It's Cold Outside

Getting ready for Pennsylvania winter is something I learned from experience is best done on beautiful fall afternoons. I was such a grasshopper in my younger days and ended up shivering in the cold trying to get plastic to stick to the windows, while sleet and wind played with the lawn furniture. Of course, there's always something left to do.
This morning I realized I put the ice protector upside down in the pond. The pond needs to have a hole in the ice so gases can escape that would harm the fish, while they are spending the winter in a hibernation mode. As I tried to get close enough to tug in the line, Layla pranced across the ice. It held her up exactly two seconds. She went down in the icy depths... In my drama-prone mind, I thought I should wisk her into the house and give her warm broth. I started running her up the hill, but she delightedly scampered around the snow, biting it and frisking around. The steam was coming up from her body. She is part Lab, after all. I just had to snap a photo.


Beautiful Calendula is one of my favorite herbs. It is so easy to grow, it's cheerful, most species are loaded with carotenes (vitamin A) which is great for rashes and itchy skin. Here it is finally sucumbing to the freeze on December 8.