Old Man Winter pays way-too-early visit...
Before we get to the “good stuff”... Did you remember to celebrate National Cat Day on Sunday, October 29. We mentioned the special day to Bob, who got some pork roast out of the deal. He just wanted to know why there was only one day especially for cats...
While channel surfing on the tube Monday night, I stumbled onto the 2023 World Series game. I have to admit that it’s a bit of a challenge to get excited about this year’s World Series. Maybe, as a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, I’m just a little bit smug...but Texas and Arizona just don’t do it for me. I got to wondering if there are any fans of the two teams in Southern Illinois. With all of that being said, the little bit of the game I saw was pretty good...
Meanwhile...
Freeze Warning.
Yikes. Freeze warning?
Wasn’t it 80 degrees a few days ago?
I guess we probably all know that such things were coming. But I don’t think any of us were ready for Old Man Winter to pay us such an early visit. I certainly was not ready to put on a coat and hat to go for a walk last Sunday afternoon. Monday evening, my daily walk was into the face of a just plain old C-O-L-D wind out of the north.
After all, we were out enjoying some warm October weather last week. Maybe Mother Nature figured it was time for a reality check.
The Other Half was paying close attention to the forecast last week. She had a few chores that needed to be done outside before the cold arrived.
A good portion of her “jungle” on our front porch had to be moved indoors. She keeps a multitude of plants on the porch during warm weather. The plants help to make our porch a bit of a refuge from the craziness which happens in the world around us.
Garden hoses had to come in for the winter, too. They don’t do very well in the cold. As a matter of fact, we waited a bit longer than we should have to take care of the hoses. Rolling them up was a bit of a challenge in last weekend’s cooler weather.
We did get the last of our tomato crop for 2023 harvested. Once again this year, The Other Half grew plants with little orange tomatoes. They just kept coming and coming. The last batch was harvested late Sunday afternoon. Light rain was falling at the time, and the temperature was something like 50 degrees. At least there weren’t any mosquitoes.
Some of the green tomatoes on the plants were picked, too. We wrapped them in newspaper and will let them ripen. That is something we have done for several years, which has allowed us to have “garden fresh” tomatoes for Thanksgiving.
The tomato plants probably bit the dust Monday night, when the low temperature dropped to around 22.3 degrees. Widespread frost coated the landscape.
The low Tuesday night was forecast to be even colder...around 23 degrees. With more widespread frost.
The Freeze Warning for our region was issued by the National Weather Service office in Paducah, which advised that “frost and freeze conditions will kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.”
And, just in case the message wasn’t clear enough, the weather service declared: “This will end the growing season.” Oh, well, at least there wasn’t any mention of a Polar Vortex.
The forecast is calling for a bit of a warm up by the weekend, with sunshine and a high in the 60s. Maybe the turtles will get another chance to catch some rays before the snow starts falling. They’ll have to do it early, though, ‘cause Daylight Saving Time is coming to an end early Sunday morning. Ugh...
By the way...Christmas is less than two months away. Got all of your shopping done?