Winter

It is a beautiful day! The sky is blue, the birds are singing and the pansies are looking happy. I guess it's in the mid to upper 50's. Yesterday the high was 68! So what am I doing today? Why I am making a list!
Ingredients for soup - check!
New package of hot chocolate - check!
Chocolate chip cookies - in the oven
Plants inside - oops, not yet!

Can ya tell what is coming?
For some reason our spring like winter days are turning into true winter overnight tonight. An arctic front is on the way.. darn it!
Tomorrow at this time there will be a cold rain, perhaps mixed with snow. Before the end of next week the low will be 19.. double darn!
Here we go again on this roller coaster ride with our Texas winters..
one day it's gorgeous, the next day it snows. We are suppose to be in a deep freeze all next week, but looking at a long range forecast, week after next should find us back in the low 60's! So...bring it on Mother Nature--I am ready for you! I can handle this cold I hate so much. But..if anyone needs me, you'll find me sitting by the fire drinking hot chocolate eating chocolate chip cookies!
Stay warm y'all!

Beautiful Snow! Now What?

The snow we had was beautiful! It was indeed a winter wonderland Nothing we have ever seen before. In all, we got a total of 12 1/2 inches. That is a record for the Dallas area.
Unfortun-
ately, it did quite a bit of damage to trees in lots of neighbor-
hoods and there are still those without power. I hate that. Other than some sinus problems and not feeling great, I have enjoyed the beautiful and serene snow inside a warm house, by the fire, drinking hot chocolate. My hearts are with those not as fortunate, and with the wonderful groups of people out in the cold trying to restore power.
The snow is starting to melt, but it's still cold, so it is melting slowly. As I walked outside this morning to a slushy flagstone walkway and patio, I had a gardening panic attack. Snow is over--now what? See the beds on either side of the walkway? That is where all my bulbs are planted. Will they make it?
This is where I planted new bulbs, so they are not up like the old ones in front. They were just starting to get some height.
All I can see are the daffodils, and I can't see all of them. The tulips and hyacinths are completely covered with snow.
And then there are all those bluebonnets in the bed around the new tree. They are completely covered. Somebody please tell me..is everything gone? I almost hate to know, but I need to be prepared. I hate to sound so ignorant, but we normally don't have weather like this in my part of Texas.

Goodness, I hate to lose everything I planted. Spring! Please hurry!!

Snow!

It started snowing around 3:00 am and it is now almost 5:00 pm and still snowing! And, the weather service is saying we have several more hours of snow! I know this is not a big deal to everyone, but I haven't seen snow like this since I was a little girl! Our yard is covered, but as you can see, the streets are just slushy.
The snow comes down in really large flakes at times. This is the view from our front to the house across the street. A winter wonderland.

You can see the snow piled up high on plants and the birdbath.

The snow is so wet, the wax myrtle is falling over because of the weight. This patio is where I live when the weather is nice. Not today! I'll be inside by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate!

Hang in there little daff! It will be warm and sunny really soon! (hum....maybe Phil the groundhog knew what he was talking about!)

Weather in Texas!!

I am such a wimp when it comes to winter! I have always been so thankful I live in Texas where winters are mild. I can tolerate the summer heat just fine, but I don't like to be cold. I kept hearing we would have an unusually cold and wet winter..but in Texas? I was not a believer--until Christmas Eve. This is what my yard looked like on December 24th. And then, this past week..the Arctic front hit.
The garden section in the paper said to cover all you could, even pansies, violas and kale. I found all the sheets I could and started covering.
Depending on where you lived, the lows were between 8 and 12 with wind chills close to zero.

We have not had a winter with temps this low in about 11 or 12 years. The highs did not get out of the 20's for about 3 days. You can see the ice on the pond. It was about 2 inches thick! Luckily it did not stop the water from flowing from the old pump so part of the surface remained unfrozen. If you look, you can see one of the goldfish. They stay down at the bottom in a type of hibernation and seem to be fine.
This is the bed around the new tree. Under all those sheets are bluebonnets I called the Wildseed Farm in Fredericks-

burg and asked them what to do about my bluebonnet rosettes. They told me they normally tell people just to leave them alone as bluebonnets are pretty cold tolerant, but with this cold they are recommending covering them if you can. Not a problem for me to cover as I just grow them in a flower bed. I worked so hard to get these flowers going, I sure would be sad to lose them.
I get so depressed in winter. It's too cold, not enough sun, and nothing blooms. But today, the sun came out and it was above freezing. And today, I found my promise for better things to come..look what I see..
Through the leaves, even after the coldest weather, there is my hope!

How exciting it was to see some bulbs peeking through. I have no idea if all the bulbs I planted will make it, but I see that a few have.

I will never be a "winter person," but seeing these spring flowers coming up warmed my heart. I can take 2 more months of cold weather, right? (Hurry Spring, hurry!!)

"If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ice!!

I thought it would pass us by, but we got hit with the ice storm! At 10:00 last night it was still just rain with temps around 33, but overnight look what happened!
When my clock radio came on this morning at 5:45 the first thing I heard was "and Garland schools are closed." What? I went to look out the window and this is what I saw!
There could have been a little bit of snow, but this is mainly ice.
And the tempera-
ture was 21 degrees! The street in front of my houses looks like it contains
"black ice" which I think is the most dangerous. Hopefully folks will stay home if they can until it starts to melt.
I refilled the bird feeders and it wasn't long before my little friends stopped by for breakfast.
It's now 8:00 and the sun is coming out. The ice should start to melt around noon. So, day off for me. What shall I do??? Think I'll sit by the fire, drink another cup of coffee..and later I'll make gingerbread!
Stay warm everyone!

Ike--we are ok here in Dallas

Ike has not given us any trouble in the Dallas area. We have gusty winds and rain, but nothing too bad. I cleared things off the flagstone patio just in case the wind got too bad. I noticed only one container plant blowing around.



This little Wax Myrtle is pretty bend over, but it's ok. You can also see a few other flowers leaning, but they are also ok.

The rain was not bad--there was no flooding. We were very lucky. Galveston, Houston and East Texas were not so lucky. My sister in law in Lufkin had a tree fall on her house. My sister in Houston (Spring) has a tree in her swimming pool, and I'm afraid Galveston has suffered alot of damage. The Texas bloggers from that area maybe out of touch for a while since Houston is without power. Please keep them in your thoughts.
I am so touched by all of your concern. I feel truly blessed to have such good blogging buddies!

And again....

We woke up this morning to thunder, lightening and MORE RAIN!! Yea!! I haven't gotten out to do any gardening in the past few days..our lawn needs to be mowed, it's hard to take Allie out in pouring rain, but you will not hear me complaining! I am loving this rain and cooler temperatures.


The flagstone pathway running through the back of our yard becomes a small stream when it rains. I didn't catch this during that part of the storm, but it left little ripples over the stones. You can barely see them.






And, it will take a while for things to drain here, but again...I'm ok with this.

Yes, things will be muddy for a while, but I can deal with mud.

"If you pray for rain, be prepared to deal with some mud" according my little Words to live by for Gardeners by Mary Engelbreit.

Rainy days quiet our world and gives us time to slow down and time to reflect. Thank you Lord for this wonderful rainy day!