Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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I guess apologies are in order. In my column a few weeks back, I talked about the possibility of late snow and frost up here. Did I bring on this snowstorm/blizzard watch that was issued a couple of weeks ago? I don't think I have that kind of power, but just in case, I'm so sorry. I know no one wanted this white mess and the power outages that occurred on Sunday, even if we are happy to have the moisture. It wasn't technically a blizzard since we didn't have sustained winds of 35 mph, but it...
We’ve already enjoyed a day of summer this spring. It usually happens here, where the seasons don’t play by the rules. It was a beautiful day, causing dreams of flip flops and shorts. I used it to start clearing off my flowerbeds. I try to leave the fall and winter accumulation of dead leaves and dead vegetation as an insulating blanket for my perennials as long as I can. It’s not laziness, I swear. I think if I take that stuff off too soon, the new shoots will get damaged by late frosts (and sometimes snow). Then I think, “They’re perennials....
While I have managed to get the downed tree branches and twigs picked up off my lawn, I haven’t yet ordered any garden seeds. I’m sure the constant winds we’re getting will have me gathering more twigs and limbs before I have to think about mowing. But the grass is greening up nicely. At the rate I’m going, it will be next month before I look at those seed catalogs again. I’ll probably end up getting all my seeds locally, as usual. I saw the seed display in one of the local grocery stores last week, so I’m sure the other usual haunts have...
Now that most of my snow reserves are gone, I'm getting more serious about gardening and yard work. I'll admit my powers of procrastination have not lost any strength at all, and so, no seeds for gardening have yet been ordered nor have any of the multitude of downed and broken tree branches been picked up off the lawn. But hope springs in turtles. (YouTube that comedy bit. I shouldn't be the only one wasting time there. But be warned, there's language you wouldn't want youngsters to hear.) I...
While it is starting to seem like spring in North Middle of Nowhere, there’s still plenty of winter hanging about. I’m sure I could get to my garden space now. I’d only have to high step through one to two feet of soft, slowly-melting snow. Most of that garden space is still covered in more of that slowly-melting snow, so what would be the point? However, I am starting to seriously consider breaking out the gardening catalogs to order some seeds. I’ll probably procrastinate more and end up purc...
Another week has gone by without me cracking open a single seed catalog. We have had a few sunny afternoons, but the mornings have mostly been foggy. There's an old saw (adage? old wife's tale? farmer's lore?) that says you'll have moisture 90 days after a fog. If so, it could mean a late, muddy seeding of our wheat crop. Right now most of our fields are still snow-covered, although some hill tops are peeking through. It's been warm enough that the snow is trying to melt away. It makes the...
Since we've "sprung ahead" to save daylight for after-work recreation, can we please spring ahead into actual spring? We had some lovely ice fog last night, along with a dusting of fresh snow (again!). While it's gorgeous outside with the clear, deep blue sky, we are thoroughly, completely, definitely over winter. I'd much rather have green grass sprinkled with fresh dew than the icy cold glitter of the unending expanse of white that is our current situation. I know I'm not alone in this...
The Whole Life Challenge, New Year's edition, has officially ended. I was released from their food restrictions last Saturday March 2, so Friday was my last day. I failed miserably that day. We'd braved the weather and road conditions in order to attend the Artist of the Month event at the Wheatgrass Art Gallery. Jason Myers is the featured artist this month, with his decorated sugar eggs. Jason and I had become friends at my showing of odd-ball pottery there last year. He's also a gardener, and...
We’re all still living in a deep freeze, aren’t we? I’d love to be able to go for long hikes outside rather than getting my exercise on the treadmill. The dangerously low temps as well as the impossibly deep snow are keeping me inside, though. Thank goodness for books to read on my small tablet that’s easy to hold while using the treadmill. I have ventured outside a few times. Snow got swept away from the front door before the wind packed it solid. The snowblower has gotten a couple of workout...
I’m sorry I missed getting a column in the paper last week, but I was away visiting our youngest daughter in Illinois. She’s also a cross fit enthusiast, and friends with a nutritionist. Therefore, she’s very strong on portion sizes, and having the right varieties of food on the plate. She isn’t doing the Whole Life Challenge, but might as well be. I didn’t worry about straying from the nutrition side of things. There was a lot of freezing rain while I was there, so for exercise, I hiked up and down the staircase and around the living ro...
I have survived my first week plus of this Whole Life Challenge. I am feeling better about my health and my stamina. Those two miles on the treadmill are being accomplished in slightly less time, partly because I’m walking faster and not feeling out of breath at all. I won’t lie, I’m still missing bread and dark chocolate. I’m allowed a bit of honey, so I’m trying to stave off the need for sweets with herbal tea with a bit of honey stirred in. Or I’ll eat a date. I did make a loaf of oats/banana/almond butter “bread”, but it’s not toasta...
While in Florida our daughter talked several times about a Whole Life Challenge she and her husband had done shortly before (and during) their trip to Israel. She was signed up for the next one and talked me into signing up also. The challenge involves six areas of your life, with the aim of improving in each area. Those areas are nutrition, exercise, mobilization, sleep, hydration, and well-being. There are three levels. I’m doing the beginner level, called kickstart. Of course, I’d thought I was already doing pretty well nutritionally, but...
We are home again with no immediate plans to return to Florida. It’s really nice to be sleeping in our own bed again. The air bed we slept on was good for two weeks, but wasn’t so great the third week. I do miss being with the grandsons. Their youthful exuberance was catching, but it can also wear a person out. I’m ready for slower days, without places we need to be or things we have to do. We had three weeks’ worth of mail to get through upon our return. Bills never stop, do they? The immedia...
So my gloating about being in “sunny” Florida is rebounding on me, biting me in the backside, as well it should. It’s been very rainy the past couple of days, with areal flood warnings as well as a tornado watch. While we haven’t been impacted by a tornado, it has been very wet. And windy. The Tampa area has had about 4” in the last three days from what I can cobble together from the weather service. While we are a little ways from there, I’m pretty sure there’s been about the same amount here. Our daughter isn’t the weather geek her father...
We are heading off to Florida to have Christmas with our middle daughter and her family. This time Dennis is with me, having had his shoulder repair surgery and then receiving the doctor’s okay to travel. I’m sure we’ll have nicer weather there. As the annoying commercial says, “Not sorry.” We’ll both get to watch our grandsons compete in an ice hockey game Friday night. And they are in the championship game in their roller hockey league. It was rained out last weekend, so that game will be played Saturday morning. I really hope those games...
Some of you might cluck your tongues at me, but I’ve already opened and used two of my this year’s Christmas presents. The snowblower arrived Thursday night, and was assembled by noon on Friday, and in use before dark. I’d have used it as soon as it was assembled, but had to wait while the batteries charged. I’m really going to enjoy this present. I can tell, though, that I’m going to have to get it going before we drive out of the garage and pack the snow down. It did chunk out more of that packed snow than I thought it would. I just have...
By the time you read this, we’ll have made another trip to and from Billings. There’s always a follow-up appointment after a surgical procedure. That’s a good thing. I appreciate a doctor who wants to make sure you’re healing well and following his instructions. Now that I have to be the “responsible” driver, I’m not getting any crocheting done while on the road. Dennis had always been the driver, and he’s so good that I’m able to completely relax and be creative with yarns and hooks while stuck in the vehicle. I’ve never felt the need to be hy...
I have returned from sunny Florida to somewhat grey and gloomy northeastern Montana. It wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, although I found it rather chilly the first couple of days. Of course, I was lucky enough to be away for the record-breaking cold days the rest of you endured. I’m perfectly fine with that, having endured many record-breaking cold days and numerous blizzards in years past. Missing a few from this year doesn’t detract from my “Montana tough” credentials. At the time of this writing, I’m sitting in a holding pattern at the Yellow...
Dear readers - I’m sending this dispatch via the magic of email from sunny Florida. I’ll try not to gloat about the fact that it has been in the 80s every day I’ve been here. Well, I’ll gloat a little bit, but I also realize I’m going to suffer the cold more when I return next week. This heat is NOT helping me acclimate at all. I’m on a working vacation. Our daughter and her husband went on a church-related trip to Israel, so I’m babysitting our grandsons. They are six and a half and almost eight (Dec. 1 is the quickly approaching birth date)....
A last mowing to suck up leaves from the lawn has been accomplished. The mower is stored for the winter, with the addition of a shot of Sta-bil in the gas tank to prevent gumminess next spring. All the little, mowed-over tree branches that had fallen with the leaves have been gathered and removed from the lawn. The larger branches were removed before that final mowing. The overgrown grass along the driveway has had the weed-whacker taken to it. The edges of the driveway are too steep for me to...
We did have our harvest festival potluck after church last Sunday, and the ginger carrot cake (recipe shared last week) turned out wonderful. Of course, as usual, there was too much food offered, and so I'm happily going to be enjoying a few more pieces of that cake this week. After starting the recipe, I found I was out of dried candied fruit bits (usually used for fruitcake), so I improvised. I did find some dried candied citrus peels, added a few chopped dates, golden raisins, dried...
Finally, we are enjoying some Indian summer. I wasn't sure if that was an allowed expression any longer, or if we'd gotten so P.C. that the term should now be "Native American summer," so I looked it up. Wikipedia still lists the term, described as "a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs," usually "following a period of cooler weather or frost in the late autumn." The first known recording of the phrase came from Letters From an American Farmer, in 1778, by J. H. St....
We have been away from home for the past week, traveling for a family reunion. My two younger sisters made the arrangements, and since they both live in southeastern Missouri, that's where we went. My husband and I traveled by car in rain almost the entire way. The first days were much warmer than what we'd left in Montana. My sister still has cherry tomatoes ripening in her yard, as well as lettuce and okra. Flowers are blooming. I had to take photos. But the rain and cooler weather followed...
Last week was not conducive to finishing my garden-clearing plans. Translation: the carrots are still in the ground. Or should I say, still in the mud? A couple more inches of heavy, wet snow fell early in the week. It has since melted, slowly, leaving the yard soggy and garden muddy. The low temperature we saw was 16 degrees, which shattered the record low for that date. It's not a new record we wanted. Again, I'll say that it is much too early in the fall to be having winter-weather...
It's official. Summer is over. We woke up to a light coating of snow this morning. Yuck, yuck, double-yuck! I'm never ready for the end of summer, but I'd rather ease into winter than get thrown in, kicking and screaming. The past week has been cold and gloomy. I miss the sun. I forced myself to get outside and work hard on getting my garden space cleared, and I'm glad I obeyed myself. Almost all the dead vegetation has been uprooted and hauled off to my "dead" piles. I left the sunflowers...
