Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to talk about the weather, and some other things. You may remember me from such posts as “Under Construction”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
The guy I live with said maybe it’s time to replace the ramp. It kind of bounces when we walk on it now. You can see how narrow the concrete is, because a second sliding-glass door was added before the guy I live with and his wife moved into the house. The threshold is also worn, from purebred border collies going over it for so many years.
Speaking of work, guess what happened the other day?
The sinkhole was filled in. The guy I live with took me out there to meet everyone, and told them I was the one who first discovered the sinkhole.
He had called the people who manage the “green belt” (which I call the field), because we noticed kids had been playing in the sinkhole, so it got filled in without the extensive repairs that it really needs. This is just a temporary thing, for safety.
The guy I live with pointed out the abandoned muskrat den on the south side of the canal, and said that was where the water was entering the sinkhole, and so the crew filled in the old den, and the water stopped.
That fence belongs to one of our neighbors, who is older than the guy I live with, if such a thing is really possible. The fence was broken when a dead tree was blown over onto it. The guy I live with said he would fix it, with another neighbor’s help, but he keeps forgetting about it, since he has other things on his mind. Eventually it will get fixed.
There was a really big crawdad in the canal. It will go into its home in the mud along the canal when the weather gets colder. The guy I live with said he doesn’t know what happens to them when the water stops flowing in the canal, but likes to think good thoughts about them.
So….sometime tomorrow morning it’s supposed to snow. We could get a lot of snow. The guy I live with is of two minds about this. It will be cold, and all the crocus flowers will be gone, but on the other hand it will be water. It’s been very dry here, with almost no rain all month. It drizzled on our evening walk yesterday.
The guy I live with said it was time to sow some seeds. Ordinarily he would sow the seeds in pots in a dishpan filled with water, but this time he decided to sow the seeds dry, since it’s going to snow.
He had already filled a bunch of pots with soil-less mix he made himself, and put them on the shelf on the patio.
Filling the pots was most of the work, so a lot of time was saved today, and the sowing went pretty quickly.
This dishpan (there are three of them) has been out on the patio for thirty years.
One concern is running out of the “squeegee” used as a surface dressing for the pots, like on the top three pots in the picture. (I don’t know why they call it squeegee, but it’s the same kind of gravel they use on icy roads.)
You can’t just go to a squeegee store and buy some, these days. Garden centers no longer carry it.
The pots go out into the frames behind the shed.
On his way out there, he took some pictures. This is an out-of-focus picture of Crocus banaticus.
The view from inside the shed.
The enclosure, with some Crocus speciosus.
The rose ‘Darlow’s Enigma’ was flowering there. The Japanese beetles are long gone.
And here are the frames.
This one is just for bulbs. It isn’t any different from the first one, except that it’s just bulbs.
The frames were built using the wood from the bulb frames he made but decided not to keep them.
The frames are on the “trough patio” behind the shed. There are only two troughs with plants in them, now, because times change.
Though we may get a lot of snow this weekend, it’s supposed to warm up again later, with nighttime temperatures above freezing, so maybe most, if not all, of the snow will melt.
Later in the year, when more snow falls, it usually lies on the frames all winter, because the trough patio is in shade then. The guy I live with said that’s ideal for the seeds.
I think that’s all I have for today.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
In NW Denver, we only received a skiff of snow, doggone it, Mani. The 27ºF can go elsewhere as we’re definitely not ready for that. But in true metro tradition, Halloween has been messed with, it’s no wonder kids trick’er treat inside malls and stores. Stay warm.
The guy I live with said “Wait until tonight”.
He’s ready for the change, and cooler weather, because now he won’t have to fret so much about newly-planted plants (not too many of those, though).
Later there will be more crocuses, and the first snowdrops, which will have benefited from the melting snow.
We’re ready for cooler weather too but the dramatic change was a bit extreme this morning. Definitely not looking forward to Sunday’s early morning temp. Just hope my hillbilly greenhouse (a heavy duty garbage bag) will protect the cherry tomato plant that had too many green tomatoes to not try to protect. 🤞🏼
They guy I live with gave up on growing vegetables a long time ago, just because of “weather events” like this. (And hail.) His neighbors had a really nice vegetable garden in their front yard, but they’re much younger and a lot more energetic.
Well, that’s not entirely true. He ordered some seeds this year, germinated them, and then the plants all died. Pathetic, I know.
We got about six inches of snow.
That’s about how much we received. More than enough this go round. Despite the cold temps (it’s currently 29F) there has been some melting. Yay!
I have a squirrel problem so only plant in pots. I don’t know if my one plant has survived or not. Won’t know for a couple of days. Paws crossed though. There were LOADS of green tomatoes on it. Stay warm, Mani.
The guy I live with said people in Denver got like ten inches of snow.
He also said all the snow made him think about the coming holidays, which didn’t make him happy, but I know he’ll get through it.
Meanwhile, he has more seeds to sow.
Crawdads are supposedly more numerous during the same years that wasps are more numerous. I do not know if that is accurate, or how anyone made that observation. I mean, who monitors the numbers of crawdads?! Anyway, I sort of wondered where crawdads went during the floods last winter. I suppose that they do what they always do, and just stay in the creeks and river.
The guy I live with said he didn’t know what happens to the crawdads in the canal, when the water stops, which will be soon.
Years ago there was a great blue heron that used to fish in the canal, but not any more.
They burrow into damp spots on the bottom of where the water was. They can survive for a few days in a semi dormant state while dry, and if damp, can survive significantly longer. Whatever they do, it is more impressive than staying put through floods.
I hope the crawdads will be okay. The water was still flowing in the canal when I went on my evening walk.
Well, they always seem to survive. Do they always return when the water returns? They must know what they are doing.
We do see them every year. Maybe not the same ones.
We’ve had a few frosts now, but no snow. Rain returns next week. I should really plant seeds like the guy that you live with did, so that they have time to stratify. But, having sort of a mopey day. Maybe I will cut some wood for a new greenhouse bench instead. Something to get the brain out of sluggish winter mode.
I’ve had a mopey day, too, because of the snow. I can’t do any gardening.
Naturally, the guy I live with didn’t get all the seeds sown, but maybe he can get that done later this week. He’s had kind of a chaotic few weeks lately.
We don’t have frost here. I know that sounds weird, but the air is too dry to get that sparkling on leaves. It’s below freezing right now, during the day, and will get colder tonight.
Mee-yow wow fore livin inn such a dry place Guy sure does have a Green Thumm! THE crocusess are so purrty! An Guy you sure did alot of werk on THE seedss inn potss. Yore so deddycated to yore gardenss….
An HURRAH fore THE sinkhole an old damm beein filled inn. An Mani you musta felt so proud beein THE one who dissocvurred THE sinkhole! You shuud get an award!!!!
So how much snow did youss’ get? Miss Monika an Elsa told us they gotted 6 inchess….that iss alot fore ferst snow!!!!!
***purrss*** BellaDharma an 🙂 BellaSita Mum
The guy I live with said that most of the crocuses come from the eastern Mediterranean, so pretty dry summers.
I was too modest to take credit for discovering the sinkhole but the guy I live with had to say something. The sinkhole was dangerously deep and the guy I live with said little kids could get down into it, but that it was even deeper than it looked, so something bad could have happened.
We got about six inches of snow.
Wee are happy you were recognized fore yore disscovurry Mani! You saved livess!
An wee DUE love yore flowerss!
Seemss all of Collyrado gotted 6 inchess of snow!!! EEEKKK!
I think deep holes like that are super scary. I came upon one last year, when they were replacing the electrical lines along the field. I jumped back.
Some places got less snow, and some places got more.
Yore a smart Poochie to stay away from deep holess Mani!!
Guess what? Wee gotted snow Halloweeny day an nite!! Only 2 inchess butt it sure was a ‘trick’! 😉
All the snow has melted here. We only got seven trick-or-treaters. The guy I live with gave the rest of the Kit Kats and Paydays to his neighbors.
Well done Mani. A sink hole is a dangerous place for kids to play. We did get a big dump of snow after a freezing rain. The down curving tree branches tinkled when you went through them. Finding that small gravel is hard here too. I go out in the Spring before the roads are swept and sweep up a great big container. My family think I’m a bit nuts. It sits outside until Fall allowing all the salt and other stuff to be washed away. I use it for my seeds and as a top dressing for succulents with good success.
Thanks; deep holes in the ground are very scary, if you ask me. The guy I live with started to tell me about having to go into deep holes when he worked for the phone company, but I didn’t want to hear about it.
The snow here is melting, but not as quickly as in places where it’s sunnier, like the south side of slopes.
He also says that gravel from abandoned ant hills is good, though you have to wash it to make sure there are no weed seeds. There was also a tropical fish store that used to sell sand-blasting gravel, but I guess there was an issue with the silica it contained.
He’s going to order some Turface, until he can find a place for regular gravel.