On Friday morning I was up at 4:30AM as I had a good amount to do by the time my helper friend arrived at 8AM. I got my post up and then cleaned the kitchen. When I put the shades up at 6:45AM it was going to be a sunny day! It’s been a while since I’ve had a not cloudy day here.
When my helper friend arrived I sent him on errands and I got the laundry folded and put away. Three weeks in a row! I’m on a roll!
I got everything set up for him to make cranberry-orange relish. This is a simple recipe, just 3 ingredients. He got started on it when he got back from errands.
I was trying to take it easy all morning, but never got to sit down for long.
My #3 intern and his mom arrived just before 10AM so I took him out and showed him how to put the protectors on the Little Trees. They have grown a lot and the shrubby ones have lots of shoots. The protectors are 4 years old now and some of them were breaking as he tried to put them on.
I don’t know if it was the cold or how big they had gotten, but he wasn’t able to get them on the chokeberries or the Juneberry in the Little Trees II section. In the Little Trees row, he got the peach and 2 cherries done and the best York elderberry. I think he did the Juneberry in this row too. But most of the elderberries didn’t get covered.
They are forecasting lots of snow, so I hope the critters don’t kill them by chewing the bark off… Next year I will have to make low wire cages to put around them.
Rugosa rose leaves and hips
My next job was to dig more cat grass for Larry and while I was out there, I brought in 2 of the rosemary plants from the New Herb garden. They had been planted so late they hadn’t developed big root systems so they both fit in the pot. Now I get to kill 2 over the winter. Sigh…
I left them on the back porch to acclimatize to something a bit warmer before subjecting them to the masonry heater’s output.
Once I’d cleaned up that mess, I had to get ready for the Homeschool Moms’ Night Out. We used to do dinners but this time we were doing lunch. There used to be a lot more of us but today we were 5.
We stayed about 2 hours and we got caught up on all our doings, our kids’ doings, and grandkids’ doings. My widow friend couldn’t make it this time. One of the moms picked me up and brought me home.
I checked the mail while I was out and got another seed catalog. When I finally get the bills/budget done, I need to plan the gardens and work up seed orders for next year.
I was pretty tired when I got home and just sat down for a while. A little later my contractor arrived and we went over some of the small jobs for him to do over the winter.
I went to watch a Christmas movie and my TV died. It was one I inherited from my husband’s mom, and she’d had it for many years.
I read for a while then got the stoves going and made supper. My older brother arrived here with my younger brother. They had planted an evergreen on my father’s grave.
I read for a while when my brother had headed home, got the stoves going well, and was in bed by 8PM. It’s to be well down into the 20’s on Friday night.
On Saturday, if it warms up by midday, I hope to get out and get some mulch spread in the Big garden. I need to finish the bills/budget too, finally.
My son has another older TV down in the cellar. I have to get that working if I can because the last Downton movie DVD arrived on Friday and my friend and I had planned to watch it here on Saturday afternoon.
So another busy day…