Sorry guys, Your wind is from us, the north wind cold and strong. We almost have not had any warm weather so far, the plants just stayed outside for about two days then everybody got a chill and a cold flu. It's June, and all my plants are still indoors, talking about cold. Today we are 48F peak, afternoon we got the hail, it's the combination of worse and the worst. The long term forcast is not looking good either, in next two weeks, we are constantly 5 to 10 degrees below average. Depressing!

Carol, Yes, well, it is hard not to hang out with cops since I'm married to one. (Grinning) You know, living here along the Red River, I am shocked by how many fugitives from Texas make a run for the river just trying to get to Oklahoma. I wonder if they think that law and order stops at the Texas bank of the Red River? Our local law enforcement officers do a great job of setting up and stopping those fugitives when they cross over into OK. I don't know if I could get them to help me lasso some onions though. I just wanted you to know that if your onions escaped and went on the lam, we'd be ready and waiting for them. I'm glad you have them firmly under control. They raised our forecast low from 24 to 26, but I covered up everything anyway. I expect we'll be colder than 26 so I just thought it was better safe than sorry. Last night we were below freezing for 9 hours, so if I had any glimmer of hope that some of those baby plums would survive, that's all over now. Larry, I can relate. Our entire property is a creek hollow in a low-lying river valley. After we'd lived here about a decade, I actually found our creek and creek hollow on a map and learned it is called Dry Hollow Creek. I guess that is where our low-lying area differs from yours....you stay wet and we stay ridiculously dry. I just wish we valley dwellers were cooler in summer since we have to put up with being colder in fall through spring, but it just doesn't work out that way, does it? We have friends who live up on a high ridge near us, and all of them have white limestone rocks, so I guess I'm probably better off in a creek hollow, where my worst enemy is dense, red clay. I think it is easier to amend clay than to dig out a million rocks. We have a lawn overseeded with winter rye and if you walk on it while it is frozen, you damage the grass and it turns black. Today we have black footprints all over the place because we were out early while the temperatures still were below freezing. This morning we went to the Lowe's in Ardmore and, well, let's just say that either someone didn't cover up the tomato transplants well enough, or it got so cold there that the row cover (which I could see piled up in a big pile near the cashier's station in the outdoor garden center) didn't protect the tomato plants from freezing. The ones on the top row, which were the ones in big 5" peat pots, were badly frozen and the ones on lower shelves were in various stages of suffering and dying. If they don't do a better job of covering up plants tonight, they won't have many tomato plants to sell tomorrow. Let's hope everyone's plants make it through tonight and tomorrow night. At our house, tomorrow night looks pretty good---I think they're saying 37 degrees. That doesn't mean I'll be out putting tomatoes in the ground tomorrow, but now I can start watching the calendar, checking the soil temps and plotting and planning for "the day". I have a feeling the weather is going to make tomato-planting more challenging this year than last. Dawn

I sleep hot so I like a cool room at night. I always have the ceiling fans on and I have a small table fan on my side blowing directly on me, I also have a big stand fan that may or may not be on. I currently am keeping the thermostat set at 66 heat. I don't like cold feet or hands I have some really thick sock slippers from bed bath and beyond that I wear during the day but I can't wear socks in bed it bothers me. I don't like heavy covers, I have the sheet a very light weight fleecy type blanket (just put on Monday night) and the matelasse quilt coverlet. Occasionally if we get really cold weather I will swap out and put the light down comforter on instead. But most of the night I kick the covers off. I wake up and the side without covers feels like ice so I warm it up for a while. My poor husband is always freezing and tries to steal all the covers. We some times put a throw or blanket over the top of his side. My little bitty dog is usually attached to me at the neck or side she appreciates my heat lol.

I've gotten some really good ideas from everyone who contributed to this thread, so thank you! I will add for anyone still reading a few that we have had recently that absolutely hit the spot during our cold, Pittsburgh winter. Beef stew (obviously everyone already knows about this one!). I finally found a recipe I really like and I think I've made it three times since the weather turned cold in November. Will likely make it again in a week or two. Old fashioned beef and noodles - I found an excellent recipe on a blog called The Spiced Life. This might be my favorite winter meal. Chicken Noodle Soup - I love it but never had a recipe I like. On another forum online I found a nice recipe that uses turmeric which I think is what my other recipes were missing. The only problem with this soup is that it feels more like a lunch or a side dish - my husband doesn't consider it a "dinner." haha. Chicken Paprikash - the New York Times recipe is out of this world. We like it with buttered egg noodles. Pasta with Bolognese. In the summer, I do a lot of lighter, quick sauces especially when our garden tomatoes are fresh. In the winter, we like that long simmering, thick, rich, red sauce.