The weather, like my family members (including myself), does not respond to criticism. I can deal with the cold but the relentless wind all last weekend was nearly my undoing.

The repair work on my hoophouse, thankfully, held. Now if I could just figure out how to fix the other, larger one.

It’s been an aggravating week. Several of the house repairs have not gone as expected. If it can go wrong, it will.

I’m happy to report that birds have yet to discover and eat my winter berries. There is a nice stand of them in North Tisbury at the entrance to Conroy’s as well as at the West Tisbury town hall.

While I was in that area, I stopped at Ghost Island Farm. Rusty has a fine selection of produce including his own beautiful washed kale.

I bought a couple of packages to save myself the trouble of picking my own. We enjoyed a salad of it with some pickled onions, Mermaid Farm feta cheese and some garlic croutons.

Speaking of onions, I have been noticing that of my keepers (Patterson, Cortland and Copra), the large ones do not hold up as long as the medium sized. I usually operate by the principal of delayed gratification (a healthy child learns that by age five). I save the larger ones until last since they are easier to peel. It’s difficult to change old habits.

A few weeks ago I mentioned how nice the helleborous and perennial foxgloves were looking in the otherwise drab flowerbeds. Last week’s cold flattened them both. I know they will revive but nonetheless are sad right now.

Last year I talked about a man who walked his cow past my house on the way to his morning coffee at the upper Black Dog. Apparently he was getting the animal used to traffic as this past summer I saw him in a small cart pulled by the cow on the bike path along the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.

Last week they were holding up traffic going up State Road. The cow was wearing an American flag blanket. I laughed out loud.

It’s a time for some well-deserved rest from outdoor gardening activities. However, in the event of some warm, sunny days and you are longing for some outside tasks, there is always the cutting of hydrangeas. As I’ve said many times there are simply too many of them. At least there is always a project to do.

Also, if the mood strikes, it never hurts to toss around some lime. Remember to avoid its use near the aforementioned hydrangeas, dogwoods and evergreens. Lilacs love it and I apply it yearly on the vegetable garden. I also use it at least every other year on the perennials, especially if mulch is used. Soil on the Vineyard tends to be acidic so it can use the alkaline properties of lime.

I’m trudging through David McCullough’s Truman. It’s not a page turner but very interesting. So far I’m only at his service in World War I. It might take most of the winter.

What’s also taking forever is progress from the Jan. 6 select committee. On Tuesday, however, I was encouraged by some subpoenas going out to Trump’s top lawyers in the big lie scheme. One to my personal favorite, Sidney Powell. You know: the one claiming that the election results were manipulated by Hugo Chavez (from the grave apparently).

In May of 1973, while home with a two-year old, I watched the Watergate hearings. Cannot wait to see public hearings about the Capitol insurrection. Hope it happens before spring chores begin in earnest.