BS: autumn into winter

Subject: fall into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Nov 24 - 05:17 PM

The trees are quite bare at last,
and there is a cold dry wind blowing.
With the change back to Standard Time in the US,
it is pitch dark at 5 pm in my time zone.

The mild part of autumn is definitely history,
even though the storms and snows of winter have yet to arrive.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 08 Nov 24 - 05:43 PM

Things have been a bit skewed this year.

I am still mowing the grass as it keeps on growing. We have not had to water the garden at all this year as there have been no long periods without rain. We have had a few longer than normal periods with little wind.

I somehow expect that winter will arrive with a bang!

Robin.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Nov 24 - 05:46 PM

All the leaves are down
Yet the golfers play.
I have stayed inside
On this cold Friday....

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: gillymor
Date: 09 Nov 24 - 08:10 AM

We've got a cold snap coming through, it's supposed to dip down to 84 tomorrow here in SWFL. I do miss autumn, we basically go from summer to spring and then back again.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Nov 24 - 08:11 AM

Keb does fear storms but there are storms that we have not seen in our lifetime. fREEZING everything to 100 below zero instantly is a storm that did happen long time ago. The evidence was found in the remains of Mammoths frozen in mid-chew.

Today a mild winter is expected.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 24 - 12:28 PM

Another warm humid day in North Texas, but the trees are dropping leaves steadily now. I need to use this time to build a French drain from the sides of one tree in the back that got too wet this spring and suffered, dropping most of its leaves early - hopefully isn't dead. Spring will answer that question.

It's good weather for working outside or in the attic, as is happening now as new Internet service is being installed, plus I have several projects that were awaiting the end of summer heat.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Nov 24 - 02:56 PM

... and the leaf blowers are roaring outside,
cleaning up the oak leaves.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 10 Nov 24 - 09:39 AM

The use of leaf blowers used to mystify me, until I realised they're making the leaves Somebody Else's Problem.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Nov 24 - 10:58 AM

Good point about that, MJC - too many people here blow leaves or grass into the street and hope it'll just go somewhere else. Usually into drains or into the creek.

If the leaves are mulched in place on the ground, or if they're piled on the driveway and mowed over they reduce in volume by about 90% and then can be put in beds, spread on bare spots, or put in the compost. I end up with a lot of other people's leaves piled along the curb so I use a big plastic dustpan thing to scoop from the street and plop onto the turf, then mow them there. I dislike blowers for many reasons so will never use one here. (And I don't scoop those leaves often enough for them to be light, usually they've already started composting there in the street, so they don't blow easily.)

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 10 Nov 24 - 03:25 PM

We never used to have a problem with leaves.... Until we planted 2000 more trees!

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Nov 24 - 08:18 PM

Leaf blowers are a scourge in the cities and suburbs. Here, we are rushing headlong into summer grass growing weather - have been for a while now, dammit - which means that those who mow then feel obliged to blow the cuttings around the neighbourhood.

A pox on them! May their chooks turn into emus and kick their dunnies down! *

(Old Ozzie curse translation: 'may your chickens turn into large flightless birds which kick your outhouses down'.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: BobL
Date: 11 Nov 24 - 03:59 AM

"Outhouse" being a euphemism?

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Nov 24 - 01:37 PM

When it gets to this time of year....this song always comes to mind....https://youtu.be/lQ_IshjXflM?si=I0NcZMhRTsTA2mXR

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Nov 24 - 01:53 PM

What's euphemistic about "outhouse"? It's an accurate label. Not every spade has to be identified as a f****ing shovel.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Nov 24 - 06:38 PM

When I was 16 I worked for the YCC - Youth Conservation Corps - an organization set up that year that my local congressman had a part in. At the end of our season of work (in the US Forest Service area in the Cascade Mountains east of our town) there was an open house when reporters were invited to come see how the program was working. 16 kids working two months in the woods. We had various projects we were each assigned and because I didn't speak up for the others I was left with painting and landscaping outhouses in a couple of campgrounds.

The Seattle Times reporter was walking around the area and stopped to talk to a couple of my friends who said "make her take her hardhat off" of me. When I did about four feet of long blond hair tumbled out. That was enough for a story, I think, but when he asked me what my special project had been that summer the Dwyer punster gene kicked in. "I'm on the privy council." And explained about painting and landscaping. . . because of my pun I was the only member of the group who made it into the article.

I've also been in the position of having to move outhouses in National Parks. You dig a new hole a few feet to the side of the existing structure. Then you move the building and fill in the old hole with the new dirt. Outhouses are nothing to scoff at (and they're a lot of work to put up.)

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Nov 24 - 07:22 PM

What is the most immediate concern is fire, as in wildfires.
MY part of New England is in the severe drought category now.
Doesn't much matter if it's rain or snow at this point,
we just need precipitation, and soon.

Today the sky was crystal clear blue, the wind was blowing,
and it was dry, dry, dry.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 03:46 AM

Snow in UK today, barely even a dusting so far, but "as predicted".

Not too cold for outhouses yet. I thought you ought to be privy to that information.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 06:11 AM

We had about 4 inches of snow, but the ground was warm enough to limit the actual amount that accumulated. On garden furniture etc. it built up to the full depth.
It hasn't stopped the electricity company from replacing a pole in our field but I thought it might.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: robomatic
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 03:38 PM

Our Autumn has been snow covered the last two weeks, and the local lake is well frozen. Yesterday I awoke to a big three degrees F. By the time I got to the coffee place it was one whole degree (F). The dog didn't care one little bit.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 06:03 PM

We have had it very cold here in Edinburgh: hard frost but no snow: we seem to be in between two belts of snow in the North of Scotland and North/Midlands of England.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Nov 24 - 12:56 PM

In my distant childhood it was legal to burn piles of dead autumn leaves, and I remember the scent of the smoke.

This week that kind of smoke was in the air, bringing back memories.
Sadly it was the consequence of a wildfire on the steep slope of a nearby mountain.
Today we have rain, which is an answer to prayer,
as it will at least clear the smoke from the air
(there is a light wind as well).

With the rain come much colder temperatures,
and the higher elevations may get some wet snow.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Nov 24 - 04:02 PM

Today is in the 60s here and the house has cooled enough that it is also in the 60s. I'm wearing a hoodie around today but this evening will probably turn on the heat.

The colors are meh, as the word of the day. Leaves are slowly browning but without going through lovely yellow or orange or red phases first. There's still time for color to improve, but it won't be a banner year for walking around the neighborhood with the camera for photos.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 Nov 24 - 05:04 PM

Central heating on all day here now, 8am - 10pm though off at night. Still very cold: just scraping zero by day, -6C at night, but still no snow! (While other parts of the UK have several inches of the white stuff!)

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Nov 24 - 11:25 AM

Over the years, I have noticed that the deciduous trees that turn yellow -- birch and aspen, mostly -- keep their leaves the longest, while the trees that go gloriously red dump their leaves promptly. Stratford has yet to receive its first snowfall, so today's predominant colours are green and yellow against bare black branches and a dull grey sky. Not encouraging.

Come to think of it, it's about time to put the ice scraper and the snow brush in the boot of the car.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 23 Nov 24 - 09:25 AM

I put our snow brush back into the car last month, and the bottle of de-icing spray stands at the ready in the front hall.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 24 Nov 24 - 07:57 AM

We have had a water gauge installed at a point where water backs up in an open drain to channel under out track. There is going to be work done to hold more water back and slow its release into the river system. This has been put in to monitor before and after to see if the work actually does any good.
Yesterday the gauge scale was out of sight and completely submerged as the water had risen to the point where it just flowed over the track. Driving down the lane was like driving down a river. A couple of inches on a 1 in 6 slope!

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Nov 24 - 09:17 PM

The smell of autumn smoke is history now.
That wildfire on the side of a mountain is still being monitored,
as it spread, and there were "hot spots" to observe.
But line breaks have been dug, and the fire contained.

The mountains may see some wet snow before December 1st.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 Nov 24 - 01:41 PM

We had some slushy wet snow, nothing that would stick,
as it was not quite cold enough.
Just cold and raw enough to feel miserable outside.
Forecast to become colder still, although dry, so little chance of snow.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Dec 24 - 01:26 AM

Here in southeastern Alaska we had a mighty short autumn. Went from green summer to brief color changes to snow and icy winds in a matter of days.

A skiff of snow in October a couple of times, snowstorms on the mild side in November but the air is brutal.

Robomatic holds forth a long distance and much farther north than I so his winter is quite different. Alaska is a BIG state.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Dec 24 - 07:19 PM

Meteorological winter, I read in the paper,
starts on December 1,
so here we are.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Thompson
Date: 02 Dec 24 - 03:56 AM

Chills and colds and flu weather in Ireland, while the southwest of France has been having a heatwave in November. Poor Mother Earth.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Dec 24 - 04:39 PM

It's December and the storm that brought snow to Charmion in Ontario
has finally brought a little snow to my part of New England.
It's pretty looking. The snowplows are out on the road.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Dec 24 - 07:40 PM

It’s axiomatic in Ontario that snow in December is beautiful, but after New Year’s Day it’s just a damnable nuisance.

Here in Stratford, winter arrived all at once, with four days of snow squalls that dumped more than a foot of white stuff. Only a little to the north and east of here the same system delivered three times as much snow in less than 24 hours, leaving dozens of motorists stuck in the drifts. This is a good time of year to make up the bed in the spare room and lay in supplies in case of storm-stayed guests.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 24 - 09:57 AM

We had a few inches of snow overnight with no wind.
Now all the tree branches are coated with a lining of snow.
It won't last, but it's a pretty picture as long as it does.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Dec 24 - 10:22 AM

The picture outside is a pretty winter image with about four inches of fresh snow.
But this week things will change, according to the forecast.
The temperatures will revert to an earlier season, with highs in the upper 40s,
and rain, which we badly need. So the snow is bound to melt altogether.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Dec 24 - 06:06 PM

The warm blast of autumn is finished and
everything is below freezing now, simply frigid, and truly wintry.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Dec 24 - 09:03 PM

Roller-coaster ride, weather-wise,
bouncing up from subfreezing temps and snowfall
to rain and temperatures near 50 degrees F.
Then the temperature is to plummet again
with lows close to zero degrees F.
So it goes from feeling like winter to feeling like a warmer season,
and back down to winter again.
It's getting tiring.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Dec 24 - 11:44 AM

... and we have snow, the dry light cold kind of snow.

Subject: RE: BS: autumn into winter
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Dec 24 - 06:14 PM

It's the winter solstice, so autumn is really history now.
And it's in the single digits Fahrenheit, with a wind.
So it truly feels like winter now.