The Weird Weather Continues

 It sure doesn't look, or feel, like February in Michigan around here.  Today it's 72 degrees.  Yes, 72.  In Michigan. On February 27th.  The sky is blue, robins are singing (robins!), kildeer are arriving as I type.  Kildeer!  In February!  This is very unusual.

I have laundry hanging on the clothesline.  Don't think I've ever hung laundry in February before.

I gave both horses are good tail wash and conditioning before lunch, it was that warm all ready.  Their tails look and comb so much better now. I'm really glad that I got a chance (without freezing them or myself) to wash out all the accumulated mud and gunk from the winter.  I've been brushing their tails several times a week, but when they just go out and roll in the mud (or drag their tails through mud/slush), the hairs themselves tend to get gummy and coarse even with brushing.  This afternoon, those silky tails are blowing in the wind.

February, when it's not cold, has been way warmer than a typical mid-winter warm spell.  There wasn't much frost in the ground this winter, and it's all gone out of the ground all ready.  The mud is dried up and the ground is firm in all but the shadiest places.  

The garden is actually dry enough that we could till it!  Unheard of!  And I am hoping DH is willing to till it when he gets home from work later today.  We were so busy in the Fall (and I was so, so lacking in energy and stamina) that the garden didn't get cleaned up before winter.  Didn't get stakes or tomato cages pulled, and didn't get the weeds turned under.  Also didn't get the garlic planted.

This really warm weather lately has given me a chance to pull stakes and tomato cages.  And to try to redeem myself and hopefully have a garlic crop this summer; as soon as the ground thawed I tucked all my seed garlic into the part of the garden I had intended to plant it back in October. I covered it with a few inches of straw for mulch, and hope that it will be fooled into thinking it's been there all winter, instead of (delayed and forgotten about) in the garage.

Not only have I gotten the garlic (hopefully) saved and on it's way to growing, I also planted the rest of my tulip bulbs (ordered in July, arrived in September) that I was unable to get into the ground in the Fall.  Fingers crossed those grow, too.

Now, I know not to get too excited for Spring.  Because the current warmth comes to a crashing end tonight.  We're on the edge of a cold front that is due to push through (bringing storms) and temperatures that just keep falling all through tonight, tomorrow daytime and tomorrow night. Thursday we *might* see a high temperature of 40 degrees.  So I'll be feeling like winter again and wanting soup and hot chocolate and other comforting winter time foods.

Tonight, though, we're having chicken Caesar salad, with chicken breast cooked on the grill, and maybe even eating it out on the patio!