The weather forecast for tonight says 25 to 30 and that's a definite freeze. So, when I went to take the wheelbarrow down to Randy's new parking spot, I came back up the hill to check on the few remaining Mesquite trees. Sure enough, they are leafed out. We have few signs of winter being over and the Mesquites just rarely if ever leaf out before the end of freezing. Randy has lots of the garden planted and we could lose most of those but we don't usually get snow or below 40 degree lows at this time of spring. As  I turned the corner of the house, I  spotted the Trumpet Vine has baby leaves at the top. They usually don't show up until well into the heat. Another sign of warm weather is the arrival of the scissor tails. No sign of them yet. The not yet planted tomato plants are safely in the light room where they will stay warm.

03-08-09

CLICK HERE to see photos of the fire of January 23, 2009. It came within feet of our house in one area. The plywood on the back door to the new house was half burned. Don't know how the structure survived. It burned mostly the underbrush and smaller trees but we can see now the trees that are probably dead and won't be growing back. The row of wild plum are gone.

The East Garden that Randy has been cutting out the briar along the fence line was neatly cleared. The ash left behind will be used for treating the tomato plants against blossom end rot. The tomato plants are over a foot tall now and several plants have blooms. The new fence is almost finished the this coming week is forecast for several freezes and perhaps some snow and ice.

The trees are budding and blooming. Even the Redbud is flowering. We can hope for a mild spring but we've already hit over 90 several times and it's still winter. We've had no measurable rain in 5 months now and it is being called drought. This coming week is the first time we've had over a 10% chance of rain on more than one day. So, we can at least hope for rain. The brush fires have raged through the area every day that the wind is up and blowing any and every spark around. Our fire was caused by a welder to our southwest.

Randy had spent several weeks during the cold of winter cleaning up his Shop and it looks so nice. I've used the cleared table space for potting up the tomato plants and it is a bit of a mess but the space is wonderful. As I am almost finished, I will get back there and leave it clean again.

It is difficult to look around and not remember the day we thought we'd lost everything that we have. We don't have much and it's not a lot but we are working for a future that we can afford and are comfortable with. We will be including plans for fire brakes and no trees close to the houses. Look at those photos of the chicken yard where then fire went completely around their house and yard. Despite smoke and heat, they were not harmed.  It must have been all those people who are getting free eggs since we have so many extra. Those folks were praying for us. They gathered at Randy's mother's apartment and offered prayers.