Posts Tagged ‘Weather’

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My World: Baby, It’s Cold Outside

December 7, 2010

Our Christmas Tree, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. December 5, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Winter has come to the Cumberland Plateau.  It’s cold and it snowed most of Sunday.  It was light flurries most of the day, but the driveway became snow-covered after dark.  I don’t want to mention any names, but one member of the family was very happy that day.

Since it’s turned cold, the roses in containers have been moved to the garage where they will hopefully survive the winter.  The roses in the beds have been pruned back and covered, so they, too, are ready for their winter nap.

The yard looks somewhat drab now — at least when it’s not covered by snow.  But that doesn’t mean that everything is drab.  Our Great Room looks bright and colorful now that the Christmas tree is up.  And with a fire in the fireplace it feels as warm as it looks.

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Posted in My World | 22 Comments »

Watery Wednesday #94: Stormy Morning at the Beach

June 30, 2010

A storm coming ashore, Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. May 7, 2009.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

When we go to the beach we hope for lots of sunshine and good weather.  But even when the weather doesn’t always cooperate the beach can be beautiful.  I got this picture of a storm coming ashore at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 17 Comments »

If You Don’t Like Our Weather, Wait

April 29, 2010

Our side flower bed, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 11, 2010.

The picture above was taken a couple of weeks ago.  Almost all of our tulips are now gone, but the iris have started to bloom, so we still have color in our yard.

It’s a fairly common saying that if you don’t like the weather here in Tennessee, stick around for a few minutes — it will change.

We’ve enjoyed some beautiful weather this month.   As a matter of fact we had summer-like temperatures several days ago.  So Betsy and I were shocked when we noticed a freeze watch for our area Tuesday afternoon.  Tuesday was a chilly, rainy day, but it didn’t seem all that cold.  And then we got a text message from our friends Judy and Charlie who were hiking to the lodge atop Mount LeConte in the Smokies just east of here.  They were on the trail, but said it was snowing!

Betsy and I debated covering some of the roses and other flowers, but we knew we couldn’t begin to cover everything.  So we crossed our fingers and decided to hope the weather man was wrong.

Evidently the clouds stuck around longer than expected, because our temperatures stayed in the 40s over night.  Everything in the yard looked fine when we got up Wednesday morning.

And Judy and Charlie?  They woke up Wednesday morning to 8-10 inches of snow on the mountain.  Tennessee is never dull!

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Posted in Weather | 13 Comments »

Spring, Wherefore Art Thou?

March 27, 2010

More of our roses from 2009.

We had three days of beautiful weather earlier in the week, but the last two days have been cold and rainy.  I’ve  started a couple of projects out in the yard, but I haven’t been able to make much progress.  And if this cold weather continues I’m going to need to split more wood and carry it to the garage so my Beautiful Bride will be comfortable in the evenings.

Our crocus have bloomed and are just about completely gone.  Nothing else has begun to bloom.  I will say that the grass is greening up very nicely, so I guess I will have to think about checking out the mower one of these days.

I’ve started to partially uncover the roses.  Most of them are showing signs of new growth and need to be cut back.  I won’t completely uncover the roses until I’m fairly confident that freezing temperatures are behind us.

So while I’m waiting for  Spring to get serious about coming and staying here on the Plateau, I’ll try to stay warm by remembering what the roses looked like last year.

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Posted in Weather | 12 Comments »

Betsy’s Getting Her Wish!

January 30, 2010

Our front yard in the early afternoon, Fairfield Glade. January 29, 2010.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy my Beautiful Bride is this morning.  She’s been waiting for almost four years for a day like this.

She actually started smiling Friday afternoon.  It began snowing late Friday morning and by early afternoon the street, driveway and yard were pretty much covered in white as you can see from the picture above.

The wall in front of our house in the late afternoon. January 29, 2010.

But much to Betsy’s delight, it just kept snowing.  By late afternoon we had a couple of inches on the ground.  Even our newly repaired wall looked good in the snow.

Still snowing after dark. January 29, 2010.

Best of all it just kept snowing.  This is what it looked like just before I began writing this post.  I don’t know how much snow we will finally have — it’s supposed to keep snowing until noon Saturday.  Some forecasts say we will have 7 to 9 inches by the time the storm ends.

I predict Betsy will be absolutely giddy today!

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I’m grateful for the beauty of newly fallen snow and the way it makes the world seem new and clean.

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Posted in Weather | 19 Comments »

Blue Sky and Ice

January 16, 2010

Ice build-up behind our house, Fairfield Glade. January 15, 2010.

The picture above was taken behind our house yesterday and does a pretty good job of describing Tennessee weather over the past week or so.

First the good news — the sky is blue and the shadows in foreground mean that the sun is shining.  Both of those things have been in short supply this year.

The bad news is the ice build-up on the rocks.  This is a ‘natural area’ on the edge of the fairway.  It is normally bare rock, although there is often moisture on the rock from run-off further up the hill.  The ice is a reminder of how cold it has been so far this year.  We have never seen ice this thick on these rocks.

I can hardly wait to find what the coming week will bring.

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I’m grateful for all the seasons we enjoy here on the Cumberland Plateau.

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Posted in Glade | 13 Comments »

We’re in a Deep Freeze

January 4, 2010

The cascade behind our house. January 3, 2009.

I hope the year 2010 has gotten off to a great start for each and every one of you.  By the way, how do you say 2010?  Is it “Two Thousand Ten” or “Twenty Ten”?  I hear it both ways around here.

Now that the holidays are over we can get back to normal here on the Plateau.  Of course winter means that there is not a great deal to do outdoors except to split and  bring in firewood.  Perhaps winter days will mean that I’ll have more time to get caught up on all the indoor projects I have on my list.

One thing I would like to happen is for us to get out of the deep freeze.  Temperatures in the single digits are not to our liking!  Fortunately the single digits have been overnight, but we haven’t been above freezing ALL YEAR!

The picture above shows the icy cascade behind our house on the edge of the golf course fairway.  We’ve seen ice there a few times before, but I don’t think it has ever been this thick.

The saddest thing (at least as far as Betsy is concerned) is that we have all this cold weather with almost no snow.  We woke up Saturday to a very light dusting of snow, but that’s all we’ve seen so far.

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Posted in Weather | 13 Comments »

A Hot Day on the Plateau

June 20, 2009

LilyCollage

It was almost unbearably hot here on the Plateau yesterday.  It got so bad that the Weather Service issued a special alert about the heat.  They warned of a heat index between 100 and 105.  I’m not sure it got quite that high at the house, but it was definitely warm.  We even turned on the air conditioning for the first time this season.  We have great cross-ventilation in our house and rarely use the ac.  I just hope yesterday wasn’t a harbinger of things to come.

I got the front yard mowed and the roses watered, but that was about the extent of my outside work.  We have many weeds that need attention, but they will just have to wait.

But all is not lost in the garden.  The lilies are doing well, and since I had time to work inside I made the collage above to share with all of you.  The collage can be enlarged by clicking on it.

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Posted in Garden | 14 Comments »

Skywatch Friday # 49

June 19, 2009
Fairfield sky. June 15, 2009.

Fairfield sky. June 15, 2009.

This is my post for Skywatch Friday, a meme for sharing views of the sky from all over the world.  To see more views of the sky, or to join and share your own photos, click HERE.

I realize summer doesn’t officially arrive until Sunday, but we’ve had typical summer weather up here on the Plateau.  The mornings start out sunny and clear — a perfect day.  In the afternoons the clouds start rolling in.  Sometimes we get rain; sometimes we only get more clouds.

This picture was taken in our front yard earlier this week.  A little of the blue sky remains, but the clouds are definitely on the way.  We didn’t get any rain that day.

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Posted in SkyWatch Friday | 6 Comments »

Be Careful What You Wish For

June 6, 2009
Roses on our dining room table. June 5, 2009.

Roses on our dining room table. June 5, 2009.

As many of you know, we had two years of drought up here on the Plateau.  That meant carrying a lot of water to water the roses and other plants.  During that time we kept hoping for rain.

This year we have had slightly more rain than average, so everything is lush and green.  As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered a downside to all this rain.  It rained here on Thursday when we went to Hendersonville to check on my parents.  When we got home Thursday evening we noticed many rose stems beaten down by the rain.  Yesterday I spent an hour or so cleaning up the rose beds.

But I couldn’t just throw out all of those blossoms.  I try to bring Betsy a rose bud each day so we have several bud vases.  But yesterday I brought in enough blossoms to fill them all.  Our dining room table is a little crowded, but it sure does smell good in the house!

And speaking of the drawbacks to all of this rain, the grass is so lush and green that I’m spending more time mowing than I did last year.  And don’t even get me started on the weeds!

Don’t get me wrong — I’m delighted with the rain.  It’s just that between the trips to Hendersonville and the yard I’ve got way behind on visiting my blogging friends.  Please don’t give up on me —  I haven’t forgotten about you.

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Posted in Weather | 15 Comments »

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