I’m a broken record — I hate the wind. The weather, however, does not respond to criticism. I have a large hoop-house covered in a white tarp. It is not for growing plants but rather to store bagged potting soil, fertilizers, clay pots, and is the home of an elderly barn cat. Last weekend’s long night and day of continual wind gusts took the tarp cover. It is only attached in one corner. Now I need to hone my bullying skills on my sons and grandson. Hopefully, I can get a fix before it rains too much. I am not a fan of my rapidly advancing age. There are an increasing number of tasks I am unable to perform by myself. Sigh.

This week I hauled and put together several coils of hoses. Thankfully, I have 100 per cent rubber ones so the knotting and kinking was kept at a minimum. Had I been with others, I may have contributed quite a bit to the cuss bucket.

I spent some time on a chilly morning rubbing linseed oil on my tools. I started thinking about linseed. As you probably know the oil comes from the pressed dried seed of flax. I like to grow flax. It’s one of the few blue flowers in the summer meadow. The plant is very important in history. Linen comes from flax fiber. The early colonists wove cloth out of linen yarn and wool. It was known as Linsey-Woolsey. It was not an attractive product, could be produced easily at home, was probably itchy, but the early settlers made do with what they had. Linoleum also comes from a flax by-product. I’m not sure of the process but the floor covering is coming back into style and is more ecologically sound than other products. I’m sure some of us remember the linoleum floors of our childhoods in the 1950s.

Here it is the beginning of March and the gardens are growing weeds already. I’ve been yanking mugwort, wild mustard, chickweed and witch grass. On Tuesday, it was warm enough to weed without gloves.

My greenhouse is bursting with life. Herbs, cole crops and onions are being transplanted into larger containers every chance I get. Some are ready to be moved into a cold frame situation so they can be opened to the elements during the day.

We’ve been busy composting the flower beds and my daughter reworked a couple of stone walls. The beds have been suffering some neglect for several years and now they look photo-worthy. Since I garden for a living my own property often looks like the cobbler’s children’s feet.

Any day now people will start popping some daffodils and violas into some pots around town. Sadly, some of my boxes still have their Christmas “greens.” By the time this comes out on Friday, hopefully I will get some color around the front door. We’ll see. The best laid plans???

Here it is another elections-day Tuesday and I will not know the results by the time I finish this. Last week was quite a surprise. I feel confident that Joe Biden can right the ship. Let’s hope that whoever is the eventual nominee, the whole party will unite an support that person.

Covid 19 has once again revealed the true nature of Donald John Trump. Either he is a person who refuses to absorb any new information or he is so pathologically narcissistic that he simply is incapable of putting anything before his personal interests. It’s no longer remotely amusing. All of us know someone with health issues or is old and we want the real truth here. All those people who now have the virus got it from someone. That someone is still walking around infecting more people.

Honestly, now that we are told to not touch our faces I cannot stop doing it. Wonder if I always did or am simply rebellious enough to never do as I’m told.