January thaw

January thaw.

Yesterday was warm and rainy (.5").  Today at dawn it was still 50F and should warm up to near 60 today and tomorrow.

Sunny today, rain tomorrow.

All the gutters are free of their monster load of ice dams and the only snow left this morning are those piles from plowing (dumped on the shady side of the garage) and the once-towering pile just off the deck.

I expect that, before the big cold-down due on Monday, all of this snow will be gone.  Hopefully we'll get some nice new snow next week.

I don't like mild winters.  Totally screws up the following year's gardening as there is not enough moisture and too many bugs. 

Since it was so mild, I went out and did a couple of chores.

I took 5 pails of kitchen scraps out to the compost pile and layer them in with some reserved leaves.  Then, for a quick 'rinse' of the pails, I used snow from the big pile for a scrub.  Worked great.  Now they are clean enough to bring them into the basement for a really good wash.

The ground, while wet, was quite friable, so I pulled up a half-dozen dead clumps of Yvonne's salvia and 9-10 salvia subrotunda plants.  The summer drought had made the soil like concrete and there was no way I could pull them up in Fall.

Finally, I moseyed out to the garden and clipped a basketful of fresh Tuscan kale.  The deer have been at it, so I broke out the most damaged plant, then re-wrapped the rest with (now rotting) nylon net.  I'm going to have to get something more substantial for netting in future.


Finally I tidied up the privacy drapery along the driveway and then just stood (everything's too wet to set on) for a bit on the deck and enjoyed the mild temps.  I'm not ready for Spring, that's a fact.  But it was nice to get a preview of coming (hopefully much later) attractions.