Another One Falls To Father Time...

Didn't i just write a New Year's post? Wasn't that about 6 months ago? Arrgh, it's rough gettin' old! But there it is. And once again, i have high hopes for the next 12 months for all of us....here's hoping 2011's a great year!

Adaptable Animals

We humans are extremely adaptable creatures. We must be - how else could we go from a sunny 70 degree (F) day to a drop in 40 degrees 12 hours later with no repercussions (except lots of complaining)? Today isn't exactly one of those days, but it IS going from a 42 degree day that was sunny and felt like early Spring, into rain tonight, snow tomorrow, and temps going 25 degrees BELOW freezing in the next couple of days! How any plants (OR animals) (or my FISH!) can live out there through weather like THAT amazes me!

i remember a year (quite a long time ago) when we had a whole WEEK of 70 degree weather in March, long enough to become complacent and believe that winter was completely gone, until Mother Nature let out a "Mwuaa haaHAAHAA!" and dumped a FOOT of snow on us!

And really, around here that's not very unexpected, but i also heard that it's going that cold in the Carolinas and maybe even further South - and that just ain't right! And i remember that the Floridians (of whom i hope to be counted amongst someday) were treated just last year to a very cold winter - i really hope they don't get that same blessing THIS year!

i'm always threatening to move to a warmer climate if anything ever happens to DH (though i hope nothing ever does!), but then i wonder - would i really appreciate the Spring as much as i always have if the seasons didn't change as much?.............. HA! Try me!

Angst Laden Thoughts of Winter

i hate waking up on Mondays this time of year! First of all, i DO tell myself-"You're lucky to be alive and healthy at your age - get up and appreciate it!" But when it's 6 AM, dark, cold, flanked by a warm, purring feline on one side, and a husband (who doesn't have to wake up for another hour and a half) on the other side, it's difficult! AND i'm going to work - on days in which i could do whatever i felt like doing, my attitude would be very different!

Anyway, we had a long, warm Autumn this year - it's only been really cold the last two weeks, but i got complacent in that stretch of nice weather, and so was STILL surprised by the onset of the sub freezing temperatures. i was really upset when i realized i hadn't yet covered my Palm tree!

It's a hardy Palm, which means barely hardy in my zone 5b, so she's got to be babied. Been thru 2 of our winters so far with no damage - in a protected area facing South under a large styrofoam cone, of course!  (We gardeners like to beat the odds ;-) ) Fortunately, the Palm still looked pretty nice and is now tucked in for the season.

Then i noticed my poor little homemade rain chain - coated with ice and getting heavy (it's made from aluminum armature wire - looks good, but ice will bend/twist it all to hell!). i thought it would warm up in the sun and thaw, but not that material, - and not in 30 degree (F) temps!

So i carefully took it down and moved it into our garage attached to the house till it thaws out!

 

...And just got the watergarden half heartedly cleaned out and the deicer floated in it "just in case"- except "in case" is here already! Managed to break a hole in the ice layer for several days so the deicer didn't have to run, but it quickly became too thick for that. Most pond enthusiasts will tell you to never beat on the ice to break it, because the shock waves will hurt or kill the fish. i would imagine that is correct, if the ice is thick and you're trying to break it with a hammer or pickaxe, but i only do it when the ice layer is thin and i can break thru it with a piece of pipe or rebar (punch thru it in a circle like a perforation and tap it ). i have done that for years and never harmed the fish - although i do see them get startled once in a while!

Oh, yeah, and i now have a rain barrel in my Florida room! (you don't even wanna know....)