Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all well! Well, the temperature dropped to 9 or 10° F but was 16° by the time I got up (which is supposed to be the high for the day). It wasn’t snowing when I got up but it soon started… The birds weren’t very active over the weekend and the feeder remained about 3/4 full. This morning, however, they had been busy and pretty much emptied the feeder so I had to refill it.

I decided I would take some random photos when I went outside…

 

I went to the chicken house to remove the ice from their waterers and give them fresh water. The Old English Game Bantams (three hens and a rooster) are always happy to see me.

 

The bigger chickens were also glad to see me but some are camera shy. Most of them come to me but when I pull out the camera they run. Pictured above is the While Chantecler rooster and one of the three hens. The White Chantecler hens are very sweet and well mannered.

 

The Delawares are friendly unless they are on the nest. If one of them is in the nest I pass her by because they are very protective… I took a photo of one of the black sex-links but for some reason, it wasn’t there when I uploaded the photos. They are very good chickens and great layers and friendly on the nest. Right now they are on vacation from laying…

 

The Equisetum hyemale (Horsetail) always lays down on the job during the winter. They will mostly stand back up when temps warm up in the spring…

 

The old Achillea millefolium flowers are great snow catchers. They are pretty much dormant over the winter but when temps stay mild they regrow new leaves. Since we had a fairly mild January, some new leaves have already appeared.

 

The Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree Cholla) is very hardy here but not particularly fond of the cold. It turns a maroonish color and kind of shrivels up…

 

The Monarda didyma ‘Cherry Pops’ has been really weird this winter. The leaves have stayed green!

 

The Elephant Garlic stays green and grows all winter.

 

Yep! Under the pot is Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’. It doesn’t particularly like to be covered but I like it better this way even though it thinks I am a bit nuts and overprotective.

 

There are many clumps of some kind of Allium species. I have not been able to identify the species but it is some kind of wild onion… I usually mow around this clump during the summer because they have very interesting flowers…

 

No comment!

 

I think this cat is a bit… Ummm… Maybe I shouldn’t call him retarded but that is certainly the word that comes into my mind. He usually sleeps in the wooden box, kind of like a doghouse, on the porch but he has been particularly weird lately. Last week when it was raining he was right out in it and was soaking wet. Now, this morning, he was right out in the snow.

Maybe he is mourning… Thursday morning his brother wasn’t feeling well and growled at me while I was feeding the cats. He has never been friendly and has only recently allowed me to get close to him as long as I didn’t try to touch him. Thursday evening he was lying under a table on a potting soil bag and he growled at me again and was kind of slobbering. Friday morning he didn’t come to eat and I found him dead next to the basement steps…

 

Now for the miracle… I have had this particular Kalanchoe x laetivirens since June 2015 and have regrown it many times. That sounds weird… Anyway, it can get quite tall, so you have to cut the stem below the leaves and regrow it on occasion. If not, the leaves grow smaller and it is much better looking with HUGE leaves. Over the years it has produced countless thousands of plantlets that can’t resist taking root in the pots of its neighbors. I am in and out of the back bedroom every day but this morning I went to see if I could get a photo of the shelf with all the plants. Well, the light was no good but then I noticed something different with this plant… IT IS FLOWERING FOR THE FIRST TIME!

SO, even though this plant is not so exciting and dealing with the plantlets make it even less so on occasion, it really surprised me with flowers. You never know when a new experience will come along. I have several different Kalanchoe species and this is the first one that has flowered. Well, that’s not counting the plants I bought when I lived in California in 2008 that were already flowering. Since 2009, this is the first… I am excited!

It is now about 2 PM and it has stopped snowing for now. It is, of course, still 16° F and tomorrow it is supposed to be 36.

The National Weather Service says it is 14° F but what’s a couple of degrees? It is cold. The forecast from Tuesday evening through Friday doesn’t look that great but we will survive. Spring is right around the corner. 🙂

That’s all I have to say for now. Until next time, be safe and stay positive. There is always plenty to be thankful for.