breaks. 

:cough:

Anyways...

While everything else in the garden is still sleeping, the witch hazel comes out and surprises (not really - it's supposed to bloom in winter) you with its burst of color in the dull drab world of January. 

Until next time!

SG

Where the Cat Napped

There is an old farm cat that lived in the outdoors,

Even though he can't see very well through one eye,

he enjoys every minute of it, 

or so I have been told.

But one day he was found with a gouge in his chin,

Gross and disgusting as it could be.

So into he went into the cat carrier,

To the vet's to see what we could see. 

An overnight stay, two drainage tubes, and a few stitches later,

The old farm cat came home with medicines and instructions to stay in the house.

The old farm cat didn't mind since he loved to nap inside where it was warm. 

And he intended to take a very long nap. 

Upon waking from his ridiculously long nap in the craft room closet,

He ventured throughout the house because it was time for his meal

Little realizing that he was to eat inside.

He truly did not mind. 

The next day, he napped in Sarah's room 

Since it was the quietest of them all. 

Granted, it could be cold, 

But snuggling next to the laptop solved that. 

After getting shooed off the desk in lieu of homework, 

the old farm cat found a new spot:

A perch above the bed

Where he could supervise everything. 

After finding how hard and cold his perch could be,

He found a new location to lay his head.

With all the junk removed,

The comfortable blue throne would certainly do. 

When things got too chilly in the north-facing bedroom,

he wandered into the warmest spot in the house.

A sunbeam hitting the carpet

became the perfect place to be. 

But there was a cozier spot than the throne in blue or the solar radiance - 

the rumpled up sheets right after the human was removed.

Plush and soft and not-pilled-flannel

became the old farm cat's most favorite spot of all. 

Alack, alas. This heaven could not last forever.

After staying indoors for two weeks, 

the orange fur began to pile up

and sneezing abounded throughout the house.

The stitches removed and the medications gone,

it was time to the old farm cat to resume his post in the garage.

His nieces welcomed back their elderly relative

And into the upturned cardboard box with the old comforter did he go.

Until  next time!

SG

Winter Garden

A long over due post. ;)

Before things got 'colder' in the fall, we were able to get the raised beds into the garden and plant the few herbs that we had. The herbs were then tucked into their beds and now wait for spring to arrive with its warmer temperatures (or now... since we're having a warmer winter).

The 2'x2' beds are actually concrete forms from when we built the deck. All I did was put on a couple layers of paint and a stenciled flourish. To prevent gophers, moles, and voles (oh my!), I stapled a vinyl coated wire mesh to the bottom of the boxes. Now my herbs are safe(r) from root nibbling. Let's hope the mesh holds ;)

As for the longer bed in the middle... it's a crate that was used to transport one of my grandma's clocks across the country. Yeah, they built a crate to haul the clock. It felt like a waste to toss it, so I painted it the same color as the concrete forms, put a chicken wire mesh along the sides and then a weed block behind that. Underneath is the same vinyl coated mesh to keep the burrowing rodents at bay. 

I feel like such a Portlander for not throwing things away and repurposing them. :P

For the stepping stones, I spray painted some pavers a light cream. Once dried, I used a doily as a stencil to paint over. I :love: how they turned out. 

As for the pathway, we just laid down some empty paper feed bags and put bark dust on top. Here's to minimal weeding!

Until next time!

SG