Weird Winter

   This winter is weird. We moved up here from Lancaster, CA, in the Mojave desert. We lived there for about 18 years and we only had snow a handful of times. This year, they have had snow a few times. Snow when we lived there would have been nice. It doesn't stick around long there, but still, it's a break from brown.

   We have had over 60 inches so far this winter, but it doesn't seem like that much because it has melted and snowed again. Several times. I haven't been keeping track of the snow fall amounts too much this year, like I have past winters. It's snowing now and we are suppose to have more snow for the next couple of weeks. I thought that groundhog said we weren't having 6 more weeks of winter. I know, it's only February. A week ago, or so, we made it up to 52. I saw kids in shorts and barefooted playing outside. That is about shorts weather up here.

   Last week was so cold, the dogs froze when they went out. I put socks on Chip's feet so his poor little feet would be a little warmer. Both Jake and Chip don't like what is called champagne snow, the fine powdery snow that is good for skiers. They like the fluffy, big, wet flakes, which also seem warmer. Putting socks on Chip reminded me of putting socks an babies, except by the time I thought I had socks on all 4 of Chip's feet, he managed to have 2 of them off. They did make a difference, though. Jake's foot with the 3 toes is the only one that seemed to bother him. We really do need to find the do boots. Jake has a pair and the other pair is way too big for either dog, since we bought them for Dixie, who weighed 150 pounds.

   We are trying to decide how much bigger to make the garden and what to plant. Doing that. just makes us wish it was May or June already. The rule of thumb up here, is, you plant after Mother's Day. Sometimes, that is still too early.

   Today, I'm working on the Christening afghan, washing clothes and making french bread to go with our spaghetti, and watching the snow fall. Life sure is rough.

Chip And I Were Feeling Crafty

   Chip and I were feeling crafty today. Chip couldn't figure out how to spin. Sometimes, having paws isn't a good thing. Chip has figured out how to unwind the bobbins of yarn I had spun. I'm not very happy when he does that, so now, all bobbins with spun yarn on them, live on the loom.

   While Chip was trying to figure out how to spin, I was crocheting baby booties. I got the pattern out of the June 2010 Crochet World.

Booties about 3 1/2" long

Front view

Side view

   I even managed to fold that clothes basket full of towels. Too bad, I couldn't get the pictures side by side.

Garden Predators

   Yesterday, I let the dogs out to do what dogs do, and Chip started to stare intently on the side of the house, and point like a good hunting dog should. The only thing is, is Chip is a miniature poodle. He didn't make any noise, just stared. Then he crept forward and then took off chasing something. He took off before I could see what he saw. What he saw was a flock of wild turkeys. Two or 3 hens and a good crop of pretty young turkeys.
   Chip chased them ,and most ran through the fence and into the field behind us. All of a sudden, Chip found the turkey he wanted. A big hen was what he wanted. As I'm trying to catch Chip, he is trying to get the turkey, and the turkey takes off in flight, almost hitting me in the head. Pretty funny. Chip chased the turkey until it landed in a tree. If he could of figure out how to climb the 45 foot tall pine tree, we might have had turkey for dinner instead of squash. Now, Chip is upset he has to go outside on the leash.
    Besides the deer problem, we have wild turkeys eating what they can reach. The really seem to be partial to the tomatoes. It would be nice if the ate more grasshoppers. Our garden feeds the wild animals, and us, well.
  

We Planted More Deer Food Today

   Tim and I, (mostly Tim) planted more deer food today. We planted 2 more blueberry plants, 2 blackberry plants, 1 raspberry plant and 3 rhubarb plants. When I was planting the rhubarb, the pot that held what looked like a double sprout was really 2 plants, so we got 3 for the price of 2.
   Tim and I have never had rhubarb, but hey, why not? If we don't like it, we'll harvest and give it to someone who does.
   We've decided we need 2 more blueberry plants, so we can feed the deer and birds really well when the berries are ripe and ready to pick.
   I have more beans and peas to plant. Chip and Jake, really like green beans. I'll share, they can have mine. I was staggering them so hopefully they wouldn't all be ready at the same time. If all we've planted does well, I am going to be so busy. Tim says our garden is 60'x50' and it will be bigger next year.
   I read in a pest control book that deer don't like rosemary. Maybe we should plant a hedge of rosemary all around the garden. Deer also don't like anything smelly. Well, neither do I. I've heard bars of soap work to repel deer, but only if you've used it and then it's mostly the human scent that repels them. If we dig a moat and fill it with water, it too, is suppose to keep the deer out.  That one sounds like a wee bit much work.
   I took Chip out and tied his leash to a tree branch, since he tends to not come back. That was a mistake. I foolishly thought since the weeds had been mowed down, they wouldn't get in his curls so much. Nope. Just smaller pieces to pick out. You'd think I would have learned by now that poodles and the great outdoors don't mix. He's also not a hot weather dog, even though his coat is about an inch long now, and it was only in the upper to lower 80's today, and he was in the shade. A very nice breeze went with the temperature today.
   I get out of some garden work tomorrow because I have to make cookies and bread. I have clothes to sew and crocheting to do also, even though I hear my spinning wheels calling me.  We're getting very pioneerish here.
   A big part of me thinks we should have started this before we were in our 50's. Maybe it's our midlife crisis? Sky rocketing food prices? All the junk that is in food from the grocery store? Stupidity? Who knows? I'm still sure this getting healthy bit is going to kills us.

Poodles and weeds don't mix

Chip decided to play in the weeds today. He rolled and ran in them. He had such fun. Unfortunately, poodles and weeds don't mix. I tried picking them out of his hair, but he was a mess, so he was attacked with a pair of scissors. His hair was about 2- 2 1/2 inches long. Now, it's about 1/2 inch long. He is still a wooly little dog. I do like longer hair on him, but I think he'll just have short summer hair cuts from now on. My scissor haircuts are getting better. This is the second time I've cut his hair this way. Soon, I hope, I will be buying these scissors with hair cutting guides called Scardy Cuts. Chip doesn't mind scissors, but he's afraid of clippers. I hope they do the trick. I did know Chip would be a high maintenance dog when I got him. Cutting Chips hair could be worse, he could be a sheep dog or a puli.