Put On a Poncho

Virginia's weather this winter has been unseasonal, to say the least.

It has rained a lot.

The weather has been much, much too warm.

The grass is greening, we're at least two weeks ahead of schedule with the flowers, and the trees have budded out.

Will we have peaches? Apples? How will this affect my friends who are fruit tree farmers? Will my own lovely deciduous trees survive this perplexing weather?

This was not the year to put away your fall clothes. Some days it has been so warm one could wear shorts and be comfortable.

We've had a few below-freezing days, but I think I can count them on one hand. Does this mean the stink bugs will be roaring back with vengeance, staining everything they decide to spit up on? Will other bugs be abundant? How about ticks? Will Lyme Disease be as scary as the Coronavirus?

The gray days, of which there have been many, have forced me to use my seasonal light therapy doohickey nearly every day. I tend to be more depressed in the winter, you see. My doctor recommended this light therapy as way to help ease the darkness wrought by the lesser sunshine of the season.

However, it is hard to have sunshine with constant cloud cover. Sheesh.

The rain has made it difficult for the fellows who are helping my husband out by feeding our cattle while he is recovering from his surgery. They're having to battle the mud to get out in the fields. They are traveling in the ruts from days before. It's only slightly better than snow, and that's just because it's warmer. At least a cold, frozen ground would make getting back and forth less of an ordeal.

But we've not had enough cold to freeze the ground for any length of time.

I hear there is no such as climate change. I hear that folks don't believe there is any reason to make the air cleaner, or to stop chopping down trees, or to stop pollution. I hear that deregulation and ridding the US of the Environmental Protection Agency would be a good thing.

Because there's no such thing as climate change. We don't need clean air to breathe, and who cares what is in the water that falls from the sky, right? We can't be costing corporations money to clean up their act! We can't put people first in this country, no way.

We're the little guys. All replaceable.

Wonder what "they" will do when the only people left to replace us are the ones they won't let in the country anymore?

Sorry, got off track there. Not sure how a little essay on Virginia weather turned into a sarcastic climate change snit. Of course the climate is changing. Of course we need regulations and a vibrant, working EPA. Of course we need clean air and clean water.

Maybe we need more rain, to wash away the grim realities that half the country refuses to face.

Let's get wet, Virginia.

The January 7 snow

What was supposed to be, according to Alexa, anyway, 1.68 inches of snow (yes, she was that exacting in her forecast), turned out to be over 3 inches of fluffy slick stuff yesterday.

I missed a chiropractor appointment. I headed out for it and turned around as quickly as I could. I had expected my driveway to be snowy but not the road. It was a sheet of ice with snow on top and my Camry was spinning all over the place. I barely made it back home.

Snow is a pain but it does make the landscape lovely.

A Little Ice, Ice Baby

We woke this morning to ice, and while the forecast called for warmer temps and lessening rain, it has instead simply drizzled rainy icy water from the sky all day.

A gray day. An icy day.

A good day to stay inside.

This blue jay seemed perplexed by the icy trees.

The coating of ice has grown as the day as progressed.

My garden cart, which I flipped over the other day because it was full of water, has icicles hanging from its wheels.

Just a pretty branch, coated with ice.

Trees in the Snow

Icing - But Not Cake!

We had ice yesterday about mid-morning. The rain came down as ice/sleet and stuck to trees, fence lines, etc. Ice is a concern, always, because you never know what it will do as it builds up on surfaces.

Even though it is dangerous, it is pretty.

Snowfall

We had snow over the weekend.

It Snowed

Just a Little Rain

Over the last six days, we've had dramatic rain falls. As of yesterday at lunch time, we'd had more than six inches of rain.

Then it rained about 1/4 inch around lunchtime.

And then it rained 1-3/4 inches after supper.

There was flooding all over the place. We watched the water run off the hills. We knew we would find a mess in the driveway but it was a bit worse than we'd anticipated.



Gravel in the yard.



A ditch couldn't carry the water and so more gravel went into the yard.



This ditch did have concrete and river rock in it to try to keep the water moving
and in its place. It didn't work.



This is a large overflow.



More gravel in the yard.



This is the overflow. You can see the many layers of gravel, pug, and crush-and-run we've put down
over the years. I think this time it eroded all the way back to the foundation of the driveway. That mud
in the middle there? That would be the water mark where the drain couldn't take the rain
and it poured over the driveway.

A lot of gravel is in the neighbor's pasture.

This is the lower side of the driveway near the road. That ditch cut-away isn't supposed
to be there.

I'm pretty sure some of those larger rocks were buried further up.

I think the rain tried to take out the mailbox.

What a mess.

Yep, definitely tried to take the mailbox.

Photos taken with my iPhone SE.