After having icy Jan weather in Dec, we are just now having our sunny 'Dec' days in the 60's.
Nigel is as happy as us gardeners to see decent weather return to NE Texas!

Maggie, that little fellow looks like he's going to blow away in the wind. I'm glad your weather is looking up, maybe there is hope for us here still.

Today I actually saw sun! and the temp was in the mid 40's. Warm enough for Kristy and me to shed our winter coats. But true to WV weather, tomorrow we have a 50% chance of snow again, with an inch of accumulation, temps 35*. Well today was nice while it lasted!

Poor Nigel, he so HATES having an outdoor toilet when it is wet or cold! It wasn't really windy - that's just his hair flying back because of him running back to the house at 90 mph !!

Your use of * for the degrees mark is brilliant MK! I almost dread to tell you we have had 3 wonderful days in the 60s! Wish I could say I had been working in the garden, but somehow, the other side of life just took over this weekend. But I did get more pics of the 2000 garden published on our Seasons page. I posted a few direct links to some of them on the Jan What's New page and will add more soon. And I did the comedoodle page all by myself too!! I'm so proud to finally master some more of this page work (and Lars is greatly relieved!)

Terry and MK: I hate to tell you this, but I'm just at the computer while drinking a glass of water to quench the thirst I've got from working out in the garden, in the sunshine, in the HEAT (well, I do still have my sweatshirt on, so that may explain the heat), in the breeze (note that I didn't say "wind"). Wish you were here (in my garden, helping me!!)!

We wouldn't exchange our dull, wet, cold weather for your warm sunshine Carolyn, and I tell lies.

I'd trade you some of our sun for winter skies come August, Terry. Winter is your oppressive season and summer is ours. But oh how we all reveal in the other two seasons. Come on Spring, I can't wait - I feel like a kid waiting for Santa.

Yesterday was another fab gardening day here. Someone gave Neal a bucket of iris, so I was busy planting them. I also dug up some volunteer lettuce from the garden and replanted it in one of the flower borders for easy access. Rain is forecast for today, so we also had animal housing to secure. A busy day, but in such great weather, it didn't seem like a chore.

Yep, it was one of those rare days that the rain lasted all day long, instead of the quickie showers we usually have. Was glad for it, as it really irks me to have to water in winter - such as in the last 2 or 3 winters before this. Can you imagine having to water your shrubs in winter Terry?! :-0

I had to water my outside pots last winter Maggie, but that is the first time ever. Today is a mixture of sun and cloud temperatures just above freezing in the shade, maybe about 50F in the sun.

I can identify with Nigel ~ I hated our outhouse in the winter, too! We had to use one 'til we installed the bathroom fixtures ~ took baths in the creek. Thank God it was summer! We're going to do another complete re-do of the bathroom someday (hopefully soon!), so may have to resort to using one again for a week or so.

It's been up in the 60's and 70's here the last week ~ nice! I've been outside playing with the horse a lot except for 2 or 3 days ago when we got 2 1/2" of rain. Man, did the creek rise then! Stepdad's coming home from the hospital today (YAY!) so I'm glad it's nice out. He had a very successful surgery to fix sciatic pain. Mom and Dad's front steps are made of granite, so it would be a nightmare for him to go up them if it were raining! SLICK!

Our family friend Granny-aged 'Aunt Johnnie' had an outtie - it was the only thing I hated about staying with them! I have a friend who has garden tour days on her acerage. She has an outhouse for visitors instead of letting them use her in-house. Not pleasant!I wonder if those 'composting toilets' are any more bearable?
What could be better than having a horse to ride in beautiful weather? Lucky!
Hope your Stepdad recoups well WN.

In the same thought... I'm very sad to say our forum friend Nicola has had another bad turn. If anyone would like to send her a snailmail cheer note, e me at gardenlove@swbell.net for info

Don't know that this is really a weather post. But if you like my mountain snow pictures you might enjoy this site. It has pictures of the CO mountains and snow.

CO Mountains

Since I don't get very far from the farm , this is how I do my sight seeing of the country.

That was a treat MK, thank you. Yours are worthy of being right up there with um tho!

4 days of sunshine in a row - boy is the gardening bug bitin'! Plus Carolyn reminded me of the square foot gardening, so I'm making plans left and right here. Now all I need is even more sun to thaw the ground so I can start on my raised beds.

MK, I've got quite a bit of square foot gardening information as well as some great photos, I'll send you. The boys are saving milk cartons for the seeds. They laughed at me because I always before cut the bottom out of the cartons to put around the plants in the garden, and now I'm cutting the tops off instead. You will love the square foot gardening method. If I had a brain in my head, that's what I would do instead of the feed a family of 200 garden I usually have.

A family of '200 garden ---' what? In Terry's yard I would fill in the blank with 'slugs', here it would be 'pill bugs'. I'm going to guess yours would be 'turkeys & chicks', is that right Caro?

You know, I'm not seeing the pill bug hoards that I usually have - haven't seen too many since fall and am thinking the bene nematodes in the compost may have done the trick!! But then the jury is still out till spring rains come. let's knock wood.

Another pretty fair gardening day here in Texas. It was pretty, but cool this morning. Then it clouded up, but didn't get cold. I planted onions and garlic today, asa well as trumpet vine and grapevine, that we dug up yesterday at a friend's house. I also did a bit of weeding and mulching, and general tidying up.

The weather is supposed to change again...rain tonight and lasting a few days....as well as the temps hanging in the lower 30's to lower 40's starting tomorrow night.

That necessitated filling all the animal waters, draining hoses (AGAIN!!!), covering the faucets..all the usual stuff.

However, how can I complain? I was able to be outside most of the day, and get completely dirty. Does it get any better than that?? J

Carefull knocking the wood Maggie, you could wake up the pillbugs, that's where they spend the winter. J

Glad you got out there yesterday Caro - it was a beaut, and I ended up sitting in a movie theater instead. At least it was a good one!

That's why they're called 'wood lice' over there huh Terry? Mine hide under anything when its too or too cold and still I haven't found them in the hoards I usually do - esp around & in the composts. I'm getting so excited about this! Am seeing one or two in beds when I get the odd min out there. So far, this is really looking good.

Winter is returning to WV. The sun is gone, and it's raining with the temp just barely above freezing. We're expecting the rainy weather to change to snowy weather in a few days. And I was just getting into the swing of warmer sunnier days!

Homemade bread and a pot of soup - great food for winter weather! Maggie, since you can't eat the wheat bread, could you eat oatmeal bread. I have a recipe for some, and it's as good as the wheat bread. Only thing - it's a recipe for the bread maker, but I guess you could adapt it.

If anyone wants the oatmeal recipe I'll run it under the scanner.

Please send bread recipe.

Yes Please, me too :-)
Someone brought me some Scotch oatcakes - tea biscuits really, rock hard cookies really. Something with a bread texture would a treat!

Oatmeal Bread (recipe for my Regal Breadmaker - makes 2 pound loaf)

12 - 14 ounces warm water (I use 14 oz)
1/2 tsp salt (I use 1/4 tsp or the low sodium stuff)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp honey (I use honey from our hives!)
2/3 C quick cook oatmeal
3 1/4 C bread flour
4 tsp. bread machine yeast or fast-acting yeast (I use 1 package about 2 1/2 tsp yeast)

Add all the ingredients in the order listed to the bread machine pan. Bake on the Rapid setting. (Fresh bread in 1 hour!)

If you don't have a bread machine, maybe you can adapt the recipe and take out your rainy day frustrations on the kneading. Good luck!

The winter weather has returned today. Beginning with a bit of ice, and expecting 5 inches of snow later today.


this morning

How do you do that?!? What style! What composition! Great photo, MK.

Those branches just look as if covered in flowers. I second the great photo.

Carolyn, with a digi and the computer I can do all sorts of editing. Plus I take 5 or more pictures to get the one I'm visualizing. Mother nature does all the rest. I love the digi cameras - Don't know how I survived with the little 35 mm instamatic.

I agree MK the digi is my best toy to date.

You need to play more Terry ;-)

Thank you MK, for ....
Once again, our artist collects nature's gift and frames it for others to find. oxoxo

Blue skies today!



Everything is sparkling clean again!



I was outside this morning taking pictures until my fingers froze to the camera. I've made a Winter Screensaver of 7 of my favorite winter scenes. If you'd like to give it a try, send me an e-mail and I'll send the file to you. (this is my first attempt at sharing a screensaver so we'll see what happens)

mamakane

Sparkling redtwig dogwood. A favorite of the birds.


you can see how cold it is by her cloud of breath vapors. My fingers and toes are still thawing!

Your ewey looks like a stately statue in that shot MK.
I saved a snowy pic of my redtwig dogwood for the Winter Wonder thread - but it is a tiny thing.

A winter screen saver for us!!! oxoxoxxo You are a DEAR and so clever! And I will use it right thru the summer too, to cool me off at my keyboard breaks from gardening. I bet you would even send it to our Silent Lurkers who visit the forum too, huh? :-)

Great pics, MK. Maggie is right about the ewe looking like a statue. I love the little birds on the dogwood.

Cold bright and sunny, you capture the perfect winter MK.

Sure Maggie! I'll share the screen saver with the shy silent lurkers too. J

I just need an e-mail so I can send a reply with the easy to use file attached. Once the file is saved to your computer, all you'll need to do is click on the saved screensaver file - it will then do all the installation for you!

A preview picture:

Thanks, MK! and I'm looking forward to using my copy of it.
What a wonderful life, to live with such views! Now I'm starting to understand better why Eva is leaving her awesome rose garden in suburbia to live on a hill with a view of the next state and milder summers. And she's looking forward to growing serious-sized hostas this time!

Today was so warm and sunny that I even managed to convince (bribe) Alex to help me in the garden! She met her first grub worm, wire worm, cut worm and good spider. Thankfully, for the plants sake, there was only one each of the bad worms in the entire front half of a terraced bed. If I didn't keep it well stocked with bene nematodes, there would be a lot more.
Imagine Terry,,, it was still 52F at 11:00 tonight. If it makes you feel any better, its meant to rain all wkend ;-)

Glad to have Maggie's forums back on line! We've had weather here in WV in the 70's while we were out of contact here. The snow has melted, and everything is back to dull shades of brown again with more normal temperatures in the 30's and 40's.

I've redone some web pages, these are all of our place in the winter. Including a secret path for the screen saver I promised everyone. Please just give me an e-mail and I'll send you the key to the path - if you haven't found it already!
It takes about 3 minutes to download, and will install itself on your computer with just a simple click of the mouse.

C R Farm in the Wintertime

I thought it was cold here until I saw your photos MK, but what beautiful scenery you have and how on earth do you get a shot like "The January Day" on a digital camera? Mine blacks out when I aim it towards the sun. Don't think I could wait till June to start planting though, gardening year is short enough here for me, but I do envy you that scenery. Thank you for sharing it.

I couldn't get in to your place today Mk and will try again next time. :-( I want to see what T is talking about! You are as dear as that baby up there to share your winter screen saver with all of us oxoxoxox

Anyone who hasn't been to MK's website is missing some fabulous photographs. My family loves the screen saver she made. I still think she should publish a book of her photographs. As a farmer, I love the photo of the fence.

The lamb video took a while to load, but it is so cute. If you have never been around lambs or kids (baby goats) you get a sample of what you are missing.

I got in today!!! Had a wonderful time in your crystal palace gardens oxoxox! You are getting so techy savy Mk,, we should put you on staff here :-) Didn't have any wait time on the lambies romp - so fun! The screen saver sorry-page is too cute - its just how I feel my putor acts when it is sulking. What fun I had, can't wait to share your new pages with my girls oxoxo

Well Maggie, I had to have help from my hubby with inserting the file for the screensaver then I was able to manage the file on the lamb. So I guess it's hubby that should be on your staff.

Terry, I just got lucky with that photo into the sun. I'm always trying it, because the ice and frost is always so pretty in the sunrise. I just got lucky this time, I'm not sure why. Wonder if I can do it again someday.

I'm glad you are enjoying the screensaver Carolyn, this was my first attempt at sharing one. If anyone has some photos they would like made into a screen saver, I could do it for you. The software makes it easy and quick.

Larry's been promising to make me one for ages Mk, but its a case of the cobbler's kids going barefoot :-). I should buckle up and have a go at it myself. He has done video clips for clients - but can I get one on my site?? pout pout Its just another ongoing joke around here!

Complain, complain he's put your name up in lights, Maggie,(and everyone elses) are you never satisfied? J

Have to wear shades to read this thing ;)

Winter's still here in my neck of the woods!



It started snowing Sunday night around midnight and is still snowing. It's hard to tell how much snow we actually have because the wind is drifting it so much. Over 12 inches for sure. The windchill last night was -17* and today's windchill was supposed to be around 0. But I think it feels colder than that. The wind sounds like a train is coming over the mountain behind our house.

I don't think the animals have ventured out of the barn at all today. Of course we carry hay and water to them so why should they

I was thinking about you while watching the weather this week MK, but shouldn't have worried tho ... The photographer is as much a snow bird as her subjects, to brave the elements for her animals and her art oxoxox

We always think of birds as delicate little creatures, wonder how many of us could survive one night outside in that weather and they do it all through the winter, and find food during the day. We are just starting to warm up over here so it looks as though spring is on it's way. You must be a hardy soul MK, our winters are enough for me, yours demand a certain kind of spirit, that you obviously have.

Today the sun is shining and the temps are reaching the low 40's. I'll be able to spend the morning outside - without a coat!

Maggie, I have to confess - I took that picture from the front door, I didn't even step outside. After feeding the animals I wasn't going back out with the camera. Maybe later today now that the sun is out

I do have a few signs of spring under all that snow. The nepeta and agastache are making lovely little mounds of green leaves. And I've seen Robins!

How different our window/door scenes are MK. I didn't venture out in the rain, but also took this from inside the house. It's Moggie's perch in my office, the same window you saw her in with autumn colors,, this taken a few days ago.

Maggie, What color! My color is snow white again today. I see Moggie must have lots of opportunity to bird watch.

Good of your neighbours to provide that lovely green back drop for you Maggie.

It's a mixed blessing Terry - it's bamboo. :-( It does make for a nice wall tho. I guess that's what has been termed 'borrowed landscape', but I'd rather have your open fields and lovely horse for a backdrop!

You are so right MK. Moggie chitters and chatters at them ferociously and at night she keeps tabs on any roaming Tom cats - brazen hussy.

I thought you might be interested in this photo of a design created by a sand pendulum during the Feb 28 earthquake in NW Washington. The photo was taken by Norman MacLeod.

Hah! It worked! The look of the forum has changed drastically, & I was afraid that my image wouldn't show up. I wanted to add Norman MacLeod's URL, Earthquake As Artist MacLeod's page is titled "Rattle in Seattle," which is an allusion to the "Battle in Seattle" during the World Trade Organization meetings two years ago.

I haven't visited the Forum in ages. My gardening spirit is beginning to emerge from hibernation, now that crocus are blooming and leaf buds are swelling on our Japanese maples.

I'm popping back in here after having written the below, because you were posting the bit with the link on it, while I was typing down there... so I have to say that I hadn't been to the link when I wrote the below and that's why I look really stupid :-0 (as par). Also Susan, I apologize for this scary neon thing. It was not on purpose! and we can't seem to get rid of it. But it's made great fodder for David and Terry's wit, Mama Kane is growing her seedlings under it, I'm wearing sunglasses and Caro hates it so much, that she hasn't been back since
Anyway, here's the stuff I was writing before I read your last post. So glad to have you join us again!

Awesome ! What a treat to see that. I am wondering what is the size of the sand area? What a wonderful way to capture the movement. I'm reading it as a jolt that caused the circular motion, then everything going awry to make the oval pattern, then smaller tremors making erratic wiggly ovals - just trying to imagine it all. Nature's scary powers beautifully recorded in sand. So coooool.

The sand area isn't very big. Here's a photo of the pendulum, from the same web page.

I suppose I should mention that the sand pattern doesn't exist any more. The 3-year-old son of the man who owns the pendulum went over for a closer look and kicked the sand table! How lucky that MacLeod photographed the pattern.

Nature once again showing that she is an artist in the extreme, creating beauty in disaster. Almost makes me wish we had earthquakes, no not really.We hear the term eye of the storm quite a lot, I suppose the sand pattern should be eye of the quake. Thank you for sharing Susan, I love the unexpected....as long as it doesn't take me by surprise.

Maggie, The photo appeared in the Seattle Times without the explanations which appeared on the web page. My first thoughts about the pattern were a lot like your first thoughts.

That's funny about the neon. I visited the forum on 3 or 4 successive days before I gathered up the nerve to post anything. In fact, I'm here at the computer wearing an eyeshade.

We could get our monitor screens tinted like car windows. ;-)

An interview today on the National Public Radio referred to an online press site (Wall Street Journal or NBC?) reporting that this very quake-sand story was the top hit page of the day,,, well over the expected 'top story' headliners.

The sand rose is a great picture! but snow is enough to live with. I'll leave the earthquakes to those braver of heart than I.

Last week we had snowflakes the size of golf balls.

/image{snow}
This was taken from my back door.

/image{cardinal}
The cardinal is our state bird. He looked so bright and pretty on such a snowy day.

This week we are expecting 3 inches of wet snow at 3,000 feet and above. Our house is right at that 3,000 mark so looks like we'll have a wintery mix of rain and snow. Just keep your fingers crossed that everything doesn't ice over during the night, or I'll have to put on ice skates to feed in the morning.

Oops! Here's my pictures:


snow the size of golf balls, taken from the back door.


Cheery cardinal

The Cardinals are lovely and I always thought they came from warmer climes. How come everyone but me can photograph their wild birds? Could four cats have anything to do with it? Nice piccies MK.

Mamakane, Love your cardinal! I wish we had them in our area. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, for a few months. I saw a great many birds, but never got a good look at a cardinal. I could catch a glimpse of one occasionally, but never was able to see it through my field glasses.

That's the kind of snow I like to see. Beautiful big flakes falling, but nothing piling up on the ground. J

Susan you can now do smilies a lot easier, just type colon then right bracket, Larry will do the rest

:] okay Terry, I'm trying it! Larry, do you magic!

Love the cardinals. I have a romantic couple that have fed in my yard for about 3 years. Last summer they brought their baby with them. He was almost as big as they were but he managed to be fed by mom and dad despite that fact! The snowfall is so pretty but I'm glad to be admiring from afar. Hey Maggie, too bad we didn't get a shot of the dirt in the air last week. From my office building, 22nd floor, it was quite lovely!

Isn't it great to see the parent birds feed the babies! I hope to catch it on film one day.

Gail try the ) with your : to get a

Now why didn't I think to explain it like that MK?

Hi Guys! We had a beautiful day today. It got up to 77*F/24*C. Light breeze, clear skies. Just great!

Loved MK's pics, as always. When is your book coming out MK?

I think I actually had something to say, but have now forgotten it after having to use my brain to do that centigrade conversion.

You coulde borrow mine Carolyn, but last time I lent it out they never returned it.

Now I know how Terry feels about me catching more birds in the garden than him ;-). The cardinals are so sensational, but defeat me everytime. They hang out in that wall of bamboo and flit back into it everytime I get close enough for a pic. The only shot I've ever managed is of one at the birdbath. You can tell its a cardinal by the tiny red dot on the pic! Yours looks greeting card beautiful MK. Love those huge snow flakes on the gate too! I've heard that large flakes mean it will be a short snowfall. Anyone know if that is just a myth?
Once again our outdoors views are as diverse as can be MK. Moggy's window is in high bloom.

Caro, you ever found the temp converter on our weather page? click here
Let us know if you find that lost thought...
See, there's 3 really sad things about 'maturing' - One is that the short term memory starts to go. Second,,,,, um, I'm forgot.

We've had a couple of days of beautiful weather, too. I've been pruning a hedge of columnar arborvitae. Exhausting work, since I have to use our 12-foot orchard ladder. Moving that ladder is tricky - it's all to easy to smash nearby plants while wrestling with the ladder.

Now, let's see about that smile

When I saw your earlier photo of Moggy's view I thought what a tangle of branches, now I know why they are there. Thank you Maggie ,for that wonderful shot of things to come, for me that is. You lucky people already have them.
Have you noticed how women always have trouble with ladders, I use run free myself.

They haven't a clue as to what you are on about Terry. I'll have to open our Anglo/Brit dictionary thread for that one!

Maggie, Thanx for the explanation of Terry's post. I have encountered "ladder" in British novels, but hosiery was the farthest thing from my mind when I read Terry's msg.

Ok, I can't resist - there's more to confuse the subject, but I'll put it on the A/A dictionary thread too.

We've had the rainiest, cool spring/winter in memory. Wet enough to grow moss in Texas!

Odd how it doesn't grow near the edges.

But all that comfortable luxury is about to end. It is meant to be 82* today.
AND SO IT BEGINS

Back to the rain this end, but we have had three lovely days.

The fog is so thick here this a.m. that I cannot see past the yard fence. Its also in the 70's for our overnight low. I cut the first roses of the season yesterday, and there are scads about to open. Now, if I could just get into my veggie plot....

I have to ask Carolyn, what are scads? sounds like a skin disease, can you get cream for it?

Oh, Terry, you are so funny. Now we are even on that parakeet thing.

Scads means "many."

Sounds like you ran into the budgerigar thing, Caro. And German Shepherds (canine case;-) are Alsatians, for some reason.

Have you thawed out yet Mama Kane?

Jumping in here Maggie, because I have thawed out, plants are a growing and I once again know why I love this gardening hobby. Even the slugs are leaving me alone, hardly a daffodil attacked so far.

Ours daffs have long ended and now even the last tulips are on the wane. But I'm glad to hear your spring has sprung Terry!

Well, Maggie. You are right about the daffodils...that is...if a person actually planted them at the proper time, they are long gone. However, for some people, who didn't get them planted until about a month or so ago....ah-hem... they are still blooming.


And here is the iris that you gave me last year. I was so excited to see what color it was going to be.

Finally got a new digi-cam. Still trying to figure it out. Hope that explains the unique quality to the pictures.

The daff looks like one named 'Texas' or Texas Gold or something. It is one of the latest blooming ones here, but next year your newbies will pop at normal times. Daffs are so durable - they will bloom even when planted upside down! Ask Alex ;-)

The only iris I have which resembles that one is a miniature. I hope you got some of the big bearded ones too.

Great news about the digi! What brand of cam did you get? I hate the mechanics of ours and am always threatening to replace it.

Happy Easter All!

Thought I'd share some photos of how my garden looks today.



Does anyone know what this rose is?



This is the iris Maggie gave me along with the phlox



View of north end of rose bed

ok, so I got the captions out of order on the first two. Hope you guys can figure it out.

Carolyn, Your pictures are beautiful. What lovely red roses! Our roses probably won't be blooming until June, after the iris have bloomed.

Can you believe it Susan, here we are praying for spring and these people are into summer already. Plenty of colour in there too Carolyn.

We've got some spring color. Here's a link to a photo of our Japanese maple 'Katsura.' Oddly enough, the tree is most colorful when we look at it from across the lawn. Standing next to it, the colors are less intense.

{http://www.worthoggarden.com/jam/KatsuraSpring01.jpg,Katsura Japanese maple}

I didn't post the photo here, because this topic is taking a long time to load.

Here's the link. The 1st try didn't work.

Katsura

Oh Susan! Wouldn't I love to have a maple like that. Never would make it though between the high winds and the heat. Maybe in 20 or so years, when the other trees and shrubs get large enough to act as a windbreak.....

Carolyn, Tell me about your high winds. Here in the Pacific NW we have occasional strong winds in late fall and/or early winter. One year our fence was blown over, breaking the main trunk of one of our camellias (which had been covered with buds) and doing other damage. Another year a branch fell off a Douglas fir and damaged a Japanese maple.

We don't have much heat, but then we don't have much sun, either - in our yard, shaded by Douglas firs.

Yours are out before mine Susan, buds just starting to burst over here. The maples are great, you get fire in spring as well as in the autumn.
They will tolerate a lot of shade Carolyn, trouble is tree shade usually means dry ground which they don't like. I grow a lot in ornamental pots in shady situations. That would probably be your best solution, but as you already know you must have pretty good windbreaks, though some will stand quite a bit of wind. Yorkshire is not without it's gales.

Susan, you might have missed this before, and to everyone else, sorry for the re-hash. My house is on top of a hill in a valley. Somehow, the wind blows pretty much from all directions at once, and most of the time. For the past 3 weeks, we've had winds gusting 20-45 mph almost every day. It makes it difficult to put down compost, set out small plants, and is just a general nuisance. At some time in the past, some previous owner cleared all the native trees surrounding the house, so although there are woods on my property, at the house, there is one large tree....and now lots of little trees and shrubs that I am hoping will grow.

Terry, that's a good suggestion about planting in pots, but I seem to have problems with fire ants taking over the pots, so I try to avoid them during the warm weather.

Terry, Katsura is the only one of our maples that has leafed out. It's way ahead of the others. Our two days of warm, sunny weather have encouraged the other maples to start unfurling their leaves.

Carolyn, Sorry. I did indeed miss what you said earlier. Those gusts sound like a giant inconvenience.

You guys have been busy... I'd better open a new Weather thread ;-)