silent Saturday with the wolves

 

 

 

 

 

 

grandma by the shed

~~https://www.etsy.com/shop/AndSoForth 

 

I don't know who this woman is, but she looks resolute but satisfied, sitting in front of her shed, with the tomatoes ripening on the the window ledge.  I imagine that her shelves are filled with jars of fruits and vegetables.  she has put up countless jars of jams, jelly preserves, pickles, cinnamon apple rings and pie fillings; and has taken  time to enjoy the cool early autumn sunset.    Her garden is nearly finished for this year, the cabbages and sprouts will remain  for awhile and the sunflowers with their ruff of  yellow petals nod gently in the breeze.   She watches the sunset, the colors remind her of the quilt top she didn't finish last year, but will be able to work on once the garden is put to bed for the winter.  There are also the seed catalogs he put in the bottom of the bread drawer in the Hoosier cupboard, too keep the bread fresh she said but the real reason was so she could look a the illustrations for the flower seeds. 

 

In the morning she would  study each illustration and description as she drank he coffee.  The pictures she saw of English gardens in a book were like dreams of fairylands to her,  and each year she planted cosmos, hollyhocks, balsam and marigolds along the side of the house where she could see them from the kitchen windows.

 

This year the tomatoes were plentiful, and so were the peppers and red beets, oh, but there was time to think of all of that when a thick blanket of snow covered the garden.   Sitting  in her rocker mending or working on her quilt, she could  think about it then.  Winter was always too long, but never long enough to get everything done.

 

 

 

Weather Preparedness Week

************************

http://www.weather.gov

 

************************

 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

put a shortcut to this site on you desktop

put it on your mobile device

It can pinpoint with relative accuracy the weather in your area.

Or an area where you have friends, family or are just curious about.

It can save your life and your property. Also it updates frequently and  after a very little bit of practice it is fun to use.

 

 

 

 

 Severe storms, are they more frequent or are they just more noticeable because there are more people, and people living in areas that were uninhabited a couple decades ago.  Probably all of those things are factors.  And as the weatherman/woman always says, the weather has always had extremes that is why there are averaged temperature and averaged conditions.  But here I am repeating things that you already know.

No, I promise no stories about near misses with tornadoes, thought in fact I have had several.  Or the how I would have been trapped by a winter storm if I hadn't visited this site, 'cause that didn't happen.  or how I was prepared for an ice storm that knocked out phone and power for days, that did happen.   Scare tactics are...well scary.

How about this one, I called my aging parents to warn them that there was a big snowstorm coming, they weren't home.  When they came home they called me, and I told them about the storm coming so they didn't plant the grassseed  they had just bought, that was in March of 1993.
Or one day I was going to hang freshly washed quilts on the line, then go into town. I checked the weather forecast first, the charts indicated it would be raining at about 9:30 AM, that was in a few minutes, the sky was clear and the sun was shinning..."el wrongo", I scoffed, however by the time I had  the quilts ready to hang the sky had turned dark, and it pelted down rain all  that day.

Or the time we packed up our campsite very early on a sunny Sunday morning, and were home  cozy and dry before it began sleeting that afternoon. 

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ctp/safety/SevereAwareness/index.php
 

 And as a thank you for reading  all this stuff and hopefully at least considering my advice, here is a "cuteness overload" baby polar bear.

goodbye February Hello! March.

 

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fair well to February!!!

February 2013 average temp 21.9F

February 2014 average temp 13.9F

 

I sorta had a clue it was colder than normal when the windows had frost on them and the doors froze open and /or shut depending on their own whims.  And when there was always a chill around the edges and sometimes to the core no matter how well the fire in the stoker was going.  Then there was the time the laundry froze to the dryer drum, and the cans of soda froze.  there was a thaw, for about 36 hours the temperature surged upward to near normal.  I may say it laughingly, but when you think 20 degrees is a heatwave, the other days must be pretty cold.

Still all of that running up and down the steps to keep the fire going made the longest days of the shortest month go pretty fast.  and it was pure joy to hibernate under a stack of blankets.

Can't say as much for having the bare skin of my hand freeze to doorhandles, winds that took my breath away, and going days on end not feeling warm enough. 

 

HELLO, MARCH!

Daylight Savings time!

The average temperature slowly rise.

Kite flying in the fields!  Even though they are under a foot of snow now.

And like the New Year this month began with a new Moon.  The New Sap moon, maple sugaring  begins, or if you prefer the New Seed Moon, because it's time to order your seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

March

National Caffeine Awareness Month
National Celery Month
National Flour Month
National Frozen Food Month
National Noodle Month
National Nutrition Month
National Peanut Month
National Sauce Month

March 1 National Peanut Butter Lover's Day
March 1 National Fruit Compote Day
March 2 National Banana Cream Pie Day
March 3 National Cold Cuts Day
March 3 National Mulled Wine Day
March 4 National Poundcake Day
March 5 National Cheese Doodle Day
March 6 National Frozen Food Day
March 6 National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day
March 7 National Crown Roast of Pork Day
March 7 National Cereal Day
March 8 National Peanut Cluster Day
March 9 National Crabmeat Day
March 10 National Blueberry Popover Day
March 11 Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day
March 12 National Baked Scallops Day
March 13 National Coconut Torte Day
March 14 National Potato Chip Day
March 15 National Peanut Lovers Day
March 15 National Pears Helene Day
March 16 National Artichoke Heart Day
March 18 National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day
March 19 National Poultry Day
March 19 National Chocolate Caramel Day
March 20 National Ravioli Day
March 21 National French Bread Day
March 23 National Chip and Dip Day
March 23 National Melba Toast Day
March 24 National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day
March 25 National Lobster Newburg Day
March 26 National Waffle Day
March 26 National Nougat Day
March 27 National Spanish Paella Day
March 28 National Black Forest Cake Day
March 29 National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day
March 30 Turkey Neck Soup Day
March 31 National Clams on the Half Shell Day
~~http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/National_Symbols/American_Hollidays.html

******************************************************

March Holidays and Events:

• 2 Oscar Night 2014
• 4 Mardi Gras(Fat Tuesday)
• 5 Ash Wednesday
• 8 International Women's Day
• 9 Daylight Savings Begins at 2:00 a.m.
• 15 Ides of March
• 15 Purim begins at sundown
• 17 St. Patrick's Day
• 20 Spring (Vernal) Equinox
• 20 International Earth Day - also called Sun-Earth Day
• 25 Feast of the Annunciation
• More March holidays and special days

This month in History:

• March 12, 1912- The Girl Scouts were founded.
• March 17, 1845 The rubber band was invented. Can you imagine life without them!?!
• March 29, 1886- Coca Cola is invented.
• Find more at More this Month

Among other things, March is:

• National Nutrition Month
• National Women's History Month

March Notes: Flower of the Month: Daffodil, Jonquil Birthstone of the Month: Aquamarine, Bloodstone Astrological Signs: Pisces Feb. 19 - Mar. 20; Aries March 21 - April 19 The Moon this month is called the Crow Moon, Lenten Moon, Sap Moon, Seed Moon.

http://holidayinsights.com/
********************************************************

not so silent Saturday with the Northern Lights in the UK

28 February 2014 Last updated at 04:13 ET

 

BBC  News

Northern Lights illuminate the UK

The Aurora Borealis - better known as the Northern Lights - has been giving rare and spectacular displays over parts of the UK, from the north of Scotland to as far south as Essex and Gloucestershire.

The lights have also been clearly visible in places such as Orkney, Norfolk and south Wales.

The display, which is caused by electrically charged particles from the Sun entering the Earth's atmosphere, led to scenes such as this one at the Stonehaven war memorial, Aberdeenshire.

Mark Thompson, presenter of the BBC's Stargazing Live, said he had not been expecting a display as spectacular as it was in places such as Wick, in Caithness.

Mr Thompson said the display, which was also seen in Corbridge, Northumberland, happens when solar wind - electrically charged particles - is ejected from the Sun. He said: "They take two or three days to get here and when they do get here they cause the gas atoms in the sky to glow. It is as simple as that."

The astronomer said: "Three or four days ago the Sun will have thrown a lot of this stuff out in an event called a coronal mass ejection, and they would have been travelling towards the Earth since. It all depends how active the Sun has been." This photograph was taken in Boulmer, Northumberland.

Mr Thompson said the particles were usually pulled towards the North Pole but if there were enough of them "they will travel further down towards the equator and cause the lights to go further south". Unusually, this time they were seen as far south as Gloucestershire.

"It is just good luck," Mr Thompson said. "The last time I have seen it this spectacular was probably 20 years ago." The lights were seen in many locations across the UK, including Shap in Cumbria.

Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said: "At the moment we are at the height of the Sun's activity cycle, and it's ultimately energy from the Sun that creates the Northern Lights." The lights were seen from many parts of the UK, including here at Bow Fiddle Rock in Portknockie, Moray.

Ms Green said: "When we were watching the Sun on 25 February we saw that a particularly large and fast eruption leapt off from the Sun's atmosphere, and the models predicted that we would probably get a glancing blow from this eruption, and they were right." This picture was taken at Embleton Bay in Northumberland.

The Aurora Borealis was also visible from Foxley, Norfolk.

Many people took photographs of the illuminated skies. This one shows St Mary's Island, Tyne and Wear