Here we are, another week into January, and, in my opinion, unseasonably warm. Granted, it’s been rainy, damp and somewhat dreary but the ground has yet to freeze. Weeds continue to grow happily in the gardens, the quince looks ready to burst into flower and I have a couple of blooming hellebores. This may be my favorite of all the perennials. It looks decent most of the year, multiplies like crazy over the years and has a beautiful and reliable flower. They tolerate drought and sun but do best in partial shade.

Another winner at this time of year is a variegated Japanese sedge called evergold. It is at the most 18 to 24 inches tall, spreads slowly by rhizomes and keeps its yellow and cream color all winter. It is preferable to the pesky miscanthus that dry up and break. They blow all over the place if not cut down in the fall. They also have an annoying habit of re-seeding in the most inappropriate places — for example, in the cracks of a patio. Removal of the unwanted requires some digging to China.

At a job site recently, we attempted to rake up a huge amount of acorns. They had all germinated and had roots embedded a good four or five inches. Mother Nature is nothing if not persistent.

It’s a good thing we’ve had a bit of rain of late. I notice dead wood all over the woods in my daily travels. I see it as tinder if, God forbid, a fire were to start this summer when we tend to be somewhat droughty.

I planted a couple packages of spinach in the hoop house. The light has changed to facilitate germination and early growth. Spinach-like lettuce and kale do not mind the cold. It’s like me in that regard.

Last spring I had a mother chicken who hatched out four babies. While shopping at SBS the next day, I saw four more babies about the same size in the brooder. Someone ordered them but failed to take those four. Granted, they had odd-looking necks. I took pity on them, brought them home and after dark slipped them under the unsuspecting mother along with her existing brood. By morning, she thought she had eight little ones.

Their necks proceeded to get weirder. I finally went on the Google and found the old breed: it’s called naked neck chicken. I guess it was bred in Transylvania in the early 1900s. We proceeded to make “easy access for vampire” jokes.

Now they are full grown. One of them escapes the pen every day and follows me around in, I admit, a creepy manner.

Violet attempted to get a photo. I hope you can see its oddness.

Last week I gave ink to Pinetree Garden Seeds. I received my order in less than a week.

Hopefully, I’ll soon get the greenhouse in order and the propagating mats up and running. It’s nearly time to seed onions and leeks. They take a while to get garden-ready. It’s worth it, though. I’m still eating last season’s.

I heard on NPR that Monday was National Clean Off Your Desk Day.

Honestly, who thinks this stuff up? Then, I realized it’s a task that needs to be done, what with tax season rapidly approaching.

Taxes — a perfect segue into politics. One of the first stated agendas for the new GOP’s House of Representatives is defunding the I.R.S. They certainly wouldn’t want rich folks to follow the rules and pay what they owe. They have been busy scaring the rest of us about the agents coming to our houses.

Every time a Democrat is in the White House, they have the same tired, boring talking points: reduce the national debt, cut spending and deregulate business. They’ve actually said Social Security and Medicare are targets.

I guess their red state voters don’t need these “entitlements.” The GOP has been targeting Social Security since FDR, for heaven’s sake.

As I recall, Bill Clinton balanced the budget after Reagan and Bush Sr.

Obama cleaned up Dubya’s economy after he gave the rich tax cuts.

Let’s not forget the hard work Biden is doing to right the ship after more giant tax relief to, again, the richest among us.

Let’s recap . . . I entered the workforce in the early to mid-1960s and started paying into Medicare and Social Security. Am I now the problem of too much government spending?

Oh! Wait: there’s more. We can look forward to endless revenge investigations coming from the likes of Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Marge Greene.

Betcha can’t wait to hear how I really feel?