I feel like a broken record. For several weeks now, I have absolutely no interesting garden news to report. Bear with me as I make a feeble attempt.

The big snow which has lasted for over a week in below-freezing temperatures has caused a couple of personal problems. I have solar panels. There is snow and ice covering them so they are not functioning properly. As the days warm up the snow ice slides to the edge of the roof trapped up there by the gutters. Huge slabs of what can only be described as glaciers crash down occasionally. My comings and goings have become life threatening.

On a lighter but arguably stupider note, my hoophouse has so much snow and ice that I fear for its collapse. I had to work to open the door since, naturally, all the shovels were inside.

Because the sides had so much ice and snow I could not get in position to push it off with my arms. I had to hold onto the hoops and use my head as a battering ram. You cannot make this stuff up.

I’ve taken to indoor food production. Violet’s photo this week is evidence of my comments the last few weeks. The sweet potato in a jar is coming along nicely. Not only are the two sprouts on top growing at a good pace but there are several tiny shoots developing along the sides. When the roots start to show, the potato can be taken apart and each little plant can be put into the ground. But not until the last freeze.

The jar of alfalfa sprouts is about four days into the process. Shortly I will put them into a colander and slosh in a pot of water to remove the spent seeds. They should be salad-ready in four or five days. By then I’ll have a new batch started. One-ounce packages of the seed can be purchased at SBS as well as the plastic screens which fit on a wide-mouth canning jar. I confess, I bought a 10-pound bag from Johnny’s a few months ago. When greens become readily available in my hoophouse I’ll pop the unused seed into the freezer for use next winter.

The flat of pea shoots are almost ready to cut for supper. The flat should give us three good-sized salads.

The warm rain on Tuesday did its job of ridding most of the yard of snow. I’ve noticed several areas of emerging spring bulbs. Whoopee!

I’ve been following the power outages and treacherous driving conditions in Texas and Oklahoma. Wow. The poor people are totally unprepared for our usual winter weather. The New York Times reported lower temperatures in Austin than Anchorage. A climate scientist was quoted saying “It’s no longer global warming but global weirding.”

Just as expected, DJT got away with it. The few Republicans who had the courage to convict are now facing trouble in their home states. It’s remarkable that this personality cult has gained such wide-spread acceptance. I continue to be on of the baffled ones.

I stayed up past my bedtime Tuesday to watch Joe Biden in his first town hall with Anderson Cooper. It was in Wisconsin with voters from both parties. Joe answered questions for over an hour in the manner of a public servant with an appropriate shaped ego. What a relief.