Relative to this discussion, today is the day I decided I needed to get some snow down off my roof. So I called about a dozen hardware stores to see if they had any roof rakes in stock. I used to have a home-made one, but it broke. None to be found at these stores. All sold out. So I made one using a landscape rake-the kind of thing you use to prepare a seedbed for putting in a lawn-and a pole saw handle. Works very well. All I had to do is drill a hole in the rake handle for the connector clip to snap into on the pole saw handle. What's especially nice about this home-made one is that I've got both a rake, to bust up the frozen crust, and a scraper side to the business end of this tool. I'm on lunch break right now, and about half way through this task. I'd estimate I will have pulled a couple tons of snow down by the time I'm done. All this work because my house is very subject to ice dams. It's one of the amazing things about water that it wants to flow downhill so bad that it will flow uphill (Under roof shingles) for a distance if it has to in order to resume its downward flow. Very damaging! Of course, this represents only phase one. Now, I've got giant new piles of snow all around the house to contend with. I'm guessing that someone reading this from, say, Atlanta, has no idea what I'm talking about here ;^) +oM ps...more heavy snow could be here by Monday.

The snow is definitely good for replenishing the ground water for the well, Charlene, but I think this might be the first time you've had your own well, because if the electricity goes off, as soon as your pressure tank runs out of pressure, you're not going to have water---well, unless you have a hand pump at least. Are you on IREA? When I used to live down there the power used to go out fairly often, and every time we had a bad thunderstorm--or snowstorm--I got in a habit of filling up all my pitchers and big soup pots and a couple buckets for flushing the toilet. The worst thing was the summer the well went dry and I had to live with only a hose from the nearest neighbor as my only source of water. Brrrrr! Those were cold baths---even in summer! It was 3 or 4 days before I was able to get the well service out to lower the pump. And, unless there's a fan and you can't use the fireplace without the fan, you should be able to get heat from your gas fireplace. I have a wood fireplace and a gas fireplace, and if the power were to go out, I'd pick the gas one to use for heat. After it's been on for a half an hour or so, it puts out an amazing amount of heat. There's no fan, and I just leave the glass doors and the screen wide open, and it heats up the whole room. I figure if I ever get desperate, I'll just pull the couch up right in front of it and sleep there. And I have several kerosene lamps too---also from when I lived down by Parker. Plan for the worst--and hope for the best---which is what it looks like we may have gotten this time. I just checked, and the NWS still shows us with a winter storm warning. I'm surprised! On radar it sure looks like it's on its way out. Well, Channel 4 just said that we ARE going to get more snow tonite--AND wind! So I may be prematurely declaring us out of the (wintry) woods! Magpies are HUGE! Are they actually hanging on your suet feeder? I spent the afternoon chasing blackbirds away from my feeders. They spill and waste half the food, and they're so messy---and they travel in humongous herds! One will show up and then disappear, and 10 minutes later the whole backyard will be full of them. No wool coats for the blackbirds! LOL I enjoy watching the bluejays, though, and they only show up one or two at a time. But I like the flickers the best, because there aren't that many, so you don't get to see them that much. Isn't it wonderful to have such generous neighbors! My neighbors have once again shoveled my sidewalk and entire driveway. AND, this time they shoveled the walk up to my front door--which never got shoveled last time, and was still nearly 3' deep. And the funny thing is---on the first day of the original blizzard my front doorknob broke---so I can't even use the door! I bought a new knob, but haven't tried to figure out how to install it yet. I'm not sure how I'm gonna say thank you this time! I don't think teenagers need babysitters. LOL I have a jade I can take over for them, but I'm sure it was the boys who did it---and I'm guessing they're not too into houseplants! I'll have to think about it. I hope you're able to get out to Winter Park, Charlene, especially after missing your trip! Happy New Year, Skybird

The front/side lawn is exposed to the harshest sun, the soil is sandy & contains the majority of the utility wires & pipes, may be filled with building debris too & seems to be the most attacked by sod web worms. It goes dormant probably two or three times faster than the backyard. The backyard's somewhat thick, less holey, & gets some of the harsh southern sun, but mostly eastern & western. The watering "every 3 days schedule" I relayed were just approximates. There's really no set-in-stone schedule. I have above-ground sprinklers (oscillating & impulse, 1 each) attached to hoses to move around & can't get the whole lawn at once. So that throws the approximates off; for instance, when it's been dry & the grass is starting to dry up, one section gets watered one even-numbered day (I live in an even-numbered house & am allowed to water on even-numbered days) & the next even-numbered day the next section gets it & so on, then it's back to the first position. There might be some overlapping though. And if the area gets enough rain, that needs factored in & such throws off the "schedule" & approximates. I thought last week a contractor was starting to dig trenches for in-ground sprinkler systems, but I guess I was wrong. Instead someone must have been having a problem with a utility of some sort & the problem was obviously in-ground.

:) Like the snowmen. Virtual and handmade. l'll send the youngest out with the spray bottle this afternoon. They are always complaining we get only powder or ice. Apologies big time for you northerners who need months to dig out! We endure so little of it in comparison. It's just that I sit here with seed packets, hoping this is the last snow, but knowing I can count on May spring freezes, filing away all the indeterminate tomatoes. Because It will probably be a waste to plant, because I won't get enough to put up before our humid heat ends my main size tomato year in July :( Sigh. Cheryl, when do your martins arrive, if you're so lucky to get tenants? I want to put up houses, never have. It's what I ask for every Mother's Day and don't get...besides my permanent request for roses with ROOTs. :) Our purple martins are supposed to come through starting next week but the ground is solid here.