A freeze is a comin'

"Oh dear Gawd in heaven. Momma's gone slap crazy, and what will become of us all now?" seemed to be what Odie the faithful dog was thinking as he stared at me with a wrinkled brow, wagging his tail doubtfully and jumping out of my way as I went back and forth between the last surviving flower bed and the maple trees.

There was supposed to be a hard freeze tonight, and I had forgotten to protect the flowers. I'd put a thick blanket of leaves over them earlier in the fall when frosts threatened which had worked, and the summer annuals were still blooming their little hearts out. I wanted to reblanket them and save those cheerful colors in the face of winter if I could. Luckily, the maple trees had dropped their leaves right at Christmas, which explained why I was out frantically raking the leaves after dark and causing my dog to wish that he could dial 9-1-1 and get the appropriate medical support to come out for me before it was too late.

We shall see what happens. Hopefully my last surviving flowerbed (surviving because in a fit of anger I had completely enclosed it in chickenwire to prevent chickens from eating my precious flower seedlings, the ever-ravenous sheep from grazing them to death, and ducks and dogs from trampling them). All of my other beloved flowers lived far too short lives and succumbed to the various animals wandering around.

Now I'm ruefully contemplating a rapidly swelling (and itchy) finger, and wondering what variety of spider's slumber I rudely interrupted.