"Going down to 0 F. tonight (my Zone 7 minimum)." Well, not exactly, as people in a HUGE swath of northeastern NC and southern and central Virginia are finding out tonight. There are currently areas that are listed as 7b on the latest, greatest USDA map that have plummeted as low as -12F! And areas listed as zone 8a that have hit -5F! There are gonna be some dead or severely injured camellias tonight, believe me. Once you go south and east of Richmond the older cultivars become fairly common in gardens. They were often not selected for hardiness. I've driven from Raleigh to Norfolk along back roads and there are plenty planted there. Because the Bay and lower rivers are not frozen, areas like Norfolk, VA Beach, even Kent Island, etc. are doing fine. The worse possible locations seem to be areas along small regional rivers in the upper coastal plain, where the cold air is settling...no wind anymore to stir it up...and there's not enough water to provide counterbalancing warmth. The shocking -12F figure was along the Chowan River. Plant Delights is lucky, they are only about 20 miles away from the area with snow cover, where temps are going below 0F. Which would be the coldest they've been since 1985. As it is I think they will hit 5F. Another cold zone I've noticed before is along all but the southernmost parts of the Patuxent river valley in southern MD. And even along the lower parts, if you're away from the main body of water on a tiny frozen tributary, you're dropping below 0F tonight. All of New England is below zero except for areas right on the water. Of course, it's less of a surprise up there! Sub-0F readings are even popping up on Long Island. I'm surprised there aren't more widespread sub-0F temps in the NJ Pine Barrens. The stations that are showing below 0F are closer to the water, because that's where more snow fell. It's a dramatic illustration of the double-edged sword that is snow cover. Protects things under it, but allows temperatures to plummet during radiative freezes on clear, still nights. We saw this same pattern in the polar vortex winters, too. The coldest places on still nights are places where it's relative flat, but you're still in a depression...and away from large water. With heavy snow cover! One particular night, the center of the Delmarva Peninsula started going below 0F AT 11PM (!) before a lucky change of wind direction occurred. Still many stations hit -5F or so.

Thank you everyone! Pandemic cooking can be stressful, and can be fun. What? too much bacon? It's like saying too much money :-). That was about one lb of bacon with all fat rendered out, for more than one eater. "party_music50 That all looks good! and yes, that's a ton of bacon. lol! What are you planning to grow indoors?" The 2060 watt solar panels will power 1000 watts of LED lights year round in my basement for all kinds of veggies, salad greens and seed starting. Also, my greenhouse does not get enough sun, so there will be 600 watts of LED lights to supplement sunlight in the winter. There is prediction that covid-19 will not be under control until next winter, even with vaccine. dcarch

My parents bought a fridge for their garage a few years ago (Frigidaire I believe) and they had to get some accessory kit specifically for placing the fridge in a garage. I think this is what they got: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigidaire-Garage-Refrigerator-Heater-Kit-5303918301/205581215 You may want to check if your fridge's manufacturer has a garage kit of some sort as well.

Are you trying to tell us you don't think the orange tarp leaning up against the foundation wall is not bracing enough? How do we know those orange tarps are not protecting the several king and queen size heating blankets?