Few minutes after 9 pm, 29 degrees, 1.85 inches of rain/ice.

HJ, I'm sorry to hear your event was canceled. We usually have a big fall fest & our neighbors really look forward to it. But we still haven't gone back to in person, and I don't think we will until after the new year. I forget what the guidelines are for us, but it has something to do with the daily rate being below a certain threshold, and, well, most all of our congregations are closed nationwide.

Sorting seeds, trying to research and work on a plan for next year. Sounds like a good plan for a drizzly cold Monday.

You know I was thinking about seeds (flower mostly of course) this morning...decided though I should hold my horses and wait on them to update availability after first of the year. Many places are showing sold out of almost everything at this time of year. That doesn't stop my mind from spinning though..and maybe I will still make lists even if out of stock.

I need to do inventory. I have more than enough seeds for next year except black eye peas. I am not using saved seed for those again.

i May still want to order a few things For fun. And I need to order white flowering things. I am going to do large section all white.

We still have power, but I'm nervous with the trees lying over the lines. AND the news just said another round is heading our way.

I brought the basil in a couple of days ago and would like to make pesto, but will the power go off half-way through? I don't know.

Jen, we're not doing in-person classes yet either. Maybe in January? We'll see. And our T or T this year was a drive-thru only. So sad it's all cancelled.

Kim, I want white flowering things in my front yard too. I do have a hydrangea there, but all annuals this year were white (I would love to throw in some black blossoms too, but they're not as easy to find.)

I like the silvery green foliage type of plants along with the white (and black someday).

A red geranium and a coleus volunteered in my sea of white flowers.

Okay...I'm going to make the pesto. Hope I get it finished with electricity.

Power is out at my house.

HU

It sounds bad where full leafed trees ice over, that spell broken limbs and power outages. The largest power outage I can remember here was about 20 years ago. I was driving an 18 wheeler at the time. I was running illegally trying to stay ahead of the storm coming from the west, I shut down in Amarillo TX. I was hoping to outrun the worst of the storm, plus I knew I did not have enough fuel to keep the truck warm for days to wait out the storm. I fulled up, and parked the truck and went to bed. I woke up to 12 to 18 inches of snow. I called home to check on my parents, because it looked like the front was going to hit them also. All along the Arkansas/ Oklahoma border got freezing rain, and power outages, some for weeks. I called Madge, who lived in Gentry Ar. at the time, to see if she could find a generator. The ice storm had been worse south of Fayetteville Ar., and generators were not to found in Ft Smith or south. Madge had a key to my pick up, which I kept parked at the terminal in Lowell, AR.. I tried to live on the truck as much as possible because I could make more money that way. My home south of Ft. Smith had heat tape on all the water lines so I did not have to worry about busted pipe, and I had someone to mow the lawn once in a while, so staying gone was no problem.

Madge found a generator in Rogers AR. After being snowed in for two days in Amarillo, I headed east on about 3" of ice. I was out of the ice before getting into Oklahoma, and I shut down in Joplin MO., where I met Madge. We then took the generator to my parents who lived south of Ft. Smith, then headed back to Joplin.

I liked for Madge to keep a key to my truck, and for her to use it every now and then. I felt that was better than it setting all the time, and she did not mind driving a standard shift.

My health got worse and I quit driving an 18 wheeler. I figured that I had enough money saved, that with my low standard of living i could have all the beans I wanted for the rest of my life, I even felt I could afford a few extra beans and married Madge a few years later, and we have been eating bean happily ever after.

Well this has not been much of a gardening story, it has been more of the adventures of a redneck. But this redneck needs to go to my wildlife garden and check on the pumpkins. They will need to be stored soon, and I need to harvest the roselle, it has really been telling me that the growing season is over. Does anyone know if it is okay to harvest then after a freeze, I am thinking that harvest should be before frost or freeze?

Phew! i finished the 2 batches of pesto right before we lost power.

Sadly, my Chinese pistache completely broke. I finally managed to keep a tree alive and thriving and the ice on the pretty foliage took it out.

I am a little sick over it.

but am entertained by the flippin Roomba! Roomba is fully charged and sweeping my house for me while I sit in the cold and dark LOL

Well, it looks like I had better get use to Dawn not being on here, she was my "Weather Woman ". She always gave a heads up on what was headed my way. I looked on the computer a few minutes ago and it looks like I had better get on the ball, the forecast has changed, it appears that the temps have been lowered and the chances of rain has increased. We have been getting light rain the past two days, and looks like more to come. I sure hope we don't get freezing rain. We have enough food and fuel to set out a few days if the power goes off, but I won't like it.

Looks like I cut my cilantro needlessly. Got down to 29* here last night, but I had it planted next to a south facing wall of the house, and what's left out there survived.

Sure a lot of good wood gonna be available for my barbecue smoker, limbs down everywhere. Just gotta find the oak, pecan, and hickory.

My red bud in the front yard took a hit. And the red bud in my neighbor's yard that hung over the fence has lost a huge portion. Mrs Dollar and I loved that tree when it bloomed in March.

The National Weather Service has removed freezing rain from our forecast, a change since this morning, so you're probably just going to get rain, Larry. My weather station must be clogged, it shows no rain, but my gauge looks about half full. It will hold 5 inches. The rain is cold though. My pansies looked rather unhappy, but nothing like what they got in OKC.

Laughing at the fully charged roomba, H/J. I was reading about how they were distance learning in OKC today. How do you do that without power? Sometimes we do stupid things. Weather Channel says 280,000 without power in Oklahoma. The pictures of broken trees on FB are so sad. And the survivor tree! After our last bad ice storm, someone pointed out to me that the trees broke off at the same height (north of Tulsa, by the ranch), like that was all new growth since the last time they had broken. But sometimes you look at a row of trees and they're all close to the same height. I don't know if that's factual, just an observation.

I did nothing yesterday. We were just about to have lunch and work on produce when the tire place called. We got new tires on my car last week and some repairs done today. Hope that doesn't kill my motivation.

You all try to stay warm and I hope the power is not out for too long.

Brown cotton

I went out earlier & got shots of everything. The ice makes a cool effect on the blooms.

Hee, the partial boll looks like a crab or some kind of beetle.

Hallelujah!! Doing happy dance over here! Larry is the man of the hour--my hero. Larry Sim, Larry, not Larry Peugh, this time. But I did love your story. Loved it. Larry Sim! First, Garry and he--Garry Dean and Larry Dean--resurrected the Ipad keyboard. THEN he encouraged me to buy an inexpensive USB work-around for my defunct Dell (in that the wifi card was defunct). I ordered it from Amazon, it came and voila! I have internet! Saved me so much time. And a cheap fix, to boot. SO cool. I have to treat Larry and Eileen to a nice dinner.

So, we appear to be set, computer-wise. Anyone want to buy a 1 1/2 yr old Ipad and keyboard? lol

I am so sorry about all the tree damage for so many of you. And so sorry about the power outages. I pray they get you all up and running soon. Nasty little cold spell. Our rain gauge has 2 3/4" in it, as near as I could tell. I didn't walk all the way to it because I have slipper socks on--my Sherpa-lined winter slippers.

I may actually get some quilting and/or painting done for the next 3 months or so. I'm kind of in the mood to do both. And read. And looking forward to not spending as much as I usually do on plants and seeds, because the truth is that I have pretty much run out of room--here AND at Lincoln. All the forbs are either perennials or self-seed.

Lynn, my cilantro hasn't been hurt by cold weather in the past 3 years. Do you grow parsley? Have you noticed that it grows merrily right through winter? If so, the cilantro should, too. Little cilantro plants just began showing up here in the past couple weeks. This just pleases me to no end, since I am a big cilantro fan.

That's hilarious, HJ, about Roomba. Never even occurred to me to run it yesterday when we didn't have power. I sure loved seeing your garden on FB. Do you freeze your pesto in ice cube trays?

And sure miss Dawn. Yes, she DID keep us up to speed on weather! As well as lots of other things.

I've also been planting more white. Get a lotta bang for the buck with white. It shows up so beautifully in our shady yard.

Yes, stay warm, all.

Oh my! I'm worried about all of you in OKC area and everywhere else except Tulsa and north, and here. No ice here. Please check in when you can. It's raining heavily now, 46. 34 last night. We have chance for freeze Thursday night or Sunday night. If it doesn't freeze either of those nights, we should be clear for the next week-10 days. I'm seeing many of you on FB got hit with the power outage Tues., and still without power.

The ice is gone now, Nancy, but the OKC metro is a huge mess. Trees and limbs everywhere. Powerlines still down. SO many people without power. We had ours for awhile last night and this morning but it's off again. The poor line workers are doing their best, I'm sure. But it's a lot. And it's raining pretty hard. Then a strong wind is about to blow in.

We really have to be smart and buy a generator soon. Probably can't find one now.

If nothing else, we can't risk the amounts of food we put in our freezer. When it's cold outside, it's not quite the concern that it is when we lose electricity in the summer. AND Tom has a pig that will be in our freezer next spring.

HU has a generator that he purchased when his power was out for 10 days!!! in 2007.

Schools are out and I wouldn't be surprised if they're out again tomorrow. Not because of icy roads, but because so many people are without power. AND there's limbs still on many roads. They haven't cancelled yet, though.

And oddly people are calling to ask if we're still having Trunk or Treat. They're so disappointed. I'm at work now and am taking these calls.

I would love to go home and fix a warm dinner and some hot tea, but that isn't going to happen. I'll go home and feed the chickens, feed the dogs and walk them in the rain...and then come in and double up on my pants and shirts and cover up with a blanket and read a book by flashlight maybe? Maybe we'll go find a restaurant to eat. I had a cold, cheese sandwich last night. I'm grateful I have food--no complaints--but something warm would be good.

It will be interesting to look at the garden in a couple of days.

I'm still sad about my Chinese Pistache. I might try to replace it on Saturday if I can find one.

One good thing, all the rest has been great for my feet. I was preparing my feet for today. If we hadn't had this weather come in, I would have been on my feet all day and all night. So...I'll be thankful for that.

Always something to be thankful for.

Okay...I guess I better get home and take care of the dogs before it gets too dark.

Take care everyone.

Lotsa tree limbs down in our part of OKC, SW 89th to SW 104th, along Penn. My redbud has several broken limbs. Its gonna look really funny. I will probably have to do a deeper prune next spring after it blooms, what little of it will be left to bloom.

Power outages are scattered. I think it depends upon limbs falling on power lines. I'm fortunate that our lines are buried and we rarely lose power.

I had no idea what to expect from cilantro, much less in the fall. I've never grown cilantro. Sooo, I'm learning. I have a couple of garlic bulbs. Never planted garlic either.

Lynn, planted garlic from the grocery store for the first time this year. I broke up 3 bulbs and got roughly 30 cloves, wen I checked then a couple of days ago I had one plant about 3 " tall, I expect I have more now. Before I bought garlic at the Co-op, so far they seem to grow about the same, but I have no idea what i have.

Jennifer I use to hunt and camp a lot. I would keep a few RV light bulbs that I could screw into a table light. I had a 120 volt receptacle wired to my hunting rig batter and I would just plug in an extension and run it into the house to have a light to read by. I now have battery powered tools that have a light in the kit that works good in the house. For outdoor projects I use 12 volt flood lights that plug into the truck or tractor. We also have a lot of candles in the house, we also have a very old pump-up lantern we can use, it puts out a lot of light but stinks. A lot of my friends used the LP bottles, they work very well, but I am not that modern. For more power I use my generator.

I'll get my garlic in as soon as it quits raining and dries up a little. Good link to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange re garlic. https://www.southernexposure.com/garlic-growing-guide/

Note these instructions say to use the larger cloves. I hadn't planned for that. I probably should have ordered twice as many as I did.

I was sad to hear of everyone in this cold weather without electricity. And thinking of the poor Hurricane Zeta victims, too. I was reading that for many, this is their FIFTH horrible storm this year. Many whose homes were destroyed still don't have housing, and now here they go again. I just can't imagine--and on top of it, all this pandemic stuff.

I want a generator, too, Jennifer. GDW has never felt the need to have one. And maybe not. In Mpls, they were kind of mandatory. The last one before I moved down here, a tornado ripped through the city and trees were down all over. My son has rentals and houses under renovation and/or construction. He called his FIL in Fargo and asked him to go round up as many generators as he could. Everyone else from the cities must have had that same idea. But Chuck found 4 (5?) of them and got them down to Mpls. Ahh, good times. Electricity was out five days that time. In fact, five days seemed to be the magic number for days without power. And happened four different times.

Well. I'll be thinking of everyone and hoping the electric company gets things done quickly. I bet they'll have crews from neighboring states in to help.

I agree it seems odd that people are calling to ask about Trunk and Treats!

Best to all of ya.

I have power/electric. No worries. I invited several friend so come and hang out here... but so far, non came, or they had other places. There are still lots of people without a street south of me, and 3 streets north of me. You can tell from the generator noise.

I for one, plan to buy one once it is easy to find one again. I want an RV type, they are more quiet. All I want it for is to run my heater (which really means my blower for the heater as the heater in gas) and my fridge.

I have luci lights (solar, very packable for a cycle tourer) and thus, don't worry about light.

My stove is gas too, as is my water heater.

All this means, I don't need a huge power outlet....

I did a walk about around 2 today and the trees all look very sad still. Ice was melting/dropping, and I walked sort of like a drunk person from one side of the road to the other to stay out from under trees.

I feel really bad, for everyone without power...

Moni

Still with power, and an extra pair of dogs. Their owner is a regular & he asked if we could take his fluff balls since he's been without power for 2 days & were headed to a friend's. Then today he said that friend lost power so they were heading to another friend's. Told him not to worry, we were fine & if we lose power we still have plenty of body heat with all these furrballs.

I remember the week long power outage of 2010 (not sure it was 2010), but anyway, yes, it was definitely 'a two dog night' for most of that time. And I was glad my furrballs were large (Australian Shepherds) and biddable to sleep on either side of me.

I think it was 2007, dbarron. My house is all electric, no gas at all. Ron can cook on a BBQ grill without issue. Boy scout leader, he could cook on a fire on the ground, but I think we grilled or cooked in the fireplace. The fireplace really didn't warm the house. The candles we had for lights did more. Our fireplace has a blower and glass doors. Works great when there is power. We have power (our outage was due to a transformer fire.) But heater wasn't working right. We have a heat pump and an alternative emergency heater. I read that you should turn on emergency heat if the outdoor box was iced over, so we did, but turning it back it never got warm and the fan just stayed on trying to get warm. Our old thermostat automatically switched to emergency heat if the pump couldn't bring the temp up. This one doesn't). HVAC guy said a switch in the pump had to be reset. He didn't know why it happened, but it was only the cost of a service call to fix it. I was surprised they got someone out that quick.

H/J, doesn't your husband have some nonelectric grill in his shop? Didn't you use propane to can on? Am I dreaming that? See if you can get some dry ice to put in your freezer. That will be hard to find, too.

I'm glad some of you have power. No one has really mentioned the roads, are they passable? I saw a news thing about someone stranded in OKC from KY. I thought, just go home. Power is on in Tulsa. Hotels in Tulsa. It's raining of course. My gauge is almost full. Like 4.5 inches for this "event".

I roasted green tomatoes yesterday. They are surprisingly tasty that way. These were for a Verde sauce, but you could do them for a side dish. Sliced in half, roasted at 325 for 1.5 hours. Some recipes call for shorter times at higher temps. I don't know if flavor would be the same that way.

There is still some Chard looking good in the garden and the brassica look good from what I can see from the house. I'm afraid to try to walk in the soup out there.

dbarron, do you still have Australian shepherds? This is a picture of Brisco. Best dog in my life. (And he wasn't even MY dog--my son and his family. But I always lived very near/and or with them.) This picture was take just a couple months before the vet came to euthanize him. By that point, son had to carry him out of the house, he was nearly blind, and very frail. We were amazed by this photo. . . it's almost as though he was fading away.

I'm using Firefox for browser at the moment--haven't totally figured out the new tab/new window thing, and as a result, lost my post twice. Not going to click on new tab or window again!

Speaking of Firefox, do any of you use it? I love the news feed on their home page. That's where I saw the Easter Island statues, Amy. I think I might begin using them most of the time. Especially after watching Social Dilemma.

I am feeling so sorry for everyone whose power is out. It is so chilly! And rainy!

Nothing going on. . .

PS: THAT was interesting, Amy, about roasted green tomatoes. How did the taste compare with fried greed tomatoes? Were they still tart, or did the roasting make them sweeter?

It's probably similar to fried green tomatoes with much less mess. Still tart, but not unpleasantly so. Probably takes some of the sour bite away. I intentionally did them at a lower temp for longer time hoping they would mellow. I think they did. Maybe they were a little sweeter. I have a recipe for oven fried green tomatoes to try. I hate frying. I forgot to mention drissling with olive oil before roasting, and you could throw some onions and garlic in if so inclined.

Hey it just got light here! Maybe the sun is really going to come out.

And of course I don't have any green tomatoes to experiment. Maybe the school does. I need to go in there tomorrow. Boy, sounds like Moni is having a bugger of a day! I had to run out and see if WE had any blue. No--but it is lighter here, too.

I think the Verde sauce will be good. I made it up this afternoon to meld the flavors overnight for planned burritos tomorrow. I tried to pull the skins off the tomatoes, some were easy, some not so much. They were softer than I expected, so definitely a sauce not a salsa. Probably shouldn't have cooked as long for salsa.

https://bakerbynature.com/pan-seared-cod-in-white-wine-tomato-basil-sauce/

Dinner tonight. Last of my black cherry tomatoes: (

Can y’all tell me everything you know about harvesting and using roselle

Y'all I'm tired for so many reasons. Diverse reasons.

It doesn't matter. We still don't have power. The news said it could be 3 weeks. Hope they were just being dramatic.

Tom was lucky that he pulled up to Lowes this morning when a truck with generators pulled up, so we got one. (ouch...the price)

But, we need it.

He does have propane, but we have a freezer with goods that we want to keep. AND as much as everyone thinks I'm a fan of "off the grid"....I"m not. I like power. I like electricity. I do like growing my own food...and buying local.

Anyway...

work continues to be crazy for so many reasons.

Amy, the road here are fine. The problem now is power outages. Schools are cancelled because too many schools and homes are without power.

It really is crappy.

I'm not going to waste the time talking about my stupid day trying to please everyone when the schools are closed tomorrow as of this afternoon...so it doesn't matter.

Dumb.

So much, but it's not cheerful so I'm gong to grab another blanket and feel happy that our freezers are safe.

Yep.

Went out to inspect the damage & found 6 tomatoes. They still feel firm so I'm hoping they're good. Had fennel & carrot seed almost ready to harvest, a out a week more to go. If fennel breaks off at the base, will the seeds finish ripening? We don't have any trees so we didn't have much limb damage. One picket in rhe fence was popped loosed but that's simple to bang back in.

Larry, I've been meaning to tell you, but I personally like your stories. This weekly thread began as a garden update but has morphed into an ongoing discussion of lives, memories, weather, pets, kids, and a little gardening thrown in. So share all the stories you want.

I agree, Larry. Your stories are so interesting and I hope you continue to share them. (Mine aren't so interesting. I am boring.)

My Aussies from Oklahoma have all passed away, however, I have a miniature Aussie that's new (6 years now?). Will never have another miniature, omg, he's afraid of everything, the weirdest dog ever. I do not discard dogs, but I've thought about getting rid of him many times. He also can't eat anything without getting sick. Dry dog food and that's it, or he'll throw it up (sometimes even just water). Table scraps? Forget it...thrown up.

I may fall off the wagon and just adopt a mature (hopefully not senior) dog when the current two pass on (have a Havanese that came to my father's house as stray). While puppies are cute, I could pass with training them.

http://theindianvegan.blogspot.com/2013/02/all-about-roselle.html?m=1

https://www.southernexposure.com/newsletter/2011-november/newsletter.html

http://www.hibiscus.org/recipes.php

When the pods are very purple, pull them off the plants. You can dry the calyces for tea. I pulled them off the green seed pod because it's supposed to be hairy. They will stain your fingers.

I like everyone's stories. H/J, you are not boring. I am so sorry your power is still out. Ours was out for 5 days I think in 2007, I remember how tedious that was. I'm glad you got a generator! Maybe the warmer weather make it easier to get the power back on.

An Australian shepherd adopted us once. She was terrified of storms, she would race hysterically around the yard until she was covered in mud. Otherwise she was a very smart, loving dog who ended up with some grandparents with 15 grandkids loving on her and teaching her tricks.

It froze here this morning. I really wasn't aware it would, and hoses were still connected to faucets. Oh well. At this point what lives lives. I need to do sprouts and herbs for indoors. Meh.

Internet is worthless at home so I had to go in to the office. I think there's 10 people on the entire floor, maybe 30 in the building. And we're right next door to the voting office so traffic is horrible. This whole work from home thing has me spoiled.

Amy, thanks for the link.

Jennifer, you are not boring, and I really enjoy your pictures and videos.

We had a freeze last night also, and I have not unhooked the hoses either. I do have a 4 outlet hose manifold attached to the outdoor faucet and only 3 hoses attached to the manifold. One outlet (valve) I just use to wash my hands and shoes, plus break the vacuum to permit the faucet to drain. The riser has a hole at the bottom to permit it to drain if there is no vacuum from above. We leave a hose running to each garden and one for the flower bed attached most of the summer because it is so hard to drag heavy hoses around. Water will only expand near 10% when it freezes, most garden hoses can withstand that, especially if you leave the hand valve open on the discharge end.

My garden was bit by frost pretty good this morning. The roselle blooms were damaged, I think I can save the red part, whatever it is called, plus I think I can save the peppers, I will check again a little later to see if they are soft. I also have some sweet potato plants that look like they may have been spared. I am going to try to have a lot more garden than I need next year. We don't know what the economy will be like next summer, and I had rather have food to give away than to see anyone hungry. I will start raising mother plants of different kinds of sweet potatoes early so I can plant a larger patch in the wildlife garden. My neighbor seems to be getting a little excited about growing extra food also. Up till this year he had a produce farm and would sell produce. He has a green house and storage area/small store that we can use. We think we can grow enough food to help family, friends and neighbors. His wife had been baking and freezing pumpkin pies, and I think she has been making jelly also. We have most of the pumpkins that we grew stored in his little store now.

We have a little crazy fur baby. I just tell everyone that he is my brain damaged child. He wants to whip everything with 4 legs, no matter how large it is. When he was very young we think he was stung on the lip by a bee. We were outside working in the lawn and garden, and I think the dog must have been trying to kill all the bees on the clover. He yelped and we thought that he was stung around his mouth. I ask Madge to put him in the house, and in a few minutes I ask her to check on her baby. Madge came to the back door and yelled for me to come quick. The little yorkie was laying under the dinning room table, looked dead. I picked him up and he felt dead, but I told her to get the car keys and head for the nearest vet. I put his mouth and nose in my mouth and started blowing and squeezing his chest. Madge had not been in this area very long and did not know how to get to the vet, which was about 8 miles away. I worked on that little dog all the way to the vets office. About the time we pulled into the parking lot our little dog was starting to come around. The dog looked pretty good, but I did not looks so good. I had dog pee and poop on my shirt and pants. I am not sure if he was that near death, or if I just blew the crap out of him when I was trying to give CPR. He stayed at the vets office a while, probably overnight. The dog is over 14 years old now, and that was a long time ago, but still if he is sick or hurting he come to me. My wife and I joke about it, she says that I am doctor daddy. Any other time he had rather be around his mama, ( Madge), because she feeds him. We still keep benadryl to give him as needed. He has health issues, and is a large drain on the bank account, but he is still our baby and we hope to do right by him, and pray that God will tell us when it is time for him to go. He has been a big blessing for Madge and me both.

Well, Folks, that is your bed time story for today. I had better go check the garden and harvest what needs to be harvested. I also picked up more garlic at Walmart a while ago, and as soon as the garden drys a little I will plant more. Some of the garlic I planted a week or so ago has already come up, and most of the onions are looking good also. All of the onions are some that had been harvested months ago and I was afraid I would loose them it I did not get them back into the ground. We should at least have green onions all winter long.

Has everything thawed out over there yet ? We had a minor freeze this morning (31.5), tomatillos still seemingly unaffected. Basil burnt.

I had frost last night. Haven’t taken stock yet

I did manage to get a generator despite getting my car towed. Finally got it up and running too. My fridge ran for 5 hours non stop to catch up.
Meanwhile I used this to have a warm spot:

How to make a warm spot, when your power is out, but you have a gas stove/cooktop:
Take a BIG pot and fill with water. Use a match to light a burner, and heat your water. Meanwhile take a sock and fill it with rice, lentils or some grain and tie a knot to close it. Now, when your water is really hot put the sock on the lid. Leave it till it's warm throughout. Then you have two warm /hot things. :) I tell ya, that sure feels good on my neck right now.

Moni, where did you find your generator?

We have an all electric house which was one of the 3 "negatives" about this place. I love out home, though, so we'll deal with it. Someday we'll get the whole house generator. Someday.

We went to Mom's to bathe and do a couple of loads of laundry.

dbarron, we're thawed out here. It was a pretty day in fact.

Jen, I think internet is bad for a lot of people right now. It's one thing we have. Cox buried our line. Cox is new to our neighborhood and I'm so glad they did that. Our generator is keeping our internet going.

Kim, how bad was the frost? Let us know.

How's everyone else?

Hazel they had a huge delivery at home depot at nw59 and May this morning. I bought mine at Advance Auto in Tulsa. 3500 watts, two outlets. Means in my case I can run the fridge, or heat. Heat ( I have gas) needs two extension cords. And the full tank of gas didn't run as long as was advertised. But I managed to keep all my food. Never ran the heater yet. I used a multi cord, and also charged my phone.

Mine

Before I hefted it outdoors and filled it.

Moni, I think you will like your generator. I have a harbor freight generator, was a little afraid it would not last, but it has done very well, I think I have had to replace the battery once. It is a little larger than yours, but I had to have electric start because of being a beat up old man, but I sure have gotten a lot of use out of my generator. I have used it most running electric chain saws, I cant crank a chain saw either.

Moni is our macguyver

Well crap. Either my power cord is to long or my generator not strong enough to give me heat. The blower comes on, but the heat doesn't. Just fact

We're almost at time for the next week's thread. I got out this morning and looked over the garden, fall is definitely coming fast. Some thing's foliage looks ratty, others have already gone basal. It's neat seeing the brown eyed susan, cardinal flowers, and greater blue lobelia clumps with their new basal foliage, promises for next year,etc.

Colorful foliage and fall crocus are about the only things looking fresh at the moment. Garden cleanup will probably be initiated in a week or so (I want to get the brown eyed susans before they reseed too much). I will probably leave the amsonia, hibiscus, and lobelia stems for the winter, some insects may possibly overwinter in the standing stems (like native bees, I think).

Moni, this is ours.

we didn’t really get a selection—this is what they had.

And we are still using it. we haven’t seen OG&E out here at all...

glad to have it .

In good new, HU‘s power is back and so is my daughters.

a lot of people who have electricity are dealing with internet issues, which is almost as annoying.

i looked

at the garden today briefly.

we will probably start pulling out plants in the afternoon. I can’t get too dirty because we don’t have hot water and I need to be at work early Monday morning and won’t have time to stop at Moms to shower. .

I don't have time to comment this evening, but have been reading your posts. Hugs to all.

Those still without power, unplug your "good stuff" sometimes when it comes back it surges a bit. No need to let it ruin something.