Good Morning, All! Thought I'd get up and get a cup of coffee in me before the short people woke up but the little one has ears like a bat and was only a couple of steps behind me coming out of our rooms! He is excited because it is 'pee outside season' again, so happily ran outside while I chose a warmer venue for my morning abulations Can't really complain about the temps today - it's in the mid 30's and expected to get up in the mid 50's, so it will be a nice day to haul the boys away from their electronics and books and put them to work outside. Gotta get some work done today as there is snow in the forecast for Thursday....
So far, the plan for today is yard cleanup - to pick up downed branches (too bad the grand-dog didn't come this weekend - he's great at picking up sticks!) and see if we can't get a fire going. I have a package of hot dogs in the fridge; and after lunch I can use the fire to take care of some some paperwork that needs to be burned, so that will work out well. We might take a walk back to the lake, see if we find more bobcat tracks - got more photos of him/her on the game cams. I also need to get rid of several clumps of a noxious weed - Creeping Charlie (I found a wild foods site that says it is edible, but today it will be going on the fire), then I will sprinkle a borax/sugar mix on the ground to get rid of the ants that help spread the nasty stuff. We will put down several layers of cardboard and Hubby will help me move the old, leaky water tank that I plan to plant sweet potatoes in on top of the cardboard; then I will mulch around it and start dumping in the soil from expired plants, plus the remains of a few bags of potting soil that I used to start cuttings last year. I'll finish filling the tank with composted manure from the sale barn..
The potting soil is what's left from starting plant cuttings last year; it's pretty easy: Lay the bag flat in a well drained area and poke holes in one side to allow for drainage. Flip the bag over and cut staggered rows of X shaped marks far enough apart for whatever you plan to grow. Make sure that the soil is moist enough to support the cuttings needs, then just plop them into the X cut areas and firm the soil around them a bit. Quick starting bed with no need to build a container (unless you need protection from frost or animal predation).
Last week's prep haul was mostly laundry soap (daughter does a lot of laundry with her business) and tp again; pretty sure there is a few months supply of both now stored at daughters (I might even tell her where I hid it ) and we are good for a couple of years at current use levels here at home. In an emergency situation, I will pull out the ziplock bags of squares I cut from a couple of flannel sheets from the thrift store for the wet work, and save the paper products for the dirty jobs.
I am soooo looking forward to gardening season - I've got two compost beds that are mellowed enough to plant in; just as soon as it warms up enough and stays that way. One of those compost beds will be for sweet potatoes, and the other for regular potatoes - I have some sprouted potatoes that I have threatened Hubby with destruction and mayhem if they happen to disappear before I get a chance to plant them (he goes on cleaning sprees sometimes when I'm at work.)
Looking at the online sale ads shows that CVS has their brand of vitamins, and also batteries on sale buy one, get one free. They also have the Spend $20/Get $5 ECB Proctor and Gamble sale going on; I need to re-stock shampoo, so will probably do that deal. Their brand of some allergy meds are buy one, get one 50% off; over the counter ibuprofen and acetaminophen are buy one, get one 50% off. Walgreens ads are meh, but they do have buy one get on free vitamins, and some deals on over the counter meds. Dollar General has All and Xtra laundry soap for reasonable prices with their coupons; 6 pks of Armour potted meat or Vienna sausages for $2.85, Swanson canned chunk chicken 12.5 oz for $2.50 (they have several varieties of canned meat). I will probably take advantage of their buy one/get one 50% off towel deal as my basement bathroom towels are getting to the point of being relegated to canning or boy/dog towels (for use outside), which means I can switch over some pretty tatty canning towels to the various rag boxes.
Well, somehow an hour plus has gone by since I started this post; guess I'd better get it sent and get back to work!
Take care, all; stay safe out there!
So far, the plan for today is yard cleanup - to pick up downed branches (too bad the grand-dog didn't come this weekend - he's great at picking up sticks!) and see if we can't get a fire going. I have a package of hot dogs in the fridge; and after lunch I can use the fire to take care of some some paperwork that needs to be burned, so that will work out well. We might take a walk back to the lake, see if we find more bobcat tracks - got more photos of him/her on the game cams. I also need to get rid of several clumps of a noxious weed - Creeping Charlie (I found a wild foods site that says it is edible, but today it will be going on the fire), then I will sprinkle a borax/sugar mix on the ground to get rid of the ants that help spread the nasty stuff. We will put down several layers of cardboard and Hubby will help me move the old, leaky water tank that I plan to plant sweet potatoes in on top of the cardboard; then I will mulch around it and start dumping in the soil from expired plants, plus the remains of a few bags of potting soil that I used to start cuttings last year. I'll finish filling the tank with composted manure from the sale barn..
The potting soil is what's left from starting plant cuttings last year; it's pretty easy: Lay the bag flat in a well drained area and poke holes in one side to allow for drainage. Flip the bag over and cut staggered rows of X shaped marks far enough apart for whatever you plan to grow. Make sure that the soil is moist enough to support the cuttings needs, then just plop them into the X cut areas and firm the soil around them a bit. Quick starting bed with no need to build a container (unless you need protection from frost or animal predation).
Last week's prep haul was mostly laundry soap (daughter does a lot of laundry with her business) and tp again; pretty sure there is a few months supply of both now stored at daughters (I might even tell her where I hid it ) and we are good for a couple of years at current use levels here at home. In an emergency situation, I will pull out the ziplock bags of squares I cut from a couple of flannel sheets from the thrift store for the wet work, and save the paper products for the dirty jobs.
I am soooo looking forward to gardening season - I've got two compost beds that are mellowed enough to plant in; just as soon as it warms up enough and stays that way. One of those compost beds will be for sweet potatoes, and the other for regular potatoes - I have some sprouted potatoes that I have threatened Hubby with destruction and mayhem if they happen to disappear before I get a chance to plant them (he goes on cleaning sprees sometimes when I'm at work.)
Looking at the online sale ads shows that CVS has their brand of vitamins, and also batteries on sale buy one, get one free. They also have the Spend $20/Get $5 ECB Proctor and Gamble sale going on; I need to re-stock shampoo, so will probably do that deal. Their brand of some allergy meds are buy one, get one 50% off; over the counter ibuprofen and acetaminophen are buy one, get one 50% off. Walgreens ads are meh, but they do have buy one get on free vitamins, and some deals on over the counter meds. Dollar General has All and Xtra laundry soap for reasonable prices with their coupons; 6 pks of Armour potted meat or Vienna sausages for $2.85, Swanson canned chunk chicken 12.5 oz for $2.50 (they have several varieties of canned meat). I will probably take advantage of their buy one/get one 50% off towel deal as my basement bathroom towels are getting to the point of being relegated to canning or boy/dog towels (for use outside), which means I can switch over some pretty tatty canning towels to the various rag boxes.
Well, somehow an hour plus has gone by since I started this post; guess I'd better get it sent and get back to work!
Take care, all; stay safe out there!