But that doesn’t worry us as it’s already 38° F and warming up fast. In fact by the weekend, it’s supposed to be in the 50’s — with rain! A whole lot of our snow has already melted and by this time next week, only big banks of the white stuff will still be with us. Hooray! We’re ready for Spring.
David and Ashley are getting ready to move home after spending the winter renting David’s friend’s basement bedroom so they could be closer to work. They came over Saturday for a visit and to bring some of their gear home. Luckily (?) the wringer on my washing machine chose then to stick. It popped open and refused to close again. (If you’d like to see what it’s like to use a wringer washer, check out my article Wash day in Issue 130 of Backwoods Home Magazine or the Twenty-second Year Anthology.) With both David and Will working on it, they soon discovered it just needed lubrication as some parts had corroded over the years. After all, that machine is at least 50 years old, and still working. You sure can’t say that about modern washers!
Then on Sunday, we made two trips with our truck, David and Ashley’s cars, and our Escape to their storage building in town, hauling more of their “stuff” to the big, plastic-covered plywood box David had rescued out of the dumpster at work. Included in the “stuff” were several new windows Ashley had gotten on a killer sale at Menards, as well as several new doors she’d gotten the same way. So for less than $100, they have nearly enough windows and doors for the cabin. All new, and energy efficient too.
Oh, I forgot, there was also a very large used window in like-new shape Ashley saw sitting by the road with a “free, take me” sign written on it! She quickly called David and stood guard over the window until he came with his truck. All of those windows are in the cabin, ready for when work begins again soon.
Meanwhile, I’ve been transplanting like mad. The tomatoes and peppers are growing like gang busters so I’m trying to get them all in Styrofoam cups in sunny windows. But I’m out of windows, so I’ll have to keep the door to the enclosed porch open from now on so some flats can go out there. Right now, with the door closed, it has only gotten down to 40 degrees out there with only the sun for heat. Pretty cool! — Jackie
Linna, if you click on the Seed Treasures site, click on books at the top, not the book covers on the right, you will find everything. (go down through all the books. the westerns are last. good luck this time!
Found it. Thank you for helping me understand the system. I’ll send in the order. Linna
Hi Jackie, This is not a comment on your blog, but I thought others may have the same question.
I have a set of your Jess Hazzard novels and want to order a second set—could I buy them from you directly instead of from Amazon? I was hoping that you would get more from the sale that way. Linna
Yes, you can order them right from me. And I’ll autograph them for you too. You can check out our website, http://www.seedtreasures.com (click on the seed box above!) and view the books & prices, etc. How thoughtful of you!!
OK! The seed treasures site takes me to Amazon and gives the prices of $12.95 apiece for 4 books.
What charge do you charge for shipping and handling ? I will send a check for the total. Thank you, Linna
Just got our seeds started today. But the last frost is between April 29 and May 12. So hopefully we’ll still have a nice garden. We’ve only done container gardening of tomatoes for past 8 years. This will be our first big garden since 2010. Health issues kept popping up and caused us to forgo the large garden. We started back to canning last summer with produce from the farmers market and are looking forward to putting up our own veggies this year. You give my husband and I so much inspiration. Have read Backwoods Home since the beginning and so glad it’s back to being published. Thanks for all the guidance and enjoyment from all your articles over the years.
I only use a wringer washer that is almost 70 years old. We have had to fix it one time. I will NEVER use another modern machine.
have you started your onions yet?
Yes, a few weeks ago as I like to have them pretty big to go in our cold spring garden early.
Enjoyed your note. Winter has given up yet! My peppers and tomatoes are going strong. We recently boiled down 28 gallons of maple sap and made 7 pints of syrup. The grandkids enjoyed that project. Calving has gone well with loss of the first born but the rest we’ve been lucky. I’ve cutting up deadfall trees for future heat. Busy time of the year!
I’m glad to hear things are going well for you. I wish we had maple trees here. We do have a few Silver Maples but no Sugar Maples. And those are pretty young. Will’s busy cutting up firewood too. Like they say here, “There’s two seasons in Minnesota, Winter and getting ready for Winter.”! So true.
Way to go Jackie!! Here in AL we are ready for the temp to stay above 40, so we can getout & garden some. Cant imagine the snow & cold y’all have. Lol.
It’s not really that bad but we sure are ready for spring.
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