Endless days of snow and rain...

There are good things and not so great things about long stretches of cold rainy and snowy days.

The good thing was I worked on some deep cleaning. During the other half's nappy time, I had to be quiet [no vaccum cleaning or killing dust bison]. I moved Charlie's pillow to the new-old Christmas Chair which has had its legs cut off.

When I came back in the living room to mop the floor, I saw this. What a perfect spot for him! He likes the couch better. 

Squatch decided that he needed to build a good shelter. He was tired of cold wet fur and colder chilly nights.  Besides, he had Dog to think of.

He consulted with Doe who was one of the very first toys in my collection. She suggested building one.

A cream cheese container wrapped in cast off aluminum and encased in clay would make a good small cave.

Not exactly a castle, but...

with a fire, it seems pretty cozy. 

And then a neighbor dropped by for conversation, but the fire was so nice and warm....

He fell fast asleep. But his chicken carried on a conversation with Dog.

I made even a bigger mess in the one room I intended to clean up. I need to go back and do some major sorting. Out with the old junk, and in with the new junk?

Good and Bad

Old Fred is at least 33 years old. You can see it in his face. The mule who hates being caught, let me approach him and give him a long grooming!

He is still the feisty little pony mule but a bit less 'full of it'. He loves his Senior Feed and comes running for it.
Here you can see the age in his face and across his back. Time awaits no one, right?

So I asked, begged, and egged my husband to see if I could get some dirt for a project that I've wanted to do for a while now. I wanted him to take dirt from an old compost pile of manure and put it under the kitchen window on the east side of the house.

Much to my surprise, while I wasn't paying attention to Rich who had been sitting on the porch...I heard the skid steer start up and viola!

The bearded wonder had not only gotten into the skid steer out in the shed, but had started it and delivered dirt!

Somehow I think this Hermit Life is working for him perfectly!
[The day after this photo, he clipped his beard and now sports a clean face with a goatee and mustache.]

Above is the area that I wanted to make into more garden. I wanted a place to put out my 'non' Fairy Garden.

First load...

 After the second and third load of fresh compost.

I had a LOT of shoveling and raking to do. I sort of had a plan, but nothing fixed in my 'head'. I knew that I wanted a walk way down the middle of it so I could weed from the middle when the plants were up. And I wanted a nice looking border, but decided to use what was available already.

So ....there are the rocks from an obscure place that I'd stored them years ago. The plastic is from old round bale covers that were shredded. I found some flat rocks to use as stepping stone and  filled the missing 'steps' for now with old bricks until I can find the perfect rocks and carry them up from the creek.

I love rocks. I'd love to display the rocks as much as the garden so it will take me a bit to get the just right rocks for the pathway.

I added some gnarly stump pieces from the woods. They will be part of the Unicorn and Dragon hideouts.
After all, can't I just be a kid and have some fun? I don't mind gnomes either, but apparently they are not welcome in this garden either....

As I said, a Dragon/Unicorn garden. The Fairies can go find another place, however they will probably show up.

A look at the walk way that needs mulch and new stones...

I had to spend most of the day waiting for a UPS delivery that has to be signed for. The new way of doing things is that the driveway physically has to see the person to make the delivery and then he signs for you so there is no contact between him and the customer.

After getting the meds, I decided to listen to some music on my phone and get down to the business of picking out the weeds from my vinca ground cover bed and dig out the areas that I'd plant 4 o'clocks in if I can't get petunias or marigolds.

The rest of the afternoon was spent planting two rather sad looking tomato plants in buckets along with moving dirt and weeding around the rest of the house.

This requires very close work on the knees or sitting. I have to be careful to pull out last year's dead stuff and pick only the crabgrass and other tiny weeds that surround some of the bulbs that haven't come up yet.

These are blazing stars.

My daffies blossom first near the house. The bleeding hearts join in a bit later along with the irises. 

The vinca provides a pretty dark green ground cover with purple flowers.

Late summer I hope to have some pots with blossoms of some sort in them.

It all depends on how available these things are and IF I can actually shop for them safely.

I went into my seed bucket I kept in the basement. It is a bucket I use to deposit all the seeds I've picked from my sunflowers and other flowers that I gather the seeds for each year.

I was upset to find that mice had somehow found my seeds! I have plenty of orange cosmos and some zinnia seeds, but most of the 4 o'clocks were eaten along with the sunflower seeds.

Good thing I keep back up packets!
Next year...I'll keep them in a sealed container. And the mice will have traps to contend with!

I hope to get some mulch today for the 'walkway' among other things. I figured to get this done before the large veggie garden and the mowing take over my time!

Note.
Two days ago we had our first confirmed case of Covid-19 in our county. It isn't like this virus knows county boundaries.
I see some friends who are now calling the outbreak a scam and that we should all just get on with our lives. I get that. They have families to feed and their hours have been cut. Things are dire all over.

I was told that the numbers were 'fake', deaths were 'fake', wearing masks was not warranted.
Let me rant here.

I get it.
But the state numbers are still creeping up as are the deaths. I don't have the answers but I know that I am deciding to keep isolated as much as possible.
The Hermit Life has been excellent for Rich. He is doing much better now than in the past two years!

He has been operating the skid steer, taking an interest in grooming, taking an active interest in what I am doing in the yard and gardens. This is HUGE!

So keep your 'fake' deaths, drink your disinfectant, believe the liar liar pants on fire. Go ahead and protest, yell, scream, ... but don't ask me to.

I'll go ahead and plant my Dragon garden, I'll enjoy being isolated. And yes, I am one of those lucky people at least for now...that can stay home.

I have a duty to protect my husband. And I will do so.

Christmas Chair, it is that time again...

This year the *chair* is going in a different spot. I thought I'd do something different again.

It begins with a worn out chair, the same one I tried to refinish years ago. I gave up on it because it had so many layers of paint on it. The crack in the seat just got worse and worse. I tried to glue it but it fell apart. I left the chair in the little red shed to be forgotten.
Until I was sparked with an odd idea.

Things have changed since I first pulled out that ugly chair.

I don't ever start with a plan. This year I had collected sticks while walking with Morris. I looked for odd sticks and ordinary sticks. I added knobbin' knockers to my sticks and painted them.
I wasn't exactly sure why, but I thought eventually they might be useful.

I used small twigs from those awful Buckthorn trees, painted and stuck in an old fancy sewing machine drawer with lights and ribbons.

Prancing ponies on Branches.

I used small rocks in a plastic pot that I spray painted gold. The rocks just didn't hold the branches in place. Finally I used elbow macaroni in plastic bags to tuck around the branches in the pot. Steady as she goes! The baggies are hidden by a dynamite crate that is in front of it.

A piece of Driftwood from a photography trip I took with some good friends this past April. It just begged to be with the old wooden crates.

The Christmas Chair. Here it is with the carousel horse.

That space under the chair. Lights, bottles, ribbons, and a bead garland.

I've collected ribbons over the years that were unique or just plain beautiful. I use them as part of the decorations.

This year I brought in the Gnome.
I wanted an Elf on the Shelf to have some fun with. However while walking about in Westby last weekend I happened upon this Gnome.

Elf on the Shelf. Hmmm.

Well, I have the Gnome in the Home. 
I think he will be very active in moving around the house this year....
Here he is ... I imagine, talking with one of the Toy Bears.

Here is a shot from last night. I've already moved things around again and set them up differently.
The process of my decorations is generally ever changing.

And the Gnome?
He is always up to something....

Happy Decorating!