It's been snowing most of the afternoon, but only 2 or 3 inches are on the ground so far. I am far enough west to miss the worst of the snow, but our lights have been flickering all afternoon. We carried some wood up from the basement in case the electricity goes out tonight. I am keeping my iPhone close by in case I need a flashlight (smartphones have so many uses). The arrangement in the afternoon tea picture is just a few sprigs of winterberry and some japanese holly from the foundation shrubs. They do look nice together. I love the light and shadows you get in the winter from the sun low on the horizon. I wintersowed some virginia bluebell and maltese cross. Trying to decide what else to sow, but getting sleepy from the leftover turkey, LOL. Hope everyone stays safe and warm tonight. Lois in PA

tamparookie, Hey, we are neighbors! I am just East of you in Forest Hills. Our forecast has become considerably better than it was this morning. We were supposed to hit 31. Now it's more like 36. I can deal with that. 36 will not damage a lot more plants than 31 will. Also, this area of town seems to escape the worst low temperatures because there are so many lakes around here. I think you'll be fine tonight. Tomorrow may present more problems, as the wind will be greatly diminished, and we will probably get frost. I hardly have any plants that die above freezing. I am shortly going out to water some things, to prevent as much suffering as I can. My veggie crop got a late start this year. And so far, this has been a bad year for a late veggie start. Coldest November in a few years at least. My tomatoes were just starting to really get going. I'll do what I can and call it a night. Natural Selection!!!

This is very frustrating, J! NOAA doesnÂt have you on their map. I found PinecliffeÂnow if thatÂs on the map, why isnÂt Nederland? And I found East Portal, and clicking on where you should be I found something called CaribouÂwhich IÂve never heard of! Anyway, theyÂre showing you around freezing for the next few nitesÂlowest theyÂre showing is 28. If theyÂre covered, your tomatoes should be fine, but when your cover gets wetÂorÂheaven forbidÂcovered with snow, just be sure it isnÂt weighting the plants down so much that it breaks them off. If you got your stakes in and the tarp is over the stakes, no worry. And just leaving them covered for a few days isnÂt going to hurt them either. Just think! Tomorrow you might be playing in the snow instead of the dirt! Deb, if you can anchor a bed sheet down so it wonÂt blow away, that will protect your tomatoes and peppers. And if you run a sprinkler all nite, that should work too. Air freezes faster than water, so if everything is wet and it doesnÂt get too far below freezing, it should protect them. It seems to me a sheet would be easierÂIF it doesnÂt blow away. I got my grass cut today too, but no blowing dust around here at least! Just the pollen from the pine tree! And I got the rest of the veggies mulched with the clippings to help keep the water in. I can almost hear the wind slurping the water up from my soil! One of my two bird feeder poles blew over! It wasnÂt a "regulation" post! It was just an old, rusty post I found that had a hook on top. Was gonna replace it anyway, but now I guess itÂs sooner rather than later. Oh, well! A new one will look better! WindÂs blowing like crazy out here right now, but so far no other plant damage besides the one rose cane. Have lots of the neighborÂs cottonwood branches in my back yard! Good luck with the temps tonight, mountain folks, Skybird

WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They made it!!!!!! Lost a few to some rot (sitting in the back corner of a dark, damp garage under file cabinets will do that to anything!) and I think mealies got my E. PvN, but amazingly, they all look fabulous! It was funny to see some of the cactus blooming away in the darkness. Even a haworthia that I thought was completely dead actually came back to life in there - green and plump! I'm amazed, but not a drop of water in the garages. (100 sandbags will do that!) And our house is fine too! Beach erosion, but the next storm will bring back the sand, so all is good!