A rainy Wednesday afternoon

The last of our snow and ice melted away last night. I'm not sorry to see it go--it always starts to look slushy and dirty after a day or two, and then it's just unnecessarily messy. Not fun. Speaking of messy, it's been raining since late last night. Even though it's warmed up quite a bit, it still feels really chilly since everything is sopping wet. A little while ago I had to put a leash on George and force him to go outside. He hates rain, and he hadn't peed all day. Both dogs will walk to the back door, look out, and turn right back around. I don't blame them, but I do feel bad for them.

Since I'm stuck in the house and Gregg works on Wednesday afternoons, I'm making a loaf of homemade bread. I made a loaf a couple of days ago and it's almost gone. Making bread seems to get easier the more I practice. That's true of everything, I guess.

Oh! And look what came in the mail today! My first seed order for this year. 

I'll be starting my tomato seeds this week, since they need to be ready to plant by mid-April. The three bigger packets are two kinds of lettuce (Merveille des Quatre Saisons and Forellenschluss) and carrots (Red Cored Chantenay). It will soon be time to start those, too.

Winter break checklist

I'm thrilled to say that this morning I girded my loins and did our taxes. It's always such a relief to get that over with, and more so this time because Gregg started collecting Social Security last year. We were both a little nervous that since he hasn't quite reached his full retirement age, his earnings from self-employment added to the SS payments might put him over a threshold to owe higher taxes than usual. To my relief, though, we pretty much broke even and the amount we owe the federal government was less than the refund the state owes us. In fact, we come out ahead by $350, so I'm counting that as a win!

I had a six-month checkup with my family doctor yesterday which I was also dreading. I'd hoped to have lost more weight by now, but that didn't happen. (On the positive side, I haven't gained any back either). The doctor didn't comment on it one way or the other. I'm hoping to get back on track and take off some more weight between now and August when I see her again. 

I also had a dental appointment early in the week. I just needed a cleaning and checkup, but I've come to dread my visits because the big, busy dental practice I use are ALWAYS trying to have me get expensive work done. This last time I protested that I wanted to hold off as long as possible on any extra work, because of the expense, and they STILL printed off a big estimate (over $7000!) and handed it to me with a warning that the prices go up every year. I hate the pressure to spend lots of money when I don't think it's really very urgent at all. I was super relieved when that bi-annual ordeal was over, too.

Another thing I accomplished this week was helping Gregg construct a new cage of bird netting around the crabapple tree. It grew so much last year that its branches were rubbing against the old net, so we had to make everything wider. If we don't take these steps, the neighborhood deer will eat every tender new leaf that opens this spring.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the tree is over 7 feet tall now! I can't wait for it to bloom in a few weeks.

And speaking of growing things....my two seed orders arrived this week!

I'd already started tomato and pepper plants from seeds leftover from last year. As you can see, the tomato seedlings are starting to get big!

It feels like I've gotten a lot accomplished on this break, and I still have the weekend in front of me to do whatever I want. Then back to it on Monday!

Seed order

Oh, how I love a seed catalog in the depths of winter! This year I got two paper catalogs in the mail to pore over and plan my 2023 garden with: Seed Savers Exchange Heirloom Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Today I finalized my plans and placed orders with both companies. It's hard to believe, but in a couple of weeks it will be time to start tomato and pepper seeds. I want them to reach a good size for planting out around mid-April. Things that can be started earlier will be sown directly in the soil (like lettuce, spinach, and radishes) and cucumbers can be started later in the spring. This year I'm planning to start cucumber seeds twice, ripping out the first plants when they're done producing and then replacing them with new seedlings. I want a large crop of cucumbers so I can try my hand at making pickles--I love pickles, both dill and sweet. And of course I'm dreaming of salsas and sauces with my peppers and tomatoes!

Here are the tomatoes I've decided on for this year:

Nebraska Wedding

Eva Purple Ball

Rosso Sicilian

Berkeley Tie Dye

Hillbilly Potato Leaf

Ingleheart Yellow Cherry

Mexico Midget Cherry

As for peppers, I ordered three kinds:

Zapotec Jalapeno

Datil Hot Pepper

Sheepnose Pimento

I also reordered the wonderful "Marvel of the Four Seasons" lettuce that I enjoyed so much last year, and for cucumbers I decided to get the "Boston Pickling" variety which have always grown well for me. 

Here's hoping for a great 2023 growing season!