That -12C (10F) isn’t too bad. It’s the -21C (-5F) wind chill!
Actually, I’m pretty sure that in our yard, the wind chill is more severe than that!
The amazing thing is that we are supposed to reach 0C (32F) by this evening.
The winds are driving into our yard from the south/southeast. One thing we have noticed since moving here is that it’s those south winds that are the worst! When it comes time to plant more shelter belt trees, that is where we will need to focus on.
With the cat house and kibble house, the winds are driving right into the active areas. There isn’t much we can do about it. Even shifting the kibble house to more of a 90 degree angle with the cat house, wouldn’t do much with these winds. The good thing is, when my brother built the shelter for his dogs, he added on that “porch”, and the entry has two layers of carpet strips. Without those strips, the wind would be blowing straight into the opening, even with the kibble house sheltering it more. Any wind that does get in is going into the “porch” area, and not affecting the main part of the shelter very much, so the kitties are still cozy inside.
The kibble house is working out very well, though. The inside is sheltered from the wind almost completely, so the cats can eat in peace. Even the gap under the kibble house is quite sheltered. The sheet of insulation I put under there (the photo is from when that was done; it was too cold to take photos this morning!) actually blocks spaces where the wind would be getting in from the south, since it fits under the support pieces.
The water bowls are not sheltered, though. The heated bowl near the entrance – which had ice forming across the top, again! – has some shelter, but the others along the side of the cat house are getting the full brunt of the wind.
I think, next year, we should build another small shelter for the non-heated water bowls. Depending on how it’s positioned, it can act as a wind break, while still allowing sunlight to reach the one window of the cat house they love to sit in so much! :-)
Amazingly, I still had cats following me around while I was switching out the memory cards on the trail cams. Poor Potato Beetle was shivering when I picked him up and carried him back to the house. The silly boy had been up on the roof, earlier. No shelter up there!
I am so glad we don’t need to go anywhere today.
Doing bread baking and laundry sounds really good right now! :-D
… the heated water bowl is starting to freeze over.
A few of the outside cats were out, but I didn’t get that morning rush that I usually do, that’s for sure! They were far more interested in the fresh, relatively warm, water than the kibble. No kitties followed me while I switched out the memory cards on the trail cams!
We have been spoiled by a very mild winter, so far. (Yes, I know: winter doesn’t officially start for another week.) We had been hovering around freezing temperatures. Some days, the weather didn’t know if it was raining, snowing or fogging.
Last night, the temperatures dropped significantly. When doing my rounds this morning, we were at -27C/-16F with a humidex of -32C/-25F. That’s about a 15 – 20 degree C drop within half a day!
We’re supposed to warm up to -12C/10F (man, Fahrenheit is weird….) by this afternoon, but I made sure to plug in my mother’s car this morning. We’re supposed to have this one cold day, and then it’ll warm back up to above -10C/14F range again so I didn’t bother plugging in our van as well.
Of course, the one cold day we get is the day I’m taking my mother in for a medical appointment, and to do some much needed grocery shopping. Much needed for her, I mean. She keeps telling me the social workers can pick things up for her, and get paid while doing it, but she doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of this at all. She also has to pick up her prescriptions and hit the post office as well (she told me just last night, that the mail box outside the post office got stolen! I think she meant the incoming package drop off box, not the outgoing mail box). It’s going to be a long day for her. I’ll have to make sure to bring along our folding wagon again, to make bringing her stuff in easier, since her building is still locked down. She even asked me to be sure to meet her at the side door, instead of the main doors by the lobby, because of all the nosy people that might give her grief.
She had talked about moving to another building in town. I do hope she can get into there (or at least get on the waiting list). She really needs to get out of this place. It’s actually ideal for her in many ways, but the people are just toxic!
Oh, look! It’s warmed up to -24C/-11F and the humidex is -28C/-18F. At least that’s what the weather on my desktop says. My phone app says it’s warmed up to -23C/-9F, humidex -21C/-5F.
Either way, it’s trending up. By the time I’m up and about with my mother, it should be a few degrees warmer. That will make things easier on her.
High winds are sweeping across the prairies right now! There has been snow, now and again, as well. As I write this, I can see the live feed on our security camera, which has switched to its night setting. That means the snowflakes are being lit by the infrared flash, looking like white lights. I don’t know where the wind is supposed to be coming from right now, and those flakes are being blown in all directions – sometimes at the same time! I am quite happy to be indoors and warm right now!
The high winds had started the night before, but the outside cats were well sheltered. The three large kibble containers were all knocked on the ground, probably by skunks. The water containers along the side of the cat house were completely filled with leaves blown into them. The heated water, bowl, was disgusting.
A cat had somehow managed to crap in it!!!
So that took some time to clean up. :-(
Over the next week, it’s supposed to be warmer – even as high as 12C/53F! So we are making plans for what we want to quickly get done before it gets too cold again. Until then, we’ve got plenty to do inside. Our last fish has died, and I’ve decided not to get more. I’m hoping to salvage the live (barely) plants in a smaller, gallon tank. I have just not had success with live plants, and there are too many other things to focus on right now. So the 20 gallon tank is being cleaned out, while the entire living room is being shifted around. The camera and tripod are being set up again at the window. I don’t know that I’ll be up to starting my photo of the day again, but at least it’ll be available once I start putting deer feed out again.
The inside kitties are living a life of luxury right now, and even let me take a few pictures! :-)
I’m happy to say that Cabbages is well settled in, if not quite fully socialized. She will sometimes let us pick her up and does enjoy pets and cuddles, but if we try to walk up to her, she still runs off and won’t let us touch her. She still goes into hiding during the day, but not as long as she used to.
Among the other cats, even Fenrir is finally accepting her, and not growling and hissing like she used to. She has even put up with Cabbages snuggling up to her butt for a nap. Mostly, I think, because when she does hiss at Cabbages, Cabbages just ignores her. :-D
Tissue (aka Little Braveheart) is fully socialized, not only with people, but the other cats, as well. Unfortunately, she, Turmeric, Cabbage and Leyendecker ALL keep trying to nurse on “grandma”!
Turmeric just looks innocent in this photo.
Actually… she doesn’t look at innocent at all, does she? :-D
It was shortly after 1 am and, as I was lying awake in bed, something I was seeing finally soaked through my heat-numbed brain.
Lights.
Flashing lights, out my north facing window.
The sky was lighting up, over and over, hardly a break in between! Constant flashes of lightning.
My West facing window was open, but I heard nothing. No thunder. No rain. Hardly even wind.
But the flashes kept going.
After a while, I went to the main entry and watched the storm coming in through the outer door, before finally moving to the sun room.
Creamsicle and Potato Beetle were very thrilled to see me, and just begging for pets and cuddles!
While standing at the mostly-closed outer door, I heard a distinct crunching noise. Using the flashlight on my phone, I took a peak through the gap behind the garbage can, and could just see the tip of a skunk’s nose!
He waddled away, pausing to scream for a while, soon after.
Skunks make the strangest noise!
One of my daughters came down after hearing me go through the old kitchen, but with Creamsicle and Potato Beetle at the door into the sun room, she decided to go out through the main entrance.
After making sure we were clear of skunk.
We stood outside for a while, watching the sky.
Time and again, the entire yard was lit up bright as day!
Then it started to rain, so we went into the sun room. After a while, my daughter went back into the house, through the main entry, making sure to prop a sawhorse in front of the outer door (we still haven’t been able to finish fixing the frame on that!), to keep it from blowing open, while still being open enough for the cats to come in for shelter.
I remained in the sun room, watching the storm through the outer door, when my other daughter came to join me. She was just telling me about how she had checked the weather radar, and the main part of the storm looked like it was passing us by, but we were still getting warnings for hail… when the hail started!
Then the wind pulled open the outer door, sending the saw horse flying. Even though I was inside, I immediately started getting hit with rain, so I quickly closed up the inner door, and continued watching through the window on that.
The video is much MUCH darker than it actually was outside.
Creamsicle was very happy to be inside the sun room, with me! He kept trying to get my attention while I took photos and video so, after a while, I put the phone away and just cuddled him. He was in heaven, giving me all kinds of hugs and kisses!
Then Potato Beetle got in on the action, and soon I was holding both of them, and watching the storm!
The storm passed by rather quickly, and I was soon able to get the outer door set up with the saw horse to keep it from blowing open again, then went inside. Once inside, a quick check on Facebook found I was not the only one up at almost 2am, posting about the storm!
One of the pages I follow is a local weather group, and they posted an image showing the hundreds of places lightning was detected on the weather radar. The storm itself, amazingly, split just before reaching us. Most of it passed by to the North, and a tiny bit passed us by to the South. What we got was the less severe gap in the middle.
Wow.
So when I headed out to do my morning rounds today, I did a more thorough check for fallen branches and see what other storm damage there might be. There was quite a lot branches to pick up. Only two were live branches, though. The rest were already dead. The elm tree in front of our kitchen window lost so many tiny dead twigs, I didn’t even try to pick them up. I’d need a rake to get them all.
I was happy to note that there was no substantial hail damage to any of the garden plots. I did, however, have a wonderful surprise in the squash.
Two of them have suddenly bloomed! These were not there yesterday, and I really was not expecting to see flowers while the plants are still so small.
These are in the second, larger bed that was transplanted later, and they are doing much much better than the others. The long row in the back that was planted at the same time is doing all right, but not as well as the wider bed. The first bed I’d planted, that got frost damage in spite of our covering them first, is still struggling.
Of the three pumpkin mounds, one of the ones that had a packet of 3 seeds planted in it, now has a second seedling sprouting. The mound that had the packet of 5 seeds planted it in has a first seedling just starting to break ground now.
This late in the season, the only way we’ll get ripe pumpkins, I think, is if we have a late and long, mild fall.
Which could happen. We’ll see.
The surviving first planting of sunflowers have also made a very noticeable increase in growth.
No hail damage on anything planted in the old garden area. No deer damage, either.
It wasn’t until I was almost done my rounds that I found the one tree that fell during the storm.
It’s one of the dead trees I need to clean out, anyway, so this actually saves me some work! :-D
With the heat wave, our weekly checking of the root cellar has provided useful information already. With the possibility of building a cheese cave in there, a few years from now, we are looking for a temperature range of between 7C – 12C (45F – 55F) and a humidity level in the 85-95% range, though some types of cheese require different temperatures. As of this morning, the root cellar was at 17C/62F, and the humidity was at 88%. It was the same last week, too. So for most types of cheeses, it would be too warm. It also is not as consistent as it should be. There is an air vent that goes straight outside, with nothing but window screen mesh to keep the bugs out, at the end. I’d tried partially blocking it, but enough of a wind gets through that it blows out whatever is used. It might be worthwhile to add some sort of vent covering that can be opened and closed to help keep the temperatures from fluctuating too much.
Meanwhile, the heat wave continues. We’re already at 29C/84F (“feels like” 33C/91F), with a predicted high of 31C/87F (humidex: 36C/96F). Heat alerts remain. At least the high water and flood alerts have stopped for now, though we have more thunderstorms predicted overnight, so that might change.
Heat or no heat, we have really got to get the counter moved out, so we can put in the new stove. With the old stove, we’d already stopped using one of the elements, due to sparking when it was turned on or off. The girls, who have taken to cooking and eating at night rather than during the day, have noticed other elements have started to spark, too.
It’s going to be dreadful, and take hours to accomplish, but it has to be done.
Installing the stove itself will be the easy part. Juggling the dining table, chairs, shelves, the contents of the counter, and the counter itself, while still leaving room for the old stove to be pulled out, and the new stove to be moved in, is the hard part.
Yesterday, things cooled down enough it was actually worth opening up my window.
There is still a problem with that.
The three amigos and their stuffed companion!
For some reason, the cats really, really like to attack the bugs through this window screen. I try to keep on top of it, but they’ve managed to cause some minor damage already, and I’m often forced to close the window to keep them from clawing their way through the screen!
With the window closed, they prefer the spaces I’ve left for them on my utility shelf. As crack-eyed Two-Face is demonstrating! :-D
The cool of the evening was a welcome respite.
It didn’t last long, unfortunately.
By about 5pm, we reached our high of 32C/89F, with the humidex at 38C/100F. The low of 21C/70F we’re supposed to reach tonight is going to welcome, along with any rain we might get.
We have yet to try and move the counter today. I’m hoping to try this evening, but I don’t have high hopes for that.
This afternoon, I headed into town and made another deposit to the garage, against the work on my mother’s car. Sometime in the next couple of weeks, he’ll order the part and shoot to have it done at the end of July, when I can pay off the balance. I am really appreciating how patient he’s been about my mother’s car!
The down side it, almost our discretionary funds in our budget has been doing to get my mother’s car fixed, rather than towards things like what we’ll need to buy to build the cordwood outhouse, or the plywood to make a base on the trailer frame, or a cover for the old basement window to replace the one that fell off, or… the list goes on. Between that and the heat making it downright dangerous to work outside, I already feel like spring was almost completely wasted, and summer doesn’t look like it’ll be much better. :-(
Still, we do what we can, and try not to stress about what we can’t.
Once I was done at the garage, I went to the pharmacy to pick up prescription refills. We’d called them in yesterday, but one of my husband’s meds that was renewed last month, was only renewed for 30 days. They had sent a fax to the doctor’s office, but there had been no reply yet. So they filled my husband’s bubble packs without it, and when I talked to them today, the pharmacist said he would send the fax again.
Along with mine. It turns out mine was renewed for a short time, too, and there was only 15 days worth, left. I decided to wait on those. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pick up both at the same time, in a few days. Unfortunately, the missing medication for my husband is one of his pain killers. That is NOT going to go well for him. His pain is barely controlled as it is. Being down one of his painkillers is going to make life decidedly more unpleasant for him. :-(
My next stop was at the hardware store, where I wanted to look at different types of fasteners to use on the wire screen door I made for the basement. I ended up going with the old standby: hook and eye closures. I also found some angle plates that will solve a problem for me, in making a new screen window for the old part basement to replace the one that finally broke apart over the winter. On that, I plan to use both the 1 inch wire that I used on the door, to keep the critters out, and window screen mesh (I found rolls of it when cleaning out the basement!) to keep the bugs out. The air circulation from outside is needed to help keep the old basement dry, together with the blower fan. With the materials I have, I knew I’d have a problem making strong corners on the frame, and these right-angle plates are just what I need to solve that problem!
Once I got home, I put the hook and eye closures on the screen in the door. There are now 4 of them, and there is no way the cats will be able to push their way through anymore!
We had talked about possibly removing the basement door, but decided against it. When it is fully open, it blocks my bedroom door. So I’ll just leave my own door open, and the basement door will provide me with privacy. :-D
With the heat, just putting on those hook and eye closures was enough to leave me dripping. I’d hate to think how much hotter it would be if we didn’t have that door open! It’s like poor man’s geothermal. :-D
One of the other things I did while in town was swing by the grocery store to get more things that don’t need to be cooked. It’s been too hot to eat; none of us have appetites, and no one has the energy to cook. So fruits, vegetables, and sandwiches are the order of the day! I have been telling myself to go eat something since before I started writing this post, because I’m absolutely famished, but I have zero appetite. It’s the sort of thing where we have to make ourselves eat, just so we don’t end up getting dizzy spells or something. We have no problem making sure to stay hydrated, though, that’s for sure.
*sigh*
Well, I guess I should go make myself a food of some kind.
Today was our day to go into the city to do our big shopping trip.
We didn’t finish.
We currently have more weather warnings. This time for heat!
I took the above screenshot shortly before 4:30pm. We might actually go a bit higher before it starts cooling down. 30C/86F is hot enough, but check out the humidex expected for Monday! 40C = 104F
We’ve been getting enough rain lately that our municipality has removed the burn ban, completely. No restrictions at all right now! We have lots that needs to be burned, but with the heat, who wants to be around fire right now? :-D
And we don’t have air conditioning in the van anymore, nor even working fans in the console.
It did make the trip into the city … interesting!
We managed to get to the Walmart and the Costco to stock up. After gassing up at the Costco, we were going to go to a couple more places. Then road construction and detours had us doing a route march through residential areas (why are they designed to be such mazes???) before we could back track, go back through the construction, and finally take a road that would get us to the street we needed, albeit at a different spot than I was originally after. By that time, I was done. We just went home.
Part of the reason I was okay with doing that is because my daughter asked for an extra trip into the city, which we’ll be doing tomorrow. She’s buying us a new stove! Since we’ll be in the city again anyhow, we can also pick up the rest of the stuff we need for the month.
Considering she is using her savings and had to quit her job, I am extremely grateful that she is willing to do this for us. The stove we have has only three working elements right now – we stopped using the 4th when we saw sparks every time we turned it on – and even those don’t heat up well, among other issues.
There isn’t much in the monthly shop we need to get, though. The freezer and pantry are stocked up again. We also have lots of cat food and litter – we’d run out of both, completely, as of this morning! The only things left are the items we don’t want to get in bulk quantities, like fresh fruits and vegetables, or ingredients we can only find in various ethnic sections of a grocery franchise we regularly visit now.
With the current heat wave, getting work done outside is going to be difficult. Unless I start getting up at 5am, while it’s still cooler (well; not so much over the next few days). I might just have to start going that. Which means, no more staying up until 2am!
Wouldn’t you know it, since I was planning on heading out early, I ended up not being able to sleep at all last night.
Which is why I was awake when the edges of the predicted storms passed us by. At about 5am, the winds picked up like crazy, there was some rain and quite a light show, but that was it. We did lose internet a few times, too.
In the end, I managed about an hour of sleep before I quickly did my morning rounds. No time for kitty pictures. Sorry!
The first thing I saw when I stepped outside was this…
One of the dead branches from an elm finally came down.
Aside from the usual small, mostly willow, branches scattered about the yard, there was only one other larger branch that came down.
This is such a huge improvement from our first summer out here!
My mothers flowers seemed to really like the rain. The patch of lilies is starting to open up now. :-)
Such a cheerful colour!
After I rushed through the morning routine, I headed out to a small city, somewhat closer than the city we usually go to, for our monthly shopping. After doing some searching online of the several hardware stores we could go to, including the local ones, I ended up settling on Canadian Tire. Thanks to Father’s Day sales and the incredible generosity of a friend (you know who you are! You’re the best!!), I was able to afford a higher end machine that we otherwise would have.
I made a point of getting a photo of my screen, so I could show an employee exactly what I was after, if needed. It was needed! There was no display model I was after, so the employee went to their storage area to bring it out for me on a flat cart.
When I bought our electric snow blower, I got their last one in stock, and just wheeled it out of the store. Somehow, I expected to do that same today, but nope! It was in a rather large box. :-D
While checking out, the cashier said she would call someone to help me load it into the van. She ended up paging someone several times. The box wasn’t really that heavy, so I was considering just letting her know I’d do it myself, when a guy showed up. As he was loading it into the van, he asked if I had oil.
I did, but I asked if there was a specific kind of oil I should have.
It turns out, I don’t have it. So I was really glad I ended up with this guy helping out. He also just happened to be a mechanic, and was soon telling me about which oils I could use, and which was the one he used and recommended himself. All my other machines, including the van, use 5W30, which he said would be a bit thin. For this machine, he recommended 30. Which I didn’t even realize was a thing. I ended up going back into the store after him and he found some for me. Once again, I was glad, because 1) it was at the opposite end of the store from the lawnmower sections and 2) I’m short. He was able to reach it more me. :-D
Once at home, it was assembly time!
Here are all the parts and pieces. :-D
All done, and filled with oil and fuel!
Among the things I discovered as I went through the owners manual before starting it, was that it has no prime pump, which is awesome. When I was ready to test it out, I discovered it is also raised and lowered by a lever at one wheel, instead of a lever at each wheel. So much easier!
The mower started with the first pull, and I barely even had to strain! With the heat (it’s currently 30C/89F, feeling like 36C/96F) right now, I did just a quick couple of passes.
It runs like a dream!!! I am so happy!
Then I put it away, because while it’s already 30C right now, we haven’t reached the high of the day, yet!
We have more thunderstorms predicted tonight, but I’m hoping to have a cooler break this evening, where I can put the new mower through it’s paces.
So… I did a bit of shoveling when I headed out to do my rounds this morning.
There is no drifting in front of the house, so the depth of snow you’re seeing is what fell. I figure it’s about 6-7 inches. There is still a light snowfall as I write this. We’ve got winds from the north, but nothing like we had overnight.
Between the snow and the stay-at-home conditions right now, I thought I’d share this questionnaire I found. It’s being passed from blog to blog, so I don’t know who to credit for it, but I thought it might be fun. Feel free to leave your own answers in the comments. :-)
Are you staying home from work/school?
Home is my “work”, so… no? Yes? My husband is on disability, so no change for him. One daughter works at a pharmacy, and while her hours may have been cut, she is an essential worker and still has her job. My other daughter has an internet based business. So really, not much change for any of us.
If you’re staying home, who is with you?
My husband and my daughters.
Who would be your ideal quarantine mate?
My husband and my daughters.
Are you a homebody?
YES!!!
An event you were looking forward to that got canceled?
None. We don’t really do stuff like that. Everything is either too far away or too expensive. Or both. The one thing we’d planned that got cancelled at the last minute was a dinner with my brother and his wife. I was really looking forward to that.
What movies have you watched recently?
Hmm. I don’t usually watch movies. I think the last one I watched was Paprika.
What shows are you watching?
Mostly YouTube channels I’ve been discovering. Also stuff on Tubi. It’s free and while some things have commercials, they are short and quiet. I discovered the series, The Edwardian Farm and The Victorian Farm, and now I’m hooked on Peter, Ruth and Alex.
What music are you listening to?
I don’t actually listen to music much anymore. If I’m working in the basement or outside, and not making too much noise in the process, I’ll get a playlist going. I have very eclectic interests. My daughters have found some very interesting artists they’ve introduced me to, as well. My playlist includes Tom Waits, Cosmo Sheldrake, The HU, Tengarr Cavalry, Sam Lee, Wardruna, Twenty One Pilots, Mumford and Sons, Sivu, Eliza Rickman, Garmarna, Unwed Mothers, and songs from the movies Dhoom I, II and III, among many others.
Excuse me while I get some music going while I answer the rest of this! :-D
What are you reading?
If the questions means reading of books, sadly, I don’t read anywhere near as much as I used to. Too many distractions, and my eyes aren’t what they used to be. I’ve been working my way through the Bible again, through a ‘chronological Bible in a year’ daily devotional. Most of the reading I do are articles I find while doing research and blogs I follow.
What are you doing for self-care?
Hhhmm… That’s not something I really think about. It’s just sort of woven into my days. Things like, letting go of situations that are not in my control. Not taking on too many things at once. Doing crochet and other crafts. Learning how to do new things. Researching stuff that interest me. It’s something I had to put a priority on, many years ago. One of the things I discovered about myself is that I have to write. There was a time when circumstances prevented me from sitting down and writing at all, never mind on a regular basis. The girls would have both been under 10 yrs old at the time, I think. After about a year, I found myself in a pretty bad place, stress-wise. It was really awful. Setting aside time to write regularly made a HUGE difference. So I guess my biggest “self-care” activity right now is writing in this blog!
So how about you? How has the Wuhan virus affected you and your household? How are you holding out?
I’m not looking forward to clearing the driveway after this.
It’s supposed to continue snowing through most of the day. I was planning to go to the post office, as I’m expecting some packages, but I think I will wait until Monday! My daughter is working on Saturday, which is supposed to still be chilly. There isn’t going to be much of a window to clear the driveway so she can get to work, and I can get the rest of my husband’s prescription refills.
On Sunday, it’s supposed to warm right up again, and stay warmer for the rest of the week, even as we’re supposed to get a bit more snow. Things should melt away fairly quickly.
Which isn’t going to help us get out and about tomorrow!
The deer have suddenly stopped coming around, which leaves plenty of seeds for the returning juncos. I haven’t seen these guys in ages!
I’m certainly glad my mother’s appointment had been rescheduled for yesterday and not, say, today. Yesterday was a very pleasant day and the roads were great. If it had been for today, I’d have already called to reschedule by now!
There is, in fact, a large puddle of water over much of the area here. Thankfully, the lower part of my snow boots are waterproof, so as long as I skirted the edges of where I knew the water to be, I would be fine.
Some little critter got wet feet!
The deeper water is still filling with snow. Though it’s -7C (19F) right now, with a wind chill of -15C (5F), the water is not yet freezing. Just filling with snow.
By the time I’d gone to bed last night (past 2am!), it was still raining. The van had been parked by the house so we wouldn’t have to walk through the water and mud between the house and the garage. I looked out the window a few times last night, debating if I should move it to the garage.
I probably should have moved it to the garage, but trying to skirt around the water and mud in the dark to get back to the house just didn’t appeal to me.
With the rainfall earlier, the van doors had started to freeze shut. I brushed only a bit of the snow off, and scraped enough of the windshield to see enough to drive to the garage. In the time it took me to put away the scraper and start the van, the snow was already covering the windshield enough to make it harder to see again!
I am really thankful to have a garage for the van. It may have only a dirt floor and be filled with mystery stuff and junk, but I love having it. Before moving here, we parked outdoors, but at least if something went wrong, it was relatively easy to get it to a mechanic – unlike now, when we have to take it to other towns! With a vehicle like ours, I want to protect and baby it as much as possible. I don’t know how many years we’ve got left in it, and we depend on it so much.
While looking at the long range forecasts a few days ago, I remember thinking about how there is almost always one last blowout in April, usually around our anniversary. Which is in a few days. :-D The forecasts at the time showed nothing but warm and pleasant conditions.
It took a few days for the forecasts to change, but here it is! We’re expected to get 5-10cm (2-4 inches) of snow in our area today, with snow continuing through to tomorrow. To the south of us, especially around the city, they’re predicting 10-15cm (4-6 inches). It’s supposed to warm up for the weekend, then we’ll continue to have more snow off and on over the next week. We’re getting the big stuff now, though, with a huge weather system sweeping up from the US.
I think this is a good day to start prepping our seed trays and maybe starting the cucamelons. They’re the ones that need the most time before transplanting and, for our region, absolutely must be started indoors. That mini greenhouse my daughter bought for me with be great to not only help keep the planting trays warm in this chilly house, but protect them from the cats! :-)
The Re-Farmer 