Oh God. She's Repeating Herself Again

Today was Operation Plant Protection Day. Most tropical plants can handle a temperature of 32° F (which would be 0° C), especially if it doesn't stay at that temperature for very long. Anything below that and there's a good chance the plant will take on severe damage or even die although a seemingly dead plant will often surprise me with new growth. It might take months but I am patient. 
We used to bring every potted plant we had into the house when the forecast was for freezing weather but we are older now and some of those plants are huge and must weigh at least a hundred pounds. Glen can and does manage to move them with his dolly and my help (which is not much) but I hate to ask him to do that. Also- finding a place in the house to fit all the plants is not easy. And then of course when the danger of frost is over, the entire operation must be done in reverse and the plants are moved back outside. 
I have begun wrapping plants in old sheets and blankets when I feel they are too big to move or I am simply not that attached to them. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it does not. And if it's done right, it's not easy. Check out Steve Reed's blog post on unwrapping his beloved avocado tree when they were about to get snow. Yes, it is the UNWRAPPING but as he goes through the steps, you can easily see what the wrapping entailed. 
Now look- I'm just not going to go to that amount of effort. But I will make an effort,  pitiful as it may be. 
I knew Glen would be home by late afternoon and help me bring in the two plants I was just not willing to risk which are my Roseland mango and my sea grape I started from a seed I picked up near the Sebastian inlet. Although I wrapped the sea grape during the last freeze, it ain't looking good folks, but I do believe that after some cutting back it will begin to show signs of growth again. The mango, which I had also wrapped, only had a few leaves that were nipped so it's good. I grew this plant from the seed of a mango which grew on a tree that when I ran with the feral group of kids who roamed the woods and dirt roads of Roseland, we could always count on to have fruit during the season. And the tree was on property where no one lived so we felt safe in picking up that fruit off the ground, perfectly ripe, to eat, the juice of which would run down our chins. On one of my first stays at the Lion Pool House I was thrilled to see that same tree and I stole one of its fruits and that's where the seed came from that my plant was born out of. The tree is no longer there and so that plant is all the more precious to me. 
So out came the dolly and first we moved in the sea grape and then the mango and I will rest easier, knowing they are safe from the cold. 
I moved a few more plants into the house before Glen got home and found places to nestle them. They may not be ideal locations, lacking in light as they are, but the plants can take a break and be rested up and ready to rumble when it's time to move them back out. The rest I wrapped using garbage bags and old bedding. I also wrapped the new limequat tree planted in the back yard as well as the little olive. 

One more thing I did was to take cuttings of some of the plants I love which are not being brought in. 

"Good luck, little ones!" Glen said as we left the porch where he'd helped me tuck in the plants. 
I offer the same words, along with the old southern expression, root hog, or die, which basically means you're on your own, Baby. 

I am feeling rather flat lately and this morning was no exception. I laid in bed for quite awhile, Maurice holding down the covers over me. I pondered the strange dreams I'd had, what the day ahead possibly had for me, the meaning of life and the question of why am I still here? 
Don't worry. I ask myself that question almost every morning of my life and as I did today, I always get up, I get dressed, I drink coffee, I work through the morning angst. Some days I think about Mr. Natural

And these days, R. Crumb's portrayal of the words of a hippie guru philosopher ring more true than ever. 

I've posted these exact same images and ruminations many, many times. Just as I've posted the story of my Roseland mango. And the story of the annual plant protection day. 

Just for fun I did a blog search for "Mr. Natural" and I'm even more depressed than I was. There are so many Mr. Natural posts and in reading some of them, I feel like I was a thousand times better writer than I am now. 

Speak the truth and shame the devil. I do not have the same brain I had ten or more years ago. 

Here's what we're having for supper. 

Sweet potato and black bean chili. 
I've also made a loaf of oatmeal bread, still in the oven, which promises to be as heavy as a door stop, as dense as a MAGAt's brain. 

Oh well. We will be nourished. 
Stay warm, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon