Impatience!

It seems like it's taking forever for warm Spring weather to get here this year.  We had unseasonably beautiful temperatures a few weeks ago (60s), the snow has been gone for a while, and it just seems like it should be warm to go along with the lovely sunshine.

I went for a walk this morning and the wind was a bit brisk despite the 50 degree temperature.  Bulbs are starting to come up and I've contracted to have all of my gardens cleaned out, shrubs pruned, everything fertilized, and fresh mulch applied.  Hope they get to it soon or the bulbs will be up quite a bit.

My tulips and daffodils were really beautiful last year, and I'm looking forward to all of that color agains this year -- assuming, of course, that my tulips aren't eaten by that big rabbit that I've seen hanging around in the back yard.  I put out the live trap but the rabbit is so big I don't think it will fit inside.  I'm afraid that it will have a next of baby rabbits before I can get rid of it!

I keep thinking that I should get some seeds started, but can't bring myself to get excited about it.  I imagine I'll just buy a ton of annuals and tomatoes again this year.

Jack and Anna

What a fun weekend we had!  On Friday, Alex and I went down to pick up Jack and Anna for a fun weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.  The boys headed up to the lake for the day on Saturday, while the girls went to get pedicures and then went to "Annie" at the Performing Arts Center.




Jeff wanted to check on the cottage and haul some stuff up there and Jack couldn't believe that there would still be ice on the lake!  He was totally surprised to find people ice fishing.

After Anna and I had our toes painted, we stopped for cupcakes and went out for lunch (Subway) before heading to the PAC for the play.  We both really enjoyed it -- especially Miss Hannigan!

Video games and movies finished up the evening with a reasonably early bedtime as we had all been up the night before watching the NCAA Oklahoma game.  Jack had been pretty disappointed that they lost so a day out on the frozen lake was just what he needed (and some Harry Potter movies).

Had to get Anna back fairly early on Sunday as she had softball practice.  The weather was not very nice (icy rain) so it's a good thing the practice was going to be inside!

Grandma Lancaster is coming to visit them for Easter next weekend and, then, they're coming back to stay for the whole following week as they'll have spring break.  I'm guessing there will be some trips to the Y for swimming that week!

Spring Visitor

Once again this year I've been enjoying the arrival of woodpeckers to my trees.  This morning, I'm seeing lovely Downy Woodpeckers.  Haven't seen the males, but plenty of females.

Best Intentions

This year I'm going to start posting about my gardens again.  It's March and the City of Appleton needed to trim trees in order to install new light poles everywhere.  So Asplundh came to our house and moved a pretty big piece of equipment into the back yard -- taking part of my hydrangea tree with it.  They removed a huge number of limbs and branches from the trees so we'll see if we still have heavy shade back there this summer.  The ground was still mostly frozen but I think they tore up the turf quite a bit -- which is a nice match for the tunnels left by voles this past winter.

Between the voles, chipmunks, rabbits, and other critters that are killing my gardens and lawn, I'm not sure having the bird feeders around with their constant supply of food is a really good idea.

I've been poking around outside a bit and I'm seeing growth from many of my plants in the gardens already.  I don't want to remove any of the winter cover, though, as I'm sure we'll get some bad weather yet this year.  It has been beautifully warm (up to 60) the past week or so.

Spring Cruise 2015

Jeff and I take a cruise every spring.  The past three years we've gone out of New Orleans (our favorite port), but we wanted to see new things this year so decided to try Galveston.  Once again, we drove down, which I love because you can haul so much stuff along rather than worrying about what you can take on a plane.  The drive down was pretty uneventful and, as neither of us had ever been to Galveston, it was kind of fun to be somewhere new.

Beautiful Gulf of Mexico steps from our hotel room

Turns out, the weekend we were there was Mardi Gras weekend in Galveston.  I'm really surprised I was able to get a room for us.  We like to go in the night before so we can board the ship at our leisure and not be rushed.  Using Wyndham points, I booked a night at the Travelodge along the Gulf.  Surprisingly, the room was ready when we got there a bit earlier than planned so we could dump our stuff, park the car, and go for a walk.  Truly lovely weather and tons of people were gathering all along the road (both sides) not unlike tail-gating while they waited for the parade. 

Our room had been recently painted but was still quite the dump.  Dead gecko in the bathroom, walls as thin as paper, but we managed quite well and found our pre-arranged parking place near the port on Sunday morning.  It's so awesome to have status with the cruise line so you can board early!

Beautiful interiors in the ship

Lovely cabin (Deck 10 - the highest we've ever been) with a nice balcony, good food throughout the cruise, and really, really good entertainment.  I haven't been thrilled with the entertainment on some of our last cruises, but this was really good.  Weather was warm and lovely at every port and we hadn't booked any excursions so we could sleep in, stroll around the port, and reboard to enjoy the ship without crowds.

Cabin steward left us a little pet

Our ports this year were Roatan (Honduras), Belize City (Belize), and Cozumel (Mexico).  Roatan was absolutely nothing special -- even worse than Falmouth, Jamaica.  If we ever went back, I think we'd need to book at excursion or just stay onboard.  Really had a nice time sitting on the docks in Belize where we could get free wifi and drinks.  We had been to Cozumel before so we just strolled around a bit.

In a bar in Belize where we got free wifi

Once again, we had prepaid for the drinks package (which was even more extensive this time because it included the onboard Starbucks).  It didn't make a lot of sense, then, to buy a bunch of drinks onshore when we could get them for free on the ship.

My new ring -- that got us off the ship quickly!

Inside the atrium area of the ship

Very exciting at the end of the cruise.  I had bought a beautiful ring at a LeVian event onboard, and the customs people must check things like that.  When we left the ship, I was stopped at the checkpoint and told that I needed to wait for someone to escort us to the customs area.  For the first time ever, there were problems getting people off the ship because one or more of the escalators in the terminal wasn't working.  As a result, the lines were backed up through the terminal, through the gangways, onto the ship and into the various areas of the ship.  Not sure how long it was taking to leave the ship, but we were escorted past all of the waiting people directly to the passport control area.  It was pretty awesome.  I had put the ring on our customs declaration form and had the sales slip handy so the whole process went pretty quickly (extra $50 in duty).  We were on our way at least an hour earlier than we would have been if we had had to stand in line.

Sunset from our balcony

          

Ian's trip with Grandma

The grandkids continue to get older each year (what's up with that?!) and pretty soon they won't be interested or available to do things with us.  With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to have a trip with each of them before they turn 13.  Ian and I went to Washington D.C. for a few days and really had a good time.  Together, we learned how to navigate the subway, and I learned that there is only so much sightseeing that a 13-year-old can handle.  Frequently, the free wifi at the hotel, coupled with candy bars and free time was the more attractive option.

Arrival in Washington - waiting for the train

Learning to be a spy

We took a bus tour of the city, visited Arlington National Cemetery (and the changing of the Guard), the Natural History museum, the International Spy museum, and saw parts of the Bureaus of Engraving.  We found a local pizza joint that we loved, and hit Legal Seafood for lobster.  As we were taking off to come home, out of the window of the plane we spotted the Pentagon and Ian was able to grab a quick shot with his phone.

Defusing a bomb at the Spy Museum

Really fun trip!

Lunch at our favorite pizza place

Ian was a master at the subway

Lovin' that down time and free Wifi

Lobster at Legal Seafood

A visit to the White House

Great shot of the Pentagon from the plane

What a Klutz!

Enjoying a lovely evening at the cottage.  Nice weather, big bonfire, game on the radio.  Wearing flip flops and trying to carry many things at once into the cottage -- caught the bottom of my flip flop on one of the steps and, because my arms were full, couldn't catch myself when I fell.  Result:  my forearm got the brunt of it directly on one of the steps.  Fairly impressive lump and bruising.

Minneapolis

I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I've never visited Minneapolis (short field trip while in high school but I remember absolutely nothing about it).  The JASNA Convention was here this year so I decided to drive over (stopping in Duluth along the way) and, while here, took a minute to track down this iconic statue of Mary Tyler Moore tossing her hat in the air (as she did on the TV show.  The statue is literally right in the middle of downtown on a street corner, and only blocks from where I was staying at the Hilton.

Minneapolis is a beautiful city and I really want to come back for a long weekend some time to do some exploring.

Fall Updates

We're only in the middle of September and the kids are all busy with sports.  Ian plays kickball in a league, Alex plays football and baseball (both on Saturdays), Jack plays soccer on Saturdays and just tried out for basketball, and Anna is still doing gymnastics.  Very busy kids and we try to make as many of the games as possible.

The weather has been fairly mild so we're doing outdoor work a bit at a time so we don't get hit with it all at once.  My gardens looked really awful for a quite a lot of the summer but look pretty good right now.  I need to remember to plant more things that bloom in the Fall.

As a result of the trip to the U.P. with Jeff and to the House on the Rock area with Mom in August, I've decided to spend some more time visiting 'mansions' in and around our area.  I spent a lot of time and money visiting big old manors and mansions in England, and it occurs to me that we have quite a lot of those here, too.  With that in mind, then, I'm going to start blogging about all of the places I visit on my travel blog:  In Search of My Next Adventure.  A link is available on the right side of this blog page.

Chihuly Exhibit

So, when you Google mansions in Wisconsin you'll get a list of historic homes and 'mansions' that are open to the public.  This, along with the book National Geographic Guide to America's Great Houses, forms the framework I'm using to explore my new hobby of visiting great homes.

From Dale Chihuly's Venetian collection -- on display at the Paine (on loan from a private collection)

Oshkosh is a short 25-minute drive from my home and, yet, I've never visited the Paine.  Home of beautiful gardens and many artsy programs, it's one of those things that I keep saying I'll do.  Just in the last two years I missed an Ansel Adams exhibit and a Normal Rockwell exhibit.  No excuses.

Earlier this summer, I noted that there would be a Chihuly exhibit there until mid-October.  Interestingly, when we were in Seattle last year, I remember there was a Chihuly gallery near the base of the Space Needle and, in fact, there were quite a number of Chihuly sculptures scattered about.  Frankly, I didn't recall the name -- really didn't mean anything to me at the time although I liked the look of the work.  So, when I saw the billboard advertising the show at the Paine, I decided that I'd go to this one.

The summer has been clicking away but last week I finally got down to Oshkosh to see both the exhibit and, more importantly from my current perspective, to see the mansion that appears on the list for Wisconsin.  That part, though, I'll recount in my other blog because it's part of a larger adventure.  (To see that blog, click on 'In Search of My Next Great Adventure' at the top right of this page.)

I really love this glass 'tree' on display in Seattle

Now, I realize that this type of artwork isn't for everyone and, in fact, there are many of his pieces that I don't like.  But most of them (especially the Venetians) are almost breathtaking.  At the Paine, there was a DVD playing that showed an exhibition put on by Dale Chihuly and some specially-invited outstanding glass artists like himself.  The event took place over a week-long period where different styles of glass creation was done at each of the sessions.  It was absolutely amazing; I'd love to attend something like that.

'Temple of the Moon' at Atlantis resort

'Temple of the Sun' at Atlantis resort

                                                When I first saw the billboard announcing the exhibit at the Paine, I immediately thought about Seattle and the missed opportunity to visit that gallery.  While I had peaked through the fence and got some pictures, I didn't go into the gallery itself.  Then, I started looking at his work and it occurred to me that I was pretty sure I had seen examples of it on display at Atlantis when we stayed at the Bahamas resort.  His style is very distinctive so I was pretty sure I was right and, upon doing some research, I discovered that I had seen his work at Atlantis.

Ceiling in the lobby of The Bellagio in Las Vegas

My big shock, though, was the revelation that I had seen and admired his work a lot longer ago than during my visit to the Bahamas.  The gorgeous ceiling at Bellagio is Chihuly.

I'm so glad that I didn't keep putting this off and I can't wait to see what the next exhibit will be.  I know they decorate the entire property for Christmas and do performances of 'The Nutcracker'.  I may have to consider going to see that!

Anniversary Weekend in the U.P.

Our anniversary was Wednesday and we decided to take a little trip.  I've been interested in the many waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so we thought we'd take a long weekend and see what we could find.

Since returning from China, I'm still having some difficulty with sleep patterns so I was up last night until after 4 a.m.; then Jeff was up at 6 this morning.  With this early start (after little sleep), I'm hoping this might be just what I need to get things back on track.

Anyway, we got going this morning and, as we drove north, it was obvious that it had rained earlier.  Fortunately, though, the day was clear, sunny and beautiful for us.  We drove up through Watersmeet and had lunch in Paulding (too early to see the Paulding light, though).  Right outside Paulding is one of the top rated waterfalls:  Bond Falls.  It was absolutely well worth the drive!

After Bond Falls, we tried to stop and find another waterfall, but the path was so full of mud and water that we had to turn back.  :(  Instead, we decided to drive straight up to Ontenogan and see the shores of Lake Superior.  Once again, we weren't disappointed!  

Then the adventure started!  Jeff was pretty sure he could figure out a shortcut back to where we wanted to be so we started driving straight East on a seldom used road.  As we drove, it got more and more isolated and eventually turned into a dirt road -- then a dirt road interspersed with lots of water-filled potholes.  There was some logging activity taking place along the road so the road was in pretty bad shape.  After a pretty long time, we eventually found signs of civilization and came out pretty close to where Jeff was hoping.  Unfortunately, the "lake shore drive" didn't pan out, though, as we were going straight east and the shoreline actually took a northerly turn.  On the plus side, we came out over a bridge with a really lovely view of the river beneath.  Note:  due to all of the rain and the run-off, the water is really brown from all of the vegetation!

Got to Houghton, Michigan planning to spend the night and turned out to be Alumni Weekend at Michigan Technical School, which is a huge school so, consequently, lots of alumni taking up the hotel rooms.  Across the bridge in Hancock, though, we scored the last hotel room at the Ramada right on the water so it worked out.  I had hoped for something like "The Pine Trees Cottages" or something like that rather than a national chain, but this is right on the water and we can enjoy the hot tub this evening.

Tomorrow we're headed to Copper Harbor at the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula and, then, who knows where we'll head next.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I'm inclined to believe this rhyme, but let's not forget the beautiful warm weather that we had for 5 whole days.  With sunshine, warm temps, and a little rain each day, my bulbs and perennials are popping up everywhere.  The biggest change, though, had to be my magnolia.  When I left home in the morning yesterday a few of the upper blossoms had opened.  When I came back 3 hours later, even more were open.  This morning, the whole tree is in bloom and smells heavenly.  Little, bitty pollinators are buzzing from flower to flower to make the tree healthy and overall:  it smells and feels like Spring.

Note:  my magnolia was in full bloom last year on March 19 so we're a full 5 weeks later this year than last year's incredibly early Spring.

No Help from Mother Nature

Last year we had a really early Spring, but a very dry summer.  I was able to get lots of new plants in the ground nice and early, but my water bill doubled over the summer as I struggled to make sure they had enough water to survive.

This year, winter doesn't seem to want to leave.  It's the middle of April and, not only do we still have patches of snow and ice on the ground, it was snowing yesterday!  Mixed with all of the snow we've been getting have been days and days of rain so my lawn and gardens are underwater in places in back.  I just hope some of this water is able to absorb down where it's needed and not run off due to frost still being in the ground.

Today it's in the 50s and a bit breezy with very scarce sunshine, but at least I was able to
get outdoors and start cleaning away debris from my gardens.  We also have twigs and branches all over from the ice storm last week [see photo of ice on my birch tree].  Sandy Dog Carter is visiting this week so she and I were able to get quite a lot done out in the dry parts of the back gardens this afternoon.  It wasn't a lot, but the parts that were cleaned out look ready for sunshine and warm weather!

Because of the drought last summer, I had a lot of damage and lost a lot of plants that need replacing this year.  And I want to fill in with a ton of annuals and herbs, so I'm getting a little impatient!

Not having good luck with the seed starting this year.  I don't know if the potting mix is poor or the seeds are poor or what the problem is.  I've had to reseed two and three times for some of the plants.

However, should we ever get good weather, I will have the following to plant:

• Blue hydrangea that I bought at Easter (still blooming -- it's gorgeous.  See photo at right)
• Maroon calla lily that I also bought at Easter
• 10 Astilbe bare roots that I got at Sam's Club
• 2 Elephant Ear bulbs
• 2 Agapanthus that were bulbs that I put in soil and they're doing beautifully
• 3 Siberian Iris that were also bulbs that I put in soil and are also really doing well
• 2 Arum bulbs that are in soil but doing absolutely nothing
• 1 Amaryllis bulb that was beautiful at Christmas and I intend to plant it outside so see what happens this year
• 70 plants that have been ordered from Springhill
• 42 plants that have been pre-ordered from the Master Gardener plant sale

My own seeds that are sitting under gro-lights right now include:

• 2 Bells of Ireland
• 1 Cleome & 1 Butterfly Weed (both are pretty small & weak, though)
• 10 pots of multiple sprouts of Coleus.  I should be able to get at least 30 or 40 Coleus from these sprouts.
• 5 Hollyhock & 5 Flowering Tobacco (not looking real strong at this point)
• 4 Morning Glory
• 4 tomatoes (and I intend to buy a bush tomato as well)
• 6 assorted zinnias
• 10 assorted sunflowers
• 10 assorted marigolds
• large container of multiple sprouts of Snapdragons.  Probably 30-40 plants.
• large amount of basil and cilantro.  Parsley isn't showing up so I might have to buy that.

With two plant sales coming up where I'll be working, I'm guessing that I'll be carting home quite a few more.  The Gardens of the Fox Cities sale is all heirlooms and I'll get veggies and herbs there.  Since I already pre-ordered quite a lot from the MG sale, don't know if I'll be buying more there or not.

Once again, though, Mother Nature seems to be in charge!

Ice Storm

This has been the weirdest winter/spring that I can recall.  Winter was fairly average but we'd get snow, then it would mostly melt before we'd get snow again.  As we head into spring, though, things are just bizarre.  The weather is warm for a few days, then it gets bitterly cold, then it rains, then it snows, and last night we had a huge ice storm.  Now this is coming in on the heels of several days of rain so we have huge areas of standing water in our back yard that are now freezing over.  When you now add the massive amount of branches and sticks that have fallen off the trees as a result of the ice, everything is just a mess.  Plus, there are still piles of snow scattered about.

The power went out just before 5 this morning but our gas fireplace still worked so I turned it on to keep the living room fairly warm and sat near it reading a book until the power came back on around noon.  The internet was out for a few more hours after that.

I was positive that we were going to lose our birch trees.  The one in front was so heavily laden with ice that it was almost in my office window and did, in fact, scrape the roof when the wind started blowing.  The one next to the driveway lost a ton of branches and, when the city came out to clear things on the power lines, they cut off a few more of the branches.  Not sure what the tree will look like this summer!

Bird Count

I'm not actually going out looking for birds, but I am spotting quite a number of different ones right from my window.  Since my last post, I can add Red-Winged Blackbird (both male and female), Common Grackle, lots of Robins (including an immature young one that has different coloration), American Crow, Black-Capped Chickadee and, on a walk to the park with the kids, 2 sets of Mallard Ducks (male and female).

My Waxwings are long gone and I feel lucky to have had them visit my trees for a while.  This bird-watching is pretty fun actually.

Lots of Visitors

Red-headed woodpecker

A very small portion of the tree-full of Cedar Waxwings

This morning, I have a whole tree full (at least 50) of Cedar Waxwings that are flying back and forth to my neighbor's Mountain Ash and sharing the berries with a dozen or so Robins and a few House Finches. There was also a big Red-Headed Woodpecker going up and down the tree for a while. Really enjoying all of the variety and color.  Of course, my driveway and sidewalk are covered with hundreds of those Mountain Ash berries that have been dropped by my visitors!

Anna in her school play

My other visitors are the two-legged variety:  all 4 of my grandchildren!  Thursday was Grandparent's Day at Jack & Anna's School.  Anna's class put on a series of "plays":  hers was The Little Red Hen -- so she wore a beautiful red dress.  When her class was done, she was able to leave with me so we went and had lunch with Mommy and Daddy.  Then, I went to Jack's class in the afternoon where we did puzzles and word games and Jack had to make a square for a "quilt" the class was making.

Jack making his quilt square

On Friday, Ian and Alex were also out of school so they were able to come over for the day and we went to Badger Sports Park where the kids played tons of game and, of course, Anna won a prize from a machine where absolutely no one else could win anything.

Popcorn and movies and a sleep-over, and everyone headed home on Saturday.

Seed Starting

It's not that I don't believe that Spring will ever come; I'm just not seeing much evidence of it.  Therefore, starting seeds makes me a little nervous as I only have so much room in my house and, unless the snow melts and the ground warms up, I might be stuck with the seedlings for a while.

That said, the 10 day forecast has us finally getting into the 40s and staying there.  That should take care of the bulk of the snow.

With a little trepidation, then, I decided to get some seedlings started.

Background first:  I've spent the past couple of months drawing up plans for my gardens as I wanted to do some major renovations this year.  Then, Stacy came to our Garden Expectations conference this year and, in the issue of B&B that she was using, was the fountain for my back yard.  That gave our President the idea that they should take one of our road trip meetings to our house.  Fortunately, it won't be until August, but I'd really like to have a nice, lush garden by then (even though I've really only been at this for 2 years).  To accomplish that, then, will require a lot of new plantings including a lot of annuals.  Hence, the need to start the seedlings unless I want to spend a fortune on transplants.

I had started 12 zinnia last week (3 are up and moved to the gro-light), and I've now added 3 Siberian Iris (already sprouted), 2 Agapanthus (already sprouted), 2 Arum, 28 marigolds, 40 assorted perennial and annual flowers, and maybe 7 or 8 each of basil and cilantro, plus a parsley.  Brought in one of my greenhouses (the other is holding my overwintering plants) and set it over the heat vent.  At least, now I'm started!

I still have a ton of flowers and some vegetables to get started -- probably in the next couple of days.  I've already pre-ordered 112 plants from various sources, and I know I'll end up buying a flat of impatiens and petunias for my containers.  This is going to be a lot of digging!

Bird Watching

I'm not a 'birder'.  I don't read magazines and books about birds, I don't try to learn the songs of different birds, and I don't go on expeditions to try to see specific birds.  However, I do have several bird feeders and I love to see the bright flashes of color when an unexpected bird drops in for a visit.

Through this long winter, I've become accustomed to the gray feathers of the mourning doves and the barely colored house finches that have continued to visit my feeders.  Today, though, the temperatures were a bit warmer and I saw some fun visitors.

First, there were three woodpeckers in one of the trees in my front yard.  They were pecking away at bugs, but I was able to clearly see them and identify them as Downy Woodpeckers.  As I watched them frantically pecking for bugs, I saw a flash of red and a different species of woodpecker.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see it clearly enough or long enough to tell whether it was a Red-Headed Woodpecker of a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.  Either way, it was fun to watch them and it motivated me to go out and clean up my feeders and refill them.  I'm afraid I had let it go a bit long.

Then, as we were sitting down to dinner, I looked through the back yard into the evergreen trees that grow on the other side of our fence.  Tucked into the branches was a big fat Northern Cardinal.  I had just put out some cracked corn and sunflower seeds so I'm hoping he'll stick around for a while.

The Mourning Doves have been coming up on the porch and hiding out behind the wagon that I have (filled with branches) as a winter display.  I suppose it's a bit warmer and safer hiding behind the wagon.  It's probably a nice refuge for them, but I wish they'd quit pooping all over my porch!

Home & Garden Show

Jim Beard (FVTC) at seminar

Jeff and I went to the Tri-County Arena Home & Garden Show.  We go every year just to check

things out and see if there's anything new and innovative that we just have to have.  While there, we sat in on Jim Beard's seminar on 'Waking up your Garden' and got a lot of useful information.  Gave me a nudge to get out there on the nice days coming up and get my spireas pruned down to about 4", and some really helpful information has convinced me to try to go organic with the lawn.  Might take a few years but the roots will go much deeper and the lawn will be stronger if we eliminate the synthetic fertilizers that we've been using.  Other than enjoying the seminar, there wasn't much else that we gained from being at the show this year.  Don't need gutter inserts and we aren't selling our home.  Did talk with VandeHey's about maybe coming out and helping me with some changes I want to make in my gardens involving large, flowering shrubs.

Desperately Seeking Spring!

Our Master Gardener group had our annual Garden Expectations conference on Saturday.  Friday night it snowed with blowing winds but Saturday turned out pretty nice.  Stacy spoke to the group on the process that goes into creating the issues of Birds & Blooms and she did an awesome job!  I continued to get comments from people long after she left.

Between Stacy and our other speakers, we're all really in the mood for spring and getting started with this year's gardens.  And it snowed again all day today!  Two days until the first day of spring and we're getting more snow now than we did all winter!

Nonetheless, I did start some seeds today.  3 pots each of 4 types of zinneas (including some that only get about 12" high).  I still have plenty of seed so I can start more, or simply sow them in the ground if and when we ever get to that point.  Right now, my tray of 12 potential seedlings is suspended over a heating vent for bottom warmth.  As soon as the seeds sprout, I'm going to get it set up in the basement under my new grow light.  Initially, I was thinking that I was a bit behind in getting things started (although I know the end of March is technically the 6 week mark until our last frost date).  With all of this additional snow, though, I'm thinking that there's no rush to get a bunch of seedlings that I won't be able to move to greenhouses.

Need to keep an eye on that long-range forecast.............