February 2026 – Dreaming of Trees and Ponds and Growing Things

February 2026. OOF we got hit hard in January with a cold snap the likes of which we haven’t seen in years. One weird thing that happens (at least to me) when its so dangerously cold outside is that all I want to do is sit. Even inside where I am perfectly safe and warm, that kind of weather just puts me in waiting mode. After two weeks straight of almost never seeing temps even above zero it finally broke. And thankfully it stayed above zero just about all of February before I ran out of pellets!

With Lodi no longer in my life I can actually move ahead with my own dreams. I ordered 350 tree seedlings! You guys, I am so flipping excited!! I’ve wanted to do this for so long, I’ve brought it up here on the blog so many times its just ridiculous. I purchased a mix of white pine, red pine and bur oak from the state of Minnesota. Its recommended they be planted at least 6 feet apart so I’m not yet sure how far they will go but that’s a lot! I’ll be planting my back field around where the barn used to be.

Sometime in April I’m going to get the notification to go pick them up and then I’m having a tree planting party with all the pizza and beer I need to offer my friends and family lol. 350 seedlings means 350 holes!

I’m super excited about my little seedlings but I’d also really like an actual wind break / property line / fence line sometime before I turn eighty. I want something with a lot of girth no matter how tall it gets and I’m thinking spruce is probably going to be it. They’re native around here, hardy and grow up to two feet a year. I want one tree to replace the missing one from the tree line behind my garden, five trees coming up toward the house along the garden and then three more trees from that point over to the machine shed. I also would like two more trees on the other side beside the silo.

That’s eleven trees all together which I think would be fantastic but its not going to be cheap… Oh and I also want to plant an apple tree in the dog kennel where I lost that big oak a few years ago.

My new tree line is going to be following around the footprint of where the barn was and where the pasture around the barn used to be. The pasture is where I’m planting all of my seedlings this spring. I want it all to go back to the wild with my garden in the center. (Don’t worry I’m not planting TOO close to my garden, I am aware a garden needs sun…)

Do we all do this in February when winter feels like it just won’t end?! It might be above zero outside but spring still feels like a long ways off. Because I don’t really know the cost of my tree line yet I may not be able to afford that this year but besides my seedlings there is one thing I could afford that I’ve always wanted.

A little pond.

I know not everyone’s dream backyard includes a pond but I’ve always wanted one for the wildlife and for me to sit by on a hot day. I’m hoping I can find someone with a bob cat to come by for not a huge amount to dig the hole. I want it to be about ten feet around and upwards of three feet deep in the center. It’ll be up beside my garden.

Eventually I could even build a little dock over it so I can sit and put my feet in it on hot days. I love the idea. And its affordable. If you’re about to lose it on how many mosquitoes that will hatch in my pond… I won’t let that happen! Mosquitoes need still water to breed and solar fountains are both reliable and cheap. I have no illusions that my pond isn’t going to become green, mossy, gross and slimy, but that’s what I want. I want something as natural as possible.

I’ll have to put up a camera to see how many different types of critters come by!

Its little dreams like this one as to why I have such a high fence up around my garden… hopefully its high enough. Of course there will be no keeping birds out but I would love to see some birds come and visit! I had to stop feeding my birds last summer because a black bear finally made it impossible. Fortunately I was able to keep my hummingbird feeders out… which I find super odd. Wouldn’t you think a bear would love sugar water?

So seeing my pond bring in some birds would be wonderful! Maybe a few ducks might even drop by. One year I had a pair of Canada Geese walk through my yard with a whole pile of babies and a different year I had a family of cranes pass through my yard every night for a couple of weeks. I sure wish I’d had a pond then, they might have hung out for a minute.

I still plan to move most of my perennials (tiger lilies, peonies and Grandma’s hydrangea bush most importantly) to up to either side of the garden too. They’ve languished, never getting enough sun, by my house for years. Hopefully I don’t kill them when I move them! I am VERY worried about my tiger lilies that have always been my pride and joy with hundreds of blooms and dozens of plants every year. Last year, for the very first time, they almost totally failed. I’m considering not touching them for fear of doing more harm and seeing how they do this year. Fortunately (crossing my fingers) Google tells me that its not that strange for lilies to skip a year if the conditions aren’t right.

Interestingly last summer we got plenty of rain for the first time in YEARS. I had expected for my perennials to explode and almost all of them did worse than they ever have. I guess they all prefer it hot and dry. I also want to bring the mulch out of the garden to create a walkway across the front, over to the spigot and to my sun chair spot beside the silo. Not to mention you guys all know how much I despise grass so all that money and time I spent that Lodi talked me into in having what is (in my opinion) an ecosystem-dead yard, will be something I’ll be working at eliminating.

A couple of things I ordered this month that made my life a whole lot easier but are definitely not frugal choices. Crock pot liners. That is a pack of thirty and I only use my crock pot a few times a year so that $10 is going to go a long way for me. Boil Bags for making stock. I used to use two strainers to keep my protein, my broth and my vegetables all separate. Now I just throw it all in different bags! (I’d already been using these little boil bags for herbs and seasonings) Those bags have made stock making for me SO much faster and easier and that twenty pack is going to last me a long time.

My sister in law’s due date is February 24th which just so happens to be my birthday. (I’m turning 40.) They wanted to throw a party for me and she felt terrible that we might have to postpone if she goes into labor. I told her that if we have to postpone my 40th birthday indefinitely I’d be ok with that lol. My birthday has always been just another day of the week for me. And Its tough to want to celebrate anything this time of the year. By February we are all OVER IT and just tapping our feet impatiently waiting for spring to get here.

But almost any reason for us all to get together and see each other is a good reason… even if it is my turning 40.

One thing I’ve had to deal with since I moved in here at Grandma’s house is my absolute refusal to get a water softener. If I had iron (or anything toxic) in my well water I totally would have done something. But I don’t. I just have calcium. A few water spots on my dishes don’t bother me and Clorox tabs in the tanks of all of my toilets take care of any kind of build up that makes cleaning a nightmare.

All of my sinks work great with high pressure and no problems and that goes to say the same for my tub upstairs as well… but it has a sink faucet so its basically the same thing. My kitchen sink does get build up on its filter every few months which is taken care of with a vinegar soak.

My real problem is two fold. “Shower mixing valve” Has become a four letter word in my household. I have two showers now that I didn’t turn on quite often enough that either don’t work at all or barely work and certainly don’t work well enough to get any kind of hot water. My master shower I use consistently but even with a brand new shower head it still won’t give me hot water unless I turn on something else besides.

“Shower head” Has also become a bit of a four letter word because at some point someone passed a law that regulated just how much water they allow to flow out of shower heads… completely ignoring us folks living out in the sticks on well water pressure…

No I won’t be installing a water filtration system for thousands to remove all the good stuff from my water and replace it with salt. No thank you. That’s one more thing I don’t want to maintain and one more cost I don’t need in my life and I’d still need to replace the shower valves anyway. But I’ve finally reached my breaking point lol So I’m replacing all of my shower valves with two knobs… essentially turning them into sink faucets.

Fortunately this appears to be common enough. They sell really lovely hardware kits for two handled showers. I also purchased cover plates for the interior of the showers to cover the center holes. I tackled my main floor shower first as that one hasn’t done more than dribble cold water for years and oh my gosh you guys why didn’t I get this done sooner?!

The entire replacement took me less than an hour and I took the best shower I’ve ever taken in this house. Constant hot water. Constant high pressure. It was AMAZING. Everyone hates having to redo work which is why this took me so long to finally tackle. Totally worth it! I replaced the valves in my basement shower and my master bathroom shower shortly there after and a pain in the butt annoyance in my life for the last decade is gone for good. It feels amazing even though now I have some serious sheetrock patching to do…

Update on the divorce: Unfortunately there isn’t much to say yet. I was low income enough to qualify for a state attorney so I’m on their time and they are swamped. They drop everything for emergency cases such as they did for my abuse and restraining order case which is exactly what they should do. So, non emergency situations such as divorces, take a back burner. I am so ready to have this over with but at least its not costing me anything.

I hate this waiting though I am getting better. I’m planning again, looking at the future again, getting excited again. The divorce will be the legal end of things but the reality is everything ended a long time ago, its just taken me awhile for it to really sink in.

ITS OVER. The fat lady has sung.

February 2026 I’m moving on.