Wow! It has been awesome weather here too, but not raining like you folks. It won't be long now before we see the gophers pop out!

Sharon

Rain and freezing rain here in NW Ontario. The roads were not pleasant today, so i didn't go to work at my school (30 miles away) - got to stay here and work at my old school, which was really nice!

We're in for a couple of mild days and then back down to normal.

About ten days ago, we had a day of rain in the Edmonton area like I've don't think I've ever experienced it rain in winter before! Sure, I've seen plenty of freezing rain, though this episode was much more like what one would expect in the warm season ... oh, any surfaces with packed down ice or snow, these were down right scary!

We had a roof collapse on a farm building and killed a man. A lot of broken bones too.

I did however, get a laugh out of the airport whiners. Would they sooner go up in the plane and crash?

How about the boys in Morden skating and playing hockey on the street? LOL They've been showing that on the Weather Network!

Apparently it has been raining all night here. I see from Facebook that my daughter-in-law (a truck driver) didn't have to go to work last night, which is a relief.

My brother in Thunder Bay said it rained a lot and all the schools were closed.Too much ice.

We were in the city that day. It was strange seeing rain at that time of year. We had rain Mon. Freezing rain Tues. then Wed it was snowing! Talk about change!

Kathy

Another wacky winter, it is either really cold or above freezing.

Besides last weeks warm spell, it really doesn't seem in a hurry to warm up again. Average high is suppose to be -7 and the next week looks like -12 to -14. Oh well, you can just feel the strength of the sun is increasing and will eventually start to affect us.

Hopefully it starts to effect us soon!
I think I was sick of winter the second day we had snow!
I'll be glad when the snow starts to leave and I can get outside. I think in another life I must have lived some place that was warm all the time.
Kathy

I've been less stir crazy for summer this year than in others. I think that forcing bulbs, and having the geraniums blooming away in the basement makes it bearable. The only down side is that I'm having an aphid infestation. I even put a planter of spent bulbs out in the front porch -20 for 4 hours and the little buggers are still alive. Maybe it's because they don't usually get to eat tulips and crocuses, but they are just covering the plants. I don't want to use any sprays as my air head cat likes to sample all plants.

I think the solution would be to not keep the geraniums under lights over the winter, but my mom insists since her's look better than the ones at the conservatory.

I went out and bought some hyacinths from Superstore that were already potted and coming up. I don't usually do that but I tried to start some on my own and they didn't do much. I needed a sense of spring!

Kathy

Hi Kathy, did you refrigerate the bulbs before planting them? They need to think they've been through winter, for several months before they will flower. My pantry works too and stays about 5 degrees on the floor so I'll plant them and stick them there. When the tops come up about 2 inches I put them under lights. Mine from last year lived in the containers all summer and in the fall, I dug them up and planted them in the ground and all the hyacinths had little baby bulbs and the tulips had divided into about 4 new ones, which I hope will bloom in 2010.

Yep, I did. They started got about 3 inches of leaf the start of a flower and then just sat there and didn't do anything else. I had bought the forcing jars and the bulbs and everything and it was a real disappointment! I also started forcing some Paper whites and they have tons of leaf but NO flowers. I don't know what to do with them now either. I was thinking of trying to cut some of the leaf back but I know they need it to grow for next year. I don't want to just chuck them also! Do you have any ideas for getting hem to bloom?
Kathy