It's baaaack!
Thankfully not nearly as bad as last time.
It arrived quicker than anticipated so I had to head to the farm during the work week (on my lunch break) to turn off the water. I had done part of it Saturday but I was waiting to see when the cold would arrive. The night before, we found out that something changed in relation to our water out there (more on that later) but I did what I could. We'll have to see if it was enough.
I took a two hour lunch, 45 minutes each way and 30 minutes to do what I needed to do.
I put extra coverage around the banana plants. Freeze cloth on them (two layers) and then towels around the base and a cardboard surround for wind.
Same for the pineapples a couple of other smaller plants. Freeze cloth, towels and a cardboard surround. I did put a second cardboard "wall" higher up after this picture was taken.
This is the front water faucet. The pipe underneath all this has one of those pipe protectors around it, then an old insulated grocery bag over the faucet with towels around that and then cardboard on top of all of that.
This is the back of the house faucet, did it pretty much that same as the one on the front, but because it was on the bottom of the house instead of coming out of the ground, I had to figure out a way to keep the cardboard on there. I used the garden cart (it's heavy) to hold everything up against the wall.
I left a couple of oil filled radiator type heaters on, one in the kitchen and one in the mudroom, center of the room of course, nothing around. Also, like we did last year, three 150 watt light bulbs on reflectors in the bathroom with the doors shut, to keep the stuff in the room above freezing.
Look at these weather app captures:
When I left the farm on Wednesday afternoon and got back to the office, here is the screen shot. It was 73 degrees, humid, cloudy.
The same time the next day...
32 degrees, freezing rain and SNOW!
What a difference 24 hours can make!
I'll go back out either Saturday or Sunday, depending on when the freezing is over and check on things, uncover the plants, etc.
STAY WARM IF YOU'RE SOMEPLACE COLD!
Looks like you protected your plants, pipes, and house very well.
ReplyDeleteI did my preparations when it was still in the 70’s. I even covered my garden with freeze cloth because the lie 20’s were predicted for here. Then it got very COLD very fast!
It did indeed get down to 23 here last night. Right now, at 2:00 p.m., it’s only 33. So I have a fire in the fireplace to help out the central heat and two kitties on my lap with a hot cup of tea nearby.
Stay warm and safe!
low not lie !
DeleteWe got to 25 at the farm. It did drop, the bottom fell out for sure. Hopefully that was our Winter, knock on wood. A fire in the fireplace, so nice. And kitties on the lap, nothing wrong with any of that. Stay warm!
DeleteEeks! Hope everything survives. Looks like you protected everything well.
ReplyDeleteUpdate tomorrow but yep we did as much as we could. It got cold fast.
DeleteYou did all that in 30 minutes? I suppose you had everything handy and planned and worked furiously. They will survive.
ReplyDeleteI work quick. I had recovered the plants but when I saw how much lower the temps would be I added on to protect them. Update tomorrow!
DeleteDone a comment yesterday but noticed it hadn't shown up so trying once again.
ReplyDeleteHope Everything makes it through the weekend. Your plants will be very happy once they receive the sunshine and warmth again.
Living way out in the country; the county roads aren't treated out this way, so hubby hasn't been able to get to work for the last 2 days and won't be able to again today. :-{
He had a hard time just getting out of our driveway yesterday. He tried to get to the main entrance and out to County Road HWY 917 here but had to turn around and come back home; was nothing but a sheet of ice.
It almost has become a tradition having icy roads around this time because of the Fort Worth Stock Show going on but today is the last day for it so we should be having some pretty decent weather from here on out.
Every stay safe and stay warm
I saw a comment from you but I'm not sure what happened. I hope you all are ok, it looks like the worst is behind us. Stay in and stay safe. And warm. We hope this is the end of this Winter at least down here hopefully. Y'all may get some more but let's hope it's mild.
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