Category: Weather

  • Walkin’ in a winter wonderland

    Walkin’ in a winter wonderland

    DISCLAIMER: This post has nothing at all to do with my normal topics of conversation, and is merely a rant about the weather patterns of northeast Ohio. Read at your own peril.

    Ahh, the sight of a fresh blanket of white covering all as you glance out your window in the morning…

    Is met with much less derision come December, not October 24. I mean, I know it’s Cleveland, and we’re in the snow-belt, blah-blah-blah, but really? Eight inches of lake-effect slop for the first snow of the year (and potentially still counting)? It’s supposed to be a light covering that melts by midday, just to kinda give everyone a heads-up “hey, it’s that time of year again, better put on your winter face.” At least give me some time to get used to it again. Not just me, but everything. C and I saw a huge ‘V’ of geese out in the snowstorm, honking loudly and looking rather bewildered as they headed south. I’m pretty sure they were thinking, “Wait’ll we hit South Carolina and find that lousy travel agent who wouldn’t book our flight for yesterday… said we had nothing to worry about…”

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  • Garden update 5/29

    Crazy weekend we had. Memorial Day, the unofficial summer kick-off, is usually pretty warm. This year we had three straight nights of frost warnings, coming just a couple days after I planted all my tender vegetables outside. What the heck?

    I covered stuff and we survived.

    Finally, just about everything is planted. I finished all the seeds except the beans (of which I think I have about 10 varieties – I know). Some new stuff this year includes salsify and celeriac. I’m trying more root vegetables, since that’s a chunk of our diet in the winter months. We’re also trying okra (C loved it the only time he’s eaten it – of course, that probably means he won’t touch it the next time) and tomatillos, to make some homemade salsa verde.

    Since I have no self-control, I planted 50 tomatoes (okay, 48), in a dozen different varieties. We literally have every color except blue, including white and “black” – if nothing else, it’ll make for pretty salads.

    Peas are starting to hit their stride, and grow a couple inches a day, it seems. Most of the early leafy stuff is just about ready for harvest, as are the radishes. Despite starting everything later than normal, we seem to be okay. I added four new beds and planted, in my estimation, over 35 different vegetable (not including the multiple varieties of squash, beans, tomatoes, etc.). Looking forward to a good growing season.

  • A change in the weather

    Here in Ohio (as with many other non-San Diego climes), we’re accustomed to drastic weather swings, although they tend to be more in the fringe seasons (fall and spring). So being late May, it was a bit of a shock to go out to 40 degrees this morning. It was 85 two days ago. I hope the tomatoes aren’t too offended.

    Have a fun Memorial Day weekend!

  • More signs

    We had our first thunderstorm of the year roll through last night, which corresponded perfectly, of course, with bedtime. Sadie was less than thrilled; Brando couldn’t be more oblivious.

    I think I liked them more before we had kids. Now I’m fearful of anything that’ll wake them up. I guess it’s nice though that we’re taking more steps in the right direction. Generally, once the thunderstorms start showing up again, winter is just about done. More of a harbinger of spring than robins.

  • Happy Spring!

    Here in northern Ohio, we are still waiting. Usually by this time, we’ve had a stretch of sorta nice days to whet our appetite, but outside of a few widely scattered periods, nothing so far. The good is that, unlike last year, when we had a week-long stretch in the 70s in the middle of March, nothing is leafing out or starting to grow (only to get frozen to death a week later). The bad is that… I’ve had enough of winter 2012-13. Yes, I like the different seasons, snow, blah, blah, blah. After a point though, I don’t care anymore and I just want it to get warm and green.

    Seeds have been started, and some things will be ready to go outside in a couple weeks, if the ground ever thaws.

    The dogs are tired of frozen stuff too.

    I tapped some trees two weeks ago, and had a nice two-day stretch of sap flowing, at which point the temps dropped below freezing, where we remain. So, maple season 2013 has still yielded nothing, with no plans in the immediate future (forecast is for below freezing for the rest of the week with a lake effect snow warning for the next two days – yay spring!).

    springsap

    C needs to get out of the house too. We venture out occasionally, but not enough.

    We’re getting a little stir-crazy around here.