AntiquedRose ~ I love to see the jet trails this time of year. I am assuming your daughter is in the military. Please thank her for her sacrifice and service for this great country! She and her fellow soldiers are truly appreciated.
Blustery days ahead... let's stay warm by this fire!
My gh that's attached to the patio was fine this morning. The one along the fenceline was "crunchy" plastic with a thin layer of ice all over. Remote read 33, but was colder during the night. We went to Harbor Freight this afternoon to get a couple of plastic tarps to try to insulate the clear plastic. We were debating what size to pick, and laughing about forgetting to take the coupon we had. A man walked by and said for us to take his coupon....and the tarp he'd just picked out. We thanked him, but declined the offer. He insisted, saying he was only buying it because he had a coupon and he wouldn't be needing it till it got warmer. When I asked why, he said he drove his truck down to Mexico to take clothes and things to his family a few a times a year, but it was way too cold down there right now. Boy, did he talk to the right person! I had bags of clothes, jackets, and shoes sitting in the attic (from finally realizing I'd never be a 6 or an 8 again in this lifetime!). I had already donated some before the Holidays, but got serious after the 1st. Gave him our phone number and he's going to come by to pick up 'em up. DD dropped by and after I told her how nice he was and how he was coming to get stuff. She said she had bags in the garage. One good deed deserves another! Of course, my cynical neighbor figures he's probably a serial killer....... I just hope the tarps give the plastic a little more protection and hold the heat in tonight. it's going to be in the teens in the outllying areas.
I came close to losing the plants in the large greenhouse and may have lost those in the smaller greenhouse last night. Before he left for Mississipi, DH filled and connected one of the 40 lb propane tanks to the heater in the larger of the two greenhouse. He hadn't noticed that the spare tank, connect to the heater at the time, was almost empty as well. It's been so windy and cold that by 9:30 PM last night both tanks were empty. I had to connect an overhead sprinkler, turn it on and hope that the warm well water provided enough heat to keep the plants safe. This morning everything in there was wet but safe even the Brug blooms and seedpods. The smaller greenhouse is heated by a small electric heater and 4 large black garbage cans filled with water. On such a windy night, it wasn't enough and the temperature dipped to below freezing for a short while.
Meanwhile the Brug I have in the ground and am trying to keep alive was a toasty 58ºF. It's surrounded by 4 - 45 gallon garbage cans, decorated with a strand each of C-9 and C-7 Christmas lights and under 2 layers of 6-mil plastic, and 1 layer of frost cloth. By the time I went to Home Depot after Christmas, there weren't that many light sets and accidently grabbed a C-9 set.
The forecast for tonight is 15ºF. It's already 21.5º. I've spent so much time outside for the last day and a half that I just can't get warm. Thanks for those extra logs!
Are you sure central Austin isn't going into the teens? Just about everywhere is supposed hit mid-teens in the Hill Country, from what I hear. I've seen forecasts of 14 to 16 degrees for the city of San Antonio.
Good Morning all. It has been a long and cold night. At 3:00 am it was 19° out and 30° in the GH. I went out and built the fire back up. About the time I finally got back to sleep, the alarm said it was time to get up. Well, the GH was 32° at 17° outdoors. The fire is built back up and I have a batch of refrigerator cookies in the oven. Bring your coffee, tea, cocoa and nibble on them with me. Expecting a MN snowbirds to arrive this weekend. I have a fourteen year old toothless cat that hates to eat cold food so I warm it for him. I use the timer on the microwave when I bake cookies. It is a Pavlov reaction for all the cats to come running when I set the timer. Better watch where we step or it will be on a cat tail! LOL
Bubbles ~ can't help but feel good about donating when you know it is needed and appreciated. One of my intentions for this spring is closet cleaning. Please let us know if he is a serial killer ~ LOL
BettyDee ~ once again, sorry you have been abandoned to deal with the elements on your own. What kind of plants were in the smaller GH? How are the house plans going?
Be back later, please keep this fire going today...
21F here, had to go to work at 6AM. I think we still have two more nights below the freezing mark.
How long do you think the trunk of the tree fern can be wrapped in seat cushions?
It's a cold 17° here. Was without power for much of yesterday. I'm glad my dh hadn't left yet and was able to report from his cell phone when he got on the road(cellphones don't work here-too many trees & we are literally in a black hole). But I got the fire going and sparked up the gas burner for some hot tea. Heck it was too cold for a shower anyway! lol when it's cold like this, the hardest part of a shower is getting out! Or running out of hot water.
Back in business today & the fire is still nice. Well bettydee, I've been abandoned again too but I'm not complaining & besides, he's on a job further north-west Tx and said it was 11° this morning. Went out early this morn with the dogs and saw the pond was pretty much iced over except for where the aeration system is.
LouC, my heart fell when I read your post from yesterday. I have a son born in '83.
Bless you.
It is 13 degrees outside here this morning, oh boy! I hope those plants make it, the garage is 30, so very cold.
Thank you, allwild. At 7AM it was 10.8 according to wunderground.com. Now it is 10.5. Expect my garden to be quite different when this over. We are accustomed to an occasional 25 for maybe 2 hours. Almost 30 years since it got this close to single digits. Oh well, somethings were not in the right place anyway and this will be a "start from scratch" experience. RJ, praying for your fern. My fish pond is frozen 4 inches from the top. Gold fish are still swimming.
PK
4 inches! so do you think seat cushions for 4 days is okay? the fiddles are not getting any light...mabe take it off today, and re-wrap tonight...what a pia.
Can you rig a spot light, heat lamp something to shine into the heart of the wrap? I know you have cords various places. Can't remember what is just above the fern.
Right about now I want to be wrapped in seat cushions! We are looking at 15° still!
LOL, I was just outside..and wow...better than a cup of coffee!
Yes, I thought about the spot light thing, but when it's this cold it doesn't do much. I might do something different tonight..usually I put a heat pad on it, but was cautious about doing something like that. I hope it lives! Nothing else has..it's a waste land at the former jungle.
I think this morning is a great time to lay on a tanning booth! (If I did that.) We're at 13º. Brrr!!
Don't touch anything yet. Takes several days for the freeze to get underground to the roots. How in the world is Wayne taking care? Big greenhouse?
Morning all......the gh along the fenceline was 31 this morning at 6:30, now that the sun's coming up...it's 30!? It's 18 here now, and supposed to get up to 42 this afternoon. I'm going to put a fan in the big house and blow some of that heater air around in there.
Linda...we live in the outlying area of Austin....so I'm selfishly not concerned about Central Austin freezing!
Pod....if he is a serial killer, he'll be easy to identify if necessary....dark hair, mustache, UT sweatshirt....
Veronica.....I think if you and I could walk away from "the plants" and channel all that energy we're using fretting over them into solving Global Warming.....oh, never mind.....
Yes he has the big green house up and running. He expanded it this fall, so there is more room. Keeping it warm...now I'll have to ask him about that.
It was 17 when I got up this morning. Now I am really glad that I spent that little bit extra to get the insulated garage door!
Was 17 this mornin' 'bout 5am....GH temp steadied at 34.5 degrees (thank God!)....but I did add another small space heater to compensate for the lower temps....glad I did! Our pond is frozen over for the 1st time since we've lived here (12yrs)
Only good thing I can think of about all this is frozen weeds....maybe some unwanted bugs,snails etc. too
On those days when it's just too cold to go squirrel hunting in the woods...............just trapped #3....
Squirrels are too light to trip spring, so DH threaded string into the house and pulls when "rat with furry tail'' goes into cage.... then it's off to the farm again.....
hahahaha. That's so funny. DH shoots with his airgun. Most of the time it doesn't kill them so he has to finish them off. Same as a rat.
I like the trapping idea...I need to set traps for possums too...my population is exceeding the limit.
Here it got down to 12.7 degrees....(sob...some plants died, I just know it!). Gotta move on, get over it, whatever happened happened. Sun's out and warming up.
BB, too funny about your DH!! Great idea!
Foreground shows cage that we were sold specifically to trap squirrels. They would eat all they could, then open the sprung door and leave. That's #2 being taken to the farm in our raccoon cage. In 3 yrs, we've caught over 50 coons and numerous possums (have a pond). Never had a problem with squirrels till this year. Guess it's the drought. When they start chewing holes in the faschia boards and getting in the attics....it's war.
I'm rethinking all these semi-tropical plants. I know I've lost a number of plants and I'm not replacing some of them with the same thing. It's getting tougher to find stuff that will take our high temps and humidity of summer and still survive these ocassional temps in the winter.
I drained all the pipes last night and turned off the water only to find the supply line is frozen at ground level. I had that sucker wrapped in umpteen layers of insulation too. I don't know what you could do differently there. At least I already have plumbers scheduled for work starting Monday morning, so if I have anything busted, they can take care of it then. My house is 40 years old and I've recently found that galvanized pipe has a lifespan of 40 to 50 years. I'm getting discoloration in the water and bits of calcium deposits that have to be cleaned out of the faucet aerators weekly, so I'm biting the bullet and having the whole system redone with epoxy linings. Not cheap, but it's a permanent fix. Lifespan is expected to be 75 years or more (the epoxy, not me) and that's waaay longer than I'll be around.
I hope all you with greenhouses managed to keep them warm enough. It'd be a real disappointment to go to all the trouble of dragging stuff into a GH then have it die anyway. That's the kind of thing that really gets to me. I can take them croaking if I just left them in the yard, but to do that much work and then see them die is tough.
Pod, throw on another log!
LOL...that's too funny...the all you can eat smorgasbord then open the door and leave!
The Racoon size is the one I need for possums...my neighbor has released over 50 trapped possums to our local park.
Re the semi tropicals, we'll have to compare and see what's come back this summer. We may be surprised...
Crow, we only get a freeze like this every 7-10 years, so remember that.
crow.....hate to hear you're having problems with the pipes....on top of everything else you've had to deal with lately. I hope the pipe fix isn't going to be too expensive and takes care of it. Don't toss your tropicals just yet. When it warms up, and you trim everything back...you'll be surprised how many things survived.
It was 13.76ºF here at 7:00 AM. The small greenhouse was down to 28.4ºF at the same time I'll find out later how much damage those plants suffered. I tried to put the hardier plants in there because It's harder to keep it warm.I had 3 citrus trees planted in the ground. I'm sure they are toast. I planted 10 Thuga 'Green Giant' from gallon pots in mid-November. The rootballls were pretty close to the surface and may not have had enough time to acclimate. I hope I don't lose them.
It is so sad to think about these poor plants. Time will tell whether anything emerges from the mush and blackened stems.
Here is a little guy trying to warm up.. The blood must be moving slow....he didn't move and I got quite close.
DH has just left for the farm with #6 squirrel. I was so bored today that I caught two of 'em. Sorta like fishing, only with sunflower seeds. I hope that's all for a while. I can't take anymore excitement...
LOL Bubbles!
We got above freezing, but not by much. Back to the freezer. *sigh*
Anna, have you seen the lizards and such in Florida? It's been so cold there that it immobilizes them and they fall from their perches in the trees. Kinda sad to see.
Down to 30ºF already!
After the Cowboys game (GO COWBOYS!!!), it's 24º. Where are those warmer temps?!?
I hear you there Stephanie. This cold has got to go. I'm a born and raised Cowtown girl and we just don't do this cold well. How Bout Them Boys!
Warm front coming through!!! It's 3 degrees warmer than the same time yesterday! Brrrrrr
19 this morning after 10.6 yesterday.
I believe we live in some magical wedge of property, because my temps here are always different than what weather.com says they are.
We live on a hill and have two different thermometers in different parts of the yard. This morning both were 10 degrees warmer than weather.com. Which I was very happy about.
2° warmer here... 17° and getting tired of it but trying to keep an optimistic outlook.
At 3 am when I headed out to refuel the heater in the GH, it occured to me that I didn't need to look for those legless critters.
Looking hard for a bright side and slow thawing out this am.