Wow. We actually got some snow!

 Not only did we get some snow on Wednesday, it was the first real snow in nearly two years. Plus it was a pre-Christmas snow, which almost never happens around here. Cherry on top, we got about 8 inches -- might've been more, but it was hard to tell because it turned to sleet and freezing rain late for the last several hours of precipitation. Nonetheless, it was impressive. Behold:

Here we are, looking to the west:

And looking to the east:

And looking out the back, to the north:

All taken early in the storm, of course. Nonetheless, gives a flavor. Got a lot deeper later. Jeb the Wonder Dog enjoyed playing and running around in it early. Not so much at night when the sleet came in. He hates ice-crusted snow. We also apparently got a little more Thursday night, as we awoke to this on Friday:

Just a dusting, but more is in the forecast. La Nina apparently is weakening, meaning earlier long-term forecasts for a warmer winter with less snow (like last year) might not hold up. We'll see.

Jeb the Wonder Dog got groomed

And boy does he look good:

That's a good-looking dog there. Of course, over Christmas we had the grand dog, Cpl. Wolves, and Married Into Wolves over a time or two:

Might be a little love going on there.

He's comfortable. What do you want me to do?

Jeb the Wonder Dog likes to sleep in my bed. Especially when  I am not in it:

Mrs. Wolves took this picture the other day while I was at work. He looks comfy. You gonna throw him out?

The Horde

Three cats is, in my opinion, two too many. Mrs. Wolves tends to disagree, which is why we have The Horde gathered daily at one window or another:

Alas, we are not limited to windows, nor to cats. If the front door is open, pretty much every animal in the house likes to gather to look out the storm door:

At least none of the cats is lying on Jeb, which has been known to happen.

Hard to believe the dog is still there

Mrs. Wolves got pretty zealous about packing stuff away recently, which means we can't find anything. One of the things we couldn't find was our dog brush. Cpl. Wolves noticed that Jeb the Wonder Dog needed brushing -- badly -- and ordered a dog brush. Mrs. Wolves put that brush to work last night, and it was clear that Jeb needed brushing:

Which is bigger, the pile of hair or the dog?

Finally got back on The Farm

Despite a whole bunch of rain last weekend, I made it to The Farm. I got pretty wet, but I made it. A lot of fall crops are in and just getting started, but we also have the last gasp of the summer crops. These tiny peppers are really hot and probably are destined to become hot sauce:

But these sweet peppers are more likely to wind up in some kind of spaghetti sauce:

More hot sauce material:

We are looking at a bumper crop of peppers, mostly of the hot variety. I have already jarred a metric shit ton of hot sauce, and dried another metric shit ton of peppers to grind for hot pepper. We'll see hot that all turns out. Anyway, here we have several plantings of turnips in various stages of development:

Likewise, we have two plantings of spinach going here. Some of the first planting came up, but a lot didn't -- probably because of the heat wave -- so a second planting is no coming in, as well:

Beets and cabbage coming in:

Cauliflower coming up, as well. Two plantings again, for the same reason as the spinach:

Same for the broccoli:

The last planting of beans is flowering, but does not seem to be producing. I think the bees went home for the winter, so this crop might not produce:

Kohlrabi, kale, collards. We got it all:

What I said up there:

Even planted some brussel sprouts, which are coming in. Hope to have better results as a fall crop:

The carrots continue to produce, and a new planting is coming up. We'll see how that works out:

Harvested what is likely to be just about the last of the tomatoes. Got a bunch:

Ditto for green beans:

I also harvested a ludicrous amount of peppers, which I dried or turned into hot sauce. I think the picture was for shit, or maybe I didn't take one. Whatevs. Anyway, Jeb the Wonder Dog once again enjoyed sticking his nose out the window:

Just a couple days and I'll be back. We'll see what's what then.

God help the frogs

After weeks with no rain other than the occasional thunder storm, it has now gone full tropical on us, with hours upon hours this evening of complete frog-strangling deluge. Naturally, this did not start until I got home and was ready to walk Jeb the Wonder Dog. I gathered some towels from the basement, put them by the front door,  and off we went.

Naturally, Jeb gives zero fucks about rain (same way he feels about cold) and so was in no hurry to drop the deuce. This despite my constant entreaties to him to "Let's be a good boy" and "Come on and poopy" and "Just fucking shit you rat bastard."

Eventually, he did. Naturally, the time he took was considerably longer than the time my apparel was designed to keep me reasonably dry, so we were both pretty much soaked when we got home. I had to dry him off -- and, naturally, this did nothing to make the great outdoors more appealing to me. I might never be dry again.

Mischief plays footsie; Jeb the Wonder Dog sleeps through it

Mischief is fond of messing with people and her fellow animals alike, feline or otherwise. Beware the person who goes to the basement and comes back up the stairs without keeping an eye out for the black cat poised to take a swipe at your head as you pass her ambush spot.

Her desire to mess with folks does not stop with humans. The other day, Mrs. Wolves caught Mischief smacking Jeb the Wonder Dog, trying to get a rise out of him:

And trying:

And trying:

Poor Mischief. Jeb the Wonder Dog, like Honey Badger, don't give a shit.

Which, I think, calls for a Honey Badger video:

A farmin' we will go, I guess

Monday, having no employment, I went to The Farm with Jeb the Wonder Dog. Of course, he hung his head out the window the whole trip over:

When I got there, Farmer Tom had weeded the onions, which are looking good:

The potatoes continue to thrive:

The peppers are in varying stages of development. Just seedlings, really. July and August will tell the tale:

Lots of spinach in the small bed:

The last of the radishes are approaching harvest time, too:

And a full bed of spinach has me scrambling for preservation options. Ain't but so much damn spinach salad you can eat. Just sayin':

The first crop of beans is starting to look good, too:

The peas are producing:

The carrots are just getting started, since we had to replant after the freeze:

The cauliflower looks great, but I see no heads yet, which has me nervous. Cauliflower is not a warm-weather crop, and the deeper we get into summer, the less likely it is we'll get a good crop from this batch:

The broccoli, on the other hand, is producing nicely:

The jury remains out on the Brussels sprouts. The plants look great, but I see no fruit forming yet:

The first garlic bed looks kind of anemic:

The second, smaller bed is doing better. I expect both to be fine by harvest time:

I got some zucchini and squash plants:

I put them in the ground, too:

Also put up the fence around the cucumber plants that are planted on the outside of the squash/zucchini bed:

Watered the crap out of all of it. Since then, we've had some localized rain from thunderstorms -- including right now -- so things should be bustin' when I go this weekend. Probably have to harvest some things and plant more beans. We'll see.

I'm not sure what's wrong with this dog

I have two dogs. In the South, they say that one dog is family, two dogs is dogs. I think that might be right. Sadie the Auxiliary Back-up Dog, is small and likes her bed:

Jeb The Wonder Dog, on the other hand, has no bed and sleeps where he likes. On occasion, though, he likes to take over Sadie the Auxiliary Back-up Dog's bed:

Obviously, the bed is too small for him. It can't even be comfortable. I don't know why he does this. But he does.

OK, so I went farming this weekend. What of it?

Yeah, I went to The Farm Saturday, and we did lots of stuff. Of course, Jeb the Wonder Dog came along, and yeah, he stuck his nose out the window:

There were several tasks in front of me Saturday. First, I had to fill this box with dirt and plant garlic in it:

So I did. It might look like dirt, but it's dirt with a bunch of garlic sets under it:

There was a bunch of other planting to do, as well. We had brussel sprouts:

Green beans:

Cauliflower and broccoli:

With all the planting, it would be easy to forget  the stuff already in the ground. Like the peas, which are coming up:

And the radishes:

Not to mention onions:

 So, I got the brussel sprouts in the ground:

Likewise for the cauliflower and broccoli:

All in all, it was a productive Saturday. Watered everything down, and prepared for the planting in the next week or so of beans and tomatoes. Can't wait.