What weird weather we're having

Like I said....it's way too early. Summer started so late, it's like we haven't had one yet. Where were you that it snowed? That must be fun to dress for, you need two or three different sets of clothes.

Well, when it started I was out in it in just those lovely firefightening clothes, didn't think to grab long johns this morning! I wish that I could say that it was fun and normally I would have several sets of clothers!! I stayed out in it for an hour or so. When I was given the opportunity to go back into the office, I jumped at the chance without hesitation. Especially given that I really don't think all that of snow! I was told that it quit snowing about 30 min. later. They're saying that it's supposed to be cool again tomorrow and then east winds (dry us out faster than 100deg. weather) and 85 deg by wed or thursday. And that's supposed to go on for at least a week. Holy cow, I can't wait!!! can you imagine how confused out gardens are going to be????

I thought of you when they said last week that the snow level was going to drop - but didn't really think you'd have it since you're farther south than we are. It's 10 degrees below normal today - brrrrrrrr. Summer for three more weeks, but it definitely feels like fall.

I've already been dealing with what the news called "confused tomatoes". They're just not right this year.

Thanks for thinking of me/us Katie!! Did you actually hear or read somewhere that we would have three more weeks of summer?? Ya know..... Silly me. I had heard several days ago about the snow level coming down to about 5500' and the crews and I just thought "naw..... it'll be colder and rainy again, maybe tiny bit of snow at night, but that'll be it'. And then promptly forgot about it! As did everyone else..... until this morning when we had the severe weather statement come across our radios at maybe 9 am or so. There were all these moans, "yuk's", "ahhh craps", and whatever #$%^ words being said all at once by the folks. Then everybody sort of realized all at once that we were all a little underprepared for snow!! The upside is that it'll be a day that won't be forgotten for a long time to come!

That's giving me chills just reading about it. Brrrrrrrrrr.

Time for bed. Nite all.

Good night!

Yesterday was chilly here in Portland but it is supposed to get warmer for a few days. This is my first fall season in Oregon - I hope my tomatoes ripen quickly!
At least we are not in the path of a hurricane - so we should count our blessings.

This is true about the hurricane. But stilll.... best of luck with getting those tomatos to ripen. Even though i gripe and moan regularly about the weather not doing what I think it's supposed to..... I've always thought that the PNW was one of the most "well behaved" areas to live. Now I need to knock on some wood bfore a sleeping volcano erupts or something like that.

NO RUMBLING VOLCANOES! One of the reasons I moved to Oregon was the weather. I like the rain that makes everything so green and beautiful.
If the news has identified a syndrome "confused tomatoes" than that fits perfectly into my lifestyle.
I read on another site that someone is blaming his non-fruiting passion vines on Bush - says his abstinence program must be working...

hahaha ROFLOL!!!!!! I love that!

Confused tomatoes - a result of confused weather. And confused gardeners following close behind, scratching their heads - oh my, August came & went.
I will think twice next time when complaining about the heat: 7 tomatoes from 5 plants just doesn't cut it. And now we're on the annual rapid descent to killing frosts, which I am not ready for.

Katye, Sounds like our tomatoes are related....told my DH we may just get fried green tomatoes this year....this is Summer????????????

Snow........nnnnnnoooooooooo!

Lots of snow this morning when sailing. The mountains got a blast of lots of new white on the previous green. The skies were grey with sun breaking forth at the end of a long sail. Beautiful day!
Our tomatoes are just turning ripe. Lots of green one waiting.

Sofer I am so glad that Nature has someone on her side when considering the weather this summer!! lol

This message was edited Sep 1, 2008 5:52 PM

I got back about 4 pm; I really enjoyed the weekend, but I’m so glad to be home. I really looking foreword to catching up on here, but I’m super tired, went through several pressure changes on the way down so my head feels like it full of concrete and have a lot to wade through, so sorry if I miss things.

AnalogDog, well that would fit the weird weather we’ve been having; if we got summer in Sept. and Oct.

Portland - I love our weather, but it's not so good for ripening tomatoes. Even in a warm summer, there are generally several left on the vine trying to ripen when the October rains set in.

I find that the smaller, the better, from that perspective.

check out the forcast. Wahoo. (however, nobody but the national weather service, predicted snow and near freezing lows for the last two nights either)

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/97463?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared

redchic....Oh Boy Oh Boy, checked the weather for my area. A little cooler than yours, but should help with the tomatoes. The whole month didn't look bad actually, but that will be probably change. But I think you don't spend much time at home, so what's the forecast for where you're working?

Cool again today, but nice. We had a huge picnic today, last one for the year. It was cool under the trees, a good time was had by all. Having a huge discussion about coyotes. We've got one young one prowling around that isn't smart enough to be afraid of people and he's scaring people. I think they're going to try and trap him and find him a new home away from the houses. I think he'd probably disappear during winter anyway, he'd be sent off the find his own territory. Some people want him killed, I'd rather that didn't happen if it can be avoided.

How did you find a forcast for the rest of the month? I would like that. Coyotes are typically really shy. Has this one been letting people get close to it? or are the neighbors just paranoid? I guess if folks are paranoid, it might be better to be moved away from them.

There was a button along the top of the page. 10 day, month, etc.

People here tend to get paranoid about nothing, so I can't tell. One person I know is not, said she'd seen it a couple of times. She thinks it's just curious, young and stupid. But it spooked someone who was walking their dog, she said it didn't back down and really frightened her. But she would scream at a mouse LOL so who knows what really happened. I don't understand people who move to the country and can't stand animals, does not compute. They complain about the squirrels raiding the bird feeders. I put out squirrel food and bought bird feeders that are hard for them to get into....squirrel proof feeders is an oxymoron.

Coyotes aren't shy around here. There is new development in the city and it's chasing coyotes out of ravines that they've been living in. They are approaching kids on playgrounds and going up onto people's porches for their small dogs.

I think they're city coyotes and they're used to the sites and sounds of people. While I'm not afraid of them myself, I would be worried if I had small children, cats or dogs out and around. They know they don't have any predators and part of the reason for their hunting success is that they'll try anything -- really push the limits. Unfortunately, our Fish and Game people don't think it's a problem, so somebody's going to end up making a solution for himself (and I don't think it will be to trap and move).

I can hear them in the woods howling or doing that baiting whimper regularly (I live between two empty multi-acre treed lots). And my neighbors and I see a couple of regulars walking up the street on their regular route. That's why all my cats are now indoor cats. Yes, I'd be just as happy without them.

Katie, my cats are indoor only cats too because I worry about the getting injured or eaten, among other things. I've had many conversations with people about how it's unnatural to have indoor only cats. My comment is that I wouldn't let my DSD go running all over the place without knowing where she was and how to get a hold of her. If my cats learn to use a cell phone we'll talk about letting them go out by themselves.

I'm all for quality of life, but the odds are stacked against my guys.

I do have one girl who still goes out (she pees all over the house, so I'm trying to limit the problem). And the more she's out, the more she wants to be out. But she is very careful - she saw her sister get eaten and it has greatly changed her attitude about strange dogs.

Though I'll have to say that she especially likes to be out when my dogs are out because it makes her feel safer.

There are coyotes around my place.. Used to here them 'singing' on a regular bases.
But this spring, someone lost a new foal to a coyote, And they made a new law that you could shoot them!
Heard some yipping one night, and then a gun shot...and no more yipping.
Couple years ago, I heard my cat meowing loudly. I went outside and could not find him right away. then didcovered he was up in the big cedar tree and would not come down. With a lot of calling from me, he finally came down. I think a coyote was in the yard and he went up the tree to be safe.
I won't keep him in just because there are coyotes. And, hay, he is 14! and loves being outside. He grew up in Kent, with lots of traffic etc. Is one smart cat to still be alive.

I agree with the comment about how people move into the country and then want the animals to all go away! If that is how they feel, they should not move into the country!

No, not all coyotes are shy. I guess instead of "typically" i should have said "usually" or something like that. But, while they are shy, they are smart enough to adapt to where the food is. That's for sure. They are all around up here and occasionally they do make a presence, more than just a flight across a road, but it's usually in the evening. So, that's part of the reason why I make my cat's come in at night. The down side of living in the country I guess is that the cats have to come in at night?? seems a fair thing. Also here, the coyots are not the highest on the food chain, which may help. When I was growing up there was a gang of raccoons that killed one of my cats, so I bring them in for all sorts of reasons. But, that seems to work for me. I doubt that would work in the areas where the coyotes are no longer afraid.

weather report today: most excellent!

it should stay this way or even a few deg.warmer for a long time!!

You're right, though, RC. They would just as soon avoid us - it's just that we're everywhere.

Nice weather here today, too, and (they predict) for the rest of the week!!

ahhhhh.... at least the good luck is being spread all around! Sorry Sofer, no snow today (thank goodnes!)

Look what I saw today.... out in the woods! I'd say no big deal if it were at the coast. But this was where a lake becomes a creek up in the wilderness. Unfortunately they (they're was two of them) scattered before I could actually get a decent pic.

Otters are very beautiful but don't put a fish pond in any where around them. Dan Hinkley cannot keep koi because of the otters. They are a joy to watch and see them interact. More snow in the mountains here at only 6000 ft and it melts as the day warms up.

Thanks for the info. If I ever move into the city I may try a pond. But, no chance of any kind of pond for me. To many raccoons, fox, bear,.... and I don't want any of them tempted to come around more often. That otter was truly up in the wilderness where nobody is putting in a pond! we were both shocked to see each other. I'll be back there tomorrow, so i'm hoping to find where they hang out at.

Loved the Otter. When we lived on Black Lake out west of town we had a family of River otter that we could watch from our sunroom. They really are fascinating creatures.Here in town all we get are squirrels and racoons...but I love them too.

redchic....lucky you! We used to have otters that came to the river, I love to watch them play. But then they disappeared. We had a bob cat/mountain lion around a couple of years back. A lot of things either disappeared. Squirrels, deer, fox, even the raccoons were'nt around much. There's some cattle ranchers behind us, they took care of the problem. But most of the animals never came back. We figured if they got out they're probably on Mt. Piscah.

I have two inside cats, one was rescued from the field behind our house and has no interest in going out. You can leave the door wide open and she just looks nervously out and meows for me to come back in. LOL The other one has gone out, but not far, then she makes a bee line for the door. Our half feral that lives in the garage has her own kitty door, so that's her safe place. I used to leave the door cracked for her, but others started to use it. She'll also go to my Mom's next door, like right now with so many strange people around because of the work being done on our house. The garage doors come tomorrow! Yeah! Except that meant I had to clear the garage for them today. Not too bad because we had done so much before, just shove everything to one end.

Weather was perfect for working, glad for that.

They seem as though they would be entertaining to have around.... if you don't have a fish pond that is! I'm sure they seem trivial to some people because you can see them all over at the coast or large (freshwater) lakes. But, I've never seen one some place "out in the middle of nowhere". At first glance I even thought that it was a nutria. Then it finally got out of the water and looked at me. All I could think was "how in the heck did an otter get all the way up here?" (still haven't figured that one out) But, I suppose that I don't need to. The lake that they were in is a very old volcanic crater and the only source for water is snowmelt and rain. there is a creek that goes out of the lake, but about 1/4mi. downstream there is a 50' falls/white water area. So i'm still wondering how they got there. here's a pic of the lake. taken from right about where the otters were.

ok, the picture this time I hope.

Sally, this river is where you are at now? or where? It seems as though your cats do a pretty good job of deciding what is best for them. To bad that those critters never came back, although I would never miss a raccoon. You had a Bob Cat and a mountain lion? Or just one or the other? Sounds to me like it was probably the latter of those two if it was eating that much. But, if a bob cat is hungry enough, i'm sure it would go after something three times its size.

Sounds as if everything is coming along really smoothly with your place now! It will be soooo nice to have the doors in I'm sure of it. Helps everything else stay a lot cleaner when they are there, that's for sure!

The ones I used to watch were on the Piscah side of the river. I always marveled at the way they climbed up and down the bank. It's pretty steep for creatures with no feet. I watched them one whole summer, then I guess they moved on.

It was either or, we were never sure which.

This message was edited Sep 2, 2008 11:29 PM

My brother (in Philomath) has property that borders a little stream (tributary of the Mary's River, I think). Anyway, his house is uphill from that piece of property. But one morning they came out and a beaver had eaten through a fruit tree in their yard and actually dragged it off. It was young, but still a pretty big tree. I have a very Disney vision of the beaver characters and their dialogue as they dragged the tree across the yard and down the hill through the woods to the river. Makes me smile.

ok. silly computer is not letting me attach stuff. try it again with a new browser open.

Now that is worth framing and putting on your wall. Just looking at it lowered by BP several points, I'm sure.

finally that work.

Katie that thought would definitely make me smile as well. Definitely sorry about the tree. But, it does sounds as thought that beaver has good taste in trees!!

ok. this picture is of the top of the falls that is about 1/4 mi. down from the lake.

Gorgeous picture....where is it?

I'm laughing out loud over the picture of the beaver. What a sight that would have been. I've had nutria steal tomatoes, but nothing that bothers my trees except when the deer come after apples.. hahaha

Reminds of the time DH and I saw a young buck drunk on fermented apples! Funny thing I've ever seen.