The 10-day forecast is ugly

It's like living in a tomb. 

It's not unusual for the weather in June to turn hot after the summer solstice. Of course, it's not usually THIS hot, but old Sol is doing some crazy things at the moment. Solar cycle 25 and all that. And it's not crap - it's science. 

Deuce and I walked down the creek earlier this morning. It was already 85F at nine o'clock, but I worry about my best boy so I wanted to help him cool down. The creek is spring-fed and the water is cold, and he enjoys getting his paws wet. He's getting older and that little excursion apparently required him to come home and take a nap. 

There's a short video of him walking in the creek below. 

Why do I say it's like living in a tomb? Over the course of the last several years I upgraded all the curtains/drapes to blackouts. I got them from Amazon and they not only keep out the light, but they really help keep the interior of the house cooler (and warmer on cold winter nights). I've been outside with Deuce after dark and if the curtains are closed, no light shows at the windows. They work.

My cousin and I had planned to work outside this week, but that's off the table. With age comes smarts and we're smart enough to know to avoid the heat when possible. It's indoor pursuits for both of us for at least the next ten days. 

Our grandmother had a saying: "This, too, shall pass."  And so it shall.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, KC Kendricks, rural living, heat wave, tree trimming, country lifestyle, black Labrador Retriever

A good muffin recipe is a good buttermilk muffin recipe!

I have a basic muffin recipe I got from... I have no clue where I got. It's been too long ago.  It's the kind of recipe where once you have the batter made you can add whatever you want to it. I like to add one of the following:

• cranberries
• cranberries and white chocolate chips
• almonds
• blueberries
• chocolate chips
• mint chocolate chips
• butterscotch chips

These are easy to make, too. 

• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or plain milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon baking POWDER
• 2 cups flour
• your choice of goodies

Get the batter into the muffin tins, bake at 425F for 7 minutes, then turn the heat back to 350F and bake for another 13 - 15 minutes. You know your oven. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR until the time is up. Cool, eat, or freeze. 

I like to make two batches and freeze them, and they freeze perfectly. A muffin is a good breakfast or late night snack (sometimes). 

There you have it. It's time to get the second batch out of the oven. Enjoy!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, baking, muffins, country lifestyle, convenience food, recipes, a writer's life, chocolate chips

Sometimes you have to make a purchase

I love to home process (can) foods. Can it be a bit of work? Yes, but to my way of thinking nothing beats being able to go to the pantry and grab a jar of food when you want it. 

This is the year I wanted to can cherries. I'd love to have a cherry tree that produces fruit, but the cherry trees I have are wild and don't fruit. I started calling around to the various orchards in my area and what a shock! If they had cherries available, it was at an astronomical price - $5.00 for a PINT. You'd need four pints to make one cherry pie!  I hated to do it, but I went to a grocery and got frozen cherries for my project - Spirited Cherries. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. My preference was for local produce, but it was time to be financially responsible to my budget. 

Spirited Cherries is a recipe found in the big Ball Book. It's very simply a tablespoon and a half of "spirits" (alcoholic beverage) per half-pint jar. And while I was in the frozen section, I got a big bag of blueberries and made Spirited Blueberries. 

The finished product cost about $1.00 per jar. That's a little high, but it shakes out to $.50 a serving. I'll be putting the fruit over ice cream or even yogurt if I have that in the evening instead of ice cream. That's thirty-six times I won't have to prepare anything. Open a jar, or the fridge, and enjoy. 

I think it's well worth the three hours it took to can both fruits. And considering the cost differential to local fresh, I don't even feel bad about that. I may even get more and make a second batch. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, home canning, cherries, blueberries, rural living, country lifestyle, budgeting, buy local, Ball Book

A most unusual visitor

Living on the side of a mountain means I share my space with a host of critters. There are deer, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, possums, turkey, numerous birds including hawks and owls, the occasional coyote, snakes, turtles, frogs, toads, and salamanders. And yes, there are fish and such in the creek. But this morning there was a first - a SNAPPING turtle in the yard. Box turtles are the norm.

Being that there is a creek nearby, seeing the occasional snapper isn't too rare. Seeing one strolling (?) through my yard is something else. 

It came across the front yard, through the west forty (where the wood yard is) and down over the hill. I think it was lost. The creek is in the exact opposite direction. 

Speaking of directions, I tried to tell it to turn around and go back, but it didn't listen to me. It must be a male. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, snapping turtles, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, wildlife, KC Kendricks, unusual sightings, reptiles

Another one bites the dust

For no apparent reason, one of the trees along the lower stone fence uprooted and fell behind the leaning cherry tree. It's safe to say the fun never ends! 

It's a bit of a mess, but just like every "project," if I take it one step at a time, it's manageable. It also means more firewood.

My cousin and I already had the leaning cherry on the agenda to harvest. The tree is leaning, sure, but it's not a threat to my house so there's no hurry. Now that this other tree is behind it and applying pressure, it may come down on its own. It's okay if it does. 

Hopefully, before that happens, we'll be able to cut the uprooted tree in such a way to relieve the pressure. I certainly wouldn't want the cherry coming down on top of me while I'm mowing the front yard. 

The downside is we're both well-stocked with 

firewood for the 2025-26 season. My cousin has a space problem.  I don't. I can store a lot more split wood than he can. I'm pretty sure we'll cut the rounds now and split later.  And if we need to store all the rounds here on the manor, that's fine. He'll know where it is when the time comes. 

While I have enough trees to keep us both in firewood for as long as we both live, I do worry about the condition of the trees. I don't think our forests are as healthy as they used to be. We have several non-native insects causing damage and there is no way for me to protect the trees on my property. A homeowner can't spray an oak that is one-hundred feet tall. 

But that's a worry for another time and another person. I'll do the best I can do for the years left to me. That's all any of us can do. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, forests, trees, firewood, property management, insect damage, oak tree, cherry tree, rural living, country lifestyle

The Old Spring

I grew up in my maternal grandparent's house. My parents lived with them until I was eight, and then they bought their own house about a mile away. I don't know why because I swear all we did was sleep there. Weekends were spent at the grandparent's place. After school, I rode my bike to my grandparent's house. When we cousins wanted to "camp out," it was in our grandparent's meadow. That's where the action was. 

Growing up, I didn't think it was odd that my grandparent's water came from a spring. I just know that a lot of family members would bring a jug and take some spring water home with them to make iced tea, my mother included. These days, heaven only knows what has leached into the water, and we don't drink it. There are houses above it now. Back then, there was only forest. 

The picture is the inside of the spring. My grandfather walled it up, dug out the bottom for a reservoir, and eventually installed a reinforced concrete roof. This is how the spring looks today. 

I'm very glad that the cousin who got the homeplace didn't fill in the spring. Pop's roof is still intact and the water still flows into the spring branch and down to the creek. We don't use it any longer, but it's there if my cousin wants to water his grass. 

I suppose it's rather unremarkable, but it's a memory from my youth. I thought I'd share.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, country lifestyle, KC Kendricks, grandparents, old ways, spring water, changing times, safe drinking water

Sometimes cheap ideas look good - new decor items

Have you ever gotten a notion to do something you would have done over thirty years ago? Yeah, me, too. 

I'm not complaining, but living with a man is living with compromises. Take my kitchen, for example. The Lord of the Manor had differing opinions on what should be displayed on the island. He wanted a knife block so he could grab a knife when he needed one. Same for the Kitchen Aid mixer. It had to sit on the island, not in a cabinet. I wanted the island to have a cleaner appearance, but it wasn't a battle I chose to fight. 

Now, sadly, with his passing, I can please myself. I think one simple décor element is all the island needs. It's less to move when I need the entire work surface. 

I was at the Dollar Tree and saw small metal planters that look like little buckets. I wasn't sure what I'd do with them, but I got three. Fast forward to the approaching summer, and my desire to have something different than silk florals in a vase. I saw a package of succulents and the light bulb went on. 

Sometimes decorating on the cheap really works. These will be fine until it's time to celebrate autumn. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, decorating, country lifestyle, rural living, Dollar Tree finds, KC Kendricks, a writer's life, simple things, choose your battles, granite countertops, succulents 

The family plan?

I really don't plant my garden on the family plan. I simply share if I have enough to share. This rationale escapes a few family members. Well, okay, only ONE family member.

At a recent family gathering, I was asked if I planted a garden this year, and if I did, what did I plant? When I told her I planted Bell peppers, she jumped on the "gimme" train. I told her, with the appropriate amount of sadness, that last year I had four pepper plants and I got ONE pepper. This didn't make an impact.

I feel like my pepper harvest is now doomed. Or jinxed. Something. 

Gardening is intensive work. The seeds are planted, then the sprouts are transplanted to larger individual pots to grow. Soil is amended with expensive fertilizers. Young plants are replanted yet again in their permanent location. Pest controls are implemented. Watering and weeding are daily chores. If there is produce to harvest, it goes on for at least a month. 

And you want something for free? 

It's not that I don't enjoy sharing my harvest - just not with anyone who EXPECTS me to share.

There is a difference.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, Bell peppers, produce sharing, managing expectations, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, m/m romance 

Cherokee wax beans and strawberries

This is the first year I've planted Cherokee wax beans. Wax beans are basically a yellow green bean. I always liked to switch it up on my late husband, and he didn't mind at all.  

The seeds have finally sprouted, and just that fast some critter has had a nibble. This will not do. Earlier this morning I put a row cover over the raised bed in the hope it will do the job and discourage whomever visited from a repeat. I won't get enough of a harvest to can beans, but I do want enough for several meals when they're fresh. 

Of course, my Henry 001 is also "discouragement." I just hate to bury the bodies. 

In better news, the strawberries I planted in the Greenstalk are doing fantastic! I hope to get a large enough harvest to enjoy some fresh and to share with my cousins. I also need to look for a muffin recipe that uses almond flour so I can make a batch of strawberry muffins. I think I can modify the recipe I love by simply adding a third egg. It's worth a try.

There's quite a few days to go before I harvest anything but lettuce. I have four plants of a variety that is Butter [something] and it's pretty good. My trip around the garden this morning showed it's time to harvest some, so it looks like a salad will be on the menu today. I've nibbled at the Swiss Chard and it's too bad none of that is ready to add to the salad. 

I'm excited about the strawberries, though. This is as close to actually successfully growing them as I've gotten. My grandfather had a huge patch, but I'll never match him. But I can see myself expanding to the older Greenstalk that is beside the patio, or even purchasing a third one. We'll have to see how it goes. 

That sums gardening up in one sentence: we'll have to see how it goes.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, KC Kendricks, gardening, strawberries, Greenstalk, animal control, rural living, country lifestyle, home food preservation, Swiss Chard, butter lettuce

What a day - things went wrong

You know the old saying - if something can go wrong, it will. Yeah, I got the T-shirt today. 

I had a few chores to do. First up - vacuum the floors to get up the dog fur. The Dyson cordless threw a fit. It simply had no sucking power. I took it apart and couldn't find a clog, put in a new air filter, and it still wouldn't work. I've only had it a bit over a year, so I'm pissed off about it. It's time to ditch Dyson and try another brand. I had to use the old corded upright I keep in the laundry room to de-fur the living room.  

Next on the list - tidy up the garden. It's the time of year when the maple seeds are flying, so it's get the leaf blower and blow off the woven weed fabric. That went well until I treated the baby pepper plants to a brief tornado. (time to put the blower away)

The heat pump sits just outside my office on the north side of the sunroom. Every spring I need to weed the area and then spray weed killer. We put down a tarp and then a thick layer of clean crush run (gravel), and it will stay tidy now. Did I mention I inadvertently sprayed one of my sneakers?

I got the John Deere x370 to tidy up along the edge and then, although not planned for today, mowed the front yard. Then I decided I'd better fill the gas cans. I called Deuce and we headed for the nearest filling station. I filled the cans and one of them sprung a leak. At $3.12 a gallon, this was not good. I rushed home and transferred the contents of the can into whatever I could find - a temporary solution until I can get a new can. 

Aaaand of course Deuce turned stubborn. Once we were back home, he refused to get out of the pickup. He wanted to go for another ride, and I was not in the mood. I had to literally climb in the back seat and push him out. 

Then I needed to make a pit stop and the toilet kept running. This was a step over the line for the day. I closed the intake valve and I will deal with it tomorrow.

If I even get out of bed tomorrow.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, John Deere x370, black Lab Retriever, Colorado pickup, gas cans, rural living, weeds, procrastination, home repairs

Didn't plan on having this work to do

In the previous post I mentioned we were hit by a big wind during the night that caused minor damage to the deer barriers around the garden. It also snapped the top out of a cherry tree. Thankfully, this tree was not near the house, but it did fall across my tractor path. 

I wasn't planning on having this clean up to do, but it's not going to be a difficult job. I have a Milwaukee chainsaw that runs on batteries, and I made sure the batteries are charged. I'll take the John Deere 1023 over and start cutting and clearing. When I've used up the juice in the four batteries I have, I'll move on to what I actually did have planned for today - mowing and moving the remainder of the seedlings to the greenhouse. 

It's going to take several days to completely cut this downed cherry into firewood rounds. I'm okay with that. Running on battery power will keep me from working with the chainsaw for too long and getting tired. Running a saw when tired is not a good idea. And being retired, I have no need to remove this tree in one day. There is plenty of room to maneuver the tractor around it. 

Do you know what will keep me focused on the task at hand? Cherry is excellent firewood and it dries, or seasons, fast enough that come next January I can begin to burn it. That's just in time for what is typically our cold stretch. 

Life on the manor requires some hard work, but rarely is anything a singular endeavor. Every "chore" reaps multiple rewards. Processing this tree will be great exercise and will keep me warm next winter. I think it's win-win. Except for the tree, of course. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, cherry tree, John Deere 1023, Milwaukee M18, firewood, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life

It's a wind mystery

Last night, between midnight and two, we were grazed by a fast moving storm system. It didn't cause much damage on the manor, only snapping the top out of a cherry tree that was slated for firewood. The cousin and I knew the tree had some issues, and snapping off in a storm proved us correct. Having the top on the ground makes harvesting it a lot safer, so I'm good with that. 

The other "damage" is a bit more mysterious. The wind knocked over a deer barrier. Why mysterious? The deer barrier is constructed out of 2x4 exterior grade lumber. It's heavy. And there were 5-gallon buckets full of dirt sitting on its feet. 

This isn't the first time a barrier has been blown over. It happened to a different one last fall. I didn't think much of it at the time, believing it to be a freak occurrence and nothing more. Now that it has happened a second time, I need to apply some additional measures to keep the deer barriers in place. I ordered a pack of heavy-duty stakes and will drill a hole in each base and pound one stake into the ground. That should help anchor it along with the buckets. 

The really freaky thing is the red plastic flower pot in the foreground of the picture. If the wind was violent enough to knock over the deer barrier, why didn't that empty plastic pot fly away?

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, high wind damage, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, security measures, white-tailed deer, flower pots, freak weather events

Where are the hostas?

 

Where did three of the hostas go? No need to answer. I know. The damn deer got them last fall. 

It amazes me the deer will come in this close to the patio. The deer coming up is also how the one screen got ripped out.  I can't blame Deuce for getting excited, and replacing the screen was a cheap and easy fix. But dammit! That deer killed three of my hosta plants!

The good news is that the remaining three plants are in need of being separated. I'll do that during our next warm day. Today it's very breezy and the air has a cold edge, reminding me spring and winter are still conversing with each other. (She writes that tongue-in-cheek.) The pictures don't show up all that well, but there are three clumps of the hosta up where the only tulips on the manor are blooming. 

I wasn't planning on getting the strip along the walk mulched this week, but one of the big box home improvement stores had 2cu bags of mulch on sale five bags for ten dollars. Experience told me I needed four bags for this area. Yes, I got five because there are no shortage of places that can use a hit of mulch. 

It's one more thing to cross off my Spring To Do List. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, gardening, mulch, hosta, spring chores, breezy weather, a writer's life, home improvement sale, white-tailed deer damage, Deuce's Day

Hard work can make you happy

I posted an entry over at Between the Keys about a yearly chore that needs done. It's not a big deal - until you start pulling up weeds. 

The area at the gable end of my house does have a woven weed barrier down. I got a roll of the good stuff from Grower's Solutions. It does stop weeds from coming up from beneath it, but it doesn't stop weeds and grass from putting down shallow roots in the pea gravel. Of course, shallow roots are easier to dislodge. One must simply get to work. 

I'm happy to have the area cleaned up. I much prefer arriving home to a neatly tended area that is virtually weed-free. It helps keep me happy.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, weeding, gardening, weed barrier, a writer's life, country lifestyle, Grower's Solutions

Squirrels - the new foe

I've been actively planning steps to defend my little garden from the deer, but I think I have a worse nemesis - the gray squirrel. 

Every day I walk over to the garden spot to check on the progress of the strawberries. They're doing great, by the way. A few days ago I discovered a squirrel had been digging in a few of the buckets. What the fuck?  Seriously???

I'm not sure how to combat these fancy rats. Shoot them, for sure, but I don't eat squirrel. Yes, I live at the gateway to Appalachia, but squirrel is not on the menu. 

This row of buckets is where I planned to plant Bell peppers. That's still the plan, but I need a fuzzy-tailed rat deterrent. Maybe something that flutters in the breeze will do the trick. 

People say that red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper will deter squirrels. I worry that they will irritate Deuce's eyes and nose if they are scattered about in a liberal measure. 

I'll be pondering this situation for the next few days. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, white-tailed deer, gray squirrel, rural living, country lifestyle, a writer's life, garden pests 

 

Damn the deer!!

My area has a big white-tailed deer problem. No joke. When I was a girl, we rarely saw a deer. Now you can't avoid them. I've had as many as seventeen in a group grazing in my front yard. I think DNR needs to schedule a cull because these animals are starving and inbreeding. It's evident in the shrinking size of the animals. 

It takes some serious counter-measures to thwart these creatures. Last spring I got eight strawberry plants from a local nursery and last fall a deer ate them to the ground. I covered the bed for the winter with leaves anyway. Plants are amazing and this spring I found at least thirty runners under the leaves. They've been transplanted into a second Greenstalk. The original eight plants are also doing well. I won't get much of a strawberry harvest this June, but I'll get a few to nibble on while I'm in the garden area. 

I've read that deer have very poor depth perception. To take advantage of that, I'm placing electric fence poles and T-posts outside the barricades. I also ordered a new 10x12 greenhouse and I plan to situate the frame from the old greenhouse as a barrier. My garden will be smaller this year since I'm on my own, but even if it was huge, I don't want to feed the deer.

I lost countless daylilies to the deer over the years. I had them in strips along the edge of the yard and they are all gone now. It's the same for the hosta. The deer even come up to the front porch and eat the rosebushes. 

The deer are a major problem. I may need to learn to cook venison. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, white-tailed deer, strawberries, Greenstalk, gardening, venison, rural living, country lifestyle, counter-measures, a writer's life

Good start - Genovese Basil

I love pesto, and have made small batches over the years. My late husband didn't care for it at all, so it had limited exposure to the dinner table. Now that I'm on my own, I'm growing more basil. 

The first seeds have sprouted and are doing quite well. It's going to hurt my heart when it's time to thin them as I move them to larger cups to continue growing. 

I have a second tray of the Dark Opal basil and it too is doing well, but is a good week behind the Genovese. I staggered sowing the seeds intentionally, and have one more seed packet to sow. I hope to have a lot of basil growing in my garden this summer. 

The weather has been a mixed bag so far in March. Of course it has! It's March! But I was able to get the new Greenstalk filled with potting soil and cultivate the two end raised beds.

I left leaves on the raised beds over the winter so I could cultivate them in. They'll slowly decompose and feed the soil. Then I sprinkled bone meal, blood meal, garden lime, and a general pellet fertilizer on top and used the cultivator to mix that in. That should give me a good starting medium for tomatoes, basil, and other herbs. 

And that's about all the weather allowed me to accomplish. I didn't get the leaves raked off strawberry bed, but that's next. March is a fickle month. We had a stretch of sunny days with temperatures in the low to mid sixties (Fahrenheit) and then the weather quickly reverted back to chilly and damp. 

No matter. Every thing done is one thing done, eh? 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, Greenstalk, soil, Genovese Basil, rural living, country lifestyle, weather watching, raised beds, garden planning, herbs, KC Kendricks

Sprouts!! Lookee lookee!

 It's official! My 2025 garden is growing. Seeds have sprouted! 

It's not much at the moment. Two green cabbage varieties and one red, plus one of the basil seed packets. It's a lot more cabbage than I'll need, but I can give some away when the time comes. My cousin next door likes cabbage and Cole slaw so there we go. 

As for the basil, this is just a start. I love pesto so the plan is to make a BUNCH of it this year and freeze it. I used the last of what I made in 2024 months ago, so I need to be on it this season. 

I'm ready to begin work in my garden but the weather is not helping. It's chilly and windy outside - not the weather I want to work in outside. But it has not stopped me from planning my garden and making a "plan of attack" to ready the raised beds, refresh the grow buckets, and set the second Greenstalk in its 2025 location. I also have a new greenhouse to set up and I need to move the old greenhouse frame to a location where I can zip tie shade cloth to in later in the year when the plants need a break from the solar maximum. 

Today is the day we set our clocks ahead before we go to bed, and I'm looking forward to longer daylight in the evenings. That will help me get things done. There's more on that over a Between the Keys. 

Things to do, things to do, but I think the only thing I'll really accomplish on this windy afternoon is some writing. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, cabbage, basil, greenhouse, country lifestyle, garden planning, organization, a writer's life, KC Kendricks

We begin again in 2025

The first begonia cutting has been set. If it lives, in five to seven days I'll do about half the tray. If not, I'll wait a week to ten days and try again. 

Here's the thing. The planting guide for my location says I can start pepper seeds indoors now. Yeah, okay. But I trust a wax plant cutting more than the planting guide. I think these tender cuttings know more than the almanac. 

Besides, it's cold outside. I don't have my seed starting trays and soil inside warming up yet. I really need to get that done before I even think about starting seeds. I guess I'll have to go outside in below freezing temperatures with the wind whipping around and bring them in. 

Maybe tomorrow.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, wax plants, begonias, seed starts, cuttings, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, weather watcher, green peppers 

It's never fun when your car won't start

 

About a week ago, I had to call my cousin for a rescue. I was at the grocery and my trusty Charger refused to start. ARGH!!!

Read the story at https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/2025/02/that-did-not-go-as-planned.html

I should have posted it here, but I didn't. 

Bad me.

KC

I think this says it all

 Short and to the point!

At it again - the never ending brush pile

I have a lot of trees, ergo, I have a lot of brush. Mother Nature likes to toss sticks into my yard. Every year, there is a tree or two that for one reason or another needs to be harvested. The aftermath of a tree being felled is brush. January and February are my favorite months to burn brush.

Why? Because of the weather, specifically snow. Burning when there is snow on the ground is pretty safe. Same goes for during a rainfall. 

Yesterday, I braved the cold and lit a small brush pile. I wasn't sure the fire was going to catch and get going, but it did. The flames had died down to mere embers, and I was ready to call it a day. I'd no sooner taken off my wet jeans when a gust of wind rocked the house, and then kept blowing. 

I did not like this. Would the wind reignite the embers in what was left of the brush pile?

I pulled on a pair of sweat pants and went back outside, hopped on the John Deere 1023, and scooped up a few snow piles leftover from a few days ago when I used the snow pusher attachment on the lane. I dropped the snow on what was left of the smoldering brush pile. And you know what happened then?

Yep. The wind stopped blowing.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, country lifestyle, rural living, John Deere 1023, snow, rain, burning brush, resources, wind, fire, work smart

 

Making soup and waiting for snow

A couple of days ago, as we waited to see what Winter Storm Blair would bring us, I was at loose ends. I'd done everything outside to prepare what I could, and I keep my inner spaces tidy, so that left cooking. I made the best batch of potato soup EVER!

The Lord of the Manor didn't care much for potato soup and so it wasn't part of our regular menu rotation. When I did make it, it was a bit bland to suit his taste. That man would take leftover potato soup, drain off the broth, and mash the potatoes. The gospel according to Ron said potatoes should be mashed or fried. Well....... I like soup! 

Anyway, I made the soup with onions, celery, rosemary, turmeric, parsley, milk, and butter.  It was delish! I ate a serving while seated on the sofa watching it snow. 

Ah, the snow. Winter Storm Blair. 

The Weather Channel predicted a snowmageddon for us with up to 18 inches of snow with at least a half an inch of ice. It was no surprise it didn't happen, but the exercise in preparedness wasn't wasted. 

The generator was started and my cousin noted I should replace the pull cord as it's getting worn. He also suggested a new spark plug. This will happen in the spring when the mowers are serviced. I also added a notation on my calendar to start the generator every five weeks to keep the motor lubed. 

The snow makes my woods lovely, and I've enjoyed observing the birds, but I'm ready for it to melt. One good snow a year is all I need. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Winter Storm Blair, potato soup, rural living, a writer's life, generators, organization, snow birds, country lifestyle, cooking, preparedness

Winter Storm Blair

I don't know when, or why, the weather guessers began to name winter storms. What's wrong with The Blizzard of '77? It works. We remember it. 

The forecast is for Winter Storm Blair to reach us around 10 PM tonight. I've made sure I have plenty of dog food and doggie treats, cat food, KC food, firewood, and water for coffee. The snow shovel and snow melt are on the patio, under roof. So is a gasoline can and the transfer pump. My cousin came up and made sure my generator would start. It's a pull cord and my hip is bothering me and I couldn't pull it hard enough today. And lastly, the snow pusher is on the John Deere 1023. I'm as ready for this weather event as is humanly possible. 

My grandparents used to say that Ohio's weather today is our weather tomorrow. It's surprisingly true, most days. Now we have the Weather Channel and the Internet and a lot of confusion. I took a photo of the sky just before dark. Yep. It's coming. 

Ron and I used to like to watch it snow. We'd cuddle-up on the couch with a cup of coffee and gaze out the living room window. I'll probably sit and watch the snow fall for a little while, but I will need to go out in the storm and run the tractor if it starts to get deep. And who knows how much we'll get? The predictions are never dependable. My location is protected by a very tall hill (a mountain), and the worst of many a storm goes south of us. 

I moved the table on the sunroom porch close to the door so I can stick a ruler in the snow and measure without walking outside. Foresight. Amazing. 

There's nothing left to do tonight except put my jammies on, snuggle with Deuce and Loki, and watch a little TV. I may even fix myself a little something-something to knock the chill off. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, Winter Storm Blair, rural living, snowfall, Weather Channel, preparedness, generators, a writer's life, black Lab dog, John Deere 1023

What should I plan in 2025?

Do you make New Year's resolutions? I don't, but I do make plans. The problem with those plans is one I bet a lot of people have - the new plan looks a lot like the old plan. 

I'm planning the 2025 garden. I plan to grow some of the same old things: tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, cabbage, and green beans. And this year, I'm concentrating on herbs. I've made a few herbal tinctures, but it's become clear I like tea much better, lemon balm tea especially. Herbal teas can have medicinal properties if you research and use them properly. And then there's good old-fashioned Basil. I love, love, love pesto and I didn't harvest nearly enough basil to keep me in pesto until the next harvest. 

And that's when the PLAN came to a screeching stop. What, beyond my garden, do I have planned for 2025? 

The truth is, not much. 

Maybe making a hard and fast plan isn't a good idea at this time in my life. Maybe I need to take baby steps toward those things I want to accomplish. That may mean painting one room in the house instead of four rooms. I need to keep my plans to where I know I can accomplish the goal. 

I think that's what works for a lot of people. Setting small goals that can be met keeps a person positive. They used to say you shouldn't try to climb a mountain in one day. Another bit of wisdom is to break down a big job into its smaller parts and take it one thing at a time. 

That's sensible for me. My 2025 plan is to plan to keep it simple, take it slow, and not bite off more than I can chew. It will be interesting to see just how far I can get with that philosophy. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, planning 2025, New Year's resolutions, gardening, life ideals, rural living, setting goals, a writer's life, KC Kendricks, preparedness