Holidays

Well, I survived Thanksgiving.  I have come to think of just surviving the holidays.  I don't really enjoy them anymore.  Not sure why.  But I think it is all the commercialization of them.  Thanksgiving is a holiday belonging to the white European settlers.  It is considered a day of mourning for Native Americans and with good reason. 
Fast forward to Christmas.  Everyone hits the stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving to spend, spend, spend.  I would like to just once see a Christsmas with minimal spending on gifts and maximum spending on giving.  Food bank, homeless shelters, coats and shoes for poor kids, stocking pantries and refrigerators for poor. But instead we spend on gifts that no one really wants, do so in a frenzy.  Open those presents and force ourselves to be "happy."  In reality, we are miserable and trying to push the thought of those bills coming in for all the junk we spent on.  How about one gift for each child, none for adults and a pleasant family meal, no stress. 

But we all have that one family member that makes everyone miserable.  And I for one am tired of it all.  Maybe next year, I will just take off with my fur babies for a camping trip in a remote state park.  Texas has lots of them.  Or just park my car at a public parking lot, stay home and keep the doors locked and just chill with Honey, Jock, Duncan, Tiger and Picasso, if Duncan and Picasso are still with me that is.  Yeah, tired of the push,push,push, then it is all over and we are right back at bickering and fighting.  I am not religious, but God must be turning his head away from what we have turned into.  There is no good will, no peace, no compassion.  Just greed.  Ok, I'm off my soap box now. 

On to more important things.  I bought bird seed and am pretending I am feeding the birds.  Yeah, well Edward of the bushy tail is getting all the seed in spite of the fact that I bought feeders that were "squirrel resistant."  Please.  It took him about two seconds to get into them.  I will keep trying though.

Bedded down.

Honey loves the colder weather as long as it is not raining.  Jock tolerates it and will not stay out long.  Duncan hates it even when wearing a sweater.  Well right now all three are bedded down.  Duncan is on my bed.  Jock is on his bed and waiting for me to go to bed so he can get in bed with me.  He won't stay on the bed unless I am in bed.  And Honey, Honey is allowed to get on my bed.  She is allowed to sleep with me.  But she won't.  She will get up on the bed but only stays a few minutes.  Then she is back on the day bed that is all hers.  She has a bed in my guest bedroom/workroom.  It is a daybed.  And she has a twin bed in my bedroom all to herself and she loves it.  Yep they are spoiled.  And I love them so much.

winer again in Texas

Well we had one day of summer and now we are back in winter.  It is cold and raining.  Well cold to us.  It is in the low 50's.  I realize that for the rest of the country that is not cold, but for us it is.  Honey had to be pushed out the door this morning and had to be left barking until she did her business and could come back in.  She was so insulted.  She hates rain.  Jock doesn't care.  Rain, snow, heat, cold, he doesn't care.  He will spend hours in the yard if allowed.  And he is again munching the fruit of the Turk's cap plants.  They grow low to the ground and the fruit is easy to reach.  And they will not hurt him.  Baby will come over later.  Guess they will be playing in the house because Honey won't play outside.  She will just sit at the back door and bark until I let her in.  Baby is an outside dog so he doesn't mind the weather.  He won't even come in at home unless it is really cold.  Then my son can get him to sleep inside in a crate.  Otherwise, nope.

Texas weather

Well, we have had our first freeze.  It was early, very early.  Before global warming became a real thing, our first cold snap was around Thanksgiving.  I would always bring in fully blooming Christmas cactus and hang them in the sun room.  Well, this time they had not even set their buds and I had to bring them in.  And it was weird.  I left a Bouganvilla outside.  I fully expected it to freeze.  It did not.  However, two of my crepe myrtles did freeze.  Weird.  Anyway, my sun room is full to bursting.  I moved in a night blooming Cereus.  It is an orchid.  It has beautiful blooms but they only last until about mid morning.  I also have 5 poinsettas  that I rescued from work after Christmas two years ago.  They were almost dead when I got them.  Now they are about 3 feet high and do still bloom, but not at Christmas.  They are not a Christmas bloomer in the wild and they are a tree of about 10-15 feet.  They will grow in South Texas but are very tender and will freeze easily.  Add to that a couple of gardinas, airplane plants, and african violets.  I do not know why I bothered moving in the airplane plants.  They will freeze, but only the leaves and will come right back out.  They are really hard to kill.  So my AloeVera is in the garage.  I will not lose that.  That is like a whole medicine chest in one plant.  My roses are blooming up a storm and were not even touched by the freeze.  Love them. 

I noticed that the plantain was beginning to come up in the flower bed.  Time to make some hand salve.  It really makes a good hand salve.  And with my hands so sensitive to any chemicals, I use it almost exclusively.  I will use goat's milk lotion, but it is not as good as the salve with plantain.  And yes plantain is a weed.  A weed that contains medicinal properties and you can dry the leaves and make tea.  Gonna do that as well. 

I mulched the back flower bed today.  It is about 3feet x20 feet.  And after I finished mulching it, I broadcast Swiss chard and mustard seed.  Cannot wait till they come up.  Lettuce and bunching onions are next.

First freeze

We had our first really cold weather.  Well, cold for Texas.  Honey loves it.  The first dry morning, she tore out of the house, tore around the yard at breakneck speed, grabbed a toy and tossed it around for around an hour.  Jock, on the other hand, did his business and went inside.  I had gathered my basil before the free to dry.  I put it n the dehydrator and ran it for a couple of days.  When I took it out of the dehydrator and put it in a bowl to crush it, Honey and Jock were standing around me waiting and hoping for a treat, so I gave them a carrot. 

It is so easy to be self sufficient with food.  I dried enough basil to last me through the winter.  I have Swiss chard growing, mustard greens, onions and garlic.  I have sweet peas coming up.  I have Oregano growing as well as garlic chives and have just planted parley in pots.  I also harvest dandelions from my yard.  I don't make an effort to kill them because they are loaded with nutrition.  I also have purseline , or moss rose to some of you.  It is also nutritious.  There is so much in nature that we just ignore that is better for us than what we get at the grocery store.  I am now drying yaupon leaves to make tea.  I will dig a bunch of dandelion roots and dry them to make tea as well.  As soon as the plantain come up this winter, I will be using the leaves to make hand cream.  It has great medicinal powers and with my hands being a problem, I make and use it every spring.  You can also dry the leaves of plantain and make tea from them.