The usual signs of fall and winter with colored, crunchy, dead leaves don't arrive until late December and into January. Vibrant colors are always so fantastic. Honestly, there is nothing like the multiple colored leaves of a poison ivy plant to set the winter moods. Sure, there are other signs, but they just happen and you don't really see the changes. It is more like you wake up one day and realize: 1) the grasses are not growing, 2) there are white pelicans and geese doing fly overs, and 3) the size of town just doubled with Winter Texans. With these signs, fall has finally left and the few weeks of winter will be whipping through with bitter, cold winds from the northern states.
Fall days are cool mornings, gentle breezes, and pleasant afternoons. Winter days are cold, windy, and wet. Yes, I know, cold is relative to your location. But I am born and raised south Texan and anything below 70 is cold. But it is not the cold that gets to you, it is the wet. Winter wet is the kind of wet that seeps into your bones and causes your core temperature to drop. Wetness comes from the heavy morning dew, moisture brought in off the bays, constant overcast, fog lasting all day, and winter rains. There are some sayings about Texas I find to be truer than true. Welcome to Texas, where it is hotter than hell. Heat can be handled. Turn on a fan, drink some cold water, and chill out. Cold. Cold is another story altogether.
Lord help us when it gets really cold. And before you ask, yes, it does get cold here. There are weeks when the daytime highs will not reach 50's and the lows at night are in the upper 30's/low 40's. However, by the time these weeks arrive, the wetness has soaked into your core and there are not enough clothes in your closet to keep you warm. Combine this constant wetness with bitter north winds, and you are wishing for summer. It seems silly to find down lined jackets in stores in South Texas but you can, starting in about September. Of course, these are also stores selling bikinis in February when winter is in full bloom. Go figure.
Then there are the years (thank the stars they are few and far between) where winter shows up with a mean streak. That would be one of these years. Oh sure, the meteorologist said all week winter was coming but nobody listens to them. As it turns out, we did not listen either and winter was really coming. Coming with all its ugliness. If we had listened, each citrus tree would have had individual greenhouses built to protect against the wind and maintain any energy and heat released. Citrus trees were covered to the best of our ability with trash bags and old t-shirts since there was not the time to better prepare. Deck plants were placed in the storage box for protection against the wind.
Friday morning started out in the upper 60's with very little breeze and not a cloud to be found for miles. Friday early afternoon temperatures were in the upper 70's. Late afternoon clouds started to roll in, the breeze was picking up, and temperatures were dropping. Rapidly. Uh-oh! By nightfall, the temps were already in the low 40's and were supposed to drop into the low 30's.
Yup, well they dropped into the 30's alright. They dropped right on in and decided to keep on going.
Temperatures bottomed out at 27 degrees. Not bad. And then they stayed there for hours on end. Winds howled at 25mph-30mph with gusts up to 45mphs. But not a drop of rain. Thank goodness. It would have been an even bigger mess
As it turns out, the meteorologists were wrong. Winter came. Winter stayed. It was supposed to just pass through. The day was just beautiful once the wind lay down. Sunny, dry, and freaking, fracking cold. Cold, cold. Bitter cold. The kind of cold making breathing outside hurtful. In the afternoon, it warmed up to middle 30's so the plants were uncovered to reveal the damage.
Poor little citrus trees, how I loved you so. Burned, so burned. Every tree will lose some of its leaves. Not a doubt in my mind. To add insult to injury, during inspection these eggs were found. Negative: leaf-eating bugs. Positive: they froze and are dead, dead, dead. Ha, take that bugs!
With temperatures dropping back below freezing on Saturday night, plants were once again covered and protected. This time with double layer trashbags.
"and I said Ethyl, don't look. But it was too late...." Sunday morning broke with clear skies and warmer weather in the forecast. But the damage was already done. Yesterday, the leaves were burned and wind whipped. Today, they are crispy critters. Yesterday, trees were going to lose some leaves. Today. Today, trees will loose all leaves. Waaaaahhhhh!!!!!
Citrus trees look bad, but the deck plants. Let's just say I have seen better looking dead plants. Hibiscus. Fried. Cape honeysuckle. Fried. All dead, dead, dead. Dead. So much for trying to have something pretty.
And what you ask, did we do during these two days of bitter colds. On Saturday we stayed inside in attempts to stay warm. For all of those reading this blog who have never lived in an RV, there is no such thing as a four-season RV. None. Wintering in an RV is not to be done. Fortunately, soups were made to warm up both the inside of the RV and our tummies. Clothes and more clothes were piled on in attempts to stay warm. That is unless of course, you were the dog. The dog was oblivious to the bitter cold temperatures.
On Sunday afternoon, temperatures were already back into the low 40's and work continued.
Castles were built.
String lines were attached to form boards. Center was marked in preparation for the next new project. Did you figure out what the new project is? Well, if you didn't. Then you will have wait for the next post.
And elevation was checked again. Need to make sure the project is flat, not parallel with the world. Flat is important. Standing water is bad. There are already plenty of mosquitoes and salt corrosion, no need to add to the problem.
All in all is was a nice weekend. Cold but nice. Too bad the plants suffered. Suffered twice over and will be probably not rebound. Oh well, lesson learned. Plan ahead.