Tucked In

The sun is out after the snowstorm, and it is in the 30s. It was a heavy wet snow, tucking everything in under a blanket, but sitting heavy on the softer evergreens like inkberry hollies and the hemlock.

The stiffer spruces look good with their weight of snow.

And my winter decoration looks great.

I have to figure out a way to get a good shot of the four Tide Hill boxwoods marching diagonally into the gravel garden. This isn't it. I want to show the contrast with the linear sweep of the pea gravel and the defining border, with the boxwoods transecting it.  I'll need to keep working on how to photograph that.

I always love this wintery composition right by the patio wall.

Tool Storage

Cold, snow coming tonight.  We had January thaw recently and the temps were up in the high 50s, but now a return to winter.

I finally ordered a tool storage shed to put on the patio.

It will go along the wall of the raised part of the deck. It's actually a storage bin for garbage cans, but I can use it to store all the smaller items that I now have to keep schlepping to the garage to get.

Shown in pine, but I ordered cedar that can weather naturally.
Attractive, for what it is. Made here in New England.

Things that need to stay dry and can't be left out on the potting bench --- gloves, garden ties, pruners, loppers, the pruning saw, maybe the small garden shovels, all the awkward stakes, bottles of spray, small bags of fertilizer, etc.

I'm not sure about the watertight qualities, but the sloping roof should keep rain off. I can always caulk around any opening with weatherstripping if rain gets in.

It's 4 feet wide, and only 2 feet deep. The back height, at 50 inches, is well below the top of the deck railing. Perfect as a small closet under the upper deck.

It will work better than trying to build something to fit in the two foot area next to the potting bench under the window. Jim tried to assemble a storage closet but that wasn't working out. This is a better solution, and it's pre-made. Assembly requited, I'm sure, as it ships in nine panel pieces.

Red Leather Chair

Lately I have been getting up in the morning just as the sun is coming up over the trees. The past mornings have been bright and sunny, and when I come out of the bedroom just before 7:30 a.m., the east windows are brightening and the whole house begins to fill with liquid light.

After coffee is made, the best place to sit and enjoy it is in the big red leather chair. From 8 to 9 on a January morning, this is the place to be.

Visitors

We had visitors this morning.

The turkeys are back. I knew they were still around, but hadn't seen them in a while. There is no question that birds are descendants of dinosaurs when you see these big primitive goons walk.

And a coyote spent most of the morning on the hill up by the road edge.  It looks too big to be a coyote, so we thought it might be someone's dog, but it looks too wild.

Think it's a coyote? Yeah, I do too.

Even Colder

It was 5 degrees officially this morning, no breeze, very still. On my own thermometer here at the house it was 0.

Zero.

We've always been in a little cold sink, a dip between the two ridges that surround us, and a frost will hit the plants at the edge of the meadow when it doesn't affect any others. When it is still, it can be four or five degrees colder in the meadow.

The porch is down to 34 degrees. It has never gotten to freezing on the porch, but this is awfully close. The plumbagos that are overwintering in pots are probably not going to like this.

Thank goodness for the blanket of snow protecting everything, especially the rosemary.

Coldest So Far

It is rare to get winter temperatures below zero any more. This morning was the coldest so far this season -- 15 degrees at 6 a.m.. Plenty chilly.

Why Am I Always Cold?

Snowing today, 30 degrees. We had a white Christmas here, with a little bit of snowfall but not enough to make the roads bad.  Since then it has snowed off and on, with a very steady snowfall today.

I love the way the arched bridge looks spanning a white blanket.

Christmas was wonderful -- trip to LA with Tom and Joanna, then to Denver with Greg and Sass, back here when Hope and Steve came down. A pre-Christmas lunch with Ellen and Angela and Mary Alice, and Christmas dinner at Pam's.

It's full on winter now, though we have passed the winter solstice and days will now get longer. But I can never, never get warm in the house. Why?

On a still day outdoors a temperature of 68 or 70 degrees is really pleasant. In the house it is chilly, surfaces you touch are noticeably cold, and skin that is not covered with clothing or a scarf gets goosebumps. It's uncomfortable and it's relentless all day long.

The heat cranks all day and the inside temp registers 70.  I wear heavy socks, layers of clothing, bulky sweaters / sweatshirts, and make sure to have my neck covered. Why is it so uncomfortable at 70 compared to the same temperature outside? Even upholstered chairs are cold to sit on!

Sigh. Brrr.

Colorado Christmas

California Christmas

Our Tilted Wobbly Tree

Today was sunny and really pleasant, up into the low 60s. Very little breeze. Just a nice day.

I cleaned up some more of the nepeta, and then did a little Christmas arrangement of greens and birch stems in the now empty pot in front.

We put the tree up yesterday. It is on its last legs. Literally -- two of the four wheels broke off leaving just a screw sticking out of each socket, so it is precariously sitting on shims. It totters when you walk by and it lists, seen from certain angles. The connector for the top half went missing so the heavy top third is duct taped on, and very wiggly. I had to twist the wire stem S-shaped to overcome its tendency to flop to the right.

A string of pre-lit lights in the middle won't light. I added a separate string, but there is still a blank spot in the lower part, and now I have all those unlit little bulbs still attached along with the added string.

Jim says this all gives the tree character. I think we need a new (smaller) one.

We put up Bob's little wooden advent tree, a couple days late.