November Snow
Well, that was fast. If I remember correctly, in the last several posts I’ve written about our mild autumn, how the seasons seem to be lingering, etc. But that was then, and this is now.
I had today off due to the holiday. It had been raining gently pretty much all day, which is a good thing as you don’t want the plants to head into winter with dry soil. Then in the mid-afternoon the rain turned to snow.
This seemed like a good time to head to the Wild Birds Unlimited store to stock up on plain suet as well as nyjer and sunflower seed. The snow snarled traffic so it was a couple of hours before I returned.
At that point, the snow had stopped but had left everything covered with a thin blanket of white. The temperature is below freezing and is supposed to stay that way for the next day or two so the snow will be with us for a bit.
Unfortunately, Judy is gone on a weeklong business trip so she is not here to take pictures. By the time she returns the snow is likely to be gone. I took these pictures with my phone.
When I got home it was dark. Don’t you hate these short days? Even so, I decided I had to perform two emergency tasks which I had been putting off.
First, I set up the heated bird bath, which I refer to as the Bird Jacuzzi. Now the birds won’t have to eat snow for hydration when they get up in the morning.
Also, we have a small concrete fountain. I’m always worried that it will develop cracks over winter. So I removed the pump, turned the base upside down, and covered it with a tarp secured with bricks.
Next week is supposed to be much warmer, so today winter just left a calling card. It is not settling in just yet. Even so, the change feels awfully abrupt.
Do you feel winter drawing near where you live?
gardeninacity 
Wow! It does seem early for snow. Winter is still several weeks away here in Southeast Texas – if we have winter at all. So far, we’ve had a very pleasant autumn with plenty of rain for which we are most grateful.
I’m glad you have had plenty of rain. Nice to contemplate having no winter cold, but then I would never survive your summers.
It’s always amazing how different things feel during/after snow. I bet Judy will be sad to miss out on the photo op. We are still having mild weather (mostly in the 50’s), with no sign of frost or snow in sight. Sigh…I’d love to get at least one good snowstorm this year…but that’s probably not going to happen. I’ll settle for a good hoar frost if it comes to that 😉 Have some hot cocoa and stay warm 🙂
As for snowstorms, I’d be glad to give you one of ours. I’m going to have to check to see if we have any cocoa.
I was intrigued by your mention of Darlow’s enigma, so, of course, googled. Always looking for a rose that can make do with less than full sun. Caught an interesting comment on pruning from the Antique Roses Forum and thought you might like it.
“Good grief. Pruning this rose is an exercise in masochism! Seriously, all I wanted to do was remove winter damage and shorten some of the canes that are trying to climb onto the second story deck.
And I did wear long sleeves and leather gloves.
He yanked out my barrette, pulled off my glasses and hooked me by the back of my jacket.
But he does look neater today. Not repentant, just neater.”
That’s so cute. I gotta get one.
Martha
Darlow’s Enigma has a lot of virtues, but it can grow into a big thorny monster. Mine isn’t old enough yet to reach that stage … but it’s getting there.
Yep, same thing happened here. Except it started at 10 a.m. Still, less than an inch of accumulation. It was pretty, but I hope it melts fast!
I give it until Thursday, at least around here.
To answer your question – the pellet stove is roaring. 🙂
It’s good to be reminded there are places colder than here.
Nice of you to watch after the birds. Our feeder has been getting lots of visitors recently. Weather forecasts tease us with possibility of snow tomorrow but none should stick. Back upper 60s by weekend.
The activity at our feeders has really picked up also.
Abrupt indeed! We went to a little burger place with the beans and boy was it cold getting them in and out of the car! The snow was beautiful in the trees! And I so got a kick out of your jacuzzi for the birds! They have the life in your garden!!!
First snow is always beautiful in the trees – as are ice storms, for all the terrible damage they do.
Well rats! I can’t believe I’m not there to take photos!
On the other hand, it was warm enough here I didn’t need a coat…
Oh, well. But you can be confident there will be more snow after you return.
I prefer not to say the “W” word. I don’t care for “S” either, but until I lived in Mississippi I had always had the stuff every winter. Now, I will be in it again. Oh well, life goes on, despite all the “F’s” and “S’s” all “W” long. Great post, by the way!
I can actually enjoy the snow … within limits.
That was unexpected! Yesterday was a really different day here too. Gale force winds and rain plus the temperatures dipped as the wind was from the north, its still windy but nothing like yesterday. Keep warm.
Doing my best. Next week the predicition is it will again be warmer than normal.
I always think the first snow ois the prettiest! We had our first frost this morning… minimal, but nevertheless a sign that it’s finally getting colder here too.
I agree, the snow is beautiful when it first falls, if only there were a way to keep it from getting grimy and slushy.
Jason, you have snow, wow. I hate dark days and snow and cold! But all these we’ll have soon here as well.
I’m glad to visit your interesting blog now because of your WordPress didn’t work and didn’t open since october. Finally I can read your posts. Have a nice week!
Hi Nadezda! That’s weird about WordPress – do you mean that the WordPress reader would not open my site?
The weaterforecast says mild fall with temperatures above zero. No snow yet, only a little frost. But the days are getting shorter, and it gets dark early.
I hope the snow will wait until just before christmas 🙂 By the way, the tree with the orange/pink fruits is a Euonymus Europaeus, with very nice fall colours.
OK, there is a very similar tree called Euonymus americanus. We also call it Strawberry Bush or Eastern Wahoo.
No wintry weather here but my boys live in boston where temps were expected to plummet as the arctic air arrives from Canada today!
Not sure where the arctic air came from but I’d be happy for it to go back home.
Snow dusting this morning, time to get a picture of the snow covered roses! It will be in the 50’s by weeks end though. Still Fall here since most leaves have not fallen.
Perhaps your area is a bit milder than here. No snow dusted roses, there are no more blooms I’m afraid.
Two inches this morning. Thanks a lot. The weather maps clearly show the storm coming across from the Chicago area……
Hey, don’t blame us. It’s those damn Canadians.
By heck….SNOW???? goodness me! How lovely that you have the heated bird bath, I’m sure the birds will be grateful. I hate the dark nights, it’s dark here by four thirty now….sighs…xxxx
I agree, the short days can be kind of depressing. Isn’t that why so many people are supposed to be depressed during winter in really northern latitudes? Aside from the numbing cold, that is.
Winter is drawing in here too. We’ve usually had a slight flurry of snow by now but not this year. We had a heck of an ice shower – I was caught up in it and boy did it hurt!
Nice to read you’ve got the birds sorted out – I’ve done that job too!
Ice storms can be very nasty. We had one so severe a couple years ago it smashed most of the glass panes of one of the city conservatories.
Yes, that was fast and sometimes it is hard to get the mind to follow so quickly, especially if Winter is not a favorite season. Not cold here yet but by Monday the high is supposed to be what the low was last night. So Winter is coming and I hope to heck we get snow, lots of it. We need it so much!
Why, because of drought?
Yes. We only get 8-11 inches of moisture annually and last year was below average. We really need a big moisture year.
Yes!
We had a dusting here this morning and it has been cold all day. They say below 20 degrees tonight, and I’m not ready for it either. I still have leaves to rake.
By next weekend I’m confident the snow will be gone and I’ll be busy raking.
We’re preparing for our first hard freeze tonight. It may snow lightly, which at this time of year would be unheard-of for central NC. The first time I ever saw snow before Thanksgiving was the first winter I lived in Chicago. It snowed then, and on my birthday in April. And plenty in between. 🙂
There is a long tradition of April snowfall, including one that put an end to the career of a recent mayor. But fortunately they do not last.
Ups, quite a surprise your winter scene, Jason, but I guess it won’t last. How does the heated birdbath work? Is it expensive to heat? The trees are still full of mostly green leaves and it has turned very mild again. We’ve had no frost so far, this usually comes in December for the first time. The worst months for winter weather are January and February so we’re still safe ;).
We plug it into an outdoor electric outlet. Not sure how it works exactly, but it must have a temp gage as it always heats the water just enough to keep it from freezing.
The snow is so pretty isn’t it! We just got our first too. I have a heated bird bath Jacuzzi on my christmas list. At first I thought that it was the funniest sounding thing to have, but the birds still need water to drink in the winter. Good on you for helping them out!
It is funny sounding, but one of the best things you can do for the birds. Having access to open water can really help the survival rate, otherwise they have to eat snow, and that requires more body energy to melt the snow and keep warm. And sometimes even snow is not available and it is very difficult to access water.
YEs! I had no idea about this! Poor birdies.
We had a dusting but it didn’t stick yesterday here in Raleigh, NC. Tonight it will be even colder so the bananas and other tropicals will probablly be down and out for the season!
Crumbs, snow already. It does look very picturesque though, the birds will be pleased if it disappears as fast as it came!
It lasted about three days, not too bad. Then on Sunday it got very warm and there were big thunderstorms.
Finally had winter settle in this weekend…sigh!