Who's got it and how are your gardens going?
33 here and just rain for now...
Ice?
32 and rain here. No ice-----yet.
No ice here yet, and I hope we don't get it, I am supposed to volunteer at the Garden Show tomorrow, and I am very afraid of driving on ice.
Those poor merchants at the show must be pulling their hair out, it is so expensive to be there.
Well, I hope for no ice, how about you?
Josephine.
No ice yet... I pulled the pots back inside again... and the seed trays. I have the garden at the ready so now crossing fingers and a little prayer and we are ready to go...
Josephine - Garden Show - now that will be fun, stay safe.
No ice, but it's getting colder. Just recovered my plumbago.
We are getting ice built up on our trees, but what is falling from the sky is not yet frozen. We were hoping to make it to the Garden Show later today - it isn't looking promising...
The temps are just starting to go down a little here, 55° so far. But the forecast for next week is scary! I have a cold and I don't need all that freezing weather. DH is getting sick again, too.
Things started icing here a couple of hours ago. The trees are all dripping with icicles. It's really pretty! In the last hour the temp has dropped from 32 to 30 so I imagine the water on the roads will start freezing soon.
Just went tp 30 here too.. very cold in the house and out.
It's 40 in Fredericksburg. I hate to hear about all this ice, but here we are getting some desperately needed rain, so I would say we're doing very well.
From the Tesxas/Ok border. Ice on the bridges and roofs. First wave is through and waiting on the second one tonight. Then one more tomarrow and it will be over.
In North Richland Hills, the trees and bushes are covered with
frozen droplets of rain. Very pretty, but very sad for the poor birds.
It's drizzling right now and is suspiciously starting to look like sleet.
Rats. I hope not. Dark and dreary, damp and cold. Ugh.
The whole yard was covered with about 2 inches of water when
I got up this morning. Stay warm and safe, everyone.
I ran out here and just cut Iris buds... they will not make it tonight I feared...
What a big, diverse state Texas is--73 degrees here. Very pleasant seed sowing temps and its not raining (which it has seldom stopped doing here this winter). Good weather for ya'll to curl up with a good gardening book tonight.
Good garden book... try dying of worry for all the plants out there there just might not like this weather...
43 here and thundering outside, it was raining not too long ago pretty hard. No ice but my biggest worry is keeping the greenhouse heated enough. Our lows will be lower than they have been all winter and my little heater may not hold up. I've got another one at the ready if needed. I haven't covered anything yet, the worst weather isn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow so I will cover then. I'm ready for spring.
Kim
Kim,
I use a small electric space heater to heat an 8 X 8 X 8 greenhouse. There were nights last year when the greenhouse temperature got down into the mid 30s even though the heater was running all night long at the higher of the two settings. And that was with the ceiling fan on blowing the warmer air back down again. I wanted to put another heater out there, but my husband, who is an electrical engineer, nixed that idea. He said one heater was already drawing current at capacity. Two would draw more current than the outlet, the wiring and circuit can handle. Each heater draws 15 amps, the maximum capacity of household wiring.
Veronica
Here it is raining again. Almost 2 inches which is a good thing. Now it is 36*. No ice build up anywhere thank goodness. The roads of course are ok just wet.
Around Richland Chambers Lake they have had 5+ incches and flooding. Several cars have been washed off of bridges. Everyone was rescued according to the scanner. I for one will be glad when this weather event is over for us all.
Take care and stay safe and warm all.
It's 30 degrees here and has been about that all day. There was ice on the pickup this morning, and gate latches were frozen shut at the ranch when we went to feed about 11:00. Wind chill was about 23, so we fed as quickly as we could and got back inside. We are in for a very cold night. Throw another log on the fire!
For an old quote "Be careful what you pray for, you just might get it." Of course the rain is a blessing and am praying that there will be runoff for the lakes. Not in favor of loosing any of our plants but the forecast for 2007 is even hotter than 2006 and the hot, dry summer did more damage to my flower garden than any freeze ever could. Garden section of Dallas News today told of even more plants that can withstand either extreme. I will be searching for more of these for my replants. Mitch, so sorry that your home is not warm. We did a lot of reinsulating on our 40 year old house this fall. So far, it seems to be helping. Don't want anyone caught in a flood either. We have become complacent in recent winters as we got so little weather that could actually be considered a real winter event. Don't chime in very often but I love "listening" to you guys. Best to everyone.
Thanks LouC - we are working on one of the walls here.. so it is holding at 50 something - cold to our toes but better then out there! Dont tell me a hot summer in store - I cannot take a hotter summer - I am working on shade trees right now - but they are all still soooo small it will be a while to be able to get the shade I long for.
It is 31 degrees here right now, there is ice on the trees but the roads are O.K. We went to church this evening and had no problem.
We got 2 1/2 inches of rain since yesterday, so that is really good.
I am sorry about your house not being warm Mitch, hopefully it will pass soon.
Josephine.
As of right now, the thunder is in the distance with no rain yet. We enjoyed mid 70s today and humid enough for a/c. This is really a slow moving front. Hopefully it won't be as bad as we all anticipate. Best wishes pod
Believe it or not but another SUV has been washed off of a bridge. The scanner is going crazy. Hope they fish the folks out soon. They have called for the game warden and a boat since the water is so swift. RCC lake should be catching some water now. Looking better for fishing and drinking water with every drop that falls.
Stay warm Mitch. If you were closer I would share our warm spot.
Cold house...reminds me of early 2003, when I ran out of propane and couldn't get anybody to come out to fill the tank. Thank goodness, I had firewood for my small fireplace and a neighbor loaned me a small space heater. That night it was 19° outside. Brrr!
Ok.....in the past few hours we got a lot of rain. I mean a lot....all the low spots in the yard are overflowing. And we're supposed to get more. Veronica.....you're right about the circuits, I've got a second plug just inside the house I can use that shouldn't be on the same circuit. I ran them both for a few hours earlier today just to see and everything was fine. I wanted to check the circuits by shutting of breakers but the rain started pouring down and the fuse box is outside. Maybe I'll get a chance tomorrow. Right now it is 37 outside and 51 in the greenhouse with the one heater. So maybe one will do it. Keeping fingers and toes crossed. Everyone keep warm!
:) Kim
It is about 40° here right now......suppose to get down to about 35°....all of my windows are sweating and fogged up because of the big temp drop today...and it being sooo muggy this morning. I'm worried about all of my green babies and resident lizard... : /
Melanie
thanks I know when we get this done it will be better, so far it is better here with the temps in house reaching 60.
At 7 am we enjoyed a 70 degree temp and have floated with 5 inches of rain.
They are predicting rain today, then icy conditions and in the 30's all day tomorrow and Tuesday and part of Wednesday when it will warm up to the high 30's.
Years ago when I was in college up in Denton, TX - I think that was 1950 or '51 - I came home from school at Christmas. When we left Denton it was icy. This was way before they had freeways up around Dallas and we had highways that wound around "hills" up there and I was too young and stupid to be afraid of icy roads, etc. We got to Houston before the ice storm and settled in. At that time we had overhead electric lines and in Garden Villas we had our own water plant. So, we ran the water as we were supposed to and thought nothing of all the weather predictions. We got up the next morning - no water - the pumps at the water plant had frozen. We had to pick icicles off the eaves of the house and boil them to make water in order to flush the toilets. Luckily we had our trusty Chamber's Range - all natural gas - and our heat in the house was gas space heaters so we were nice and cozy and could cook. The water we used was melted ice from the ice trays and was used for drinking and for brushing our teeth. No baths except what you could scrounge from your allotment and used for "spit baths" as they were called. No dishwashing or clothes washing. We have had ice storms since then but this was my first conscious memory of such. With today's electric homes and central heating units that rely on electricity, I hope that people are prepared for a nasty couple of days. You may not have overhead lines in your area but w/the increased demand for heat there is always the danger that you could be w/o heat, etc. I'm not a doom and gloomer but anything is possible here where we are not used to this type of weather.
Stay warm and to heck w/your greenhouse. Just make sure that your 3 P's are taken care of.
Ann
Can we say "cabin fever?" lol....Nature at its best..what with the much needed rain, but heavens, its hard to sit here and look out on such a drizzly cold day. I'm beginning to see some bird migrants start to visit and a lone soggy squirrel in the neighbor's old oak tree. But other then that, a toasty, flannel wearin', good book under a blanket sort of day. :) Hope ya'll are staying warm... :)
Melanie
So far all of the wringing of hands has been for naught. Lots of life-saving water but no freeze as yet in Southern Dallas County. My son lives in Tulsa and they are truly in a mess.....4 inches of pure ice as of last night....he has 4 horses, a donkey, 6 goats, and 2 Great Pyrenees dogs. When he was a teen and had a horse about a block from us I made his father bring the horse into our garage...have cute pictures of the horse looking through the glass door into the kitchen. I have a soft spot for people and animals caught in the weather. Hopefully we will miss the ice.
Christi
So do I, Christi. I remember bringing all sorts of critters inside during the winter in South Texas as a child. Everything from grasshoppers to lizards, lol. Esp. lizards! Everything lined up in jars until it warmed up a few days later and let them go again. My mother was wonderfully loving about my rescues...lol
Melanie
Well Guys, no bad ice here yet either as of this time. The Native Plant Society closed its booth at the show today, so I didn't have to go, I was kind of frustrated because I was looking forward to going, but I think they made the right decision, better to be safe.
Another thing that happened, or didn't happen, was that we were going to celebrate my daughter's birthday today, bur she lives in Dallas, so we decided to cancel that too.
Oh well, such is life, sigh!
Josephine.
Finally some bright colors in my drab winter landscape ....blue, lavendar, green, pink, and gold colored blankets...not to mention yards and yards of white row cover.....everything in the backyard that can be, is covered... The tender ones in pots are in greenhouses. I'll be up most of the night fretting over the thermometers.....
I haven't seen any birds. I haven't turned of the pump to the fountain because so many birds rely on the water....but they aren't here. My big concern, if we have an ice storm, is my neighbors' semi-dead tree that hangs over our yard. If the branches ice up, they will fall onto our big greenhouse over the tropicals. Oh, another concern..... did I mention all the junk food I'm eating because I'm bored????
I love your story about the horse in the garage, Christi! Wish you could post a pic of him in the garage.
Sandi
Great memory. About 30 years ago I think. Didn't have a horse blanket or enough other blankets to share so he has towels and bathmats thrown over him. Sure his dignity was hurt. When we got up the next morning he was looking inside the kitchen. At least he was out of the ice and snow. Christi
haha.....too funny, Christi! What a mug.... Thanks for sharing... :)
Melanie
We have had baby goats and lambs in the bath tub before and even a calf or two. You never know what's going to be in here in a disaster. Thank goodness we don't have any ice yet either. We are about 50 miles south of Dallas so it is a bit warmer.
Love the pics of the horse! Too cute. Luckily, he didn't know how to open that freezer for a snack. the things we do for our animals......Thanks for posting photos....
Sandi
Goats, lambs, calves in the bathtub. Been there, done that. We had an Angora goat we named Lazarus because we brought her back from the dead twice by floating her in warm water. We have a roaster oven now that would have made a perfect baby goat warmer. We are using it to keep seed trays of peppers at optimum temperature for sprouting. I've had two emails this evening from my mom, nearly 80, worrying about my horse and what he is doing for shelter in this cold. (She does not even like horses.) Leo (horse) is fat and well fed, and he has trees for shelter and windbreak. I'm sure he would like to come into the garage, but I can't even get my Jeep in right now. Everybody, throw another log on the fire and stay warm!