Winter has just about had it !!!!

Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training camps next week.  This is absolutely
the first true sign that winter is kaput.  You guys and gals in Minny-so-tah get out the
seed catalog.  Forget about groundhogs and croci and other signs----baseball is the
 
first real indicator that spring is right around the corner. 
 
Can't get here too soon for me--it actually got down to 48 one day.  
St Pete Himself was shivering in his boots. 
 
 

The end of winter is a terrible thing. I means no more snow. It means unholy temperatures that require one to remove clothing. If God had meant for there to be an end to winter she would have invented something really stupid like, perhaps spring or summer.

Not to worry. We drove 500 miles farther north to Winnipeg, Canada to get more of it last week.   Our snow arrived early November and has not left us. It just keeps piling up with over 2 feet on the ground right now and my plowed driveway piles are approaching the Bobcat limit of about 8 feet high. Our snow will be here past April 1st in time for the Twins opener outdoors at Target Field April 8. It has already dipped below 0F tonight. Love it, but we take delivery of our new RV next week and we just may head out earlier than planned. Officially we are heading for Arizona around April 1 because March is dedicated to Maple syrup tapping in our woods. I'm very tempted to skip that.

We rarely have much of a winter - mostly roller coaster temps from fall until spring and maybe one snow event per winter. 
This one's been stubborn - cold day after day and we've had four snowfalls - the mother of them all is arriving tomorrow night - maybe as much as 8 inches which is unheard of in these parts.
 
We just don't know how to handle  bad winter weather - I plan on staying here on the hill until it melts.
 

"Winter has just about had it !!!!"
 
Tell that to the two inches I just scrapped off the driveway

baileysoriginal


We rarely have much of a winter - mostly roller coaster temps from fall until spring and maybe one snow event per winter. 
This one's been stubborn - cold day after day and we've had four snowfalls - the mother of them all is arriving tomorrow night - maybe as much as 8 inches which is unheard of in these parts.

We just don't know how to handle  bad winter weather - I plan on staying here on the hill until it melts.

 
Yes, the first one or two snowfalls are fun.  Now it is becoming a nuisance.  Tomorrows storm is looking like a humdinger.

Michael----enjoy winter while you can--soon you can join in the chorus  from Camelot---"It's May, It's May the Merry Month of May"---throw off your winter garb and run around in a TEE shirt as if you were in St Pete in January.
 
Davy you are a gluten for punishment.  Too many years at the drawing board.
 
Bailey and Susan----batten down the Hatchs.  A nor'easter is on it's way.
 
And Joe Rogo----for goodness sake---complaining about that little bit of snow while Davy has 8'-0" piled up on the sides of his driveway, and Baily is expecting 8" in Mississippi.   You should be ashamed of yourself. 
Sorry folks gotta run---the pool is open ---gotta do my laps----OLE'
 
 
 
 
 

I love paying $1200 or so a month for fuel oil every month, for my house. My electric bill here in Dec. was $2600+, pass on winter!

Chewy-----a question for you---in summer is the electric bill, including a/c at or near the winter months?
 
Remember back a month or so when I said I would never want to own or operate a restaurant.  I worked my way through college in the restaurant business---one year as a bus boy at the Ansonia Hotel,  Broadway and W74th in NYC.  And the rest at Fay's Steak and Chop House, the best Steak House in nothern Manhattan.  I did not envy Mr Bliss, the owner, who was there 7 days a week , had to put up with chefs and waiters --keep an eye on the bartenders and the till.  Then when we all went home he had  to pay the bills.  The overhead had to be huge.  I wonder what ever happened to Mr Bliss ---a good guy. 

chewingthefat


I love paying $1200 or so a month for fuel oil every month, for my house. My electric bill here in Dec. was $2600+, pass on winter!

Yowza! I have an all electric house including stove, water heater and electric floor radiant heat. No natural gas or propane. I spend less than $180 per month that I pay on a year round budget plan for all electric in our 2,400 sf house. So I pay less than $2,160 annually for all heat and electricity and it is much, much, mucho colder in Minnesota. I designed and built my own home28 years ago with the intent it be pretty much energy independent. It will not go below 50F with no heat no matter how cold it gets (checked that when it was -20F under construction) and it has never gone above 88F (when it was 106F outside). So I never installed air-conditioning. Electric floor radiant heat is primarily for comfort and make up for fresh air. I don't have any solar collectors or other measures but I could easily add such and go to zero energy requirements. The payback was just not there. All my systems are totally passive.

Mr Mariner - they've revised the Snowmageddon forecast tonight for our area - it doesn't seem to be nearly as ominous as yesterday.
And I assume you enjoyed your pool laps today?

somewhere under 2.5 feet of "partly cloudy", about 5000 crocuses and a million+squill are just waiting to brighten my day (followed by 50,000 daffs - I know, because I planted their grandparents!).......unfortunately, at the rate that it is going, that might be fourth of July!

the ancient mariner


Chewy-----a question for you---in summer is the electric bill, including a/c at or near the winter months?

Remember back a month or so when I said I would never want to own or operate a restaurant.  I worked my way through college in the restaurant business---one year as a bus boy at the Ansonia Hotel,  Broadway and W74th in NYC.  And the rest at Fay's Steak and Chop House, the best Steak House in nothern Manhattan.  I did not envy Mr Bliss, the owner, who was there 7 days a week , had to put up with chefs and waiters --keep an eye on the bartenders and the till.  Then when we all went home he had  to pay the bills.  The overhead had to be huge.  I wonder what ever happened to Mr Bliss ---a good guy. 

Ancient One, Summer and all the other months are 1/2 that, even with the air conditioning. I swear it's a manipulated market. Current bill is $1800+, I use no more electricity now than in Aug. yet I get screwed by Alleygheny Energy, every winter!

Bailey---I am glad you missed it.  As for my laps---they are very boring---sot I make my mind work as I swim---50 laps=50 States, each lap is a state------but they must be in order of ratifying the constitution.  The Constitution is that thing the congress and a lot of judges forget about. 
 
60 laps---50 States plus First 10 amendments
 
70 laps----50 states + 10 amendments + 10 commandments. 
 
Davy I love the picture.
 
Fried Clams---they are all under the snow just waiting to burst out and do their thing---but, they are too late arriving and too soon gone.
 
 
 fo

Davydd

 
Yes, yes and yes.

In Knoxville it has been very cold since the beginning of December.  Snow is sorta pretty for the first time or two but now in addition of the cold weather, it is awful.  I cannot wait until spring.
 
I will be burning off my garden in the next day or so and that will add potash to the soil in addition to killing off the weed seed.  I always look forward to this event as we add a cast iron pot of chili on the fire and burn some weiners and marshmellows.  I am looking forward to planting my early winter garden with greens, cabbage and peas and later on, planting corn,beans potatoes, peppers, squash, leaf lettuce, carrots, onions and other salad veggies.
 
Please leave us winter.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Way to go Paul,  looking forward to spring and the garden.  Love it.
 
Now tell me what you do to burn off the garden.  I have never done that.

the ancient mariner


Way to go Paul,  looking forward to spring and the garden.  Love it.

Now tell me what you do to burn off the garden.  I have never done that.

 
I had a few excess trees on my property and Mamaw Smith's next door.  I cut one down and used the wood on top of my garden along with the leaves.  I hired my yard guy who is a captain of the Knoxville Fire Department to do the burn.  The tree is huge and the fire will be immense and I got a burn permit.  I had the tree cut up into segments so the fire will be legal.  He will burn it in a few days.
 
We will have to pick a day when there is not wind but it is very close to the lake and there is no danger of the fire moving.
 
The result is a garden that has additional potash and mostly weed free.  Hopefully when we till it in, the garden will again produce huge tomatoes, corn and other neat garden veggies as it did last year.
 
I do not use any chemicals to control pest although I do add some organic fertilizers such as mushroom compost.  I am not sure that my garden qualifies as a organic garden but I have done the same for many years.  I do know that my tomatoes and orther prduce taste very good but it may be just because it is my own and I can pick it as I please.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Great idea for the garden.
 
I used to burn off my yard every year.  It got rid of the weeds, leaves, the dead grass and it came back greener than ever.

15 below zero here outside of Chicago this morning. It's predicted to be in the high 30's next week, HA. We've been under snow and cold since December 4, pretty unusual for us.

kland-------you folk in Chicago can therefore change the name from
Windy City to Snowy City.  No big deal---you will still have the Bears
no matter which name you choose. 
 
Paul----thank you for the info---I had never heard of burning off a garden--I have had a lot of gardens, and lots of tomatoes and stuff but never heard of burning .  Maybe it isn't done in the civilized Eastern section of the good old USA.
 
Dimmie it looks like you second Paul's motion----but in Calif. doesn't Mother Nature burn off the gardens for you?   Seems like You guys have a terrible fire every year. 

I'm looking for the "taking applications" sign at a local clam shack, because it is always followed a week or so later with an opening date (usually  mid to late March). Right now one would need snowshoes to even get to the sign to put up the letters. This has been a long hard winter here in Massachusetts, snow wise, but average temp wise. Lots of roofs have caved in.

dimmie2


Great idea for the garden.

I used to burn off my yard every year.  It got rid of the weeds, leaves, the dead grass and it came back greener than ever.

 
Not only do you get rid of the weeds and leaves and grass, it adds potash to the soil and any resident insects that pester your garden.
 
I have done that for several years and the last couple of years, I had a bumper crop of tomatoes, turnips, corn, beans, peppers, squash, beets, okra and a few other things.  I got a pretty small garden.  About 50 feet by 15 feet and we tight plant our corn and got about 40 quarts off that small space.  I had to pick okra every other day.  We got enough that we are still frying it and it will last a couple more months.
 
We do not use chemicals of any kind.  We have bought some mushroom compost in the past.  It has to be rotor tilled in.  I irrigate almost dailey from the Tennessee River.  It is very fertile.
I had the captain of the Knoxville Fire Department burn my garden yesterday.  It was a spectacular fire and caught Mamaw Smiths zoysia yard on fire.  She resides next door.  We started the fire at 1:00PM and it was still going strong at 3:00AM.  Needless to say, I did not get very much sleep last night.  I was afraid of sparks.  Mamaw Smiths yard will be just fine even though I burned a good portion of her back yard.  Zoysia roots go several feet deep and some folks burn it off every year although we have never done that.  It should be greener this year.  
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN 

Last Wednesday night we had 5 inches of snow and it was 22 degrees that night.  Today it hit 70 - was sunny - Mother Nature is indeed teasing us.
 
We know there's still a little more winter in store for us.
 

After the long cold spell we reached 70 degrees today and should break a record at 74 tomorrow. The forecast is for 10 days to 2 weeks above freezing before we get another cold period
We did our pre-budding spraying of the fruit trees today and will get a Grandson to do the heavy pruning on some of the trees this weekend if the weather does hold.  Won't be long til the buds begin to show.  We have Daffdodill spikes up about 3 inches already.

It was a balmy 45 degrees here yesterday, and I was finally able to go in the back yard and feed my poor birds( the snow had been up to my thighs) Today is much the same, but if there are any of my daffodils coming up, I still cant see them thru the foot of snow still on the ground!

I got a pedicure yesterday in preparation for sandal weather. I know I'll be back in the boots some, but I have unpacked the flip-flops!

I hate cold weather. Putting on all those layers and then trying to get in your car and drive. I feel like the Philsberry Dough Boy. Good Lord, I live in the South and we had 4 snowfalls this winter. But this week the weather has been in the high 50's and low 60's (cant beat that). I am a warm weather person and love to be able to sit out on my patio and soak up the sun.

It got up in the 60s the last two days, and today it reached 70.  I never thought I'd see this in February!