The best part of winter is...

[Greenthumb18]

nachoqtpie,

Wow Christmas in Texas that sounds exciting, How many hours is it from North Carolina? I bet you'll see plenty of cowboys there.
:/ I've always wondered how it is there, they say everything is bigger in Texas! Sure sounds interesting to me, I can't get enough of that Country lifestyle.

Have a good time down in Texas!!
Enjoy

 

[nachoqtpie]

She lives in a very affluent part of southwest Houston called Sugarland. Not many "cowboys" there, but every once in a while you do see people riding horses down the road. Lol There some ranches around there, but a lot of them are selling out to developers and they're building houses. Last time we were there they were building a new neighborhood and it was bigger than the little town that is about 5 minutes up the road from us. Their lawns are so tiny! My parents have a small front yard with a big tree in front of their house, and a small back yard that is big enough for hlthe swimming pool, a couple patches of grass, the koi pond, and a few banana plants and an orange tree. She does rub it in that she just picked fresh tomatoes yesterday tho. I keep telling her that they garden backwards... it's so hot in the summer that everything dies, so she grows in the winter.... lol

ETA.... if we drove straight thrum it would be 21 hours, but we're going to go to my sisters house in Memphis for a day.

 

[ninnymary]

nacho, I've been to Sugarland. My sister lives next door in Bellaire.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I associate Sugarland with Tom DeLay . . .

My first Houston experience was right about this time of year and I wanted to see Neiman Marcus. Evidently, I was confused about where Neiman Marcus headquarters was (Dallas) but there was a store downtown. My memory of the downtown was that it was very strange. More strange was the weather!

It was kind of chilly that morning so I wore a sweatshirt. Ha! A sweatshirt to walk around Neiman Marcus . Anyway, I do not know what the weather was doing! It reminded me of San Francisco. Was it raining or just misting?! But, there was a bright glow in the sky and it progressively got warmer and warmer. I was soaked with sweat and mist just getting to and from the store . . . should have used valet parking.

Steve

 

[nachoqtpie]

I don't know much about the area, as I've only been there a couple of times. I DO know that you can rent a temp controlled storage building for your wine tho.... LOL Wouldn't that be glorious to own so much wine that you need to rent a storage building?? LOL

It does do some strange things weather wise there. It seems that we USUALLY visit in the hottest moments of the year. We went a couple of years ago to visit, and I have a love affair with IKEA and so we took my husband for the first time. We walked around for an hour or so, ate lunch there, and came back out. My parents moved there from Ohio, where heated leather seats are the norm, well, those same heated leather seats become the bane of your existence when it's 107 degrees outside! It doesn't matter if you put shades in EVERY window... you still burn your legs when wearing shorts...

 

[Jared77]

The first and only thing that comes to mind when I think of Sugarland.

Both my wife & I are big fans by the way

 

[Southern Gardener]

Winter has finally come to NW Louisiana - for a few days anyway. 28 the low for tonight and 21 tomorrow night. We got all the potted plants in the greenhouse last night, but I'm sure we'll be hauling them back out at the end of next week.

 

[baymule]

Nachoqtpie, I live 75 miles north of Houston. Everything you said is certainly true! My garden burns to a crisp in the heat of the summer! The sweet potatoes liked it though!

Southern Gardener, I hear ya' We're getting the same temps. We have a PVC frame, plastic wrapped, duct tape secured greenhouse that we grow tomatoes all winter in. Right now the small electric heater is out there humming!! I have 3 Jimmy Nardello peppers wrapped in a sheet and last night and tonight too, I put a gallon jug of boiling water under the sheet and they didn't freeze!! My theory was that the jug of hot water would radiate off enough heat to keep them from freezing. it worked for last night, we'll see if it works tonight.