Frozen strawberries

Last night the freezing began at nine o'clock and at 8 this morning it was still 28 degrees.

We watered all night and the watering is still going on until all the ice melts. No strawberry picking today. Perhaps tomorrow.

Love,
Betty

1/6/2009

Betty...

I hope you can save the strawberries...

Love Joe

Dear Joe,
It looks like we lost what was ripe but the green berries and the flowers look ok. Four more nights of freezing will tell the tale. I think it set us back a couple of weeks but warmer weather is sure to be on the way. It is Florida, after all. Thank you for your good wishes.

Love,
Betty

1/7/2010

Betty..

I will keep my fingers crossed..How's
the Citrus doing ?

Cheers..Joe

1/7/2010

Betty..

Just saw a CNN video on Florida's freeze,
Citrus growers are scared to death the temperature
will go below 26 degrees...This winter has been
awful across the country, I'm sure you hear of the
snow storm in Burlington, VT. 33 inches in one day !
Just think twenty years ago I was going to move to
Bennington, VT. till I found out their winters were
more severe than New York City...


Love Joe

Just something made up by scientist so they get to keep their jobs with a big wage rise and the rich to screw the poor over some more. The reality is the planet has and will go through warmer periods as well as colder times and there is nothing we can do to change it.

alice wrote:

GLOBAL WARMING!

I plead the fifth.

Temperature extremes are attributed to Global warming. The term "warming" is misleading. But like Shelagh, it's safer to plead the 5th, or drink it.

It's like all polarities, actual and metaphoric. There is a tendency that Joseph Campbell called enantiodromio, or "running to extremes," which is often present during the chaotic periods between major changes. Eventually, hopefully, we will get it together enough to accept reality and find a middle way.

Let's just hope we find it in time to save Betty's crops.

Ann

1/8/2010

Betty....

I thought this would cheer you up, a photo of
my Calamondin Orange in fruit, I have two now..




Love ..Joe...

My poor stawberries and my lemon tree all gave up the ghost, just to cold for them. Unfortunately I couldn't take them under the cover with me to keep warm.

1/8/2010

Hairymob..

Why would your Citrus tree be planted
outside ? It should be indoors..

Cheers..Joe

They were inside both plants and kids. Our houses aren't draftproof though so no matter how musch we try to heat them at this time of year it's srill just plain cold. At least it's a bit warmer than outside, hehehe.

I am always amazed at the idea of using ice to protect plants. Just seems odd...understand the theory.

Don't have any fruit trees here. All pets inside.
And this is Florida!!!???

Dear Rhett,
I am reminded of the people who live in Igloo houses. Becoming one with the nature that is happening must work. The idea that 32 degrees is cold and the world outside your ice shell is 20 or less makes that ice house of 32 seem so cozy.

I thought about it today when the temperature got to 54. In the beginning of cold weather, 50 was long pants, sweats, jackets. Today, 54 felt toasty! I was glad to see it.

Now it is cold and will probably freeze the next 3 or four nights. We are in a dip that the weather people don't forecast. If it is 35 in Parrish tonight it will be 30 here. I think it might snow on Sunday night. What a silent night that will be here. The squirrels have never seen snow. I will cover the chickens, Old Agnes will hunker in her house with all the children.

Some people do not concern themselves with the flux of weather, but many watch just as much as the old caveman did. The wonderful thing is that now we can explain these marvels and do not have to attribute them to the anger of the gods. Well, some people still may, but me, I know all things pass on into spring and the earth will renew..even if all the strawberries turn to brown gobs, my prize hibiscus die to the roots, and all my tomatoes drop green on the ground. What a lovely thing is the cycle of living things.


I watch how the cows deal with this cold. They lay down with hoofs under and chin close to the ground. Bellies are warmed.

DK wrote about the Iguana's falling out of trees from the cold. I uncovered a snake, to it's surprize, by unrolling a roll of ground cover. The poor thing just lay there, not able to blink, and my dogs smelled it all over.

I took them into the house. The poor snake was kinked up and lay there for an hour in the weak sunshine. Finally, I picked it up and took it into the shed. I have not seen a lizard for a month. Perhaps they have the advantage over us warm blooded creatures. They just slow right down and prolong their life untll warmer weather. Leave a human out in below freezing for very long and they will not be well. I saw a show once about toads that froze and when the spring thaw came, there they were, good as new. Now, that is a good evolutionary trait!

Hope you all are warm this night.
Love,
Betty

Well, it is snowing north of Ocala this morning but here at 10:20 the temperature is a lovely 34 degrees. After looking at the pictures of winter that Joe posted, we have nothing to complain of here!

Love,
Betty

David and I picked strawberries in the sleet. Not that they will amount to any money, but they are off the plants. We expect below twenty this night. It has been a long day. I covered the chickens, saved what plants I could save, have lights under the lemon and the lime. The rest of our citrus may not make it through. I am pretty sure that the tomatoes are HISTORY!

My sister Nettie called to tell me that our mother is expiring. She is 94 and still the mean snake she was in health. She cursed at Nettie's daughter, who went to see her in Nettie's stead. Threw such a fit and threatened to 'slit throats' if she were ever able. I do not know how a person could give birth to 13 children and not like a single one of them. Mom is a piece of work comparable to A. W. Nutter's Daddy. Her lack of love and compassion has earned her the lonely death she will have in the next day or two. I am sorry for her life being so dismal to not have been able to love a single person or thing. Perhaps her next go around she will fare better.

Love,
Betty

Betty Fasig wrote:

My sister Nettie called to tell me that our mother is expiring.

Did you say, "Like I care?"

Dear LC,
I talked to my sister, whom I have not seen in 52 years, about the trip she will make from Oregon to my house on March 31 of this year. I talked to her about childhood that she never had and how we will go to Disney World, a place she has never been.

What sadness the old bat has caused in her lifetime! She need cause no more by her death.

Love,
Betty

Well, Nettie must care somewhat to 1. even know she's expiring and 2.call to tell you about it.

Visit her grave after she does, and take a dump on it. lol

Dear LC,
No dumping required.
Love,
Betty