Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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Spring is still late. Mostly it's missing, perhaps playing hookie. I feel like a broken record. Seriously, more snow?? We had another 6" of cold white yuck last Thursday night. The highway was solid ice Friday morning. And there's more of that nastiness coming according to my cheerful mate who keeps checking the forecasts. My sympathies go out to everyone living in flood zones. At least we can hope that the majority of the grasshoppers eggs got washed away. I did get out to my storage shed last...
Finally! We're getting some spring weather. The snow is melting. There's mud everywhere. Of course, as deep as the drifts are up here north of the middle of nowhere, we're going to be looking at and working around mud for a while yet. But there's hope of gardening budding in my heart. The seeds I've started are still growing. More of them are sprouting as well. Some are slow starters (looking at you, seed onions!). The snow has receded from my storage shed, so perhaps this week I'll retrieve at...
Here we are, suffering through yet another winter event even though the calendar tells us it’s spring. It’s so depressing to see more snow blowing sideways through the yard. Yesterday the highway up here was bare. Today we’re back to a total mess: patches of wet, flowed by slush, followed by snow-pack, followed by slushy drifts, soon to be followed by ice. There are long sections where none of the dividing lines on the road are visible because of the build-up of snow/slush. The fog isn’t helping at all. I have finally put some seeds into so...
The official meaning of hiatus is "a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process." I've been on an extended hiatus from gardening. Perhaps there's a word for this extension (forced vacation? jail sentence?), which I need, since I'd say this winter has been much more than a pause or gap. It's a yawning chasm, not a gap! Right now I'm doing my best to ignore all the snow outside my door. Those big drifts have compacted downwards quite a bit. The scratching noise from the lilac tree outside our...
Here I am, complaining about the weather again. But I feel like I'm in good company on that front: who isn't sick of winter by now? Could we please have at least a full week of no snow, sunny skies, and very little wind? I'm sure all the road crews agree with me. But I guess that's been too much to ask for this past month. We've made too many trips to and from Glasgow on snow-packed, icy, and/or slushy roads. Our highway has been treacherous. (I'm aware through second-hand reports that it isn't...
This latest blast from Mother Nature has certainly dampened my enthusiasm for gardening out of doors. My plans to start some seeds are on hold, although they probably shouldn't be. I know onions started from seed take forever (a few months wouldn't be too long) to grow large enough to be transplantable. But I can be a lazy gardener and starting seeds is definitely a time and effort commitment. Those baby seedlings need almost daily waterings. Whatever you use to start those seeds (peat pots,...
A year or so ago, I gave a couple houseplants to a friend up here in the great North of the Middle of Nowhere. I didn't have names for them, so she looked them up. I'm sure she gave me the correct names for them, but my brain changed the one. Therefore, for the past year I've been calling this lovely plant the Pearls of Omar. I stand corrected: it's the Jewels of Opar. Ooops. That's very similar, right? I've never heard the name Opar, but am aware of more than one Omar. The way I came to possess...
Badger versus skunk: this really doesn't have much to do with Green Spaces. But this particular battle occurred near my garden, and concluded underneath it! The column this week is going to stink, but not nearly as much as our house and garden did. (The next day Dennis discovered the fight must have started under his work pickup, which was parked outside the kitchen. The smell was intensified by a factor of 10.) In the afternoon on President's Day, Feb. 20, I was peacefully painting kindness...
Can I talk about this today? They do say half the battle of curing an addiction is admitting you have one. But you can't be cured if you don't really want to be. And I've convinced myself my case really isn't that bad...Dennis may think differently. I will admit to having caused two of our three daughters to become hooked on houseplants and/or container gardening as well. I believe it's genetic, though. My mother hooked me, as well as my sisters. I think my brother escaped unscathed. Maybe it's...
The weather recently has actually been pretty nice, especially for February. I secretly think Mother Nature is doing her best to soften us up for the next bit of nastiness we all know is coming. But when it's been as nice as this, it's easy to lie to ourselves and allow hope to grow that spring is closer than the calendar says. I'm among those who has allowed herself to believe that gardening weather is returning. So much lying to myself! Last week when we went into Markles (drain cleaner was...
Editor's Note: This column was submitted to the Glasgow Courier Jan. 29. We are back home from our hockey-watching trip to Quebec City, which is north of Maine, on the St Lawrence River. The grandsons got to compete on the ice rinks at LaVal University. The university hockey program, Rouge et Or (Red & Gold) folded in 1982-83. Quebec City hosted the original 1967 Canada Winter Games Hockey Tournament. Currently the Canadian Hockey Enterprises hosts the Quebec International PeeWee Hockey...
We’re off on another trip that involves our grandsons and hockey. This one, unfortunately, is not to warmer southern climes. There’s a bit of prideful boasting involved in this, since both boys were invited to compete in a tournament in Quebec City. The boys are 10 and 12 years old, and I’m still blown away at how far these Florida natives will travel to compete on ice. Us grandparents are also willing to travel that far to cheer for them. I’m sure I won’t be coming home with photos of botanical gardens. I’m writing this column a week early and...
Last week I briefly mentioned there being so many varieties of palm trees at the Sunken Gardens. There were palm trees scattered throughout the gardens, a well as a palm grove. Many of them I'd never heard of. I thought I'd write about those this week, to keep us envisioning tropical climes and ignoring the cold and snow enveloping our corner of Montana. I'd thought I'd be able to do a quick online search for palms of Florida, but no, there are way too many types to cover. I'd said I was amazed...
During our last few days enjoying Florida, we made our usual trip to see the manatees. These aquatic mammals, also called sea cows, used to be mistaken for mythical mermaids. I think those sailors who saw sirens in these huge animals had been out to sea for much too long! (Manatees are the elephants of the sea, and far from siren-like.) There is a manatee sanctuary/viewing center at Apollo Beach, which is really close to where we stay while in Florida. The center is near (and maintained by) the...
As you may have read from previous columns, we are currently enjoying some time off from the usual northeastern Montana early winter weather. That cold invasion from Canada extended even deep into sunny Florida. People joked about Canada declaring war on the U.S. Of course, “cold” in Florida is much different from that found in our area, where it is expected to occur. We Montanans are usually much better equipped and prepared for the inconveniences associated with below zero weather. We know to have basic food provisions laid in. We have the pr...
We're on our annual winter trip to "sunny" Florida to have the Christmas holiday with our middle daughter and her family. So far, while we have seen the sun off and on, it hasn't been particularly warm. The beach trip may not happen (sorry, Todd). We didn't pack enough pants and long-sleeved shirts! We've already spent a day at an icy-cold hockey rink watching the middle grandson play in a couple games. (The oldest grandson, in college, has skipped hockey this winter.) We've also spent an...
I wrote so much about my growing poisonous plants, I didn't have room to include these great recipes. I'm not cooking with any of those plants. I'm not sure how much you'd have to ingest to get beyond an upset stomach, and I'm not willing to experiment. Besides, Dennis reminded me he doesn't eat greens! This first one comes from a Facebook page a friend inadvertently introduced me to when she shared a recipe from it on her page. It's a way to "lose weight by eating," authored by Audrey Johns....
This week I'm going to maybe bore you with the info I've gleaned on amaryllis plants. Aren't you excited? These bulbs are ubiquitous in the Christmas season. They are 'forced' to bloom during this time of year, when we long for that burst of color to cheer us in the blah-ness of the onset of winter. Normally, left in nature, these plants would bloom in the spring. In fact, the word amaryllis is taken from the Greek amarysso, which means "to sparkle." It also means "pride, determination, and...
Let's start this week with some of the previously threatened "too much info" on plants. I have a Flamingo Flower, also called a Flamingo Lily or Tailfeather. It's similar to a Peace Lily, but has red, pink, or purple flowers rather than white. The flowers are called spathes, and the yellow center, which grows up at a 90 degree angle from the flower, is called a spadix. The flowers are waxy, look plastic, and are a single heart-shaped petal. The leaves are also heart-shaped. Flamingo Flowers...
You may be wondering why I titled this week's column as I did. I could have used a number of synonyms (assortment, conglomerate, hodgepodge, jumble, medley) but then I wouldn't have the built-in rather lame joke about olio not equaling oleo. One is based off the thick Spanish stew made of meats and veggies while the other refers to the various fats and oils used to make fake butter. This week's scribblings are neither a thick stew nor a fat fake. So, on to my hodgepodge: First, I'd like to...
I'm afraid winter is here to stay. Our Opheim snow-birds have or are preparing to fly the coop. The last of the couples have just deserted us for warmer climes. I can't blame them. I'm starting to dream of our annual Christmas trip to sunny Florida. I won't miss this brutal cold or that blanket of snow. The two days of ice-fog up here did make everything sparkly and pretty. But sparkly and pretty isn't at all warm. I'm sure the deer that are dining on my lilacs (the leaves didn't get a chance to...
We arrived back home in time to enjoy the last of the beautiful fall weather. (I do hope we get more, but I won't hold my breath.) Didn't we all enjoy a rare relatively warm (and snow-free) Halloween? Costumes didn't need to include snowsuits. We were away on my family reunion trip (and to see our youngest and her family) when those of you still here in lovely northeastern Montana got that first taste of winter's return. We saw the dregs of that first snow lingering in sheltered areas and on...
Editor's Note: This column was submitted on Oct. 22. We are currently out of state, at my family reunion in Nebraska. My father was born and raised in Ponca, Neb. His dad was a railroad man, with a small farm on the side. His mom was a German immigrant. Dad had three brothers and one sister. Dad dropped out of high school, lying about his age, to join the Navy so he could fight for our country in WWII. By the time I was born, WWII was long over and dad had switched to the Air Force. Because of...
Editor's Note: This column was submitted to us Oct. 8. There was ample warning, for those of us who check weather forecasts, that a hard freeze was coming. This forced me to stop (some of) my procrastinating. I'll always have something I'm putting off doing until forced into action. I spent two full days (actually, two afternoons: I still had to cook a noon meal and haul it to Dennis in the field) getting the houseplants sorted out. (This should be a clear warning that I have too many plants.)...
I'm much too good at putting things off. Who wants to think about pulling all the tomatoes when it's still pushing 100°? Even though we're now into October (!), it hasn't seemed like fall. And so, having legitimately earned a Masters in Procrastination, my houseplants are still grouped on the front deck. The dahlias haven't been dug. The gladioli bulbs haven't been trimmed and bagged for winter storage. Shoot. I just had another picking of green beans a few days ago. I say pshaw to fall. (I...
