Ozarks frost

A friend mentioned to me yesterday that we were supposed to have our first frost, here in the Ozarks. I checked my favorite weather map at Intellicast.com to learn that he was probably incorrect. Nevertheless I'm grateful for his warning because I did begin the arduous process of bringing my favorite plants indoors. I didn't bring them all in, however.

There are lots of chores to do before it gets really cold and this is a good time to do them. It has been cold enough that those pesky chiggers aren't so prevalent--and neither are the many, many spiders we had late summer--so working in the yard might just be fun.

I live in a small ranch house with north-facing windows. It is pretty dark, which I am not happy about. It is built to stay cool in the heat of the summer, but I really miss the bright sunshine in the room. And there are no windows in the kitchen (which I will always hate) but it is an open concept with the kitchen sink overlooking the dining room and living room. The saving grace is the large south-facing window just beyond the kitchen where I can keep some plants. There is also a lovely sun porch, which is the ideal place for my plants. It isn't heated, but it benefits from the warmth of the rest of the house.

I also have five cats--four of which are two-year old litter-mate kittens, who like nothing more than to get into everything--so I'm a little apprehensive about this plant thing. The girls just love to knock things off tables and jump onto things, plus the unmentionable cat problem with dirt. I'm going to try to dust the plants with cinnamon. I read someplace that cats don't like cinnamon and that will keep them away. Yeah right!

So far, none of those things have ever worked for me. I recall the hot pepper to keep squirrels off the bird feeders. Hah! They ate it. I suspect my cats are at least as naughty as squirrels.

While we are not expected to have our first frost where I live--it has occurred in other places in the Ozarks already--until later in the month, I have some time to bring in the remainder. Perhaps if I sneak a few in at a time the girls' curiosity won't overwhelm their good sense of right and wrong (as if they had that anyway).

Today is predicted to be 70º and the sun is already shining brightly. I can't think of anything I would rather do than some re-potting, cleaning up and generally working with greenery.