RAT FINK!

We've made an annoying discovery that we have a rat in our midst!
Luckily he's outside in the garden and not inside! Chase cornered him up in the BBQ last night. It appears that he had eaten all the foil off the grease encrusted drip pan. He escaped and ran toward the storage building.
I also found supersize mouse turds in my covered up outside workbench. That would explain why many things were eaten off in the garden last year...things like pea pods up the trellis and tomatoes still on the vine...he could climb up there on the plant supports. So we may have been blaming the wrong critters (raccoons)!
He is probably living under the storage building with his mate and babies! So the next available nice day will be spent putting wire mesh around the base of the storage building in the gaps between the concrete blocks that support it. Could get smelly if they are trapped under there and die but I'm willing to chance it!
Seems like it's always something when you live in the country!

BOXED IN

I've got him just where I want him...!
The 'mad driller" is at work attaching the cold frame top to a new cedar base to make it 12" taller.
The cold frame is a good place to "harden off" plants coming out of the heated greenhouse before they get planted out in May. It also doubles as a good storage locker in the winter.

I celebrated our week of good weather (we usually get one week of sun with temps in the 60's in Feb) by doing a little raised bed work. Besides turning the dirt, I "collar up" a couple of beds by adding another top of cedar 2"x6"  so that they are a bit taller. That way I can rotate crops...always a challenge in a small garden.  
Our week of nice weather is almost over so we can look forward to the monsoon and maybe even a late snow storm. Folks here go crazy when they see the sun for more than a day...doing things like going through the car wash, visiting the Grange for seeds, opening the windows and hanging out the blankets & sheets for fresh air drying and cleaning off the debris on the patio & walkways. We just can't help ourselves!

TOUGH LIFE!

Izzy in her indoor natural habitat...on our bed where she takes plenty of cat naps and generally hangs out during the cold morning hours. She has a relaxed attitude about it all!

The polydactyl pose is one of our favorites! Multi-toed paws crossed...her usual pose for the cameras...  

 

 JUST BUGGER OFF AND LET ME ENJOY MY QUIET TIME!

FOGGY SOGGY DOGGY

 Ah, winter in the Rogue Valley means cold, foggy mornings, even at 1900' on some days. If we're lucky it burns off and we get blinding winter sun by lunchtime or so. Could happen! This view is looking up to the trees in our backyard .

My blue spruce by the garage door is just about the color of the house but it stands out because of its shape. It was a wee thing 2-years ago but had been trained to grow as a tree, not as a bush as the card below shows it.
I had a nice plastic bunny keeping it company but the paper deliverer hit it and broke off the ears. Mr. A is using industrial strength epoxy to repair it but I think I'll find another home for it. 

The tree is in an east facing location so it gets afternoon shade which it likes very much in the summer. Its compact habit and drought tolerance make it a very good container plant. And did I mention that the deer & rabbits could care less about it? A good thing here!

DEWEYLICIOUS!

This is a photo of our friend Jay and his wonder dog Dewey. Too cute!
Jay adopted Dewey from the Jackson County Animal Shelter and they are quite the pair! Jay and Dewey reside in Ashland where Jay bakes delicious stuff, including a mean lemon meringue pie. Jack calls this pose a real "Norman Rockwell" moment!  

DOWNTON ABBEY ADDICTION

 Okay, we'll admit it...we're addicted to the story! This season is already full of twists and turns and we've only seen 3 episodes of Season III so far.

The story thus far confirms what we suspected all along but brushed off...that Lord Grantham is really a pompous, controlling and incompetent man who has managed to muck up many lives, put the place into financial ruin by ignoring his advisers and now is partly responsible for his daughter's death! We can see that his ship is heading into rocky shoals in the 1920's. His wife, Lady Cora, has finally had enough of his bumbling (she forgave his financial stupidity) but she cannot forgive his hiring and siding with Sir Phillip (the even more pompous society doctor who ignored the local village doctor who had it right)...Lady Sybil was suffering from eclampsia at the time of childbirth and subsequently died.
Lady Mary proved she is a bitch and her father's daughter...we hoped she'd grow out of it, but she gets more like him every time. 
The Dowager Countess can see the shipwreck coming too and tells Matthew that there is no way he can overhaul the mismanagement of Downton without getting most noses out of joint about it. Ooooh, rough seas ahead. 
Lady Edith was left at the altar by the Lord she wanted to "make her life's work." We know he did her a favor and she is seemingly growing out of her title as "Head Bitch" and striking out for independence, even if most of the family pooh-poohs her abilities. She just wants to be useful.
Branson (the chauffeur who married Lady Sybil) could be forgiven his Irish idealism but he also is partly to blame for Sybil's death, keeping her from medical help in Ireland and having to flee Ireland during "The Troubles." We figure he'll leave his infant daughter at Downton and go back to Ireland to cause more hate and discontent among the English landholders there. 
And that's just the upstairs! We'll all stay turned!

REQUIRED READING

About this time every year, I re-read the 170 page Garden Guide for the Rogue Valley. It's published by the Oregon State University Extension Service and the Master Gardeners of the Rogue Valley. It's a great resource guide and a good reminder of the reality of gardening here in this inter-mountain region of the West. 
It keeps me from getting ahead of myself with starting seeds too early in the greenhouse. 
One of the most valuable parts of this guide is the table showing the variance in length of growing season between Ashland (151 days average) and the center of the valley where the US Weather Service at the airport is located (174 days average). It shows the difference that elevation makes! (Ashland is 2500' and the airport is at 1330.' 
It also shows the annual rainfall averages which tend to be dramatically different:
Ashland & Medford 19-21" while further west,  Grants Pass is 31" and Cave Junction is 62"! 
At 1900' we are in the "thermal zone" where many times the winter temps are warmer at our elevation than at the valley floor. That is because the cold air drains down off the foothills into the bottom of the valley. It also means that we get less fog since the fog zone is typically below us.  
This information is probably more than you ever wanted to know about the Rogue Valley or as some call our area around Medford the Bear Creek Valley.