'Round the World Weather Report

[CineMaven]

Thanks for those wonderful pictures, Maven. The poster is hilarious.

We might be sharing the same sense of humor. Cool! Glad you like the pix, Brother Rat.

[moira finnie]

With reports of dozens of tornadoes sighted in Kansas, I hope that all of our members in the path of severe weather--especially knitwit45 (Nancy)--will be able to weather this Spring event well. We're thinking of you, Nan! Be safe.

[knitwit45]

Dorothy here....didn't see the witch fly by on her bicycle, but it was one interesting night....

Haven't turned on the tv yet to see reports of damage in OK, IA, NE and KS, watched until after midnight, with 'go bag' and dog stroller at the front door, ready to hot foot it across to the storm center. Finally gave in and went to bed, knowing the sirens would blast me awake if need be. My little area of Tornado alley was spared this time. Spring is not my favorite time of year anymore....

Thanks for the concern and good thoughts, Moira, they are very much appreciated.

[JackFavell]

Thank goodness you are alright!

The street I used to live on in OK was hit, roofs were blown off, the high school across the street had some things blown around, but no serious damage or fatalities as far as I know. The park we used to go to had all the trees ripped out at the entrance.

http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x ... orm-damage

[knitwit45]

Seeing the damage is unreal, isn't it? Prayers for all those impacted by the storms.

[JackFavell]

I literally gasped when I realized that that was my street Nan! It brings it all closer, and makes me feel for the people who live there now.

[Rita Hayworth]

In my hometown it was warm and sunny ... nice 68 degrees today!

[knitwit45]

we are having March weather in April, after having late April weather in March. The winds are picking up, and I think they're headed your way, Jacks and Birdy. Keep your weather station on in the background!!!!

[JackFavell]

You guys be careful out there.

[moira finnie]

I'm so glad that you guys are okay.

Today we are supposed to shoot up to 83, with 40mph winds and thunderstorms moving in--and then the rest of the week in the 50s during the day and down into the 30s some nights. Many farmers around here have lost their peach crops since everything was accelerated by last month's warmth. Now they are trying to nurse along their blueberry crop and prevent anything from harming the tender apple buds that appeared so early. As one friend with an orchard sighed, "That's what crop insurance is for..." though nothing can repay an individual for the worry and hard work invested in coaxing mother nature into cooperation. As my mother used to say when my father's family was still involved in agriculture, "You might as well go shoot craps for a living!"

But where would the world be without the farmers?

[JackFavell]

I can certainly commiserate with the farmers. I am trying to coax along some seeds I planted, and also trying not to jump the gun with the ones I have in my mini greenhouse inside. It's been tempting to put them outside but we still have a month before it's time to do that. crap shoot is right! Sometimes I think it would work better to just sprinkle dollar bills on the ground than to try to grow seeds.

[moira finnie]

Oh, Wen, I'm so envious! A mini greenhouse inside? Can you grow anything in it during the winter?

The best I can do is put my geraniums in the darkest part of the basement and then put them outside as soon as the danger of a hard frost has passed. Right now I have two that are starting to come back again, but I am never certain if blooms will come again, so I do fertilize them. They haven't let me down yet. I have to keep an eye on them since the squirrels like to hide their nuts inside the pots, and they will toss all the dirt around the plant all over the porch in their eagerness to "hide" their treasure. The only lasting thing that keeps them away seems to be moth flakes (the smell is a repellent, apparently & I know it is for me).

[JackFavell]

No I can't grow anything in winter... well I could, but the seedlings would eventually die off without getting any real sun. I might be able to grow some small lettuces, but that's about it, probably not worth the effort or the money it would take to keep every thing alive. The green house is not a room or anything, it's a metal airy shelf about my height with a plastic cover.

I saved my geraniums last year, and it worked well, but the geraniums I saved were not ones that I particularly liked - they were a type of ivy geranium, but they were the spindliest things, with very few blooms. Three years ago, I had the most beautiful balcony geraniums, spectacular and profuse. The place I got them at switches up their stock every year, and these leggy, plain ones from the next year were just awful, so I let them die this year, and am opting for new ones, which I'll save if they are as profuse as the first ones I got.

[knitwit45]

Moira, I have some decorative grasses planted in front of the house, and a rabbit who loves to lay inside them and feast. I asked a friend who is a hairdresser to save the 'sweepings' of cut hair for me, and I put them in and around the grasses. No rabbits, no cats...just those beautiful grasses! Apparently the scent of human clings to the hair, and repels the critters..

[JackFavell]

Oh yeah, and Irish Spring shavings help too!