Black and White with Shades of Gray and a Light at the End of the Tunnel

Okay, so I spent a large portion of yesterday OUTSIDE!!! The temperature was in the lower 60’s.

The really weird part is that, while it was is the 60’s, when I went outside I wore a light jacket but also, a headband to keep my ear’s warm, a scarf around the neck, and gloves.

I absolutely HATE cold. But if I’m dressed for it, no matter how ridiculous I look, I can tolerate anything, 60’s to most people would be awesome, especially taking in to account the winter we just had.

But, I like to be not just warm, but REALLY warm . . . TOASTY warm. . . to the point of borderline SWEATING warm. My best outdoor temp is, minimum, 85 degrees.

So, for me, 60’s requires a scarf around the neck.

Since this is the warmest it’s been here in what seems like 6 years, I really needed the fresh air.

At first It seemed almost foreign . . . like a black and white movie with no obvious color to be found. Still, I had to shade my eye’s at first. I felt, almost. . . vampirish.

I got over it and spent the day clearing off the flower beds that didn’t get done before the first snow that never ended. I picked up at least a thousand sticks and limbs from my yard, cut the ornamental grass in the back yard, burned all those things that I will be putting in my compost bins when we build them this year, inspected all the perennials and shrubs, and yes. . . I even cleaned up dog poop.

Fortunately for me, my Tommy had been out there in the bitter cold chiseling up dog poop whenever the snow was at a low enough level to do so throughout the winter so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I’m lucky. . . who cleans up dog poop at someone else’s house?. . . . .Tommy.

(Love him!)

As I walked around outside, the yard and gardens looked just as gray as Kansas in the Wizard of Oz. But I have a vision. I know what it will look like in a month or two.

Some of the really amazing things I found:

When I cleared the old stalks and leaves from the day lilies, I found new green growth hidden underneath.
When I cleared the old stalks from the hosta’s, I found new baby nubbies peeking out.

When I looked very closely around the flag pole, I found new shoots from the tulips.

When I inspected the herb garden, I found new growth from the chives.

When I looked at the vibernum. I found tiny little buds waiting to become beautiful blossoms.

When I inspected the strawberries, I was pleasantly surprised that it appears they survived even though I didn’t get them covered with straw before the snow started and never ended.

I saw a few sprouts of garlic starting to push through the dirt (I planted it last fall).

I thought of a really easy way to cut down the ornamental grass. I tied twine around it and cut it with my hedge trimmer. The twine kept it from blowing all over the yard and made it really easy to carry the bundle to the fire pit to burn. I have several of these so I don’t know why I didn’t think of the this years ago! I’m a dork!

I had no remorse in watching my Christmas Tree burn up in flames. I’m so over winter. . . . Not Jesus. . . . . just winter.
In case you were wondering, there’s no burn ban where I live. My house isn’t in the city. I live among the farmers.

And, I got the recyclables taken to the recycle center. I had 4 overflowing boxes of recyclables. I really hate taking it in subzero weather so it’s been a month and a half since that happened.