What month is this again?

For the past two days, our wood stove has been merrily burning up next winter's firewood and we seem to be having a repeat of last month's cold spell. Is there more to come?

We have seen no frost yet, but the temperature was below 40 degrees a few nights ago.

I am very glad that I finally broke down and purchased a truckload of firewood last month. Most of it will be saved for next year but on days like these, it's a relief to know that our heating needs are covered.

Since I am increasingly sure that global warming will not occur, except in the minds of our legislators, I am already stockpiling firewood for next year and the year beyond. As I have managed to obtain covered storage, I feel that neatly piled firewood is like money in the bank.

My blogging has been hard hit by a real shortage of free time because I am beginning to see the rewards of promoting my framing business last month. New customers have been showing up every week and it has been an interesting scramble to keep up. I enjoy working on customer projects, but I haven't had an opportunity to visit our favorite local restaurants for weeks!

We are also seeing results from our deck gardening efforts. (Deck gardening is what you do when you have deer roaming your yard at night.)

We are seeing blossoms on our tomatoes, the potatoes are coming on strong, and Gretchen has planted carrots, onions,beans and peas, all of which are doing well. They are all doing better than I expected given the colder weather we have been having.

After building my own version of a Square Foot Gardening experience, I discovered that one of my friends has come up with a better solution for planting a deck garden. He bought livestock feeders that can be converted into heavy duty planting beds. His solution looks a lot better and is cheaper than what I came up with. His 8 ft long planters stand 24 inches off the ground and are fully supported by a welded structure made of 2 inch galvanized pipe.

I will photograph his solution and add it to this post later today.

This seems like a good year to plant gardens, lay in firewood, take care of loose ends in life, and connect up with old friends.