On Saturday morning it was raining when I got up at 6AM. My son had the fire going in the office so it was warm in there. I kept it going all day as it was pretty cold and raining.
My #2 intern was coming for 10AM to take me around to plant sales. That meant I had to empty out the back of the car and on the way back from the barn I got this photo.
I brought my pansy umbrella and for the first time, I think, since I bought it 5 years ago, it actually got used a lot.
First stop was the little greenhouses here in town. I get annuals mostly here but I did find a rose, and the rosemary.
These are what I got this year:
My #2 intern was quite taken by the spotted petunias. So I got her one to put near the walkway so she can see it all summer when she comes.
She wanted the deep purple one but I am not fond of purple (or petunias – them smell bad), so we got the next darkest which had pink overtones.
Its real name is ‘Headliner Electric Purple Sky’ but we are calling it Galaxy.
The plant sale haul
There was a warning at the greenhouses that they were heated to 50F at night and below that for tender plants would do them damage. So we sorted out the ones that could go in the cold frame and the ones for the house and got them into trays for watering.
The new rose ‘Sunrise Sunset’
Once we had them sorted out and in place, we sat down to eat lunch and visit a while. She left at 12:30PM and I went in and watched a movie. I hadn’t quite finished it when the contractor arrived.
It took 7 tries but I finally managed to get the screen door grill ordered and it had arrived on Thursday.
So he set about cutting it to size and getting it fitted. No more cookie sheet!
The next project was to fix the top of the box that insulates the attic stairwell. Someone had stepped on it a while back and broken it. I didn’t want the mice moving in. So we found a piece of wood and he got it on good and tight.
Next up was measuring to see if the ceiling fan in the office would fit in the spare bedroom my #1 intern has. She needs all the air movement she can get up there. The windows are too small for an AC. It will fit just fine.
And after that he went out and checked out the door to the shelter in the front pasture. It had started to come apart.
When he left I went back to my movie after I made some supper. But it was cold in the living room. My #1 intern had brought in wood, but it was green wood and the masonry heater doesn’t do well with that. There was some green wood that had been brought in a couple weeks back, so I decided to try lighting it with that.
So I was up until 10PM messing around with that.
On Sunday my older brother is coming up from CT in the morning and my younger brother and I will join him. We will get a takeout lunch and go to the cemetery to eat it as that’s what my older brother wants to do. He’s bringing flowers and we will plant them on the grave.
Saturday night it said it was to be cold in the night and cloudy and rain during Sunday. So that’s why I started the masonry heater. But when I got up, the forecast had changed and now it’s to hit near 70F and sunny. I’m glad I have some screens in now!
So I might go out into the gardens and get one of the finished ones re-weeded and plant some of the not tender plants, like the rose or pansies. We’ll see…