Did we skip December? I believe we did!

It's been in the mid-thirties here during the day, about 15 degrees colder than normal. It stinks. I still have so much to do outside but it's just too darn cold. No snow yet, thank goodness, just a few flurries, but it certainly is cold enough to snow if we get any precipitation.

I'm hoping that it's a temporary thing and that temps will go back to normal, although cold temps are forecast straight through next week. Maybe at least if the darn wind dies down I can get my leaves raked and shredded.

Be careful driving tomorrow, if you must. Here's hoping you don't have to! Either that or hoping you get no snow at all, lol!

:)
Dee

Thanks, Dee...sorry it's cold down there for you too :-(

I still have garlic to plant...and a bed to make for it. But it's also been rainy before it got cold, so it's never been a good day to go outside.

I think I'm just going to have to bundle up and dig in the snow or slicker up and go out in the rain when it warms up again (I think it's suppose to go back to the 40s next week...what a muddy mess that's going to be.)

But, still, every day above ground is a good day!
Thanks for the well wishes :-)
(cancel class cancel class cancel class. I so don't want to go, snow or not...lol)

Linda

I don't know what we skipped, but this sudden cold weather has given me a monster chest cold! Oy ....

PV

I'm thankful that we had a nice October because I didn't have to burn my wood to keep warm but we have been burning all of Novenber. About 10pm my hubby went out for a armload of wood and he said it was already 19 degree. With all the snow it does look like January. Where does the time go?
gmom2-6boys

yup, too cold. Its mid 30's during the day and tonight 18. I still have to clean the gutters and put air in the snow blowers tires. I mowed my leaves last week. So I don't have many left. My Gallardia's, black eyed susans and irish eye rudbeckia's just stopped flowering this week. It was kind of nice that something was still flowering in this weather.

Too bad that it didn't just snow on the grass. Not on streets, walkways and stairs. That would be perfect.

Linda

Yes I think we did. We've had January temps and the weather is consistently 15 degrees below normal for this time of year. No snow because we have a drought but they keep predicting snow - haven't had snow here in a few years.

Welcome to the snow belt, Linda! It sounds like your in my neck of the woods. I already had to shovel 6 inches of snow out of the driveway one day this week. Today & tomorrow they're predicting more snow. I plan to hunker down, get caught up on chores and stare at my new 2009 seed catalog (Pinetree Garden Seeds) for the weekend.

I did plant garlic a few weeks ago. I had thought about planting more, but never got to it. Don't know if I will now before spring.

19 degrees here this morning. If it stays that cold, we're going to get slammed.

Booberry,
Yep, I'm only three miles from the Lake-- which can be a good thing AND a bad thing.
Does your garlic do okay when planted in the Spring? (I got my Pinetree Garden catalog too. Love it. I just got Stokes Seeds catalog too (which I love because it gives so much detailed grow information.)

PV,
Sorry about your cold :-( Got any catnip? Steep some catnip in hot water and drink a cup of it. You'll start hacking up things you've never seen before...must have the same effect on cats (lol)? Seriously, catnip is great for clearing the chest...that, and a chest rub made from olive oil and hot peppers.

Well, I'm glad so many of you are in the same boat as me. We'll just have to keep each other warm with our conversation :-)

Linda

Linda, this is the first time I've ever planted garlic. I've read that if you get it in early in spring it should be ok. Planting it in the fall gives the roots more time to develop.

I'm going to the OSU/Michigan game tomorrow with my oldest son. High of 35 degrees. Brrrrr.

yeah we are having 16 tonight as well, 24 now... while it is not a record it is on the low end of previously seen. I kind of hoped it would be like last year with warmer temps all the way into Jan and nice snow cover... guess not.... same as you still have plenty of things outside left to do...

Here it has been pretty mild over the last 2 weeks with the highs in the upper 40's to low 50's with lows in the mid 30's. The next 10 days looks like a few lows in the mid to upper 20's will be sneaking back in with highs still in the 40s.

Bundle up Karen for that game!

No snow on the ground at home, which isn't normal. The weather gal said our normal amount of snow by now is usually a foot. Usually snows, melts, snows, melts.... and then about now starts staying. Other parts of MN has a bit but I don't think it's much to talk about. We have COLD weather though, woke up to 8 degrees this morning. I don't think it's improved much throughout the day.

Is there such a thing as normal weather anymore.

A good ten to 15 degrees below norm for us, too. I got home from work about 1/2 hour ago and it's 30 degrees, low tonight 20. No snow yet, only flurries so far this year. We don't usually get much snow- usually not more than a few inches at a time. OK, once every few years we suddenly get a foot in a day, but that's rare. It paralyzes the city for days. I grew up in Pittsburgh were we got a lot more snow.

Linda, I hope you don't get buried under 7 feet again this year. I can't even imagine that!

Karen

Well, Miss Linda!!! What a pleasure to see you here.

Honestly, seeing you post brought a smile to my face after coming home from a day's work, chopping the ice off the steps from a nasty wet-snowfall we had on Wednesday (should have gotten to it earlier, eh?), mulching the holding beds, creating a pot ghetto real quick and dumping leaves on it, clearing the deck (which still isn't finished so I'll have to finish after supper... maybe), etc. And why was I doing all that crazy stuff? We are getting another storm tonight with 2 feet of snow!!!!

This is definitely feeling like January. Yep, you are right. We skipped December altogether and headed right into it. Got some seeds from trades in the mail today and that's usually a January thing too.

"Well, I'm glad so many of you are in the same boat as me. We'll just have to keep each other warm with our conversation :-) " You know there's always a bunch here waiting to perk you up and make the day brighter. Just make sure you stay safe so we can keep doing that, eh?

Oh, and PV, I feel for you. I hate having a chest cold. They never seem to go away. Hope yours takes off soon. :O)

Dee,
I'll ask my fellow Canadians from Alberta if they can stop sending us these 'Alberta Clippers' every once in a while. After all, it's not as though we can send them a nasty nor'easter!!

I managed to pick up the same nasty cold, PV - I was thinking of heading to the big Thanksgiving festival in Plymouth tomorrow, but with a high of 36 predicted, and subtracting another 10 degrees for wind chill off the water, I decided to pass.

I can't help but hope this means an early spring!

It's been really cold here all week too. Tomorrow will be the worst, bad wind chill. I've got a lot of stuff to add to compost pile and will need to add more leaves.

Maybe I can con one of my kids into helping me! Usually more aggravation that way though. LOL

Next week Suppose to go up to 40 again.

Annette

Tiff I saw your post on another thread regarding all the work you did, and all I can say is I'm impressed! LOL! You must work fast. I had the afternoon free so I bundled up and went out to shred some leaves. I got two big raised beds covered, and shredded two more bags full. But it took me almost four hours just to do that, lol! Boy, you must work fast! At least, a lot faster than I do, lol. Perhaps I will plead sick, as I also have had a cold or something going on for a week. Makes me move a little slow.

It's supposed to be cold next week too. Then we're really into December. So who knows if it will get warmer or continue as is? Sigh...

:)
Dee

It's the same story here in the mountains of SW PA, but being older and retired I don't have to go out in it anymore, unless I want to. I feel sorry for people who have to be out there enduring it.

PV, be careful with that chest cold stuff, I hope you're better soon. I got a flu shot, a pneumonia shot, and a DPT booster this year, I don't want to chance getting any of the above if I can help it.

Bakemom, I hope you're not camping out in a tent on campus like the kids are tonight at "Paternoville" at Penn State. LOL

Stay warm people, it will all be over in about 4 months. Think we should start WS'ing now???

Mary

Rrrrgh... I'm not ready for winter!! Then again, I'm not ready for it when we have an odd year and it doesn't hit til late January, either. When can I start wintersowing? I've never tried it before, and I'm looking forward to it. I've heard I should wait til after Christmas, but darn it, I ALREADY have cabin fever! Winter should start on December 24th and end on January 2nd, in my book... =)

Lori

Still in the high 80's here in the daytime and around 50 at night. will W/s method work here. We don't get snow, sometimes, light frost. Although parts of the valley got snow 2 years ago I didn't see it.

We're about 15-20 degress colder than the norm for this time of year - it's 26°F out there as I type, with a wind chill of 14°.

My head feels like it weighs a hundred pounds, and there's a hundred-ton something sitting on my chest. Poor Gracie bolts when I cough. Haven't felt this bad in a whole lotta years. At least I don't have to go to work for a couple of days.

There's so much left to clean up and batten down for the winter out on the terrace. Guess who won't be doing any of that this weekend?

Linda - catnip tea, huh? Will the stuff from the pet store work? Have you heard of Buckley's cough mixture? Nasty stuff, even "watered" down to suit the palate of the general public - tastes like pine tar. But it works. That's what I've been holding my nose and taking.

Keep warm, everyone. Even you, gemfire, with your 80° weather - LOL!

PV

Farmer's Almanac has predicted a colder winter than normal for the northeast and southwest. Southern states should expect a very wet December and February. I'm hoping we get some snow this year in NC. Not like the snow we got Friday morning either. Flakes. 3 Flakes.

It's 14 degrees here now! Yuk! I do have to pick up used coffee grounds for the compost from the local coffee shop today. I'm not going to trek to the compost in this weather, though. I'll leave them in the garage until it warms up some. Supposed to be 37 this afternoon.

Karen

Dee,

I work best when I leave things to the end. :O)

Linda, How's things there this morning? We got our storm and right now it's sunny and since the snow hasn't been touched it is beautiful! The sky has that gorgeous winter blue to it and the water on the bay is such a deep blue. In the forest the huge spruce treebranches are bowing to all of nature with the weight of the snow on them. Can't make out my rock walls since they are all covered which means there's 2+feet in some areas. For the moment, it is very pretty.

2-3 weeks ago, I was planting a few WS babies and a couple things in pots, and transplanting small shrubs. Very late to be planting or transplanting, but it was so mild, and I am curious to see if they will survive the winter okay.

Then all of a sudden...slammed with freezing weather! As unusually warm as it was in the first half of November, it's now that cold. Ugghh. Gardening activities have come to an abrupt stop. But I'm not ready! The hoses are frozen, the pot ghetto isn't organized, there are leaves everywhere, etc. At least there's no snow.

TWO FEET of snow? In November? I'd be moving to Florida...
I guess Ohio's not so bad after all. I'll take 14 degrees over 2 feet of snow any day! I think I'll go get another cup of hot coffee........

Karen

Terrene, That's what I forgot! The hoses!! OOPS!!! Well, it's not the first year they'll be spending winter outside. :O)

Karen,
It's quite unusual for us to get such an early winter here in the east, and to get this is definitely not normal. Our main thing is that the power stays on and it did. We live on a dead end road so we'll be here for a while - we always plan for that.

DH is out there shoveling so I'd better get my buns out there too. Think I'll bring the camera too. So nice!

Karen! I didnt know you were from the Burgh! I am about 15 minutes from downtown and about 2 minutes from Kennywood!I grew up in Southside. We havent had the snow we used to get in the last few years,we get some good ones,but nothing like when I was a kid!
Right now it is a whooping 25 degrees,tomorrow we are looking at a high of 38. Not too bad,but I agree it really gets you anxious to start ws'ing! I think I am going to start a few things under lights to satisfy the urge to grow something! :)

My husband and I both grew up in Greenfield. We moved to Cinti 30 years ago. Our summers here are hotter and much more humid, but winters are a little milder, temperature wise, with less snow.

My Dad was a fireman on the fireboat, docked in Southside. Does Pgh still have the fireboat?

My husband's siblings still live in Pgh., we visit occasionally, probably once or twice a year. We see little of the city though, usually limiting the trip to family visits.

Karen

Greenfield! My first apartment was in Greenfield! I also worked there. I went to Gladstone ("Happyrock") when it was a middle school and they decided to ship us over there instead of the middle school 5 minutes away...lol..Pgh school zoning I will tell ya'! I had many friends from Greenfield growing up!
It has been along time since I have been to see the boats,so I am not sure about the Fireboat,but my favorite the Good Ship Lollipop ( BIG Shirley Temple fan ;), was still there a couple years back...this makes me think I really should get the kids down to Station sqare for a boat ride and the incline!

Boy it really is a small world!:)

"...The hoses are frozen, the pot ghetto isn't organized, there are leaves everywhere, etc..."

Terrene, you are describing my yard to a "T"!! LOL!

Tiffy, I usually work well - okay, I work *better* - under pressure (drove my mother crazy when in school I would write a major paper the day - no, the *night* before it was due.) And I clean my house (major cleaning!) the evening before and the morning of the arrival of company. For some reason it doesn't seem to work that way in the garden, though. Although, I didn't have much warning that it would go from the 50s to the 30s in one day, lol.

Tomorrow is supposed to hit 38. Whoo-hoo! Better than today's "feels like" 26. Good day to get the leaves done... hopefully.

:)
Dee

My garden hoses are all over the yard, too. I did have good intentions to roll them up one day but they were frozen, full of water, and wouldn't bend. If we get a warm day, I'll roll them up. Otherwise they'll stay strewn over the yard and kill the lawn in those spots. Gives my husband something to complain about.

Karen

On Thursday a a freak snow squall went through central PA. It was only 10 miles wide and two hundred miles long.

5 or 6 inches of snow on the birdbath and bean poles.

{{gwi:452307}}

Snow on the Miracle Gro potting mix.

{{gwi:452310}}

Winter Wonderland.

{{gwi:452312}}

Don (dem_pa)

Go Bucks! I think I have finally thawed out. That's how you keep an Ohio State crowd under control - early game and turn down the thermostat. We drank warm champagne on the roof of the 12th street garage - it was delicious!

It was a little different here, Bakemom...the Nittany Lions and Amaretta spiced eggnog, and a warm wingchair for me! DH wrapped himself up in an afghan, on the couch.

Last night he brought in the cooler that houses our winter stash of locally grown (and simply delicious) potatoes. The temp was in the low teens overnight.

Winter is still almost a month away, I think we're going to have a real old-fashioned one this year, y'all better get your woolies out!

Mary

As Angie knows we are from right outside Pittsburgh also, and my DH grew up in Greenfield. :) Yes it's a small world. I kep saying I don't know if I'll survive another Pittsburgh winter and ask to move near a warm beach daily. :)
Don love the photos! Especially the one with the horse and buggy.
Monica

Yep Monica is minutes from me and we have not got together yet! ...lol....

Don the pics are breathtaking! Thanks for sharing them.I am not ready for it to come to us like that just yet,but boy, you have reminded me of what I love about the snow!
Thanks! :)

Thanks for those pics Don! Beautiful!

I don't know what happened here, but dang it's COLD! This whole week is going to be in the 30's. That's about 10 degrees colder than normal... I'm just not ready for winter yet!

Oh well... ya can't stop Mother Nature!

You know, it's funny...the weather guy actually mentioned that we'd gone from normal October weather/temps directly to normal January weather/temps and completely skipped November and December! lol.

I don't know, but I could swear this year is closer to what we used to get when I was a kid. I can remember snow almost touching the power lines because we used to get so much and nowhere for the road crews to put it so they just kept cutting the tops back further and further, and the hunters complaining they had to wade through waist deep snow to track the deer on Thanksgiving day, and sledding down mountains of snow!

I had to ask my step-mom if I was just imagining we used to get that much and she said I wasn't - that we really did used to get it as tall as the lines.

Now that I'm old, less snow seems like a much better idea.

I'll just have to keep chanting - "It's protecting my plants and ws jugs, it's protecting my plants and ws jugs. Really, it is!"
lol.