Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here after rather a long absence just to say that we’re still around. You may remember me from such posts as “Selling Insurance”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. 
Hardly anything has been happening here, which should explain the title of my post. It hasn’t been terribly cold, but not terribly warm, either. There was some wind, which the guy I live with said was weird, but also nice, and “Like the old days”, which I guess means way before I was born.
We mostly do just sit here. I go on walks, and the guy I live with cooks stuff, and activities like that, but mostly it’s nothing, which really is not bad at all.
In the evening we listen to music (at least he does); he sits on the couch with me. I usually drift off. 
We do go outside sometimes, though there isn’t much going on. The ice and snow is still here. Some of it was from the last week in October. This is not anywhere near like our “normal” winter weather, but it’s what we have now.
This is me surveying things. Sometimes there are things that need to be surveyed, and I’m the one to do it. 
I guess it’s kind of dreary. The soil is frozen, which I understand is not good at all; the cyclamen are certainly suffering. I know because I hear about it. 
I guess dreary really is the right word. 
Some of the little cactuses that the guy I live with grew from seed died after it got cold in October, even though they made it through the last couple of winters, but some others are still fine. They’re about the size of golf balls.
I forget if I told the story of all these seedlings, how he had like six hundred of them, and transplanted them into pure sand, then watered them, and they almost all died. (The water wicked back up into the pots.) These were the only ones that survived.
That was a while ago. I’m not sure why he doesn’t just give up; I think I would. 
You can see here that Sternbergia lutea is not suffering from frozen soil. 
It’s true that there are some snowdrops in flower in the frames. They’re hard to photograph, I guess, so you’ll just have to trust me. He goes out to look at the pots in the frames, which are “plunged” into ordinary garden soil.
There are some pots in which there are no snowdrops up, and there was a lot of discussion about this (he talks to himself, and to me, but I don’t know anything about snowdrops), and also a lot of digging around in the pots to try to figure out why some were up and some weren’t. He discovered that in the pots where snowdrops were up, the soil wasn’t frozen, and in pots where the soil was frozen, it was because the soil mix in the pots had what he calls “store bought gunk” in it. Stuff he bought that came in bags. His definition of gunk.
The pots where snowdrops are up, and some in flower, are ordinary garden soil, with some sand mixed in. No gunk.
You know, like the stuff you buy that’s called “compost” or “top soil”. It may be good for regular garden plants, but in cases where you need plants to grow and flower in winter, not good at all. It holds water which then freezes.
There are also some snowdrops which normally flower in November that aren’t even up yet, though they’re alive (he checked, by digging around). He said it might be because of where they are in the frames; they got too cold in October.
So, that’s the snowdrop story.
The guy I live with took a bunch of pictures of the hens and chicks in pots, because he likes the way they look in the winter. Maybe you will, too.
These are phone pictures and not super-focused, though they looked sharper before they were uploaded. It’s a mystery.
There are some crocuses which look like they’re about to flower but I think they froze and are just standing there. Sometimes they do flower at this time of year if it’s warm enough, and if the soil isn’t frozen. (I keep hearing this refrain about frozen soil.)
That’s pretty much it, though I suppose I should show owl pictures. We saw him today on our walk. 
His mate is in the tree next door but we didn’t see her. Forgot to look. The guy I live with said he finally figured out what was with the left eye. “Sleeping with one eye open”, he said.
So that really is a thing.
Now that definitely is all I have for today.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Mew mew mew fore sumone who has nothin to rite ’bout you rote lotss of stuff Mani!! THE Henss an Chickss are purrty kewl. All yore flowerss are amazin to us here. Wee furianllee gotted a REEL rain, sleet, ice an snow storm here Sunday an it was sumthin else. Patio door frozed shut. LadyMew gotted it open furinallee an cuud onlee cleer a wee patch fore bird seedss an peenutss.
Shee tried to go to corner shop Monday fore milk an snackss. Shee used walker an sidewalkss not cleered. Shee ended up draggin walker bee-hidn her inn teerss (her pain was high to start with). Shee dDID get to store an got stuff an walked home on street an all msot gotted run down bee-cause peeple are inn hurry. An they are told to watch fore peepell on roadss bee-cause sidewalkss not cleered.
FISHSTICKSS!!! Mee was wurried ’bout her. A 20 minute trip tooked an hour?!?!
Mew mew mew you know ‘sleep with one eye open’ ISS a REEL thing Mani! Mee doess it too! LadyMew thinkss mee iss part Owl ….yore Owl iss so big…..
Enjoy yore walkss with yore guy an quiet time…iss nice to havv peece an quiet mee thinkss….
***purrsss*** BellaDharma
The guy I live with’s friend gave him some YakTrax a couple of years ago, and though he didn’t think he could figure out how to put them on, he did, and he’s been using them a lot this winter. They really make a difference.
But sometimes it hurts him to walk, even on our walks I hear these moans and groans.
The hens and chicks are pretty cool, aren’t they? They don’t need any care at all, here.
Yaktrax…what a kewl name fore what efurr they are…are they like snowyshoess Mani??
**purrsss** BellaDharma
Kind of. They fit on the bottom of the shoes, with like these silver teeth that grab onto the ice, which is everywhere. I even slipped on it today. The guy I live with said I was being overly enthusiastic about another dog walking on the other side of the creek.
Say those Yaktrax ARE kewl…do they make them for poochiess??? Soundss like you mite need sum Mani!!!!
Wee got a foot of snow yesturday…iss lookin furry Wintery out furinallee!
**purrsss** BellaDharma
They are pretty nice. I think they only make boots for dogs.
There’s still snow on the ground here, in places, but it doesn’t look very wintery out there, I guess. Just brown.
The kind of plum colored sempervivum that’s shaped, well like a plum, third from last. Do you know the variety? I like it. I guess it probably looks tightly packed like that only in the winter. Frozen soil, that’s depressing. You really can’t do a thing. I guess you thaw out bits here and there, right Mani? Always doing your part, right?
The guy I live with went out and tried to check, but the label is frozen in the pot. Probably ‘Pacific Blue Ice’; came from SMG Succulents.
It is normal for things along the fence, in shade, on the south side, to be frozen some of the time in winter, but not for everything else to be constantly frozen.
There are parts of the garden that don’t have frozen soil, but the rest could stay frozen for months. It’s going to be in the 50s for a week or so, but that won’t cause the soil to thaw or the snow and ice to melt.
Its gotten to the time of year here where dog walks are a real trial – ice underfoot, slightly melted slippery spots, wind, salt on the ground, complain complain. Even our little dog isn’t loving it. So its good to be reminded of the joy that you are finding in walks!
ceci
My walks are pretty nice, though there’s been some wind lately, which the guy I live with says is weird, because there’s been so little wind in the last several years. The wind isn’t warm, like a chinook would be, but freezing.
A little bit of the ice on my walks has melted, but not very much.
Mew mew mew wuud you wear bootss Mani?? Most doggiess will not mee knowss. LadyMew used to have a Husky/Shepherd cross named Bogart Sam (when shee was much younger). Now Bogart Sam was an easy 100 poundss an LadyMew ’bout 120 poundss. Shee wuud take poochie out fore a long walk an efurry time hee wudd get salt inn paw or just frozen pawss an guess who CARRIED Bogart Sam home?? Yeah it was LadyMew! Now THAT iss true love….shee must have bin so strong back then….oh an Bogart Sam REE-FUSED to wear bootss!!!
Iss STILL snowin here today! BBRRRRR…..
I don’t know if I would wear boots. I’m kind of tough, as you know, though the guy I live with does have to de-ice my paws when we walk in snow, sometimes.
I think there’s a picture of Chess, the purebred border collie who lived here before me, wearing pink snow boots, on the blog, but I’m not sure where. The boots came out before he even got to the field, but he was really old and weak at the time, and it was hard for him to walk.
The guy I live with says there are good dog boots out there, for sale, but he’s not sure where.
Mew mew mew pink snow bootss sound purrty snazzy!!! Wee will have to look at purrevious bloggiess to see if wee find photoe! Do youss’ have a Pet smart or a local pet supply store there?? Bet there are LOTSS of doggie bootss inn those placess! 😉
The picture might not be on the blog.
We do have a Petsmart here and I think that’s where the pink booties came from. They were the only ones left.