Random Thoughts

on Daylight Saving Time:

I was going to wish you a Happy Spring Forward Day, and I guess i will.  You can never send too many good wishes out there. 

 June 2009

The beginning of DST is one of those markers we use for the garden.  Like Astrological Spring - the Equinox - and climatological spring.  The latter varies depending on where you live and garden.  In Central Virginia it's around March 1 - when one can begin to safely work the soil - but the farther north you live, the later it comes.  Then there's the date of the last normal frost - many consider that the first day of "real" spring.

But the truth is ... i don't much like DST.

Like many [apparently very many] people i get jet lagged for several days following the spring forward.  A bit of Googling will tell you that there will be a spike in traffic accidents tomorrow, more "cyber time wasting" at work tomorrow, more heart attacks this week, and in general a population that is dazed from being sleep deprived for the next week!

 June 2010

There are at least three petitions to ask Congress to do away with DST.  Arizona and Hawaii don't switch to it now.

On the other hand, there is a bill in Tennessee to go to DST and then stay there.

And, there is a bill in Idaho to stop going to DST.

 June 2011

Alaska - because of its northern geographical position - spans four astronomical time zones - but it is all on Alaska time (Pacific) already.

The most interesting proposal I found was one to change the entire US to two time zones - one hour apart.  Eastern and Central zones would go to Central, while Mountain and Pacific zones would go to Mountain.  That would solve all the business issues of east coast/west coast commerce, as well as jet lag for travel across this country. It would be a little tough on our Canadian and Mexican neighbors - at least until they got used to it. [There is a second proposal that would have to two zone system, but with them two hours apart in time - not just one. That one makes less sense to me.]

June 2012

There are lots of experts who say that we don't really get any energy savings from changing time, so the real question is the leisure one.  I'd actually rather have the light in the morning.  My biggest objection is that it starts after SNL - on the only night that i routinely stay up later - so I feel like i am getting a double whammy.  If I oversleep again tomorrow, i will miss my Jazzercise class!

Whew!  Too much thinking on a sleep-deprived morning.  

 

On blogging:

Five years and 499 posts ago, i started this blog.  Sometimes, i feel like i have something to say or something to share.  Often, i feel like it's drivel.  But i have met so many wonderful people out here in blogland.  I thank each and every one of you for coming back to see what's happening with me; for sending encouragement and advice; for being friends across the Web.  

Thank you for coming back to see this 500th post.

 June 2013

I wish you a warm spring and good growing conditions for the summer.

Good weather for me this week, so I see a Workday coming up.  See you then.

Lion or Lamb?

I'll leave to it others to figure out where the saying "If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a Lamb" came from.  Apparently the sentiment has been around since the 1600's; the Farmer's Almanac subscribes to it; and it has a climate/meteorological basis, etc. etc. 

What I want to know is ...  

what did we get this year?

On March 1st (Saturday) it was mid- 50's here - sunny and breezy.  We spent the whole afternoon watching "Prince Igor" from the Met, so didn't get to enjoy it much, but even at 4:30 it was still warm enough to sit outside "our" Starbucks for an iced coffee.  

Definitely lamb territory.

Sunday, March 2 was even better.  In the 60's by 10 a.m. and highs bumping on 70 degrees; a great day for working in the garden

 ... before the rain came and the temperature plummeted.

And, then this morning ... sleet and freezing rain early and snow, snow, snow by 9 a.m.  They are predicting 3 - 6 inches.  It's coming down solidly, so we could reach that amount by afternoon.  It's a lovely white ... like a lamb.  But, if i remember that this air mass has made its way all the way across the country dumping rain on California - way too much, way too fast - then snow all across the plains and now sleet and freezing rain here.  That's definitely Lion Country.  The last one included "thunder snow".  If we get that again, we will definitely hear it roar. 

What i really want to know is ... when will it be over?  this awful winter?  Please, please, please let this be the last lion!  Long live the lamb!

Wednesday Workdays - the Home Stretch, I hope.

Two days of warm - like 70 degree - weather ... in a row ... over a weekend?  "Not possible in February", you say.  "Very possible!" and that's what exactly what we had in Central Virginia over the past weekend.

Plants perked up.  The grass perked up.  I perked up!  It was a great opportunity to get out and dig a bit in the dirt - one of my favorite activities and one I had been sorely missing for months [altho it seemed like years!].

With lots of rain and snow this winter, the ground was damp and workable, but warm enough that it was safe to walk in the beds without either sinking or compacting too much.

So back to the front bed I went - spading fork and wheelbarrow in hand.  The final step in renovating this bed was to dig out the old St. John's Wort.  Altho it was a great plant to anchor the bed more than 10 years ago, it had become overgrown and just too large for it's spot.

[In retrospect, it was always the wrong plant for that area.  I fell in love with a bank of it years ago and wanted it for my yard.  It is only recently that it occurred to me that the very things that I loved on a long, sloping bank are the things that made it wrong for the front of a bed... its size, its tendency to spread to hold the bank, and it's thickness.  None of that really worked with azaleas, dogwood and bulbs.]

 After one day's work. Two hours was all I could manage.

Two days later and several loads to the trashcans - had to borrow space in two neighbors' cans to get it all out - and I now have a cleaner slate to finish this bed.  Have ordered Hinoki grass for the corner and am thinking about a swath of the "true" geraniums and some more spring bulbs.  Then I will be done.

 It's time to find a new home for the security sign!

This bed has been on my "to do" list for at least three seasons and I have slowly made some progress with it.  I think this is the year!

Flowers in the House ...

... for Valentine's Day. 

Another raw, gray day in a string of raw, gray days ... to be followed by at least three more raw, gray days.  

Thank goodness for Jane's challenge to bring in some flowers!

Keeping it simple and going with favorites.  How can you beat tulips and iris?  I can't.  It will still be weeks before much life returns to these parts, but what are a good reminder that it will happen. 

Hope you will visit Jane and her merry band of flower posters.  I'll have a pot of tea on for you, and am sure someone else will have scones, or muffins, or some nice treat.

And, happy Valentine's Day to all.  Hope you are with someone special!