Persimmon Glen

I have seen more snow this year than I have seen in many many years of living in East  Tennessee. Thats the difference between living in the valley below the mountains  and living up higher in the mountains. I don't know the elevation exactly, and I don't  know how to find out short of buying an altimeter, but it doesn't really matter. I'm  high enough to see a lot more snow than the valley dwellers.

This has caused me to be cooped up in the house more this year. Instead of railing  against it, I got to thinking, this is a really good time to reflect on the things I have  accomplished so far, and plan what I hope to accomplish in the coming season. I  have a long list of things to do as soon as it warms up a bit.

February is month of ups and downs. I've had several inches of snow on the ground  for the last five days with temperatures in the teens and twenties, yet the weekend  is supposed to be 60 degrees. On the 'up' days, I've been outside digging a large hole  in the ground. I'm working on making a small garden pond and taking photos as I go  so I'll be able to post them when it's finished.

The down time has allowed me to do a lot of reading, research on the internet, and  cooking a lot of comfort food which is terrible for the waist line, but will come off  when the weather warms and I can get out and busy myself on projects around here.  Hopefully.

Seed companies send out catalogs in January for a reason. They want us to think and  plan and itch to get out in the dirt. That's one of my projects. I'll have a small  garden this year and I'm planning on one of the no-dig methods since I don't have a  tiller and I don't have any help. I have a nice big area cleared out that gets plenty of  sun, and rather than plant a home there, I'll make do with the one I'm in and use  that spot for planting potatoes and other goodies.

My biggest project will be to add an addition on to the house. I want a bedroom  with a closet and a bath with an inside shower. I may clear out a few trees right  here by the house and utilize the sun for a solar composting toilet and passive solar  water heater for the shower. That will give me 288 sq ft for a kitchen and living  area. That is plenty of room and I'll be able to build a permanent kitchen area  instead of the temporary one I have now. That should carry me through the next  winter and spring. I also plan on siding the rest of the house. That's easy and won't  take too long.

All these plans make me itch to get outside and get started until I look out and see  everything covered in white. Then I turn around and start thinking about what I'll  make for dinner or get on the computer and reach out to others.

Or, maybe I'll just take a nap.

I think I've become a bear, putting on a layer of fat to get me through the big winter  sleep, buried nice and warm in my den, then poking my nose out and sniffing the air  for signs of spring so I can get busy snuffling around in the dirt for food.....