The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Tag Archives: snow

Polar vortex’ing

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .

Yep, more snow …

Still seems welcoming doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?

There is a young redtwig dogwood buried under there:

A feel for the amount of snow we were blessed with:

The bright sun provided some really cool shadows on the glistening untouched snow:

Why we keep the grasses up for winter:

I could hear the sedums quietly whispering “Help me”:

Awesome peeling bark on the Hawthorn ‘Winter King”:

And through it all, the Karl Foerster grasses remain upright:

The deer have been busy … you know how something is so ugly it can actually be cute? Yeah, me neither: 

A little bit of play time outside and someone was wiped the hell out:

Happy Holidays

Posted on by Posted in Winter interest .
I’d like to wish everyone of you (except Alex) a happy and healthy holiday and thank you for reading my nonsense throughout the year. This blog is an incredible creative escape for me and I thank you all for your fantastic comments along the way. I am ready, with your help, to take on yet another winter and will continue with my promise to not complain about a thing. 
John       

A Bizzaro Halloween

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized .
I never imagined that the kids would use up their allotted “snow days” for school by the first week of November but that has become the reality this week. Most schools in the area are without power as there are downed power lines everywhere. I am home with the little angels today as my wife and I try to make the best use of our remaining vacation days from work. Vacation it ain’t. 
As you can see from the photos in my last two posts, it has become a winter wonderland here in New Jersey. We had about six inches of snow deposited on Saturday and most of the neighboring towns are still without power. I’ve never seen so many downed trees and it has created a bizarre and surreal feeling here I can’t put into words. Definitely a Halloween weekend we’ll never forget.
As the kids were watching a movie this morning, I snuck outside to assess the damage. As I ventured out the front door, I was greeted by a scene right out of Twilight and I fully expected to see a pasty vampire emerge:            

Seeing flowers stuck in the snow is still a difficult image to digest:

As is seeing my trusty Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’ completely blanketed in snow. A nightmare come to life:

I find the autumn color with snow in the background disturbing:

And the pools of water/mud may put me into an early seasonal affect disorder coma:

Yet through it all, I found myself consumed with trying to snap off some bird photos and I never really got exactly what I was looking for:

But enough negativity, we did make the most of Halloween the past few days and kicked it all off with the greatest Halloween movie of all time:

Followed by “mummy dogs” (of which I downed four with ease):

Cheese stick fingers:

Spider deviled eggs:

Ghost punch (commonly known as sugar water or drink to make kids act like nutjobs) :

And finally ghost cookies :

And last but not least, off to trick or treat in the snow with my son dressed up like Harry Potter and my daughter dressed up as a hybrid rock star/hippie:

Good times in spite of the strange weather conditions and resulting state of emergency. Oh well, we can’t complain too much as we’ve managed to not lose electricity and have been able to share our heat and allow our friends to shower here.

This Halloween will not be forgotten any time soon.

John

A new shade of autumn color

When Autumn Met Winter