Busy, Satisfying Days

The last few weeks have been busy - both in terms of work and getting ready for Christmas. Thankfully, the busy days have also been productive. My biggest accomplishment this week has been finishing preparations for a seed germination experiment. In preparation, I needed to till my plots (there are 35 of them, each about 3 meters long). There have been a few roadblocks in getting this tilling done (mostly my fault), but Wednesday my field went from . . .




to . . .


with the help of . . .
I have never used a tiller before. At first, it was difficult because I was fighting the machine. Once I got the hang of it - the work went quickly. It was a cold day - about 20 degrees F, with a stiff wind. Luckily, the area I was working in was protected from the wind, and the work was physical enough that I actually shed some of my layers.

I finished the tilling just in time, as the following day looked like this . . .
Since last Thursday, we have had light snow, sleet, or freezing rain. Thus, I still don't have the actual experiment in the ground - but I am hoping that we will have a day that is warm enough before Christmas to get my seeds planted. Though, it does not look hopeful for the next week - we are supposed to have "ice pellets" all week.


I have also made good progress on the Christmas knitting. Since they are secret projects, I am only sharing sneak peaks - I plan to share full project details after Christmas.

We have also been doing holiday decorating - fir the first time in about 7 years we have a real tree. It is small, only about 4 ft, but it smells wonderful and I am so happy to have a real tree. We have a lot of our shopping done and most of those presents wrapped (I have to wrap in stages or else I get so sick of it). The other large project for this week is to get the Christmas cards out. Another task I can only do in small doses.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season - and staying warm.