Spring Update

Life in the small town continues.....it's been a rough winter for me but we are now at the change of seasons and I see light at the end of the tunnel. We had a few visitors this winter and I really enjoyed the company. Andy was out of town working in Omaha, Nebraska, in November and December, and returned to Watonga in early January. Since then we've been getting caught up on things that needed to be done both in town and around the hdouse. We are ready for spring guests!! The weather has been nice on some days and then back to cold on other days-- we can't predict what next week is going to be like so it's hard to plan outdoor activities. But April 1 is the "average last freeze" date in our area, so hopefully the weather patterns will even out a little bit after that date. I am so looking forward to regular nice days. We had a week of pleasant weather a couple of weeks ago and I got our vegetable garden ready for planting, and even planted some carrots, lettuces, cilantro, and arugula. Other seeds (tomato, peppers, eggplant) have been planted in bedding trays and put in the small hotbox at the end of the house. They should be ready to put into the ground in about two weeks. We had a nice blanket of snow in February, left by a blizzard that dumped over 12 inches of snow. We were without electrical power for three days but kept cozy in our bedroom with the fireplace burning nonstop. We used all of the wood Andy had cut up over the last few years, so this spring we have to replenish the wood piles! But with the bad weather, we have lots of dead wood laying around ready to be cut up. Now it is almost the end of March and the leaves on the ground need to be raked up. We have a very large bonfire pile ready to burn, which we will do when the wind dies down (is it ever NOT windy in Oklahoma?) The daffodils and crocus have been blooming for a week or more, and I see redbud trees putting on little buds. The grape hyacinth are just now starting to bloom. The quince is just now starting to put on buds so it will be a late bloom for them and for the currants that are about at the same stage. I'm hoping for a long spring. Drew and Jenna have been up to visit us several times in the past few months. Drew participated in one of our LIQUID ART events and he and Jenna both produced a nice piece of art. We have our next Liquid ART evening scheduled for a Friday night, April 12. More on that later. Andy and I are thinking about building an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven off the back patio. We are still in the research stage but so far it looks like a good venture for us to do here at the Retreat. We will be going down to Texas to visit a place called Ancient Ovens to get some final advice before we jump off the cliff toward that new adventure. I have to thank my friend Sandi from Coppell for the idea! Will keep everyone posted on our progress. Our goal would be to be open by summer.