The cold is here

 On Thursday or Friday the weather people said to prepare because snow was on the way, followed by sub-freezing temps. 

What it looked like on Thursday. 

Lovely, huh? 

Well, the heavy snow went around us. The southern part of Wisconsin was slammed by a blizzard. 

One of my friend's said her power went out for a few hours.  I also heard a rumor about the Milwaukee airport shutting down.  I heard later that it did not shut down. 

We did not get the big storm that was promised us. We got four inches at the most. 

It snowed a wee bit on Friday and overnight. 

Not that I was disappointed at the small amount of snow that hit our area. 

Remember the tractor we purchased? There hasn't been enough snow for us to really test it out. 

So it is the ATV plow for us, to push around this fluffy stuff that isn't amounting to much. 

This weekend wasn't very exciting. It's surreal to have snow on the ground. It also doesn't seem right to have subzero temps now.  It's supposed to warm up a bit by the end of the week. 

Saturday we took a trip to town and Sunday we bummed around the house, taking it easy. 

I stitched, knit and sewed a bit. 

Knitting on my Harvest Cardigan.

My wall quilt. 

On Friday I hauled in a little something ... 

The garden soil had to thaw out.  

Even though I was all keyed up to start some seeds this weekend, I did not.  I still had to set up the lights in my seed-starting greenhouse. 

I finally did that today, after work. 

I flipped the lights on and it was an an immediate burst of something ... Like "Wow!" and feeling upbeat and chipper almost right away.  Crazy how lights can do that. 

I've been reading stuff on the book of Faces, and watching some Youtube channels about seed starting, gardening, etc., and I got to thinking a little bit. 

Ever since I got in to gardening it's been a dream to have a "real" greenhouse, but for various reasons one hasn't been built yet.  

With the recent cold snap I've been reading a lot of people asking for tips and advice on how to keep their greenhouses warm so their plants and seedlings don't succumb. 

I got to thinking about this a bit and how much maintenance a greenhouse is at this time of the year.  One person said they are spending $1,000 a month to keep their glasshouse warm enough. Can you imagine?  

Anywho ... these last several years I've learned a lot about gardening and seed starting.  And I realized that every place I lived since I got into gardening, I've worked my seed starting set up to fit in my house.  Greenhouses are nice.  What I am seeing is that having one is kind of the exception, not necessarily the rule. 

A lot of the blogs and channels show how to start seeds indoors with a seed starting station. 

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this because it's getting a bit late and I'm a wee bit tired.  I see a lot of people poo-pooing the type of greenhouse I have outside and that is a shame because they work well. There is at least one well-known YouTuber who said disparaging words about this style of greenhouse and I think she did a real disservice to those who are just getting started with seed starting and may feel bad that they have this "greenhouse" but not a "real greenhouse."  My only wish is that mine was a bit bigger because I start so many seeds now that my greenhouse is full to bursting when it's time to bring the plants out there.  However, I do have a second greenhouse and I may set it up this spring if I need it. 

So, yeah. If you are a hardcore gardener, you find a way. 

And my way is to have my seeds start in my craft room.  How close is everything?  You can see where my quilting station is, and my umbrella swift. 

Oh yeah, and the incubator behind it.  If I was hatching eggs out, I'd have the mini-greenhouse in a different spot. 

Fun times ahead! I can't wait.