They are saying we have a 40% chance of snow on Sunday and a 50% chance of RAIN AND SNOW on Monday with a high of 31 and a low of 21 Monday night, so that could get nasty.

After Church on Sunday, I will probably hibernate until the weather is better. I teach adult Sunday School and our course of study this year is the New Testament. I have a really good group that studies and prepares and since they work hard, I don't like to miss being there, so unless the weather is bad enough for it to be cancelled, I will be there. As long as we don't lose electricity at my house, I will just stay inside after Sunday. If you don't see me on-line for a few days, then you will know the electricity has failed and I have moved to the bunkhouse. LOL Been there, done that!

Tomorrow I will prepare food for a few days just to make things easier if we have no power. I have a nice camp stove and several propane bottles, and we also have a generator. The bunkhouse has gas heat and gas hot water, so we don't suffer much in a power outage. I could also find plenty to do, since I haven't cleaned the bunkhouse for about a month and I need to put my lights on my plant shelf.

And just when I was reading on here that some people are starting seeds and I was thinking, it has been unseasonably warm.

Carol,

There's a little rain in our forecast too, so I am hoping that stays south of us and that we get snow. Our house is all-electric so we're in trouble if the power goes out. We've lived here 12 years and haven't had a winter power outage yet, but there's a first time for everything.

Ezzirah,

There's nothing wrong with starting seeds a little early if you can keep them warm and also have enough area on a light shelf for plants that will be quite large before they can be put outside. I haven't started any early though because I don't like having them get too large before they can be put outside.

The areas south/east of me in Texas that have freezing rain/sleet in the forecast are zone 8 and I bet some people there do have seeds started already. If so, I hope they don't lose their light and heat because of a power outage. When the master gardener was on the new this week telling people how to start seeds "now", I was talking back to the TV and saying "hello! snow is coming!" When the weather is as gorgeous as it has been down here this week....we were up just below 70 degrees yesterday....people can falsely get the idea that spring is arriving early. I've noticced that very warm winter days are often followed by bitterly cold ones, so I try not to let an occasional warm day fool me.

Dawn

The Mesonet temperture map looks very funny today with the end of the panhandle being one of the warmest parts of the state.

Carol,

It makes the weather look backwards doesn't it? It is really nice here right now....blue skies, sunshine, and a warm and toasty 53 degrees on our front porch, defying our forecast high of only 51. It is hard to believe tomorrow will be so different, but it will be.

The Fort Worth office of the NWS has just put much of the D-FW area and eastward/northeastward under a Winter Storm Watch, which certainly is going to destroy Tim's plan to "just stay home" if ice falls, because it looks like the ice is potentially going to start falling while he is at work. So, instead of being snowed in/iced in at home, he may be snowed in/iced in at work. I guess he'll pack a suitcase for the weekend when he leaves for work later today.

I wasn't that worried earlier today when the closest the Winter Storm Watch came to us was about 2 counties east. Now it includes Grayson County, just a hop, skip and a jump catty-corner across our bend of the river but at least Cooke County, which borders us on three sides, isn't in the watch area either. Yet.

This sort of reminds me of our mid-February storm last year when the heaviest snow fell in Texas first, and enough of it made it up here to the Red River that we had 8 or 9" of snow at our house, which seemed like a lot except in comparison to the parts of the metroplex that had 14" of snow. It isn't often we have to worry about about cold weather/precip coming at us from the south instead of the north.

Jay probably will be sitting outside working on his tan while I'm slipping and sliding on ice and/or snow the next couple of days.

I'm trying to figure out how to carry my five gigantic molasses tubs full of plants into the house tomorrow. They mostly have brugs in them, with underplantings of peppers, tomatoes, and petunias, and have withstood temps to as low as 11 degrees in the garage but I hate to leave them out there for several days when it will be too cold to open the doors and let them get some sun.

If I can't bring the plants inside (some of the brugs are 8' tall and so are my ceilings), then I'll at least harvest all the cherry tomatoes and bell peppers because I'm afraid the continual cold/lack of sun might get them.

Running a heater in the garage isn't an option since it is 1200 square feet and has a very high peaked roof, making it impossible to heat it efficiently. I suspect the three big monster dogs will get to come inside and sleep on the floor of the guest room during the worst of this cold spell. They probably don't mind sleeping in the cold garage as much as I think they do, but why not bring them inside and let them stay warm?

I hate winter. I know I make that statement every year, but only because it is true!

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Storm Watch Expanding in Texas

OT: but today is my oldest heeler's birthday,16years old. He and the young heeler had a little birthday party with a Braums junior serving of frozen yogurt and a half twinkie each.

Happy Birthday Specks!

Keith

Happy dogday, Specks!

A 1200 square foot garage, Dawn?? Wow! Tim must be in man heaven! Well, except for all of the space you take over with plants. And the dog's area. LOL

High of 18 here today. Brrr! Snowed again yesterday and more due this week. Staying well below freezing for the entire week's forecast. Guess that's just normal up here, though.

Diane

Happy Birthday to Specks, Keith!

Diane, Well, we figured "as long as we're at it...." we'd make it big enough. I'm not sorry we did because it is full as it is, but if only we'd do a good cleaning and reorganizing of it, it could be a lot more neat and orderly, blah, blah, blah.

We noticed before we built it that everyone around us who put in the standard 2 or 3-car garage had multiple sheds so we figured living out here in the country where it takes so much equipment to maintain large property, animals, etc., we likely needed a big "man cave" and were trying to avoid making it so small that we'd have to keep coming back and building another shed or whatever. So far, so good. The only other shed is my potting shed.

It has room for 4 big vehicle bays plus storage, but we only put in 3 rollup doors and use three bays for vehicles, and the 4th bay for storage/plants/dogs. It has a walk-in door and double sliding doors so you can drive the riding lawn tractor in/out without having to move a car or truck out of a bay.

Actually, in the early years (we built it in 2004), the 4th bay was the "man cave" with chairs, a refrigerator, a stereo and a pool table so that Chris and his friends or Tim and his friends could hang out, drink, play pool, etc. (It gave them a place to hang out while I was spending every waking minute in the garden.) Slowly, if you can imagine this, the plants and the dogs took over the man cave. That may be one reason I now have a greenhouse kit awaiting assembly....so I can get my plants out of Tim's man cave!

Y'all are too cold up there. Eighteen is about as low as we've gone at night this winter, except for one night or two when it went down to 10 or 11 degrees. The current weather is in the mid-50s, sunny, blue skies and gorgeous today but that is about to end.

We have sleet coming our way, possibly beginning tonight. Well, the NWS calls them ice pellets, and I guess the only good thing about that is that it likely means it will fall as pellets that won't stick to power lines and trees instead of falling as freezing rain which would stick to them.

Every time I look at the NWS website, the predictions for my end of the state are more dire, so I think I'll stop looking and go bag up seeds for the swap instead. I'm about 75% done and need to finish and get them in the mail.

I failed to mention what is really special about our barn-style garage is that we hired Tim's best friend and former police partner, Ken, and Ken's two sons, David and Jeremy who were then unemployed through no fault of their own (the steel fabricating company they worked for laid off a bunch of guys) to build the barn. We have wonderful memories of the struggle to get it built during the wet and flooding summer of 2004. Our two families were together all the time. The memories became so very precious to us when Ken was diagnosed in March 2005 with a brain tumor and died a mere two months later. I still think of our garage as Ken's garage because he put so much of himself into helping design and build it.

Dawn

The predictions for the next few days are gradually growing closer together although still some difference. The NWS has gradually raised their temp predictions and lowered the duration of it and also the amount of snow possible. Looking like temps very similar to last week. Maybe a degree or two colder of a night and the same for Monday and Tuesday. Looks by Wed we will be seeing a warm up starting. Although I don't like it I can stand the 1-3 day blasts. It is those that set in for 7-10 days or longer that I don't like and that cause a lot of problems. I know the cold didn't hit the Denver and Colorado Springs area like they thought yesterday. I got a call from work as they needed to inject gas as they had more on the system than the customers were taking and no where to go with it. Snow amounts they are saying in the 1-5 inch area depending on source. With the wind they are prediction I hope we are on the lower end. I hope everyone is prepared and it moderates some for all of us. It looks like in KS though the the further east might get more snow and also colder. I haven't looked at OK that much. Jay

Dawn, that's wonderful that he got to build your garage!

I just checked our updated forecast. Now they're saying 6+ inches of snow and windchills of -10. Sounds like more homemade snowcones are in our near future.

Diane

Jay,

I don't know what's happening in the rest of Oklahoma, but here at our house, very light rain started falling around 3:45 a.m. when the temperature was 36 degrees. Then, as the temperature fell, the rain transitioned, first and briefly to freezing rain, then to sleet which fell for a while, and then to snow, which has been falling for about an hour-and-a-half. Within the last 5 minutes, the flakes have become huge but also have smaller ice pellets mixed in with them. Our temperatures have been hanging right around and just below freezing all morning. The thermometer on the front porch has dropped from 33 degrees, which is what it was when the snow started falling, to 30 degrees, where it has remained for the last 55 minutes.

Tim drove home from work in it this morning, but the temps had stayed higher than initially expected in Dallas, so they were getting rain only and nothing frozen. Of course, the further north he drove the worse the weather became.

Overall, our forecast is for slightly colder weather and a little more precip over the next couple of days than initially forecast. However, since the freezing rain was very brief, we don't seem to be in danger of having power outages, which is always my primary concern with weather like this. We are likely to lose internet service at some point.

The deer are out there eating the deer corn and the wild birds are eating the seed I put out late yesterday evening. The fact that they came out to eat in the snow tells me they think it will last a while. Generally, they stay under cover and wait for the snow to end and then come to the feeding area to eat.

I have coffee in the big thermos bottles and a pot of ham bean soup bubbling away on the stove, so I'm ready to feed the firefighters if we have calls today, except I still need to whip up a couple of batches of corn bread muffins to go with the soup.

It is going to be a long, boring stretch of cold days, but it certainly won't be as bad as last year's winter weather that wouldn't end. And, as long as the internet and satellite TV are working, we can at least amuse ourselves with them.

The snow is pretty, but after about 3 days without sunshine I start getting cabin fever. We had sunshine in great abundance yesterday, so I shouldn't start feeling sun-deprived for another couple of days.

Dawn

Diane,

I used to love making snow ice cream and snow cones when I was a kid.

The snow here is turning more to sleet again and the highways are becoming a big mess. At first the cars were just sliding off the road. Now they are starting to run into one another. The cops, medics and firefighters are going to have a long, miserable day. I'm busy cooking so I can feed them if needed.

It is a good time to stay home!

Dawn

Dawn,
I'm getting mixed signals even from the livestock. No doubt we will be cold for a few days. Just looked at the NWS site again. They have lowered the temp predictions now for Tuesday after raising them from last night. I'm wondering if it is a shift change deal. Yesterday it was 14 then 19 this morning and 14 again now. The low was 0 this morning and now -1. But the other sites are still saying a few degrees warmer and haven't changed as much as the NWS has raised their's. Looking at the satellite pictures and radar doesn't look like much moisture unless it backs in on us from the east and south. Which concerns me as when it does we usually get a doozy. Most of the local weather men are thinking we will be on the western edge of the moisture and will see the lower amounts of snow fall. Watered all of the trees I have planted over the last 2 years twice in the last 3-4 days and then drained the hoses. Probably won't need anything again till last Feb. Still soaking on the main garden. Will shut it off and drain it later. Talked to my neighbor across the fence this morning. As you know I watch the livestock and animals for indications of the severity of a storm. The birds and my horses don't indicate anything real lengthy or severe. The few thousand geese on the sewer ponds behind my property give a different indication. They left at first sign of light this morning and haven't came back from feeding yet. Usually they come back if from 10:15 and 10:30. Your can usually set your watch by them. I'm always amazed how they leave in several different flocks headed in different directions going varying distances but arrive back within such a short time frame. They left 30 minutes earlier today and are still out. Which indicates they feel their feed supply might be covered. Also with the wind and any snow maybe they are filling up as getting to their feeding areas might be harder. My prediction is 1-3 inches of snow and cold but not abnormally cold for this time of year for 2 days. I don't see the indications yet of a severe storm or extended cold period. And what most services are trending towards now. I really wouldn't be surprised if we see very little snow. Hope your conditions improve. They are saying little to no ice accumulation here. Jay

Jay,

Like you, I watch the animals and our wild birds are feeding like mad. We have dozens on the ground feeding and jockeying for space. The good thing about that is that there's so many of them, they are melting off the ice and snow on the driveway so the henscratch, cracked corn and sunflower seeds I put out for them are not disappearing underneath a layer of snow and sleet. The bad thing is they have eaten about everything I already put out for them and I'm not inclined to put out too much more. With the wild birds, as long as you feed them, more will come and I don't have an endless bag of feed in the garage.

Our weather is all over the place. It will snow for a while, then that will change to a sleet/snow mix, then that changes to rain/freezing rain and then eventually back to snow again. At the moment, big fluffy flakes are falling, but we had almost a half-hour of sleet and freezing rain before that. We have three thermometers outdoors and all three are wildly fluctuating between 29 and 35 degrees, indicating great instability, and also explaining why our precip keeps changing form, I guess.

The interstate is a mess but that's mostly because people insist upon driving 70 mph and faster on the highway even though we have had freezing precipitation for hours. It is hard to have a lot of sympathy for people who won't slow down and drive appropriately for the conditions. The troopers, local sherriff's deputies and local police are working hard to assure everyone is safe and back on the road and moving again as soon as possible.

I've linked the radar so you can see what's coming my way. The radar has a beautiful assortment of colors, but outside all we see is gray and white. : )

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Radar of Precipitation Moving Up From Texas

Today it started snowing lightly early this afternoon, then changed to sleet for a while, then back to snow. But there was no accumulation other than a dusting on the rooftops. The wild birds were feeding like crazy here too. There were some beautiful cardinals in the group that I really enjoyed watching! They emptied one feeder and I refilled it, and it will probably be empty again before long. We're right on the southern edge of the new advisory issued for the northern part of the state and my fingers are crossed that we get off easy. I love a snow day, but really do need to get to work tomorrow .... it's a busy Monday.

Suzie

11PM and just a dusting of snow, but temp is at 26.

We had a bit of some nice, fluffy flakes! There's about 2 inches out there, and the Hubby doesn't have to go to school tomorow, LOL! Neither does Chance, so we'll all be home tomorow. Looks like it's about done for us too, YAY! No ice... makes me HAPPY.

Beth

Basically zero here. The wind is blowing so glad we didn't get much. Our once possible heavy snow is now to less than an inch they are saying. The NWS has also raised our low temps. From 0 and -1 to 5 and 10 for the next 2 nights. From looking at Denver and temps to the north I wasn't surprised to see it and that is close to what Accuweather and Intellicast have been saying for several days. Tomorrow they say will be 10 degrees warmer than they were saying last evening. So it will be another system just about equal to what we had last week. Maybe not as cold. Will have to wait and see. Hope everyone can stay warm. I think I have everything ready. Jay

Suzie, I hope you made it to work OK and hope everyone else did too, or that they're staying home and off the roads.

Tim drove to Dallas very early this morning but arrived at the north end of DFW Airport just as freezing drizzle was starting to fall. By the time people with regular schedules were up and driving to work, the freezing drizzle on top of yesterday's sleet, snow and freezing rain had turned much of the DFW metro area into a drive-time disaster.

Here in Marietta, we have about 3" of snow on the ground, which really is a combination of sleet, snow and who knows what else. It fell heavily in the morning and sporadically throughout the rest of yesterday.

Snow continues to fall and has been falling here sporadically since Tim left the house at 3 a.m. I use both the words "snow" and "fall/falling" in only the most casual sense. The snow is superfine...almost like sugar and since it is so light it doesn't really fall so much as it just floats on the air. However, eventually there is enough of a dusting on it to cover up the bird seed on the ground with a light 'glaze' of ice. Really, it almost looks more like freezing fog than snow.

We remain wild bird central today. I put out black oil sunflower seeds for the birds every morning and every evening so we have many cardinals and they look so pretty against the snow. At night, after the deer eat their deer corn, they travel up and down the driveway looking for stray sunflower seeds the birds missed.

The snow is so pretty when it falls, but I'm ready for some sunshine now.

Our roadways are in great shape and all the kids here are in school, except for those who attend Thackerville schools. Thackerville announced school would be closed today rather early yesterday. Had they waited a few more hours, I think they likely wouldn't have cancelled classes. However, like us, Thackerville is very far south in the county and received more snow than some more northern parts of Love County.

Jay, It is not too cold here yet. I think we turn colder tonight or tomorrow. It won't be the coldest we've been this season though, so I'm not much worried about it. I would have been worried if we'd had enough freezing rain to bring down power lines, but we didn't.

Dawn