What weird weather we're having #5

Thank you very much for the congratulations! I was really surprised by the container win. The only reason I posted that one is to make up the two entries. I think I had far better pictures that didn't show in the wins. The bridge in the snow is one of my favorites, so I'm glad it won.

Congrats everyone on the contest wins.
Red, it's not supposed to be as warm today (67), but warm nontheless for this time of year. Makes me wonder what kind of winter we're going to have. So wishy-washy it's driving me NUTS! Oh well, can't change it (wish we could), so might as well sit back and go along for the ride!^_^
Susan

Congratulations to all the photo winners. Zhinu I loved the bridge in snow.

rc I sometimes forget there are 7 of them so why should you remember? LOL
The 14 are not all my kids - they will be with their father for Thanksgiving. However, they will all be here for Christmas and they total 20 with their wives, girlfriends & boyfriends, and my grandchildren. Then add my parents and sister and....you get the picture!

If the Market of Choice in Portland is not a "WOW" I will stop at the one in Eugene.

I am looking forward to blueberries next summer! I want to plant food where ever I can - I like the idea of growing my own, even in a small yard.

For a small yard, Sunshine Blue blueberry would be fabulous. It gets 3 feet tall and wide and has evergreen blue-green leaves. The berries are great tasting, and ripen over a month in August. Misty is similar, only taller. All the deciduous ones are very decorative too, with brilliant, orange, red, marooon or even some with yellow Fall foliage. Some get 6-7 feet tall. Another favorite of mine is Toro, with broad, red fall leaves and big delicious berries. They do well with full sun, or a little shade works too. I loove my blueberries, not thuggish at all, being bushy rather than spreading canes like raspberries.

Today I planted 7 Sunshine blues. The leaves are such a lovely color.
I have an iris bed in front on an old stone wall and two weeks ago I cut them all back because the leaves were brown. Today I saw new shoots and leaves coming up. Are they supposed to do that now?

Well I went to the Market of Choice in SW Portland today and I certainly did not say "WOW" when I walked in. It was very small and had hardly anything. Do you have New Seasons markets in Eugene?

Oooh, something new to work into the garden. I love blue berries!

No New Seasons here that I know of. That's not one I've heard about.

One of my favorite things is bluebery pancakes, especially after I've picked them myself, I don't have any, but my neighbor does. LOL

Portland....I've never heard of a "new seasons" either. what sort of store is it? Sorry that your market wasn't that exciting. I actually have something that I need to get at Market of Choice, and I keep forgetting to stop. In theory I should be by there on thurs, if I remember :-p i'll take a couple of pictures and post them. Oh wow, good luck at christmas! I bet that everyone has fun. Hopefully everyone contributes a dish so that you're not stuck with all of the cooking! It's not uncommon for iris to have a small amount of new leaves come up this time of year. If they stay short, they'll likely hold onto that little bit of growth and just continue on in the spring. If the blades get long enough, they usually drop them with the first hard freeze, unless it is an evergreen.

I love blueberries as well, unfortunately so do the bloomin' deer :-( the deer spray makes them taste nasty if I forget that I have to wash them before eating and it does very little to stop the deer from eating the berries. It does work to stop them from eating the plants though. I'm in complete agreement about the sunshine blues, small berries but they taste great and the plant is evergreen... what more could you want. I do have several of those. My other favorite top two varieties are Misty and Jubilee. So far all of the varieties that have been mentioned in the thread are southern highbush varieties, with the exception of Toro. However, Toro is known to be very reliable.

Susan, I agree with you completely.... which is a large reason of why this "weird weather" thread was started!! We're definitely along for the ride here since there's really not anything in the weather history books to compare our weather patterns with. My co-workers and I have narrowed it down to what we think the two likely patterns are, neither of which are really good. We think that it's going to be either a) either wetter than usual with rain or snow and likely cause flooding after Dec. or b) much drier than usual making this winter ok, but ultimately causing many more forest fires than usual next summer. Anyhow, none of this is based on anything, it's just the strange feeling that we get. anyhow, let's just think that it's going to be a wonderful winter to go along for the ride with!

Sally, I rarely pick blueberries and have any make their way into the house; I love blueberries straight off the bush.

New Seasons is an amazing market - there are quite a few in the Portland area. They carry both gourmet items and the regular everyday things we all need. Their meats are great - really fresh fish, free-range chicken, and 100% grass fed beef. No corn feed. They carry a lot of organics and great produce. I think I am spoiled by New Seasons! I would love to see photos of the Market of Choice that you guys are all talking about.

So I'll just leave the iris's alone and let them do their thing. Cool. I don't have to worry about deer eating my blueberries here, and so far I haven't resorted to chemicals in the garden so I will eating in my garden!

It's time to put flannel sheets on the bed. Nice and warm.

Well, looks like our warm spell is gone. It's very cloudy almost foggy and COLD once again. Getting ready to take my boys for a walk, warm coat, gloves and ski band to keeps my ears warm. Tonight's my last swim lesson class, I don't mind the pool being 81 degrees, the problem is going from the outdoor pool (it's covered with a huge canvas tent) to the indoor pool where there's a hallway that's OUTSIDE between the two. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
These guys will warm me up fast on our walk. Brute (the black one) could be a lead sled dog, I have to keep telling him to slow down and Moose has to trot to keep up (and he's longer legged)! Being littermates has alot to do with it, they have to be side-by-side all the time!
TTYL
Susan

I like your pictures and the collage picture, how did you make the pictures all together in the collage I hope you don't mind me asking. Love the sunset through the trees they are terrific.

A handfull of sun warmed blueberries is one of the best things. The deer eat my leaves and not the berries. G105 your dogs are really good looking fellows.

So many good looking dogs on all the threads tonight. I need a dog fix bad!!

Looks like we're in for rain starting tonight and lasting at least a week. Worked outside again today even though it was cold. I was washing off some things, darn water was COLD!

Portland...forgot to say, your New Seasons sounds just like our Market of Choice.

If anyone is up, look out your window at the dawn, at least here it's really cool looking baby blue with baby pink clouds.

Thanks Zhinu, took your advice and got this pick at 07:20 from the front deck.

We've pretty much gone grey here, but I think it might have been worth getting up before dawn to see it. Love your view! I was getting lightly dripped on when I was out, so I think the rain is on its way; at least it should make it warmer. It's not 9 degrees like it is in Ontario, but I had to take my gloves out this week. If we get that cold I want snow.

Morning! I was up before dawn and saw the sunrise it was gorgeous here as well. Bruce I love your view too, wish I had one like that off my front deck.

Bruce beautiful beautiful beautiful photo.

Bruce, save that one for the 2009 photo contest!!!!

I second that idea! Really nice.

Just grey here today until late afternoon. Heavy rain a few times. Took some pictures of the house before the rain started. Was going to try putting them on picasa, that's going to take awhile to learn.LOL So here's the new deck, with the hand rail we put on this week. That was a challenge!

And here's the bear rc wanted to see. When I retired my crew took up a collection and told me to buy something for my new house that I wanted but wouldn't ordinarily buy. So here is Bear, you should see him in his santa hat he wears for the holidays.

What a beautiful Porch! I love the color of that wood, and the handrail complements it perfectly. Your porch swing looks like the perfect place to relax.

Thanks,the swing was a BDay present from DH last year. I take some of the best naps on the swing, listening to the birds.^_^ Got the handrail up in time for mom to come for Thanksgiving dinner.

Beautiful Deck!!!! I love Bear, you will show us pictures of him in his Santa Hat won't you?

The swing is great......I saw one in a yard last Christmas.....they had made a life sized stuffed
Santa and had him laying in the swing with his feet and arms crossed, taking a snooze! It was soooo cute!

Oh, that must have been a hoot! I cover mine with clear vinyl in the winter, so I can still sit in it on mild days. Plus our outside kitty loves it! I'll take a picture after I do Bear's hat.

Your porch looks wonderful! A glass of iced tea, birds chirping, cat snuggled up close.... hmmmm, come on spring. I'll bet your bear looks great as Santa. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like a plan (and a memory) to me!! And you're welcome.

Hey Bruce, have not hear for you in awhile, how are you?
I second that from Murmur, Please ear mark that for the contest in 09. that is just awesome. Did you inter any this year? you had some nice ones.
Carol, I did not see the teapot, was Bumed!!!!

Love the bear - can't wait for his Santa hat.
Woke up to snow showers this morning. Currently 30 degrees. BRRR...

Sally, great porch. I can see a lot of work in that!

Thanks all for the compliments. Tills - I did not enter any pictures in the contest this year. Enjoyed looking at all that were entered and did see that PNW forum was well represented with a lot of beautiful photos. I have been lurking mostly with nothing to say, I am enjoying the threads that I can keep up on and am learning a lot from everyone here. Especially about how much empathy each and everyone of you has! People on this forum are indeed lucky to have each other and I look forward to starting my landscaping and meeting all of you at some future time.

Story time: Have been spending most of my time this last month at my DD's house keeping company with DGSs. The oldest has an allergy to cold that the Doctor said could be life threatening and he isn't allowed outside unless it is >65F. They decided to move to Florida when DSIL got a job in Panama City, FL. He has been working there for two months now trying to sell their house here and buy a new on in FL. The DGSs are almost 2 and 3 years old and are a handful. DD found out that she is now pregnant with TWINS! She had been sick everyday, all day for the last two months. The stress was really getting her down and I could see that she needed someone to be there during the day. She is supposed be packing for the move (they decided to rent the house and 5 acres here - extra stress) and DSIL bought a house in Panama City that they could afford and still keep the one here. I can't enumerate all of the stress factors that has put on DD and she is moving to an area where she has no friends or family. Then last Monday their three dogs got out of the fenced yard while she was away. It appears that Bailey (the beagle) and Kodiak (a beagle mix), while running the neighborhood found some engine coolant and were poisoned. They both died the next day and DD is heartbroken. She's had Bailey for 10 years and he went everywhere with her. Kodiak was DSIL's dog and he was in tears when he found out. That leaves the Great Dane (Linus) at home alone without his constant companions for the last three years. There is another story about that for later. Then yesterday things began to fall into place with a renter found, the house in Florida closes today, and she found a trailer for the move. DSIL will be home on Saturday for the first time in over a month and we will start loading the trailer for moving them to FL. I volunteered to ride with them to help with the kids and animals and we'll leave Wednesday Morning. I'll fly back the 16Th of December after helping them get settled and surveying the lay of the land for future visits. DD seemed especially energized yesterday and the packing is almost complete. So you see, I'll not be lurking for a month or so. Picture is of my DD and her Bailey while she was in College.



This message was edited Nov 21, 2008 6:03 AM

Here is a picture of the three boys when Linus was just a puppy. I know it is not weather related, except in the emotional sense. Sofer will excuse me!

Bruce, what a great Dad/Papa you are. I'm glad things are falling into place for your family. I hope your daughter will be feeling better soon. Perhaps she can look up "mothers of multiples" in her new area and get aquainted. They're a helpful bunch and they can relate to the stress she's bound to feel with the new ones coming. Best of luck on your trip.

Bruce, that's all heartbreaking. I'm so glad, though, that you can go with your DD and help out. Maybe you'll get a chance while in Florida to check Dave's Garden somewhere? If not, please check in when you return.

Tills, I just couldn't muster any interest in entering the photo - in fact, at that time I couldn't muster interest in much of anything. But getting the pup is helping already!

Sally, the bear is awesome!

Bruce, have a safe trip. Best wishes to your DD and her pregnancy. Glad you are going to be there with an extra pair of hands. Hopefully they will develop a network of friends. It is so helpful with multiples.
Oh, beagles are the bomb!!. I've had 2 in my life. I love their bugling. Notorius for getting out. One Thanksgiving as we were getting ready to go over the river and through the woods... the boys left the gate open and out she went. Needless to say she wasn't back when it was time to leave, so we left the garage door open with food. When we got back she was there, but limping. Apparently she had been shot cuz there were shot pellets in her rump. Have no idea who or why. So sorry for their loss.
Jan

Bruce, how awful for your daughter. Glad things are looking up. TWINS! OMG You and yours will be in our prayers and thoughts while you're away.

Thanks about the porch, yes it was a lot of work, proud of what we accomplished, but glad it's done.

Sally, the porch is gorgeous! DH got an outdoor polyurethane protectant for ours, it makes it real shiny but slick too! We also put up the fencing to keep the pups out, we call it our "no dog zone" since they're just a little too friendly when we have company and this way they don't have to kenneled. They have both ends and we get the middle.
Bruce, how heartbreaking for your DD and DSIL. I hope the move goes well and you all have a safe trip.
Susan

Beautiful job on the porch Sally. Love your bear.

Your sunset was a beaut, Bruce. All my best wishes to your family with all the adjustments to make.