We had a nor´wester blow through. Or two. Right after the Siberian blast. So much for the warm, dry winter.
Electricity went on and off again all weekend. Must find a better lighting solution than candles, of which we have quite a few, but not enough light to read by. Fortunately, we didn´t lose anything in the freezer or anything. We remember a 4 day blackout in Chicago, with V recently arrived, during a record heat wave. A hundred year old transformer blew. V remarked after the second day that governments would fall in Spain if such a thing happened. He was impressed that people managed to cross intersections with non-functioning traffic lights in such a civilized fashion.
The current joke is after complaining about the price gouging on electrical rates during the cold snap, people are now doing without, whether they want to or not.
Anyway, no notable damage. A tree in the woods alongside our lot fell. A couple of branches also came down. Some yard stuff blown around. A road sign at the corner blew into the ditch.
I´d planted two baby bare root oak trees just before, which are certainly watered in at this point. They are in memory of my parents who are both gone now, but one has a split down by the base that I didn´t notice when purchasing, so I have my doubts about it´s future. Still, at €3.50 at the farmer´s market, not difficult to replace. Bought some more blueberries, an almond tree, and the only hazelnut they had, along with an impulse Lingonberry, which I´m not sure will thrive in this zone. I miss cranberries.
Breo´s been ordered to ¨rest¨ after pulling something in a back leg. Conveniently, he doesn´t like going out in the rain. We think it´s from his stint at the shelter. But even without walks, when he ¨sees¨ something in the garden he takes off like a rocket and then hobbles the rest of the day.
The rain guage blew over twice so I can´t be sure how much actually fell. Now waiting for the water to drain to get back to the garden and planting. It´s starting to smell like spring. And the plucky little japanese quince is blooming!
Hi Coco,
ReplyDeletePlanting the oaks as a memorial is a beautiful idea.
Electricity is an interesting matter. The mains here is mostly reliable but it is not a constant by any means and in the event of an bushfire emergency it is cut off for very good reasons (smoke conducts electricity just for one of the many reasons). As a suggestion I keep a couple of torches which are regularly charged with rechargeable AA batteries. They look like this: LED workshop battery powered light. Mine have magnets on the back so I can stick them to metal surfaces. As to the rechargeable AA batteries in recent years I have only purchased Eneloop batteries as they are far and away the best that I have experienced.
Your place is looking lovely and green!
Chris
Hi, Coco!
ReplyDeleteWhen we have a damaged plant or small tree, I cover the wound with some of our damp local clay and then wrap that around with some moss (we have much) and, if necessary, tie it with a bit of string (or vine) to hold it together. It always seems to work. Once I actually bandaged a tree wound with people bandages. Everyone laughed at me, but it worked.
Pam
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI thought about a decorative tree like a camelia, especially for Mom, or fruit trees. Somehow, a crab apple seemed unkind. Finally settled on oaks, as they were both very strong, independent, English folk. At least the celtic spirits will be pleased.
Thanks for the recommendation. A quick look online shows they´re available from Amazon.uk, so the shipping would probably be prohibitive, but I´ll look around some more. I wonder if there´s a solar camping lamp that could just live in a windowsill somewhere. Or there´s always hurricane oil lamps, I suppose. Oldey timey charm.
Hi Pam,
Good for you, saving your trees! Worth a try, we have both clay and moss. It looks like the bark is sort of exploded out, not sure what it is. Also have to find tree guards so the rabbits can´t chew on them. Good thing they´re so tiny or they´d have blown over.