We did our usual wings feast and illegal fireworks show.
Yesterday, I drove down the road to poke around in Twig Forest. Twiggy is a 20 acre pine forest jointly owned by the FC's and my brother T.
Three miles down the road and I had not been into it in months!
What I did there is a post to come, (not a very exciting post either), but when I got home at duskthirty, I spotted this.
The poor bedraggled Anna apple tree was in full bloom. Florida is not kind to apple trees and the Anna is one of the few that can make fruit down here in the land of few chilling hours.
In a cruel joke on this tough little tree, the forecast temperature for Wednesday is 17 degrees F (-8.3 C, Rurality).
So these blossoms are toast.
So are my bananas and pineapples if I don't do some major prepwork today. The bananas will lose everything above ground and restart. The pineapples, I'm digging up and potting. Meant to do that anyway.
My baby satsuma is still potted so she's coming inside for the night.
Chewie the pig will get lots of fresh bedding hay and of course her heat lamp will be on.
I am thrilled to have true cold temps by the way. I'm not complaining in the least. This morning the grey funk that has hung over PFHQ for a week has finally cleared off into beautiful clear blue winter skies.
I picked these at Twig Forest yesterday. The red is a native holly, Dahoon. The black berries are gall berries.
Neither of these grow at PFHQ so I brought some berries back for seed starting. I'm thinking of planting a hedgerow along the south edge of PFHQ.
At night, If I squint, I can see my neighbor's porch light far away in the distance, through the forest and it ruins my feeling of isolation. A brushy hedgerow of holly, cedar, farkleberry, and wax myrtle might be just the thing to block out the incandescent intrusion.
Plus, hedgerows are great wildlife habitat and we're all about that here.
But, mainly it's that light that irritates me like a sandspur in my sneakers.
16 comments:
Please put some covers on Anna. She is trying so hard to make you some apples and it is not her fault that her sense of timing is messed up. She probably got distracted by the warm balmy climate. Can she have a heat lamp, too? Happy New Year by the way! We still have those grey skies by the way. The blue hasn't gotten this far south yet. Makes for a nice excuse to stay indoors and rest.
Best of luck with that hedgerow! I can't stand to see lights at night - night should be dark :)
Interesting ad in your sidebar by the way. Married dating? Does Mrs. FC know? ;)
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Finally some mention of the Twig Forest, even if only tangential.
We've confirmed that we can't see anyone's lights at Roundrock, though if they have another bachelor party down in the valley, we'll probably hear it.
I'm going to wrap my Anna and Dorsett tonight. We bought them for the little one so I really need to make sure they do alright. Need to cover most of the garden, bring all the frogs and lizard tanks in and that should be about it. Maybe bake some bread and a pot of soup. Happy New Year to yours.
This talk of hedgerows makes me think of Led Zeppelin...yeah, I'm weird.
I'm now ready to start changing my appearance- after watching the first half of this most excellent football game in front of the big screen at the 4th Street Shrimp store while dining on all-you-can eat crab. I guess it's hard for you to imagine having your neighbor's porch light 5 feet from your bedroom window...for us, this lot and a half in St. Pete seems somewhat spacious.
My New Year's resolution? Find a spot to call our own where we can't see anybody else's porch light.
Happy New Year, FC.
We don't so much see our neighbors as hear them. Or their music, rather. Because they apparently only believe in owning music-producing electronics in their CARS. They just open the car doors and play the music very LOUDLY. We mainly just get to hear the bass line. Boom boom ba-boom. At least it's not music I despise though, and at least it's always off by 10 or 10:30 PM. (Same in metric time!)
So, it could be worse. :)
Actually I was wrong, now that I think about it. (The second after I hit "Publish Your Comment".)
That last part should read, 10 or 10:30 PM (22:00 or 22:30)!
Cathy S,
I'll have to make another trip to HEATLAMPS R US.
I have one on the pig and two on the dog den.
I hope the blue gets to you.
Swampy,
Married dating? I need to get out more, I had no idea.
Adsense has put up some odd adds at times.
Pablo,
But if a light is on at RR and you are in KC, does it make any light?
Dani,
The deer clobbered the sibling Dorsett years ago and this old Anna has hung on. I have to bring in my turtlings too. Happy new years to your family!
Swampangel,
Nothing weird about Stairway To Heaven. At high school dances, that was the looooong slow dance song and when it started, we instantly grabbed our best girl for that dance.
Vicki,
I didn't watch the games, but my inlaws and wife were clustered about the tv sets all day.
I think they are in mourning now :)
I bbq'd and worked outside all day.
I hope you accomplish that resolution. That's a tough one.
Rurality,
We rarely hear anyone, but last night was a cacophony of gunshots in the surrounding area as midnight broke. We stuck with fireworks ... spectacular illegal fireworks, but just fireworks.
I love 24 hour time and keep my watch set on it. Like the metric system, it just makes so much sense.
Bring the dogs inside and give the heat lamp to Anna. Yes, the blue got here finally, but only after we had headed off to the movies. My once a year trip to the movie theatre. Who can afford to go these days? National Treasure was good, though. Go see it. Sorry about the bulls and the gators. My father (UF class of 1958) refused to come for New Year's dinner he was so distraught.
Cathy S,
Once a year? Why, I go twice as much as you :)
Since Netflix, I tend to wait for the DVD.
Nothing like theatre popcorn though.
I've never lost a moment worrying about the outcome of a sports event that my kids weren't actively playing.
My wife on the other hand takes it very hard when the Gators fail.
I don't get it.
i've never lived where one can't see another's porch lights. no adjoining walls and a good-sized yard for the dogs [and formerly, the kids] -- that's what we need. but we are all in favor of planting for privacy, not to mention teh wildlife.
we went to a football game, my first in over 30 years -- as you know, my interest is only in the bands, and daughter's band was great! oh, also her team won.
happy new year, everyone!
Poor apple tree...they get caught up here every now and then too. Is is small enough to throw a couple blankets over it?
I imagine that pretty blossom is done for by now. Have a nice, chilly day!! :) Heck, I might even have to flip the switch (@@) on the fireplace
We also have an apple tree back home (you know where that is...) And the poor thing has just hung in there for the past 11 years, all by itself. I'm amazed it's still alive, through 12 or 13 sets of renters!
As a result, it's not very big. Some years, we'd have renters that would take care of it, and other years, such as the year the lazy Professor and his Dr. wife moved in, their sons all but destroyed the lawn with their motorbikes and ATV's. (shudder).
Those plants that grow without our assistance deserve full respect, indeed!
Stay warm up there, when you choose too! It's actually nice and cold here, for a change. We'll take what we can get!
p.s. love the new header!
Kathy A,
Hurrah for the band!! Happy New Year to you and yours!
3C,
It's small enough, but there's no good pollinator nearby so mostly I just let it be.
My banans are wearing blankets though.
Laura,
Thanks on the header heads up! :)
I plan to keep it changing this year.
I agree, tough plants should be doted on and respected.
The wimpy ones drive me crazy.
Enjoy your cold weather!
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