Weather Here And There

It's been another dreary day here in the Midwest....no real rain at our house (a quick sprinkle or two), but there was rain around us. It stayed very damp and in the 60's today. I think there's more of the same tomorrow, then possibly some sun and a little more warmth the next couple of days.

I keep trying to remember how I coped for six years early in my adult life when I lived in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I talked earlier about the fun of watching the food crops grow. But the reality of that part of the country is that it rains - a lot - sometimes as much as nine months out of the year.

You do kind of get used to it, but it wears on the soul to have that dreary/rainy/foggy weather day in and day out. Fog would roll in during September, then the rain would start. Mid-October to mid-November saw fall storms coming inland off the Pacific - that meant heavy rain and lots of wind. It would settle back down to "normal" rain until March, when the spring storms would blow in. Sometimes we would have a break in February, a tease of warm and sunny weather for a few days.

The good news is that the heavy clouds and rain kept the winter temperatures up. It was rare for the temps to go below freezing, or for there to be ice or snow. I remember only three (comparatively, for this Midwesterner) smaller snowstorms during the six years there - son was born during one, and younger daughter during another.

Summertime temps were much more moderate, too. We would usually have one week in early August where the temps were over 90. Otherwise, we stayed mid-70's to mid-80's. It was such an overall mild climate, and so great for growing. It was SO green - I loved driving in the mountainous areas and seeing the ferns growing all over the place - blooming  rhododendrons seemed to be everywhere.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm trying some container gardening this summer. I think I'll be about 50% on that experiment! Both tomato plants are blooming, and the pepper is budded. The peas look really good so far. The spinach is a bust - it would have been good for the Keebler elves! It didn't get very big, certainly not big enough to pick - but it's already going to seed. So those pots will be cleaned out and a local shop has flowering plants on sale that will take the place of the spinach. The beets are still hanging in there. And the zucchini - well, it's a good thing that's such a hardy plant! Hubby looked out one evening last week and saw starlings stripping the leaves off. The plants looked pretty pathetic that evening, but they're coming back and setting on new leaves. Just watch - in a month or so I'll be complaining of having too much zucchini!!  :)

The damp weather today at least gave us a break from mowing the yard - it'll be another day or two before we'll be able to tackle that job. So - there's my silver lining!