HelpfulGardener.com

Clear skies and 8° F here this morning. My only gardening activities lately have been in going through some of the seed I saved and cleaning it up and bagging it. I should do a bit of germination testing I suppose.

Merry Christmas!

Brrrr!!! Merry Christmas

Double BRRR! This southern gal can't deal with that kind of cold. I bundle up when temps get in the low 40's. Have the fireplace going. You would probably laugh.

Power to you You are tougher than I am.

Merry Christmas one and all

Right this minute at 4 in the afternoon, it is 28 degrees here, but feels like 14, due to very windy, big wind chill factor. The wind chill temp was down in single digits over night and we got a light dusting of snow. It is the tail end of the storm that hit Chicago and a bunch of other places. Mainly all we got was cold and windy.

It's the first actual taste of winter we have had. Yesterday the high was just above 50.

Well James, our first real cold front has finally arrived here in S.E. Louisiana and it is currently 58 degrees on my back porch, but closer to 48 on the front with the shade and wind blowing out the north. It should get into the low 40's tonight, which would be balmy weather to you right now.

The thermostat on the heating unit is set at 64 degrees and that is just how I like it when home alone. When the Mrs. gets home it will have to be nudged upward a couple degrees.

I can only remember being in single digit weather probably less than 10 days of my life-----and I'm now 60. Like Elizabeth, I likely wouldn't do too well in your winters for months on end.

It was 2 degrees here yesterday morning. The only gardening activities I've been doing is eating all the veg's I put up in the fall. Had a big pot of home grown beef stew with all sorts of vegetables from my garden bubbling on the wood cook stove yesterday. I love winter!

The winter solstice. At least now the days can start to get longer.

It got clear up to 24° F for a high today.

Yeah Gumbo you and I do not even know how to dress for that kind of weather. It actually got into the upper 30's in Lafayette. I sure would not like to have to drive in snow and ice. Floods, mud and fog are enough thank you very much. In the late 90's there was a freak ice storm. I don't know if NOLA got hit but we sure did. I have to admit it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Unfortunatly the police, first responders, Acadian Ambulance and the wrecker trucks were extremely busy. Bunch of crazy Cajuns out there trying to drive on icy roads. Not good.

Sorry guys - you can have your cold.

Two of my brothers live in Colorado. They have lived there for over 20 years and have some what adapted. They like not having to deal with the humidity and enjoy the snow to an extent. By February they are both ready for winter to be over. They both get VERY jealous when I talk about planting my garden in March.

Oh well - diversity is what keeps this old world interesting.

Marry Christmas all

Lots of beautiful snow today. We have about 8 inches now. Temps were a balmy 16F this AM and it's 24F now at 3:00 PM.

You folks need to move north!

With quite a bit of afternoon sun, it looks like 31° will be our high today. Of course, that's like a half a degree below zero Celsius. When are we gonna join the rest of the world with a thermometer that makes some sense?

Anyway, the walks are bare & dry concrete after I'd cleared the 2" of snow that fell last night! Little slush in the roadways - I don't think driving after dark will be such a good thing.

Merry Christmas!

Steve
near 49 degrees North Celsius

digitS' wrote:When are we gonna join the rest of the world with a thermometer that makes some sense?

...

Merry Christmas!

Steve
near 49 degrees North Celsius

I agree, and have for a l-o-n-g time. Believe it or not, it's our measurement system that keeps our students behind their age-peers in other countries. Our kids spend two or three years in math and science class learning unit conversions, the "equivalent" between common units and metric units, etc. (Yes, I taught these math lessons....)

In the metric system, the capacity of a water reservoir and the weight *or* mass of the water in it is simple to calculate: multiply the dimensions of the reservoir, plug in liters, and move the decimal point. Leaving LOTS of time for higher-level concepts.

But in the common system (which used to be called the English or Imperial system, but even the Brits went metric), the kids need to know that 1 gallon of water weighs approx. 8.3 lb, that a cubic foot of water (notice--foot?) weighs 62.4 lb, that volume is not only LxHxW (or D), but that the result may need to be converted from cubic inches/feet to cubic feet/yards, respectively.

*whew* Then they may be ready to tackle the original question: How much does the reservoir hold, and how much does all that water weigh?

Yup. Two or three YEARS of school, just to answer the "capacity" question, leaving very little for those essential higher concepts.

You got it, Steve!

Oh, and we spent six or seven years of my childhood in Denver and Cheyenne, where my father (born and raised in Sarasota, Florida, until he joined the military) regularly wandered outside during the winter in his jeans and a T-shirt because--yup--

"It's a DRY cold!"

I can still hear him say that, as we all bundle up and my mother rolls her eyes.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

When are we gonna join the rest of the world with a thermometer that makes some sense?

Our system makes total sense to me, until some nut throws in some metric junk and wants to make a conversion. Everyone knows that water freezes at 32 degrees F. It always has and always will. Sheeeesh!

Yup. Two or three YEARS of school, just to answer the "capacity" question, leaving very little for those essential higher concepts.

BS ......... HxLxW = volume. A unit of volume weighs x (fact). Multiply four numbers and presto, you have your answer. What is your problem any way???

Our money is on the metric system. Our numbers are on the metric system. We all learn the metric system from the start. If we grow up with our system we learn it from the start, as we learn to buckle our shoes. The problem is not with the system, the problem is with learning the math principles whatever system you want to apply them to.

Ya, it takes years of study to get the math. I had 13 years of school ending up with college algebra, trigonometry, and physics. Even at that I don't think I hardly scratched the surface of what can be done with math. Sad thing is, unless you go out into a scientific field all that math learning is of little help in our everyday lives. As long as we can balance the budget we are good. A sixth grade level of learning should accomplish that. If you can add, divide and multiply you are good to go. Even that is easier these days. Most of us carry a cell phone with a built in calculator.

OK, end of rant, back on topic. It is 20 degs F this evening and overcast. Looks like winter is here.

It's 10 F now. It snow a little bit more today.

Coldest day yet here. Minus 2 F this morning. Bright sun and beautiful blue skies making the snow so bright you can't look at it. Oh well, its January and to be expected at this altitude.

That is gorgeous. To be honest I am so jealous.

James, it was 9°F New Years Eve. The coldest so far this year.

That was the very coldest day last winter, also. I do not believe there has ever been such a warm winter low in all the nearly 50 years that I have lived here! Sometimes . . . sometimes, we have a winter with no below zero temps but that is unusual. We are now at about the coldest time of the year and if 9° will be IT, I am going to be shocked!

LA47 was reporting colder temperatures than 9° the last couple of days but her home is closer to your beautiful landscape than it is to mine . . .

Similar snow-covered country around here, James. However, it looks like you could use a few evergreens there on the distant hills .

Steve

Similar snow-covered country around here, James. However, it looks like you could use a few evergreens there on the distant hills Wink .

There are pine trees and Doug Fir on the more shady sides of these mountains. The sunny sides get mostly sagebrush and some Junipers. Lots of Mountain Maple in some of the hollows.



An autumn pic. The reds are the Maple. The dark slopes are where the Doug Fir grows.

We have a saying here "Lucky you live Hawaii" It is 68 degrees here and I am wearing sweats over my clothes. I can't even imagine what 8 degrees is like.
While you are dreaming of a Spring garden, I'll try to blow some tropical breezes in your direction.

P.S. Believe it or not we do occasionally get snow here. At the top of Haleakala, there is fog in the morning, frozen water puddles and icy slush coming from the faucets in the restroom.
Mauna Kea will once in a while get some snow.
We even get freak Hail in the middle of summer!
But mostly at this time of the year we get liquid sunshine (it is the rainy season after all) cloudy days and nights interspersed between the usual mostly sunny with passing windward and mauka (mountain) showers.

It's is officially winter here. It's been down to -9F the last two mornings and doesn't get above a 0 reading during the day. Believe it or not, that's still pretty mild for this area. We have a pretty good snow cover but I'd like to see a lot more. We have another 3 months so hopefully we'll get more. I'll be starting my indoor seeds in about 2 months.

Dang I though 15 was cold. I have it easy, you better stoke that fire James.

Beautiful shot of the snow.

Brr! It's Cold In Here! I'm heading back over to composting.

Eric

We just got a nice installment on next summer's water. About 8 inches of snow fell today and its still coming. The temp got clear up to 42 degs this morning, but its supposed to plummet when the clouds move on. Likely get down to around zero again.

We only got about 4 inches and it's a balmy 15 degrees now. It sure is pretty....but then DH is the one that has to shovel it.

We had 2" snow out of .12" of precipitation. So much for that idea of 10" to 1".

This little storm didn't come the usual route. Instead, it dropped down out of the Canadian Rockies . . . and, fell like powdered sugar!

I just used a broom down the steps and up the sideyard but, concerned about what the neighbors would think of me, switched to a shovel in the front yard. Of course, there was a lot of puffing & blowing but I couldn't practice my best moves since I couldn't feel the weight of the snow on the shovel!

Was it snowing at 15°, LA?

Steve