A very wet Sunday

That orange blob you see directly over Cedar Valley is about 4 miles from our house. I suspect it's about to hit us in a few seconds.

No yard work for me today.

Earlier this morning we had a bit of pea-size hail and there was a patch of ice on the ground that didn't melt for 2 hours. I am hoping the tomato plants didn't suffer any damage but I'm not going to to check right now.

Tis a fine day

Nearly two weeks after the "incident" I finally took the damaged car to the body shop today for an estimate. Honestly, I was expecting no less than $2,000 and was hoping it would not exceed $3,000. The repair estimate is $1,231.74 assuming there isn't more damage discovered once the front bumper is removed. Obviously I'm hoping there is no additional damage. Our out-of-pocket expenses already far exceed what I needed to pay for a lesson in life. UPDATE! There is an additional $540 in damage behind the bumper. Still coming in under $2k though.

This repair coupled with $2,600 in medical expenses for txrad before insurance kicks in is pushing close to over $4,000. But then, looking at it another way, we're damn lucky to both be alive and healthy so I'm not going to complain about much these days.

The "spare" car looks a bit lonely in the garage while the other car is in the shop for the next week or so. I decided to go wash it since it's a lovely hot afternoon. It looks better although a few areas appear to just have the dirt smeared around. It had been awhile. Nevertheless, it's an improvement.

With so much room in the garage for navigation I decided to move all the delicate plants out of winter storage. The forecast for the next 10 days calls for nice weather and nothing close to freezing. Maybe we're done with that. Maybe.

This is part of my collection of jade and other succulents. Inevitably, a piece of one breaks off during transport from the garage and we end up with yet another plant from that piece, so the collection grows, and grows and grows.

And txrad says it's about time to plant tomatoes. That means I need to harvest the rest of the collard greens soon.

I'm cold

And I'm freezing my ass off. I'm having trouble getting myself organized and together in 2008 and therefore no pictures yet for the new year. But I'm working on it. Meanwhile, I'll complain about the cold weather: it was 21F this morning with an afternoon high of 49F which is quickly dropping. We're already at 31F (it has dropped 2 degrees since I started typing this post) and I can't see how our low tonight will only be 28F. I'm guessing about 18F or 19F. It really depends on the cloud cover.

I realize I'm probably setting myself up for a huge disappointment if I really believe this forecast will hold true for the next 10 days. Seven consecutive days of wearing shorts in January seems overly-optimistic. We'll see.

We went out for lunch today and I saw several people, kids and adults alike, wearing shorts and/or flip-flops. It was in the 40s and breezy. I was shivering. Some people are insane.

We are wise men

Moving the plants into the garage was a good idea. It was 27 F this morning at the kona ranch. The entire nation is under the chill spell except for Florida, and even they won't be spared in the next day or two.

Despite the chilly temps, at least the outrageously high winds have died down, and we appear to be set for a beautiful sunny day.

Winter is definitely on the way

When I woke up before dawn today it was a pleasant 55 F outside. The wind was starting to kick up a bit. I wasn't uncomfortable wearing shorts. But by 9:00 this morning, under clear skies and bright sunshine it was down to 49 F so I knew the predicted high temperature of 57 F had already happened during the night. I hate that. It's like weather deceit. If the high temperature for the day is going to happen while I'm sleeping, don't even tell me about it. I want to know what the afternoon high will be so my expectations are realistic.

We are anticipating a freeze tonight with temps in the high 20s. Thus begins the ritual of moving delicate plants into the garage. I let txrad do most of it so I could be the photographer. (clever!)

It gets to be rather crowded in the garage with 2 cars and all these plants squeeze in.

Some of the succulents actually get stimulated to bloom in the darkness of the garage. This is one I started growing from clippings off a plant at my mother's house. It has such pretty yellow flowers. It was starting to bloom before I put it in the garage. There's other ones with red blossoms -- a different variety -- that will really get going in the garage later.

The one group of plants I don't have to worry about are the collard greens in the garden. They love a freeze, and it actually enhances their flavor. I won't even pick any until after we've had a freeze. They're still young and small, but I could pluck a leaf from each one and have a yummy treat.

For all the bitching I do about hating cold weather, I guess I have to remember the collards. Nothing is better than home-grown, and they do need to freeze.

Foggy Cold Day in Austin

It's getting dark so I grabbed my camera and went out to the street to collect the mail from the box. This is our street looking north. It's damp, drizzly, foggy, and never got up to 48 degrees at out house. Yesterday it was almost 80. Tomorrow it's supposed to be back in the 70s, and then I think it's going to cool off again. No consistency whatsoever.

This live oak tree is just outside our kitchen window. Apparently these are common across much of the US, but I don't remember them when growing up in Arkansas. I only saw them on visits to Texas. I love how their trunks get all twisted.

If it's foggy in the morning, I may not go into the office. Nice excuse!