March came in like a white lion... a lion which ate Punxsutawney Phil, and decided to stick around for awhile. To judge by the mounds of snow everywhere, maybe that March lion is really a Siberian tiger.
We are expecting several storms and high winds tomorrow. ALMOST done stripping, and rebedding stalls. Ponies have been outside all week, but they come in tonight and will stay in their stalls until Saturday morning.
So, I get the temporary hoop house up and finished with even the window installed and today we had 45 mph wind gusts. It moves quite a bit with winds like that but it is a very sheltered location, for having day-long sunlight. Not quite as sheltered as I would have liked it but it seems to have weathered the windstorm okay.
We also picked up about 1/4" of rain and there should be more coming with some snow over the next few days. The lawn will appreciate the moisture. The grass still hasn't started to grow in the densest shade but where there is lots of sun it was trying but becoming very dry. Between snow and rain during March, we only had right at 1 inch of moisture. There was less than that in February. A dry Winter with just snow lingering on the ground for long periods of time.
Steve
PS: how were those storms in your neighborhood, @ducks4you ?
Had the largest snowstorm of the year last night/this morning, woke up to a whiteout. The snow was past my knees on the sidewalk. Took forever to get all the snow off the vehicles, I didn't even bother to use the brush, just my arms and gloved hands. With the blowing winds, the snow must have been a foot and half high on the vehicles. My car was parked just under the carport roof edge and the accumulating snow fell from there down on to my car, it was crazy! Neighbours directly across had a good laugh about how buried my car got!
Spring is a bit closer for us here in Washington @heirloomgal but not by much. We had a wild day today with it constantly switching between sun, rain and hail. I am so very thankful that I decided not to stick my tomatoes out for sun time before leaving the house today.
It's 21°f (-6°C). The Full Moon is shining brightly through the kitchen window.
Checking the volunteer wunderground stations in the neighborhood – really weird. Some show 10 degrees F warmer! Some colder. WS forecast for the somewhat distant airport was for 29°f (-2°C). Dang! That's what they show ... "Partly Cloudy" I guess that's it – the clouds. Where's my blanket??
Heat in greenhouse is doing it's job. Probably should have moved everything off the forward bench so they wouldn't have been sitting so close to the thin plastic film. I wonder how the transplants are doing under the hoop house. No heat!
82 yesterday. Today is balmy and off and on rain. Ponies are outside until???? Maybe in tomorrow night, but I think I will have leftover bags of bedding, and that's Always a good thing.
TV in the LR isn't working as of last week. Power cord works. A friend who fixes computers has agreed to look at it.'
It's a big TV, so loading in the car will be...comical.
So...DH and I have been watching DVR and weather from our DISH on our bedroom tv, which is mounted on the east wall. It's a lot like being in a hotel room.
Youngest DD is in the middle of a tricky trial. She and eldest DD tried calling us for about an hour last night.
Different location, and we left our cell phones in the LR, as usual.
We also--don't really know why anymore--have a landline with an answering machine, which was disconnected. They kept trying the LANDLINE and we ignored it, as usual, bc it's always solicitation.
They show up at our bedroom door, thinking we had died on the road home from their house (dinner).
We got chewed out, then retreated to the porch chairs to solve HER problems and the worlds problems...as is tradition.
we're getting some pretty heavy storms but nothing dangerous. the one that just went through was the heaviest storm we've had this year. now it looks like they're lined up to hit us it but that can change...
edited to add that this is a gully washer that will test a lot of my water works... ok so far, but it does look like more heavy rains still on the way.
Sunrise was officially at 6:20, it was more than 2 hours later, under all the bright sunshine, that I felt comfortable to turn off the greenhouse heat.
Checked the hoop house. The little transplants look okay. Nothing in there except Broccoli Raab, Bok Choy, Gai Choy and Mustard Greens. Good choices for a freezing night, don't you think?
Guess that I should have a thermometer in there as I do when there is a plant flat overflow from the greenhouse. Heating is a bit problematic, as always. I have an electric heater and a fan that can be set up right in front of the door. However, at 20' long, it's a task for them to warm the structure much. Without them, I killed some tomato plants long ago when I was just becoming accustomed to making use of the hoop house. No excuse for doing that again.