ARRGHH - I cannot TAKE IT anymore!

It is cold and I am bored - really bored. Actually I fear I am losing my mind. I am going stir crazy in this house and it is WAY too cold to go outside. Even the dogs are going nuts. Everyone wants to get outside and play in the dirt (albeit in different ways of course). I am itching to garden but I cannot do that so I am occupying my time waiting for some IRS money to come in so I can register for my final classes for my degree (YEAH!) and researching homes to put out on our land. We had not planned on moving so soon - after all we just bought this house last fall - but our land is calling and it says it wants a house on it, so we are looking at options.

The indoor seed starting project is going along fine. The Tom Thumb Peas are growing well - 3 out of 4 seeds germinated right away and I replaced the 4th for good measure. The broccoli and cabbage seeds are sprouting already and I have already divided most of the tomato plants and put them into larger containers so they can go to town between now and summer. I also took a very large terra cotta pot and planted it with 1/3 thai basil, 1/3 dark opal basil, and 1/3 genovese basil. It will be pretty if it fills out the way I planned it. The rainbow heirloom seeds have had a germination rate of only 50% so I am going to give it another couple of days and then replace the "dead" seeds if necessary. I am trying something new this year and planting pickling cucumbers in a container. They are Parisian Pickling Cucumbers and they are ugly little things but if they taste like the sweet pickles my grandmother used to put on the table I am all for ugly! Here is a picture:

Other than that just sitting here waiting for it to warm up - could be another two weeks before I can do anything else outside. Mr. Man had to cover the spinach with plastic and we are hoping it makes it through the next few super cold nights.

I am starting a new "bucket course" tomorrow at the Drake Community Library. It is a class on World War I and it should be interesting. I love all of the older people in town who attend these lectures. They are such a great group of funny people and they think that it is hilarious that I attend a "bucket course" (everything you want to learn before you kick the bucket) at my age - which to them is young. NOT! (And no I am not going to list my age).

Oh - and it goes without saying that we are rethinking a move to New Zealand after the horrific earthquake yesterday. What a tragedy! We are certainly in the mood for a new adventure but buildings falling on top of me is where I draw the line.