Oh well. A mere 4.2 10 miles from my house. Never mind. The two year old had another viewpoint. "I like earthquake. It was scary." Which indirectly explains why we will eventually fund the retirement of the employees at the Urgent Care.

Nah, didn't feel it here. Nothing interesting ever happens here. Y'all have all the fun up there.

seedmama - We didn't feel any quake, but today Oklahoma has had an earthquake, high winds, unseasonably warm weather, and rain. At the moment we are having rain, are under tornado watch and thunderstorm warning with possible large hail. Earlier we were under tornado warning. The forecast for tonight is light freezing rain. Is there anything else?????

Yep, there was something else. Now we are under flash flood warning. LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Weather map

Sure. There's lots more that could happen. Hurricanes, tsunamis, flooding, freezing fog, drecho winds, thundersnow, a plague of locusts, and volcanoes.....not that I am hoping for any of those to occur.

This is Oklahoma where the weather can change every 5 minutes, and often does. We woke up to summer this a.m., northeastern OK is having spring weather right now, with winter to arrive later tonight, or if you're in southcentral or southeastern OK, then sometime tomorrow a.m. around sunrise. We'll have a couple of days of winter, and then what? Very high to extreme fire danger on Sunday and more moderate daytime temps with cold nights next week. After that, though, it is anyone's guess.

You have to admit that life here is never, ever dull.

I put on my "native NJ glasses" while reading this thread. It was hilarious!

George
Tahlequah, OK

George,

I am thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving, but I am especially thankful that no matter what happens with the weather here, we all can laugh about it.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to garden in a more moderate climate. Can y'all? Half the fun of gardening here involves trying to outwit, outlast and outplay the wacky, ever-changing weather.

The cold front has finally arrived here this morning. We were still at 68 degrees at midnight, but it isn't 68 degrees now.

Dawn

What a Country, swiming yesterday, ice skating tomorrow, and turkey today, it cant get any better than that.

Larry

Dawn said:

"I cannot imagine what it would be like to garden in a more moderate climate. Can y'all?"

I can! :-P

(Okay, so not really yet but, boy, just you wait until next year's season here...)

Diane

Hey Diane,

You can tell us all about gardening in a nicer climate once you try it.

I suspect you'll be frustrated by having to plant later there than you did in SE OK, but you can't have everything.

I can't wait to hear your progress reports throughout the growing season. My best guess is that your planting dates will be somewhat similar to Jay's?

Dawn

You all,
I so totally agree with never ending weather changing and unpredictability here in the good 'ol Sooner State!!
That being said, I am praying for a somewhat "normal" spring and growing season this next year. I was so disappointed from this last season's crop. I was almost ready to just throw in the towel. However, I am so totally and completely addicted to gardening!! Matter of fact, I had 4 habanero pepper plants growing that had blooms on them and I meant to bring them in so I could continue to have peppers for cooking things like chili. But, no...my brain had other plans and completely forgot about them before the freeze did. lol Needless to say, I don't have habanero pepper plants anymore. What I do have though are loufa gourds. I had read that you use them like washing loufa's in the shower/bath so I thought I'd try it this year. Was told you just leave them on the plant till they dry up, so mine are still hanging. Have to read some more though because I have to restrain myself from going and picking them. Not sure I should leave them, I may just put them in the garage.
Anyway, kinda got off subject sorry. lol
I have been so busy lately working, that I haven't had a chance to read up and be as active as I was last year here in Oklahoma GardenWeb. Still, I can't wait till the seed trade.
Hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Blessings,
Melissa

Melissa,

I've only lived here since 1999, and I'm not sure I have seen a "normal" spring yet. I am starting to believe (and fear) that what is normal for us is to have wildly erratic weather.

I do think that at our house, the weather from 2006 to now has been more erratic than the weather the first few years we lived here, with freezes coming later and later and later into the spring. I've also noticed Love County gets hail about once a year, and it is almost always the day AFTER I set out my tomatoes. It drives me nuts.

Last year was a very hard year for most people's tomatoes, so don't feel too discouraged by it. The weather simply did all the wrong things at all the wrong times in the spring and it got too hot too early and that affected fruitset. Then the high humidity brought a lot of diseases. A lot of folks did have a good fall crop though, which helped make up for the spring/summer difficulties. Hopefully in 2011 the spring and summer weather will be a bit more cooperative.

With your gourds, you can dry them inside or out. Outside on the vine is fine if they already were pretty mature when frost hit. Outside is fine if you aren't getting tons of rain. In the years when I grow gourds, I let them dry on the vine as much as possible but if it is raining a lot, I move them inside. I think letting them dry outside as much as possible is good because there's normally better airflow outside. Because your gourds already have been exposed to freezing temps, it isn't going to hurt them if you want to move them inside to dry. It seems like freezing temps hasten the maturing/drying process a bit and also makes them easier to peel, which is another reason to consider leaving them outside a little bit longer if you want to do that. I imagine they'll dry and cure just fine either way, indoors or out, so do what feels right to you. Or, take some inside, leave some outside, and see which ones dry/cure faster and better.

We miss you when you're not here but, you know, sometimes life is just too busy to spend much time on the computer.

The seed swap is going to be fun. I like that it is coming after Christmas this year as it will give us something to look forward to in the normally dismal, cold, gray month of January.
Dawn