Sunday, December 21, 2008

Winter has arrived!

Today is the official first day of winter as well as being the shortest day of the year. Now we are working toward springtime day by day with each day getting longer. Something to look forward to on this icy day!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Ice storm

















We had an ice storm Thursday night and Friday morning. All together we got about 1/2 inch of ice. The power was only out for about 4 hours. I think that a line was down in the neighborhood because after the power went out, you could occasionally see a very bright red glow/flash down the road. The cable was out until this morning. I loved it. Katie did not see the humor in no cable TV and no internet.
The above picture is cockeyed so that I could get the whole branch in the picture. We lost one other 4 inch dia. branch that hit out bedroom window and ripped the screen, but other than that, no real damage. We were very fortunate!
Tonight all that ice is still on the trees and lines, and the wind is getting pretty gusty due to a cold front moving through. The temperature dropped 15 degrees in 1 1/2 hours.

Lettuce sprouts


My lettuce has sprouted. The package said 10-14 days germination so I felt that the conditions in the shed must be pretty good. I went to take a picture to post, but my camera ran out of batteries. What luck! Anyway, I got new batteries at Wal-Mart today, so I will get some to post.
Now I just need to see how transplanting them goes.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Indoor lettuce

I am trying some indoor lettuce this winter in the potting shed. I planted 4 varieties of which I cannot remember right now. I will have to get the names to write down. I know that one is romaine and one is black seeded simpson. The seed is old, so if it germinates great, if not, no loss.
I have a set up of lights that I use to start my seeds in late winter for outdoors that I am using. We will see how it goes. I would also like to try some other seeds depending on how well these do. The heat and fans are on in there and the temp is about 64 degrees.