Of Chain Saws & Generators…

Yesterday’s trip into town was just a little surreal. I fully expected to hear The Twilight Zone theme start playing any time.

My first stop was Sam’s Club to pick up Love’s prescription. Unlike the day before, Sam’s had electricity.

The trip into the store the day before was worth the experience for me and Skye, even if we wound up buying nothing. Although the auxiliary battery lights were barely glowing, the store was well lit by the many skylights. The Sam’s Club in Fayetteville is a “green store,” designed to save energy, recycle water, compost produce, and use native plantings and a bioswale to reduce its impact on the nearby Clabber Creek. I had never realized how much of the store’s daytime lighting comes from the sun. Since we had cash or checks, we were assigned a personal shopper to escort us through the store and total up our purchases. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until we got to the pharmacy that I would need to use my HSA (health savings account) debit card to pay. But the pharmacy staff was great and actually gave me three pills from the prescription to get Love through. We also wanted bird seed, but they didn’t have any.

But, like I said, Sam’s had electricity yesterday. However, I had left my HSA card in my bill-paying caddy at home.

I trudged onward to The Hardware Store to pick up Love’s chain saw and blades that I had left the day before for sharpening. I could not find a place to park at this quiet little store where the employee-custom ratio allows great service. So I circled around and headed for the grocery store, planning to come back on my way home.

Harp’s had power. Yeah! The Harp’s closer to our home had been out of power for the past two days. I wasn’t desperately in need of anything, as I keep a well-stocked pantry and had laid in perishables last weekend. However, I still wanted some birdseed, and I thought I’d pick up the other items I had added to my list during the week. As I approached the store, I noticed a sign on the door. I was expected a “closed” sign, but it was a sign advertising generators. Does YOUR grocery store sell generators? I thought not!

Not only were they selling generators, but also chain saws. Granted, they were electric chain saws. I’m not exactly sure what you could cut with an electric chain saw, but there they were. I made my rounds through the store, gathering my items, and noticing with interest what items were in short supply: bottled soft drinks (but not bottled water), sidewalk salt, milk, frozen pizza, canned soup, and paper products. As I made my way to the checkout, I noticed the lines were not moving. It seems that their power had just come back on – it had gone off earlier in the day for the first time during the storm – and their electronic cash registers were searching for software or data or something. I wound up leaving Harp’s empty-handed, and they locked the doors behind me.

Back I went to The Hardware Store. A guy in a pickup was backing out, so I scored a parking space. Inside the store, I got in the long line to wait and watch the people. The first thing I realized that every man in the store who was not an employee was holding a chain saw. Most of the saws were the bright orange Stihls sold by The Hardware Store. I don’t know much about chain saws or motorcycles, but I recognize Stihl in the same way I recognize Harley Davidson: quality and price. Many of the saws were new, but some were there to be sharpened. One guy seemed to be in the store just to be in an environment where his chain saw could be admired. I wish I could remember its brand, but it seemed to be the envy of all the other chain saw aficionados. I learned that it could cut anything and all day, that it was several years old, and the brand is no longer made. I was so glad I was there to pick up Love’s little Pouland. While a woman could hold her head high carrying the green chain saw, I know that Love’s head would have hung low as he endured the shame of such a lowly saw in that testosterone-soaked environ.

Which leaves me wondering: new chain saws + novice users + testosterone + lots of stuff to cut. Will the emergency rooms be as busy in the next few days as the Hardware Store was yesterday?

Ice

We're starting to thaw out from the worst ice storm to hit this part of our state in many years. We've been in northwest Arkansas since 1989, and there certainly hasn't been anything like this in those years. I've never seen anything like it. Love and I both have memories of an ice storm when we were kids -- maybe the early 1970s? -- that broke trees and caused power outages like this. He was in southern Arkansas and I was in northern Louisiana then.

As far as power, we have been relatively lucky. First of all, we've only lost power for a total of 17 hours, and that was spread over three days. Also, we're not all electric like lots of folks. We have a wood fireplace insert and plenty of dry firewood. Even though the blower that circulates the air is electric, we still get some good wood heat: it just won't heat the entire house. We also have a gas cook stove. Even though it has electric ignition, we can light it with matches. The oven is a different matter: it's gas with electric controls -- we can't light it manually. Our central heat is gas, but its blower is electric. Perhaps our greatest blessing on these cold days is our gas hot water heater, which works just fine!

The damage to our trees is another matter. It breaks my heart to look at them. The pecans which gave us 250+ pounds of nuts this fall are devastated. I know they are resiliant and will mostly recover, but they look awful. The maples along our driveway have half their limbs on the ground. (Those maples have always been a source of amusement for me. The couple who built this house and lived in it for seven years before us set out only six trees: six maples, three on each side of the driveway. And what runs between them? The lines that feed electricity to the house. Did they actively try to find the worst site on the 2 1/2 acres to set out trees? Now it's not quite so funny.) Most of the older trees (10-15 years old) that Love and I have set out are damaged, some with large broken limbs, others with the tops broken out. Only the smaller trees (7 or fewer years old) seem to have dodged the bullet. If you want to see a more detailed account of the damage to our trees, see my gardening journal at The Place Journal. And for great pictures and a report from our dog's perspective, check out Skye's blog over at A Dog and 2 Cats.

Yesterday I took Love's chain saw blades to The Hardware Store for sharpening. Once the ice has melted from the trees, we will set to work. We won't be able to do it all ourselves, but we will start and move forward from there. And even as all this ice was coating our world, wonderful things were arriving in our mailbox. After Love used a hammer and chisel to chip the ice off our mailbox Wednesday, we found vegetable seeds from Seed Savers Exchange inside. Spring IS just around the corner!

I should have REALLY knocked on wood...

About five minutes after my last post, our power went out. We were lucky that it was only off for about 2 1/2 hours, just long enough for the novelty of candles to wear off for Skye. She and I walked over to check on our elderly neighbor, who was just fine. We are losing limbs -- maple and pecan mostly. The cracking limbs send dread through me: I hate to think of my green friends being battered. But so far, they look like they will be able to bounce back. While we have lost some large limbs, nothing has split in such a way to look life-threatening. And some ice is starting to melt enough to shower down out of the trees, so maybe the end is in sight.

Not Quite Spring Yet...

This morning we woke to a winter wonderland of ice. Skye and I are home from school, and Love is going in late to work, now that the temps are above freezing. We are fortunate that there appears to be little tree damage on The Realm, and our power has only flickered a couple of times -- knock on wood! These pics are taken from the relative safety of the front porch, as I am a bit of a weather wimp. I plan to venture out later for some more artsy close-ups. We'll see if I make it out before the melting starts.

Skye has been out and about a good bit. She reports that the daffodils on the south end of the house are free from ice. The radiant heat from the brick must have kept them a bit warmer. Or perhaps the house blocked the freezing rain from hitting them. I hope the dandelions are frozen solid, although they will probably thaw just fine!

I did go out yesterday morning before work and lay some fencing over my cold frame, under the plastic sheeting. From the back porch, it appears to be keeping the plastic from sagging to the bottom of the cold frame.

It's a good day for staying indoors and choosing a recipe from the "slow meals" section of my little wooden recipe box. We'll be having chicken pot pie for supper, with homemade yeast bread left over from last night (Skye and I got home early, as school let out a 1pm), and lemon pound cake from this weekend. Yum!

Gardening Is Dirty Work

It's hard to see from this angle, but Lightning is a filthy cat. She's famous around The Realm for her filthy mouth, but she often sports filthy fur when she's in a gardening mood.

Another (Dreaded) Sign of Spring

I can't help it, I detest them! I plot to eat them or make wine or jelly of them, but mostly I just curse them!

My Constant Gardening Companion & Her Constant Companion

Penny is my shadow as I move around the gardens, no matter what I am doing. If I am walking, she walks along. If I am working, she waits. Sometimes she stands to wait, sometimes she settles in for the long haul. And always with her is the ball. Sometimes it is in her mouth. Occasionally, it is beside her as in this picture. More often, it is positioned behind me so that I step on it if I take a step backward. I live to garden; Penny lives to play ball.

1st Buds

I noticed the first buds on my daffodils yesterday. Spring must be just around the corner! Granted these are close to the brick wall on the south end of our house, but those count, too. It's interesting to note that the row closest to the wall is further up than those less than a foot farther from the wall. Microclimates within microclimates!

Seed Orders

I just finished my seed orders. This year, for the first time, I am ordering seed rather than buying it all locally. I've spent a lot of time over the past month selecting varieties, using the book Designing the New Kitchen Garden and the UA Agriculture site. If I want to really use all this research and planning, then I can't depend on being able to buy the varieties that I've chosen locally. I'm very satisfied with my choices right now. I hope that holds true at the end of the summer.

This year will be my first year to garden in the kitchen garden surrounding the pool, so it is very important to me that it be as beautiful as it is functional. I've tried to choose varieties that capitalize on color and texture, while not sacrificing taste or reliability. I suppose I will know more at the end of the season.

I ordered from three sources: Seed Savers, Reimer Seeds, and Henry Field's Seed. You can find all of those sites along the right margin of this page. The seed I chose is a mixture of hybrid and open pollinated varieties. I'm going to try my hand at some seed-saving this summer and fall. Mother used to save certain seeds, so it is a time-honored practice in our family.

Since I did set a budget to work within, I had to cut back the orders from my original choices. It was tempting to just order every thing I wanted, as I kept thinking how much I would spend on produce (or even bedding plants) compared to the cost of seed. But I made myself trim my order, and I'm glad I did. I mean, do I really need three varieties of eggplants, when I don't even know how to cook one? (Mother always sliced them and fried them: there must be a better way!) I kept in mind my "gardening for life" mantra and approached this year as a starter year. No, it's not the first time I've grown vegetables, but it is the first time I've tried to grow them for aesthetics. I can always add more next year!