Can winter really be ending?

After a snowy, cold winter with the bright sparkling days that winter-lovers dream of, we have the dreaded March rain.  With three feet of snow on the ground, it's been raining off and on (ON, in a serious way, as I write this) since early evening yesterday.

Three or four years ago I had a sump pump put in because 2 days of very heavy rain melted 3 feet of snow in 24 hours and put 10" of water (rain plus snow melt) in the basement.  And not until this year have I thought I needed the pump in a serious way.  But the forecast looked like a repeat of history, so I went to Central Supply for a sump pump drainage hose, which would carry the water away from the house.

Like any project I take on that requires unfamiliar parts and tools, this became an adventure, but it ended well.  The rain pours, the snow melts, and the giant ice sculpture at the back of the house has fallen off the roof. Best of all, the sump pump works!

But wait, there's more!  I bought a seed packet for the garden!

Herewith, Bloomsdale Long-Standing Spinach from High Mowing Seeds in Wolcott, VT

As soon as I can get into the garden, these seeds go in! 

But wait, there's more!

When my friend Jeri lived in Morris Plains, she was downsizing and gave me a giant among aloe plants.  Made you think of Audrey* ... But it has liked Vermont.  Last year it was in decline.  It was throwing up baby plants, and the main plant was tipping itself over, and its big leaves were withering. It was outgrowing its pot, but there was no repotting it because I have no room for a bigger pot.

So when Mike and Kate came to visit, we unpotted the aloe and cut out all the baby plantlets, and cut the taproot back hard. Very hard. There was nothing to lose - without cutting it back I'd have to compost it.  If it died, I'd have to compost it.  If it lived, well ...

"It's alive! It's alive!"** The aloe has confirmed its rejuvenation by, for the third year, sending up a flower stalk as its annual sign that winter is almost over.  I hang small ornaments on it at Christmas, and you can see a pottery maple leaf hanging on it now. Jeri, I love this Green Monster, and I thank you every day for bestowing it on me.



*"Little Shop of Horrors" - for a truly magnificent stage Audrey, see this image
**"Frankenstein", 1931