Winter is a-Comin'

We've had the hottest summer on record this year. If you live around here, you will not be surprised to hear this ... it only confirms what you already know!  It was dang hot! And two weeks ago, we set another record high temperature, so it continues to be a year of extreme weather.

The summer that just got bumped from the top of the "hottest" list was followed by the coldest winter on record. And the predictions for this winter are the same (according to the 2011 Farmer's Almanac): a record cold with above average snowfall. The weather forecast for this week portends just that. Our first freeze is to come Friday night, two weeks earlier than usual. Last week they predicted a near-freezing night, so I closed the cold frames and picked veges pictured here. I am delighted to still be getting peppers of all kinds -- green, yellow, jalapeño, banana -- plus eggplant and okra. The 2nd planting of tomatoes are producing too. I pulled a watermelon last week and there is one left. But Friday all that ends. I will harvest all that is left, except the few remaining pumpkins. The green tomatoes will be wrapped in newspaper and put in the root cellar, an old-fashioned storage method I just recently learned about. The rest will be eaten, frozen or shared.

I can't say I am looking forward to a cold winter. Snow is wonderful when you don't have anywhere to go, but since we manage rental properties, we always have somewhere we have to be -- to shovel walkways and throw down salt. The fireplace is soon to be installed, so that's good. Something more reliable than hot flashes to keep me warm. We cut down two trees last weekend (those logs won't be ready to burn 'til next year, though). The good news is we figured out where to put the log pile.