Sick night

No work tonight. Just as well. Not feeling so hot. Not severely ill but general viral type malaise.

Supposed to be cold and possibly snow tonight. Have a fire in the fireplace and will keep it going all night.

Wood pile is getting small. I'm not conserving. Getting rid of it will make the yard look neater. Can't burn it while my daughter is here and for extra measure I don't burn any fires for a couple of days before she comes over.

Even so, I am working on a design for a more efficient wood burning stove. The design is based on the stacked steel barrel design. One thing I don't like about those is the appearance. However, they could be made more attractive in the right configuration. In the same step they would be made considerably more efficient. But that's something to work on more in the future.
The tomato plants which survived the winter were looking yellowish and pale. Thought at first it was just from the temperatures they endured. Then figured they may be lacking Nitrogen, even though I've used liquid fertilizer on them. So this morning I added a couple of tablespoons of ammonia to the water before watering them at the base. This evening, there's a very noticeable differrence. Leaves turning green again. One is still looking rather weak but it's in the smallest planter, so maybe I need to move it into something larger.

Going to do as previously planned and dig out the compost pit. What's in there should be composted enough to have no odor. Still leave it piled up to compost more, maybe covered with plastic. But want to free up the pit to start a new batch.

Some weather forecasts now confirm the idea of an early spring here. Temperature predictions over the rest of February are for daytime temperatures in the 60's nearing 70 at times, with night temps climbing into the 40's and nearing 50 within the next two weeks. So it seems somewhat safe to start planting some root plants fairly deep. Onion seeds, carrots and potatoes, all of which take a long time to mature.

Did get some house cleaning done. Not as much as I would have liked tonight but just not feeling it. Do more in the morning after more sleep.