I'm confused. If Friday was the first day of gardening season, why does the thermometer only register 0 degrees?

March 11, 2017 - Saturday

6 degrees/cloudy/windy

Pentoga Road

The cold and wind continue to make their presence known. This spring is shaping up to be identical to last year's. We had a fairly mild to normal winter, then when it was time to kiss the cold and snow goodbye, cold temperatures and snow persisted well into May. Oh well, it is what it is and ain't nobody gonna change it. We'll just keep throwing logs at the wood stove.

Unable to work in the shop without heat, I drove to town first thing Friday morning to purchase a new propane unit. I talked with my friend, Charlie, at the hardware store and she said customers seldom complain about the heaters going bad. I must have been the lucky person to get a lemon. So far, the new heater has worked like a charm.

The rest of the morning was spent in the shop, painting the recessed part of the alphabet puzzle and working on the Easter piece. With such fine detailing, even wearing heavy magnifiers, I work for a few minutes, then move on and do something else, then come back and work some more. It's coming.

We received a phone call Friday morning from my sister, Barb. Mom's been having some abdominal problems and tests show she has a fast growing mass in her colon. Mom is scheduled for surgery a week from next Tuesday, the 21st. 

From what I understand, the doctor will simply take out the mass, then sew the two ends of the colon back together. Knowing Mom, she'll be back to leading her girl gang around the seniors complex in no time.

I'm planning on driving to Terre Haute, Indiana, on the 20th, a solo road trip! Most of the five hundred miles will be navigated on four lane highway and since I detour far from Chicago, traffic is generally fairly light. 

I'll plan on staying a week or so, until Mom can't stand me any more, gives me the boot, and tells me it's time to go home. While she's recuperating in the hospital, I'm fully planning on having wild and unadulterated parties in her apartment, running with her girl gang (ages 80's and 90's) and sitting around the dining room table with the girls, enjoying the superb cooking the dining room offers. I'm thinking of this as, probably, my last solo road trip, a vacation from retirement. 

Back to reality, Mom is really upbeat and as she said, she made it through double bypass, open heart surgery, at the age of 87, she can do this two years later. She certainly can!

Yes, indeed, the gardening season did officially kick off Friday afternoon.

While retrieving the potting soil from the greenhouse, I noticed a polycarbonate panel was missing from the roof.

I guess we didn't escape the severe winds of the past several days quite as well as I'd originally thought and made a mental note to search for the panel in the woods after the flowers seeds were sown.

Even indoors, the extreme cold presented a problem or two with the opening of gardening season. The new bag of potting soil, kept in the greenhouse, was frozen solid.  I had to use a spoon to scrape what was needed from a rock hard chunk and my hands got so cold that gloves were needed. Hmm, not a very good start to a warm weather activity.

The next problem dealt with the size of the double ruffled petunia seeds.

There were thirty five seeds per package and I'd purchased three packages. Each seed was no bigger than a grain of sand. If measured in size and weight, I didn't get an excessive amount of bang for my buck.

With the soil finally warmed and prepared and the seeds evenly broadcast (I hope), the tray was placed on a heating (germination) mat in the indoor greenhouse. Since petunia seeds require light for germination, a grow light was suspended overhead. 

Now we wait. It took from a week to three weeks for the seeds to germinate last year. 

Brutus was driving me crazy. He followed in my every footstep and seemed ready to pounce at a moment's notice, something the hundred-pound doormat is not known for.

With a wagging tail and yips of a much younger puppy, he bounded out the back door ahead of me.

We first played fetch then we began scouring the woods looking for the greenhouse panel.  It was like looking for a needle in a haystack and we never found it. I'll order a new one online today.

Another tree down. Several more were discovered lying on their sides Friday afternoon.

Once again, Brutus was the ultimate service dog, patiently leading me through the trees and often forgetting that low hanging branches present more of a problem for a big person than a dog. 

Sargie is continuing to recover from a severe bout of the flu, although she felt a bit worse yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, she has today to continue resting before resuming work from noon to five on Sunday.

I think today will be a repeat of the past several. I've already turned the heat on in the shop and plan to spend the morning out there. I've urged Sargie to stay in bed as long as she can. After fighting this terrible bug, her body needs as much rest as possible.

If she feels like it, we might make a trip to town later this afternoon, but otherwise, it's going to be a quiet day.

The shop should be warm by now. Time to grab a cup of coffee and head that direction.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Alongside the cucumber trellis, the Sweet Williams (dianthus) flowers planted from seed indoors and transplanted into the garden last year, remained green all winter under the snow. They should bloom and self seed profusely this summer.