Happy Tuesday! It appears that Meta services are down.  Interestingly enough, I’m okay with it all.  I actually wouldn’t mind it if they stayed down.  I see a lot of people are upset about it all, but honestly, it’s a free service – it’s not a service that is vital.  It’s frustrating that I am not able to advertise for any event unless or sell anything unless I’m using their platform.  It seems that everything ended up in one place – Meta achieved what it set out to achieve – to dominate the social media scene. I tried to get away from it, but I’m not sure if I have other options, because everyone I communicate with is on Facebook, and anyone that I am trying to sell to or trying to connect with is on Meta. 

Anyhow, that isn’t why I wanted to post today.  I wanted to post today to update you on a few garden related things which always leads into an update about my mom of course. Spring is just around the corner – my daughter texted me an interesting text yesterday…. “mom….Spring is just a couple of weeks away, the sunset is after 6 pm – we’ve made it through the darkness!!” Such an interesting text, makes me wonder if she is aware of how difficult winter was for me as a kid, and in my previous marriage, and if it’s as difficult for her in the ways it was for me before I figured out that indeed winter is not my season.

Sweet peas are officially in dirt, as of 2/25 – three days later than usual, but they hadn’t arrived yet, so I couldn’t do it until they arrived.  Of course – it turns out that indeed I could have done them sooner – because I did harvest a bunch last year, but had forgotten about them until the 29^th? Or something like that!  Now I need to decide if I’m going to sell my seeds, or plant them and then sell the seedlings.  I know that they both sell well, so we shall see what I end up with as time goes on. 

I did soak them first, then put them in dirt.  I would doubt that my soil is up to temperature, but it is what it is.  Thankfully the sun will be out all day today, and hopefully tomorrow, so it will warm up my greenhouse hopefully warming up my soil.  I should have checked the temperature, but I haven’t – for various reasons…no need to go on and on about how busy I am, I’m sure everyone is getting tired of listening to me go on and on about how busy life is.  I’m sure everyone else is busy too!

I did forget to order strawflower seeds, but hubby picked some up at a local hardware store, I think, or maybe it was Fred Meyers?  In any case, I’m happy to report that I have some – it turned out that I have some in my seed box, but they are from last year.  It’s difficult to tell if they will germinate or not, so it’s nice to have a backup, just in case.

I have managed to sell several plugs, I’m sure there will be issues with people picking up, and not realizing that they were plugs, or something silly like that.  Nothing ever comes out perfectly, but it’s okay, nothing to get too worked up about.  Thankfully, this is our fourth year, and we’ve found a system that works well.  Thankfully in the end it all works out.  My main goal is to get my initial cash investment back, anything past that is frosting on the cake.

My big order should be arriving the week of 18^th, it will most likely be the 20^th, but we shall see what happens.  It’s not too late to cancel the entire thing and call it off, and just let the people know that things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to. I think things are going to be just fine either way.  My daughter offered to help with the potting up, that might be kind of nice!  I know that I can start filling the containers with dirt sooner than later, that’s always something easy to do ahead of time.  We shall see what time I have to take care of things.

I transplanted all of my houseplants a few weeks ago, that wasn’t too much of a chore it was a nice sunny day out, and it all went pretty smoothly.  Everything seems to still be alive so far, so maybe I might have done a decent job?  They’ve been needing to be transplanted for at least a year or more, so honestly, it wasn’t a decent job of making sure they didn’t suffer….

I will hopefully be poking more seeds in dirt very soon.  But first, there’s a birthday to celebrate tonight, an early morning meeting on Wednesday, doctors appointment on Thursday, and grands for an overnight visit on Friday & Saturday night.  So maybe Sunday, depending on the weather?  I try to aim for the 18^th to get the Zinnia’s & Cosmos started.  But honestly, it will be okay if they are not started that early, because chances of them getting in the ground before mid May is unlikely, so maybe I will push it by a week or so. 

I did manage to do a bit of pottery this weekend.  I made a few dishes, an angel, a tray, three house cut outs (which I’m just now realizing that I forgot to put pins in…ugg) and two scoops.  Unfortunately, I broke my angel’s wings – double ugg, because I really loved her, but I think I can spray her with some water and put her under some plastic to get her rehydrated then put some new wings on her.  I’d like to make several more.  My idea is to make at least three of them, one with a flower, one with a heart, and one with a bird, then paint each of those accents with a silver luster.  We shall see how far I get with all of that….

My weekends are running out, and my time is looking to be tighter and tighter, but tis that time of year.  The clay situation will prove to be very difficult this year, as our garage is currently jammed packed with my mother’s things from her move. 

Speaking of my mom – she called yesterday – all upset about being in lockdown because she tested positive for Covid again.  Told me that this wouldn’t happen if she was at home, but then I reminded her of what it was like at home – and then asked if she has been able to go to the restroom on her own, or get food on her own.  She said, no – then said goodbye.  I get it, it’s no fun being stuck in your room, isolated from everyone.  But honestly, she has lovely views, she has coloring books, and a tv with lots of channels, in addition to her phone and Facebook.  There’s only 2% of the time that I second guess everything, cleaning out her apartment, getting rid of a majority of her belongings, and storing her items in my garage to go through at a later date. 

I think I’ve prattled on long enough, thank you so much for stopping in for a visit.  I hope everything and everyone in your world is doing well, and your business isn’t a bad thing.  Until next time, hugs to you.