Hi Betsy, This has been a most unusual summer. Rain and cool until September really with the exception of a day or two most weeks. The gardens didn't do well although my roses have really taken off since the end of September, there just wasn't enough sustained heat. September was remarkably good, I laid a lot of stone and had a lot laid for me. Since the last couple of days in September though we keep getting fine drizzle and cold conditions though not much below normal average temperatures, the wet though is interfering.
There are a lot of folk legends about predicting the severity of winter, the depth of snow and so on, I don't believe much of it. Certain wasps or bees are said to build their nests higher when deep snow is expected, I rather doubt that, seems to me they would want the insulation of the snow to help the hives survive. Certainly the animals put on heavier coats most of them in the winter but they do that every winter. There have been a lot of geese in the air but they are all gone now, or at least I haven't heard them going over for the past two weeks and I don't hear the hunters out. Moose season opened in this area yesterday so the roads are full of hunters and trailers. Black bears are quite a nuisance this year but that probably has more to do with a late berry season and since canceling the spring bear hunt their number is increasing so they get bolder looking for food. Getting snow cover this time of year is not all that unusual, maybe just a little early but I have often frozen fingers planting fall bulbs because the nurseries won't send them out that couple of weeks early. Janet and I figure the useful outdoor season for us ends just about now, Canadian Thanks Giving and doesn't really begin again before the first week in May. I am thinking next year when I retire I'll close off the water and drain the pipes for about the first of November and go find somewhere in the sun to spend the time until May. Usually once we hit the first week in May things just explode and you need to be here to keep on top of the vegetation. Besides, I won't have all my work done before next winter. Some time after that I hope to unload this old shack for a reasonable amount of money to be able to relocate. Don't know if that answered any of your questions directly but I hope so. We had some friends come along with a utility trailer on Thursday to remove loads of accumulated detritus of the building projects around here. Friday night while waiting for the patio to dry thoroughly Janet and I move a few of the left over bricks onto a pallet in the lane just to have in case repairs are needed. Next decent weather I guess I'll have to cut back those roses for the winter and chip all that debris. Usually I also work about 30 bags of composted manure into the flower beds particularly to have it present for the bulbs when they emerge in the spring. The roses and other gardens can wait for the spring, maybe I'll just buy enough for the front and the lily gardens, maybe I can get Janet to do that some dry day even if I am at work. Doing it all is something I should help her with as the bags get pretty heavy really fast. The gardening got a little ahead of me this year with all the extra work but I am getting to look like an aging miniature Adonis <GRIN>. ----- Original Message ----- From: Betsy Whitney To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 10:01 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Update on projects. Aloha Dale, Everytime I read the posts about your and Dan's project updates, I have sore muscles for at least a week, grin... Hearing about snow is astonishing to me as we have had about ten days of the hottest, most humid weather we had in months. I am wondering if there are signs of whether you're likely to have a very cold or mild Winter like there are in such places as Reno, Navada, where my parents live. Mom tells me that they can tell if the Winter is going to be severe by the thickness of the horses coats and there is a flower that wilts in early September if it is going to be particularly cold. It doesn't get that cold here, but I do notice a thickening of our cats coat if we are about to have a long and chilly Winter. Just wondering, Betsy At 03:40 AM 10/11/2009, you wrote: > > >Well, yesterday was the second day in a row with no rain so the >patio was dry. I put a couple of finishing touches to it, a couple >of bricks to cut and fit where things weren't perfectly square. >Janet and I then began sweeping the polymerized sand into the >cracks. I used 2 by 4s to divide the patio into manageable sections, >usually 8 by 15 inch chunks more or less, two bags about per >section. Once swept back and forth and back and forth I would set up >another pair of boards to move over and then dump two more bags and >leave Janet to get on with that while I shook the previously done >section down with my packer. Then another brush over to top up the >seams until we covered the nearly 50 feet. One final brush over and >another packing of the entire patio. This is difficult because of >the size, I used a bamboo stick like a cane to help orient my >distance from house walls and patio edge and the like. > >I just got well tucked into sweeping off any residue so it doesn't >stick and dirty the bricks when a sudden, and I mean sudden snow >flurry struck just around 8:30 last night. I couldn't keep ahead of >it with my big shop vac and had to give in. There has been an inch >and a bit of wet snow over everything all night. There shouldn't be >much of that sticky sand on the bricks but I won't know until the >snow is gone and it is a bugger to get off. I shovel the patio off >over the winter so perhaps the scraper will clean it up before >spring. All I needed was another hour or less! > >The snow should be gone by tomorrow so I should be able to pick up >the junk I left on the lawn then. I hope to lay a bit more retaining >wall before the final snow arrives for the season but it is cold and >wet now so might not get all that done. Usually permanent snow >arrives to stay around Remembrance day, November 11. We don't get >much useable weather though from now on and some of that is needed >to remove leaves and other garden clean-up. > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
