We're in the banana belt of Oregon for Pete's sake ! April 5th, 2012 and we get an inch of snow ! I am going to have to start planting NOTHING but short season stuff !
*blink*
*bah*
>^,,^<
Showing posts with label Weather Wize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weather Wize. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Gracious Gracious Life is Good, and I Beleaf
Friday we had snow in places, I saw wee flakes floating, floating, drifting aimlessly across my window, like soft fragile leaves of imagination. Saturday, the greenhouses hit over 95*, and I was able to open up both sets of windows for ventilation. It was actually uncomfortable ! to work in the third greenhouse, the Nursery/Baby House. Where the wee small tomatoes, peppers, celery, and such are germinating, and growing.
I'm rather struggling with Alfonso, the OTHER gardening Guru, about the importance of AIR CIRCULATION. He says (in his broken English) "Peppers, they like hot". I say "PLANTS, they HATE slimy molds!!!!" So I take my wee plastic fork, and I gently, oh so gently, fork over these wee tiny 4" pots' top soil, to break up the slime crust. There's no dampening off, there's no HARM, but the soil needs to breathe.
The tiny wee plantlets are loving the heat. We have small heaters on at night, I close up the greenhouse around 4 pm to conserve the day's accumulated heat.
It's GLORIOUS! splendiferous! fantabulicious! to see the sun, to realize that TODAY, I get to get OUT of my sweats & my thermals!
I opened up my own wee greenhouse for the air. My seeds are sprouting on the TV tray perched along the south glass doors. The garden soil is still too wet to till (again, for the sixth time this year) or to rake smooth, but it's getting there. The pea seeds I planted last Wed. are swelling, are ripening up to pop their wee rootlets.
We will get more rain mid-week. But for Today, Life is Good. Gardening is EVERYTHING. Bright Blessings!
>^,,^<
I'm rather struggling with Alfonso, the OTHER gardening Guru, about the importance of AIR CIRCULATION. He says (in his broken English) "Peppers, they like hot". I say "PLANTS, they HATE slimy molds!!!!" So I take my wee plastic fork, and I gently, oh so gently, fork over these wee tiny 4" pots' top soil, to break up the slime crust. There's no dampening off, there's no HARM, but the soil needs to breathe.
The tiny wee plantlets are loving the heat. We have small heaters on at night, I close up the greenhouse around 4 pm to conserve the day's accumulated heat.
It's GLORIOUS! splendiferous! fantabulicious! to see the sun, to realize that TODAY, I get to get OUT of my sweats & my thermals!
I opened up my own wee greenhouse for the air. My seeds are sprouting on the TV tray perched along the south glass doors. The garden soil is still too wet to till (again, for the sixth time this year) or to rake smooth, but it's getting there. The pea seeds I planted last Wed. are swelling, are ripening up to pop their wee rootlets.
We will get more rain mid-week. But for Today, Life is Good. Gardening is EVERYTHING. Bright Blessings!
>^,,^<
Monday, March 9, 2009
More Snow! Tomatoes & other yummy dreamings
BOY! That derned Punxsutawney Philsure got it right! He's SUCH an accurate groundhog! It is snowing like crazy here, big fat rich snowflakes that look like Boraxo soap flakes. The ground and all the limbs are dusted with frosted flocking.
In the third greenhouse at work, we have nestled within a hoophouse-within-the-greenhouse, where lies tender young tomatoe seedlings many of which are still dreaming of sunshine on their shoulders, but some brave seedling souls have pushed their little cotyledons above the soil to peek at me with anticipatory glee. "Lookie Lookie Ms. Cookie! Me's'a gonna be a TOMATO some day!"
We have had to throw a wee heater in that greenhouse just in case it needed a bit of extra warmth, seeing as it got in the high 20's here last night, all covered in snow. I love my work, I love my job, but there are times like these where I could right happily dream by the pellet stove and stay at home watching snow flakes linger on and gracefully fall from the sky.
Happy Garden Dreaming!
>^,,^<
In the third greenhouse at work, we have nestled within a hoophouse-within-the-greenhouse, where lies tender young tomatoe seedlings many of which are still dreaming of sunshine on their shoulders, but some brave seedling souls have pushed their little cotyledons above the soil to peek at me with anticipatory glee. "Lookie Lookie Ms. Cookie! Me's'a gonna be a TOMATO some day!"
We have had to throw a wee heater in that greenhouse just in case it needed a bit of extra warmth, seeing as it got in the high 20's here last night, all covered in snow. I love my work, I love my job, but there are times like these where I could right happily dream by the pellet stove and stay at home watching snow flakes linger on and gracefully fall from the sky.
Happy Garden Dreaming!
>^,,^<
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Yummy Winter Day Full of Dreaming
Winter is not over, nor will it release His grip upon us, nay. Punxsutawney Phil says so, and who am I to argue with a groundhog of such renown? But today, ah today! Today one can wander about aimlessly with a goofy smile plastered to your face, and the kiss of the sun is like one big smackeroo. Today, the sun is so bright it hurts my Winter-weakened eyes. Today, it was warm to my bones, a grand and yummy 56* Today I yearned to be home building my seed shelf in my wee greenhouse.
You see, I had planned to grow my 9 heirloom (& two favorite hybrids, Celebrity & Sun Gold) tomatoes in my flats here at work, along with the tomato and pepper seeds Alfonso and I just started. He built an "inner greenhouse", using PVC pipe tied to the bench legs in a hoop, and clear plastic covering the benches, with a cloche of clear plastic covering the PVC hoops. Warmth! But the Boss is busy dithering, (why? I ask myself. I offered him all the tomato plants I grow minus the 3-4 per variety I will need for my garden in exchange for the space) so I figured well, I can do the same thing at home in my wee tiny greenhouse.
SO. I will fetch some PVC pipe, three "L" brackets, and some clear trash bags. I will make a long shelf on the south side of my greenhouse just over the over-wintering shrubs. (Meyer's Lemon, Cordyline, Black Mondo grasses, and my banana.. The banana and the Meyer's Lemon have taken a huge hit this Winter. Verrrry c-c-cold 't'was!) About waist high. Then I will line those shelves with my heat mats, line the heat mats with trays of seeds, cloche it with the clear plastic and step back to enjoy my lame attempts at construction. :~D
HOWEVER, if I am very very lucky, this just might work! Today has been so lush and rich with sunshine I can believe in the power of a battery operated screwdriver in the hands of a wild woman. Wild Women With Power Tools. Hold on to your hats, it's going to be a bumpy ride! YEEEEHAW!!! Let's get gardening!!!
>^,,^<
You see, I had planned to grow my 9 heirloom (& two favorite hybrids, Celebrity & Sun Gold) tomatoes in my flats here at work, along with the tomato and pepper seeds Alfonso and I just started. He built an "inner greenhouse", using PVC pipe tied to the bench legs in a hoop, and clear plastic covering the benches, with a cloche of clear plastic covering the PVC hoops. Warmth! But the Boss is busy dithering, (why? I ask myself. I offered him all the tomato plants I grow minus the 3-4 per variety I will need for my garden in exchange for the space) so I figured well, I can do the same thing at home in my wee tiny greenhouse.
SO. I will fetch some PVC pipe, three "L" brackets, and some clear trash bags. I will make a long shelf on the south side of my greenhouse just over the over-wintering shrubs. (Meyer's Lemon, Cordyline, Black Mondo grasses, and my banana.. The banana and the Meyer's Lemon have taken a huge hit this Winter. Verrrry c-c-cold 't'was!) About waist high. Then I will line those shelves with my heat mats, line the heat mats with trays of seeds, cloche it with the clear plastic and step back to enjoy my lame attempts at construction. :~D
HOWEVER, if I am very very lucky, this just might work! Today has been so lush and rich with sunshine I can believe in the power of a battery operated screwdriver in the hands of a wild woman. Wild Women With Power Tools. Hold on to your hats, it's going to be a bumpy ride! YEEEEHAW!!! Let's get gardening!!!
>^,,^<
Monday, February 2, 2009
Happy Groundhog's Day!
The sun is shining, it's up to 50*, and here I am tuckeled up in my silk thermals, cushy-comfy weather socks with woolen oversocks, thermal-insulted boots, thermal undershirt, and vest. I had my woolen fingerless gloves on, and my comfy cushy fleece-lined jacket, but it actually got too hot for them. I'm socking down cough & cold medicine, along with apple cinnamon herbal tea with a brandy-rum & "hot buttered rum" goop. I feel like dried up dog poop on a desert hiway. *gah* Me's'a really hates colds. Feels like everytime I swallow I have slivered glass grinding down my throat. *yuck* I can't wait to get off work, feed the Song Dogs, and go to bed. I know I could sleep for another twenty hours.
Groundhogs are cute as weather forecasters, but not as garden pests.
In Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day movie (1993), Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog, is pulled out of his burrow on February 2 and asked for his famous prediction: will spring arrive early this year, or procrastinate until March 21? The "Groundhog Day" movie's guru in charge of consulting this prognosticator of prognosticators claims to be translating from "Groundhogese" (the sacred language of Groundhog Day) when revealing Phil's mystic message to the Groundhog Day audience. Presumably, Punxsutawney Phil tells the guru whether or not he has seen his shadow in Groundhogese. Then the translating "Groundhog Day" movie's guru informs us ordinary mortals of the prediction.
In real life, Punxsutawney, PA is the home of Phil and of the Groundhog Day activities of which this furry oracle is the center. It is also home to the "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" that pays homage to Phil. And Bill Cooper, President of the "Inner Circle" of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, is officially listed as the Groundhogese expert responsible for the translations from Groundhogese into English every Groundhog Day -- just like the "Groundhog Day" movie's guru. I do not jest; the following comes from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, itself:
Bill is the man charged with the daunting task of translating Phil's message in Groundhog-ese on Gobbler's Knob so that the forecast can be accurately delivered to Phil's followers.
If ever there were a personage who could answer the immortal question, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" then President Cooper would be the man.
Groundhog Day Language vs. Groundhog Sign Language
"Woodchuck" (Marmota monax) and "whistle pig" are other names for the groundhog, a rodent related to squirrels. And while this rodent's wood chucking abilities shall remain a mystery to all who are not fluent in the Groundhog Day language of Groundhogese, many a gardener is all too aware of the groundhog's ability to damage a garden. It thus behooves anyone considering gardening in groundhog territory to learn at least the sign language of groundhogs, if not Groundhogese itself. For, fortunately, gardeners don't have to communicate directly with groundhogs. It is enough for the gardener simply to be able to recognize groundhog sign language.
So don't be like Bill Murray's character (Phil Connors) in the "Groundhog Day" movie and ignore the signs that are all around you. For if you do, your garden, like the protagonist in the movie, will have no future! Through a sign language readily understood by wise gardeners, the groundhogs themselves translate all the Groundhogese of concern to gardeners into tangible signs in your backyard:
Groundhog Sign Language: A 10"-12" hole appears in the ground in your backyard or under your shed with mounds of dirt outside it.
Translation Into English: "A groundhog lives here."
Groundhog Sign Language: A cucumber in your garden has had a good-sized bite taken out of it.
Translation Into English: "Groundhogs like to eat vegetables."
Groundhog Sign Language: The feathery tops of the carrots in your garden have been mowed down.
Translation Into English: "Groundhogs don't just eat vegetables. We like to eat green succulent things, too, whether growing wild or in your garden."
Groundhog Sign Language: Your young fruit tree is being damaged by something gnawing at its trunk.
Translation Into English: "Remember, we're rodents. That means we have to gnaw to keep our teeth from growing too long. When I picture a perfect tooth-filer, what I see is your tender young fruit tree."
Groundhog Sign Language: The rat poison that you set out to try to kill the groundhog that's been raiding your garden hasn't been touched -- and you continue to observe damage in your garden.
Translation Into English: "You'll have to do better than that. I'm a groundhog, not a rat. I'm not stupid enough to eat poison. If you're going to set a trap for me, you'd better bait it with the same foods I'm raiding from your garden."
Assuming that you are grasping the essentials of groundhog sign language, on Page 2 we'll have a look at strategies for groundhog pest control in the garden. If you fail to take effective control measures against these garden pests, you'll find yourself reenacting the "Groundhog Day" movie in your own yard....
Punxsutawney Phil Strikes Again!
BUT! & but but but.... My Dear Friend Greig did a Ninja Tilling, and tilled me up a 50' X 20' patch of garden, and me's'a gonna add 5 yards of a yummy garden compost from work to it (sandy loam base, Ph neutral, composted chicken manure, composted steer manure, and composted fir bark) plus all the ashes from the garden burnings, and several wheelbarrows of sand. This will be my new tomato patch! (plus companion veggies. Have I mentioned this before? I'm excited!)
so me's'a sick. me's'a needs to get well. But me's'a has a new veggie garden! & Punxsutawney Phil has told us we are to have yet another 6 weeks of winter. Am I surprised? NOT at all!
Sniffling from Wolfdancer Creek
>^,,^<
Groundhogs are cute as weather forecasters, but not as garden pests.
In Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day movie (1993), Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog, is pulled out of his burrow on February 2 and asked for his famous prediction: will spring arrive early this year, or procrastinate until March 21? The "Groundhog Day" movie's guru in charge of consulting this prognosticator of prognosticators claims to be translating from "Groundhogese" (the sacred language of Groundhog Day) when revealing Phil's mystic message to the Groundhog Day audience. Presumably, Punxsutawney Phil tells the guru whether or not he has seen his shadow in Groundhogese. Then the translating "Groundhog Day" movie's guru informs us ordinary mortals of the prediction.
In real life, Punxsutawney, PA is the home of Phil and of the Groundhog Day activities of which this furry oracle is the center. It is also home to the "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" that pays homage to Phil. And Bill Cooper, President of the "Inner Circle" of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, is officially listed as the Groundhogese expert responsible for the translations from Groundhogese into English every Groundhog Day -- just like the "Groundhog Day" movie's guru. I do not jest; the following comes from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, itself:
Bill is the man charged with the daunting task of translating Phil's message in Groundhog-ese on Gobbler's Knob so that the forecast can be accurately delivered to Phil's followers.
If ever there were a personage who could answer the immortal question, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" then President Cooper would be the man.
Groundhog Day Language vs. Groundhog Sign Language
"Woodchuck" (Marmota monax) and "whistle pig" are other names for the groundhog, a rodent related to squirrels. And while this rodent's wood chucking abilities shall remain a mystery to all who are not fluent in the Groundhog Day language of Groundhogese, many a gardener is all too aware of the groundhog's ability to damage a garden. It thus behooves anyone considering gardening in groundhog territory to learn at least the sign language of groundhogs, if not Groundhogese itself. For, fortunately, gardeners don't have to communicate directly with groundhogs. It is enough for the gardener simply to be able to recognize groundhog sign language.
So don't be like Bill Murray's character (Phil Connors) in the "Groundhog Day" movie and ignore the signs that are all around you. For if you do, your garden, like the protagonist in the movie, will have no future! Through a sign language readily understood by wise gardeners, the groundhogs themselves translate all the Groundhogese of concern to gardeners into tangible signs in your backyard:
Groundhog Sign Language: A 10"-12" hole appears in the ground in your backyard or under your shed with mounds of dirt outside it.
Translation Into English: "A groundhog lives here."
Groundhog Sign Language: A cucumber in your garden has had a good-sized bite taken out of it.
Translation Into English: "Groundhogs like to eat vegetables."
Groundhog Sign Language: The feathery tops of the carrots in your garden have been mowed down.
Translation Into English: "Groundhogs don't just eat vegetables. We like to eat green succulent things, too, whether growing wild or in your garden."
Groundhog Sign Language: Your young fruit tree is being damaged by something gnawing at its trunk.
Translation Into English: "Remember, we're rodents. That means we have to gnaw to keep our teeth from growing too long. When I picture a perfect tooth-filer, what I see is your tender young fruit tree."
Groundhog Sign Language: The rat poison that you set out to try to kill the groundhog that's been raiding your garden hasn't been touched -- and you continue to observe damage in your garden.
Translation Into English: "You'll have to do better than that. I'm a groundhog, not a rat. I'm not stupid enough to eat poison. If you're going to set a trap for me, you'd better bait it with the same foods I'm raiding from your garden."
Assuming that you are grasping the essentials of groundhog sign language, on Page 2 we'll have a look at strategies for groundhog pest control in the garden. If you fail to take effective control measures against these garden pests, you'll find yourself reenacting the "Groundhog Day" movie in your own yard....
Punxsutawney Phil Strikes Again!
BUT! & but but but.... My Dear Friend Greig did a Ninja Tilling, and tilled me up a 50' X 20' patch of garden, and me's'a gonna add 5 yards of a yummy garden compost from work to it (sandy loam base, Ph neutral, composted chicken manure, composted steer manure, and composted fir bark) plus all the ashes from the garden burnings, and several wheelbarrows of sand. This will be my new tomato patch! (plus companion veggies. Have I mentioned this before? I'm excited!)
so me's'a sick. me's'a needs to get well. But me's'a has a new veggie garden! & Punxsutawney Phil has told us we are to have yet another 6 weeks of winter. Am I surprised? NOT at all!
Sniffling from Wolfdancer Creek
>^,,^<
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Hunkerin' down
I must brave the wilds of civilization, the crowded environs of population 2600 and not all of them out there, shopping. I NEVER go to Black Friday, those kinds of crowds simply overwhelm me, they pummel me in a panic fugue state, like an emotional sledgehammer berating my hermitage. Can't do it, wouldn't be prudent, no sirree bobbitt. Besides, a shopping day named after the Great Depression is, well, depressing. I mean WHAT were the PR folks SMOKING????
I must hei me to town to pick up more chicken for the Song Dogs. We have extra cat food, extra duck food, extra goat food, extra dog food.. BUT I just want to make sure we have EXTRA extra dog food, because they may need a bit of extra lovins when we get snowed in. Weather Advisory Estacada Weather Prognosis calls for a spot of freezing weather, what? SNOW DAYS! And yes, I am a Snow Goombah, I love it. So I must also fetch a roll of film. Have 1/2 ton of wood pellets!! I am in shock! delight! EXTRA wood pellets, I can SPLURGE and actually turn on the heat! I got it all the way to 60*!! from 50* which is what I usually keep it at. The lowest possible thermostat setting. It's the frugal Scots in me.
I have been putting off working in my friend Doc's garden, I'm been giving myself permission to clean, to heal, to re-organize, to re-assemble the broken parts in me. I'll be better after the snowfall. I'll be better after getting snowed in, embraced by white frozen water crystals, Song Dogs singing with white blankets saddling their shoulders, apple trees providing nesting places for coveys of snow. I'll be better soon.
There's a sick black cat who has adopted us, maybe it's one of the young boys from Puddles' early litters before I caught her and got her spayed. He leaks fluids from his nose and eyes, weeping at what? He has mange in the summer, and he can't seem to be able to eat hard foods. We feed him chicken like the Song Dogs get, he has gained weight, gained condition. He has a pillow to sleep on, in a chair on the porch. He begs for attention, and I give it to him. He loves to have his ears rubbed, and the side of his face rubbed. I am ashamed to say I tried to chase him off this past Summer, but this Autumn, he changed tactics, and stopped, looked at me and did the "Silent Meaow" I do not think he is long for this world, but for the time he has, he will be loved, and tendered, and given a warm bed and good food. It is the least I can do for a Fellow Being who's suffering.
Hark! The Song Dogs sing.
>^,,^<
I must hei me to town to pick up more chicken for the Song Dogs. We have extra cat food, extra duck food, extra goat food, extra dog food.. BUT I just want to make sure we have EXTRA extra dog food, because they may need a bit of extra lovins when we get snowed in. Weather Advisory Estacada Weather Prognosis calls for a spot of freezing weather, what? SNOW DAYS! And yes, I am a Snow Goombah, I love it. So I must also fetch a roll of film. Have 1/2 ton of wood pellets!! I am in shock! delight! EXTRA wood pellets, I can SPLURGE and actually turn on the heat! I got it all the way to 60*!! from 50* which is what I usually keep it at. The lowest possible thermostat setting. It's the frugal Scots in me.
I have been putting off working in my friend Doc's garden, I'm been giving myself permission to clean, to heal, to re-organize, to re-assemble the broken parts in me. I'll be better after the snowfall. I'll be better after getting snowed in, embraced by white frozen water crystals, Song Dogs singing with white blankets saddling their shoulders, apple trees providing nesting places for coveys of snow. I'll be better soon.
There's a sick black cat who has adopted us, maybe it's one of the young boys from Puddles' early litters before I caught her and got her spayed. He leaks fluids from his nose and eyes, weeping at what? He has mange in the summer, and he can't seem to be able to eat hard foods. We feed him chicken like the Song Dogs get, he has gained weight, gained condition. He has a pillow to sleep on, in a chair on the porch. He begs for attention, and I give it to him. He loves to have his ears rubbed, and the side of his face rubbed. I am ashamed to say I tried to chase him off this past Summer, but this Autumn, he changed tactics, and stopped, looked at me and did the "Silent Meaow" I do not think he is long for this world, but for the time he has, he will be loved, and tendered, and given a warm bed and good food. It is the least I can do for a Fellow Being who's suffering.
Hark! The Song Dogs sing.
>^,,^<
Monday, September 22, 2008
Expectations
Today is the Autumnal equinox, the Balance part of the Year, the Harvest Moon, time of the Brown Bear, of creative curiosity. Tomorrow will start the Ducks Fly Moon. Today is when the length of the day equals the length of the night. The last day of the South, poised to move into the West.
And poised we are, here at Wolfdancer Creek. We are facing difficult times with our Kin, with all our Relations, with dignity and perseverance and patient understanding, mostly.
All of my tomatoes may not achieve ripeness. If this be the case, I will surprise a certain someone with his first taste of fried green tomatoes. Since surprises and feeding him is a delight both epicurean and emotional, I may harvest a passel of the bigger tomatoes which are not showing color for dinner this week. I have discovered that while goats do not like squash foliage, they DO like squashes. The chill is ensuring that what apples I do harvest will be sweet & delicious. I believe I found a couple of winesap apple trees in my orchard, and this Spring I will move my attentions to grooming that block of trees up, brutally if I must -- I will sacrifice a season's harvest for healthy manageable trees-- I still have to figure out an organic-yet-effective apple maggot-type buggie control.
The Woofers seem to be sensing and reacting to the change of season as well. We have grumpage happening in several areas. I think I may expound upon my theories on this here, but needs be a later date, with more references.
I have been assured by several sources that this is NOT typical Oregonian weather timing. My prognostication for this Winter in Estacada, and I'm publishing it now so's I can start a record (starting last year as none of you readers out there will remember, but you CAN verify in the archives *grin*) it's going to start early, there will be a few fairly brutal and lengthy cold snaps, it'll be wetter than normal and colder than normal and longer than normal. I haven't got a "feel" for the snow presence yet. Long & cold is what I am "feeling". Let's see what happens!
Signing off 'till later, I wish thee Balance and Peace.
>^,,^<
Friday, September 19, 2008
Sweatin' to the Garden Rocks
Two days hence:
92.8 °F / 33.8 °C
Clear
Humidity: 27%
Dew Point: 54 °F / 12 °C
Wind: 0.0 mph / 0 km/h
Wind Gust: 2.5 mph / 4 km/h
Pressure: 29.38 in / 994.8 hPa (Falling)
Heat Index: 91 °F / 33 °C
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV: 4 out of 16
Clouds:
Clear -
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 1100 ft / 335 m
Ah! I took the scythe that Greig bought me and I cut a tall wagon-load of "first cut orchard hay" (read that, weedy grass) Which I am preparing to haul up to the Royal Goat Court.
I cleared all the way to my "Happy Gardening" sign, which has been overtaken by the tall grasses.. Tall grasses, I might add, which I, in my naive furor, actually PLANTED there, because I was unaware that first year or two that mulching with straw was flat-out DANGERSOME out here. If you plant it, it will come.
Yesterday, Greig and I made temporary fencing in our first foray into the Great Blackberry Abatement Scheme. So far, it is working like a charm, and the goats are FAT!!!
Rhi thinks they look like *meats, Mom, DINNER!* But they are almost as big as she is, the goof. Off to let them out into the brambles for the day. Rhi's burning off calories watching them studiously ignore her.
>^,,^<
92.8 °F / 33.8 °C
Clear
Humidity: 27%
Dew Point: 54 °F / 12 °C
Wind: 0.0 mph / 0 km/h
Wind Gust: 2.5 mph / 4 km/h
Pressure: 29.38 in / 994.8 hPa (Falling)
Heat Index: 91 °F / 33 °C
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV: 4 out of 16
Clouds:
Clear -
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 1100 ft / 335 m
Ah! I took the scythe that Greig bought me and I cut a tall wagon-load of "first cut orchard hay" (read that, weedy grass) Which I am preparing to haul up to the Royal Goat Court.
I cleared all the way to my "Happy Gardening" sign, which has been overtaken by the tall grasses.. Tall grasses, I might add, which I, in my naive furor, actually PLANTED there, because I was unaware that first year or two that mulching with straw was flat-out DANGERSOME out here. If you plant it, it will come.
Yesterday, Greig and I made temporary fencing in our first foray into the Great Blackberry Abatement Scheme. So far, it is working like a charm, and the goats are FAT!!!
Rhi thinks they look like *meats, Mom, DINNER!* But they are almost as big as she is, the goof. Off to let them out into the brambles for the day. Rhi's burning off calories watching them studiously ignore her.
>^,,^<
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Stormy Weather, O Yeah
For those who lie in the path of Gustav, I am sending you many prayers. Even if you are a Republican at the Convention with the Shrub, I send you prayers. Please, God, spare New Orleans the grief of a third anniversary Blow Out.
For my Friend Jerry, who is the Pops of my Teeghkii & Dianne's Thunder & Storm, you hang tight, Pal. All your Kidz will be safe, now you just have to hang tight. For all my Tribe who are in the path, we are sending you Light, Love & Bright Blessings.
Here in Oregon, we have funnel warnings, and thunderstorms. Lots of flash bang, in comparison.
Stormy weather. A great song,
Lena Horne, O Lord, sing it Grrrrl
Not so good for them that's livin' through it.
Prayers
>^,,^<
For my Friend Jerry, who is the Pops of my Teeghkii & Dianne's Thunder & Storm, you hang tight, Pal. All your Kidz will be safe, now you just have to hang tight. For all my Tribe who are in the path, we are sending you Light, Love & Bright Blessings.
Here in Oregon, we have funnel warnings, and thunderstorms. Lots of flash bang, in comparison.
Stormy weather. A great song,
Lena Horne, O Lord, sing it Grrrrl
Not so good for them that's livin' through it.
Prayers
>^,,^<
Sunday, December 23, 2007
White Christmas
So c'mon, chant with me! WHITE CHRISTMAS! WHITE CHRISTMAS! WHITE CHRISTMAS!
Several weather channels are prediction the snow level to drop to 1000' ft. I'm at 1100' ft.
Since I will be home, Blessed Home for the Holidays, I want snow.
C'mon Santa Baby! Slip some snow beneath me tree.
>^,,^<
Several weather channels are prediction the snow level to drop to 1000' ft. I'm at 1100' ft.
Since I will be home, Blessed Home for the Holidays, I want snow.
C'mon Santa Baby! Slip some snow beneath me tree.
>^,,^<
Saturday, November 10, 2007
La Nina & Weather watching
Of course, it would help if I advertised my blog, but oh well, so be it, it is an on-again/off-again diary of sorts then.
I have been watching the weather http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=adcalerts&blog=sobel
and watching carefully the effects of this particular La Nina event. Now, since we (the Royal We here) have only been monitoring approx 10 La Nina events in recorded history, we really have no clue as to what the long-range accuracy of this forecast may be.
So.... I am going to prognosticate that this Winter will be colder & wetter than "normal" for the PNW. I cannot share this with my Roomie, because she, as a Courier, does not want to hear anything about cold weather. I, on the other hand, having my two jobs right close to town, can basically --although unwillingly-- walk to work. Or slide, as the case may be, if the chains on my wee truck decide not to grip the roads. But, the truck is small, she slides well, she just doesn't go back UP willingly. DOWN is easy.
Since one job is very dependent upon the weather, --that of being a plant nerd extraordinaire-- I spend alot of time monitoring the weather. What will it do tonight? Will my plants freeze? How hard will the freeze be? Will I need the heater? Or will the lightbulb suffice? Should I drag all the one gallon orphans --those not yet firmly escounced in their soil-y beds-- into the now-refreshingly cleaned & insulated greenhouse? Which, by the way, is now the home of two clutches of praying mantis egg sacks, and one dragonfly to eat the mosquitoes.
And, of course, precipitation is an important need-to-know event.. Will the Goatie Girlz (The Nubian Queens) be able to spend the day up in their Yard? Or will they be forced to languish in their small, warm stall? I think I'll buy a couple of dog coats and see if they will keep them on. Since dog collars work just fine on the Girlz, maybe quilted coats will too.
The Woofers are getting their sublime coats in, rich & luxurious I am not embarrassed to admit I love to bury my face in their fur. Of course, I get kisses as a reward, so hey, it's a Win-Win situation.
We have also finally answered the age-old question: Does a Bear Sh** in the Woods? No, Virginia, he saves that for the Apple Orchard. Sleep tight, Boo Boo.
>^,,^<
I have been watching the weather http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=adcalerts&blog=sobel
and watching carefully the effects of this particular La Nina event. Now, since we (the Royal We here) have only been monitoring approx 10 La Nina events in recorded history, we really have no clue as to what the long-range accuracy of this forecast may be.
So.... I am going to prognosticate that this Winter will be colder & wetter than "normal" for the PNW. I cannot share this with my Roomie, because she, as a Courier, does not want to hear anything about cold weather. I, on the other hand, having my two jobs right close to town, can basically --although unwillingly-- walk to work. Or slide, as the case may be, if the chains on my wee truck decide not to grip the roads. But, the truck is small, she slides well, she just doesn't go back UP willingly. DOWN is easy.
Since one job is very dependent upon the weather, --that of being a plant nerd extraordinaire-- I spend alot of time monitoring the weather. What will it do tonight? Will my plants freeze? How hard will the freeze be? Will I need the heater? Or will the lightbulb suffice? Should I drag all the one gallon orphans --those not yet firmly escounced in their soil-y beds-- into the now-refreshingly cleaned & insulated greenhouse? Which, by the way, is now the home of two clutches of praying mantis egg sacks, and one dragonfly to eat the mosquitoes.
And, of course, precipitation is an important need-to-know event.. Will the Goatie Girlz (The Nubian Queens) be able to spend the day up in their Yard? Or will they be forced to languish in their small, warm stall? I think I'll buy a couple of dog coats and see if they will keep them on. Since dog collars work just fine on the Girlz, maybe quilted coats will too.
The Woofers are getting their sublime coats in, rich & luxurious I am not embarrassed to admit I love to bury my face in their fur. Of course, I get kisses as a reward, so hey, it's a Win-Win situation.
We have also finally answered the age-old question: Does a Bear Sh** in the Woods? No, Virginia, he saves that for the Apple Orchard. Sleep tight, Boo Boo.
>^,,^<
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