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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

On 2/15/07, Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com> wrote:
> But how are the peas doing?  I couldn't stand the temperature extremes.

I don't plant peas quite so early. Once I have an established garden,
the season, for me, begins mid-March. This year, I'll wait to plant
until I can create a garden area, so that will mean no early season
plantings. I've successfully over-wintered a variety of crops, with
deep mulch, though, so our season is pretty long if you work with the
seasons. While I cannot say I ENJOY sub-zero weather, it was not a
horrible thing to be snowed in for 2 days following the blizzard. I'm
always prepared for such events. It can be restful (although as I
explain below, this time it was anything but restful). We have
beautiful springs and autumns. Our summers have some humidity, but
then, if I lived out west I think my skin would wither and weather -
every time I visit out west, in the more arid regions, I feel like all
the moisture in my body is being sucked out! Anyhow, whenever we have
sunny days in the 70's I enjoy them, and then I tell myself that if
ALL of our days were like that we would be Californicated and I
couldn't afford to live here! So I cope just fine, enjoying the
perfect days and the not-so-perfect days.

The only horrible thing going on during the blizzard was that my goat
delivered 2 weeks early and the triplets were all lost, but that was
not due to cold - it was relatively warm when she delivered. Rather, I
had the fun of trying to train a recalicitrant goat to lead from the
shed to the garage, where I've set up a milking parlor of sorts. I had
the joy of doing this in snow that was nearly up to my knees before it
drifted. The goat is rather large, as goats go, and she put on an
amazingly good impersonation of a donkey, twice a day. Then, once on
the stand, she turned into a kicking machine. I tied one leg. She used
the other. Milk pail after milk pail went flying, until I figured out
the best way to tie her feet so that she could not kick at all. It was
not the most joyous of experiences I've ever had. But, this morning I
had fresh goat milk in my coffee, so things are looking up.

OK, well the other bad thing going on during the blizzard is that my
dog got sick, a complication of his recent neutering. But that is a
story for another email, perhaps.

Anyway, blizzards CAN be times of rest and relaxation, and a sort of
forced quiet time of hibernation: a time to read, or meditate, or
catch up on spinning or knitting. Sometimes, they aren't!

Gloria