Winter has finally arrived

This morning we had our first frost of the season and the overnight low on our back patio was 24 degrees.  It hasn't gone that low for several years.  We covered the Meyer lemon, the lime and the tangerine trees.  The other lemon and the two orange trees are just too big to cover.  

Speaking of oranges, we have had a continuous supply of fresh orange juice since last January.  They just keep getting ripe. 

We are expecting more extreme cold tonight.  It is not quite 9 pm and already down to 37 degrees.

We Will Never Forget

Weird Weather

Today, July 4,  there was a freak hailstorm in Santa Rosa, NM which dropped two feet of hail.  Looks almost like snow in the middle of winter!

Photo from KATU-TV, courtesy of Santa Rosa Fire Dept

I remember one time we were driving across the southwest on Interstate 40, we stopped for Sunday brunch at this restaurant in Santa Rosa.  Good food with a Route 66 decorating theme.

Photo is from Tripadviser

May the Fourth be with You

Photo from @squirrelbeebz

YMCA to the Rescue

Since June of last year Mr. B and I have been taking the Enhance Fitness class at our local Y twice a week.  What a difference a little exercise makes!  When we started I couldn’t:

• Get up off the floor without help, either from a person or a piece of furniture
• Walk down stairs one foot after the other
• Turn my head far enough to see oncoming traffic when backing out of a diagonal parking space.
• Take a deep breath without having my lungs hurt

Now I can do all those things, the first two within a couple of weeks of starting the program.
We were so pleased that we joined the Y and planned to use their exercise equipment on a regular basis. 

























The regular basis part hasn’t happened yet although I have used the treadmill a few times.

Last Tuesday we had a pretty good rain and Wednesday morning this was the view of the mountains east of town.
At first I though that white stuff was clouds but it turned out to be SNOW which is a rare sight around here.  Maybe once or twice a year.

 This winter has been much colder than usual with frost almost every morning.  It doesn’t stay below freezing for very long so we haven’t had any damage in the garden, except for some of the Meyer lemons.  But the Washington Navel oranges have been fantastic. 
I usually juice them but this year they are so perfect that we’ve been just peeling and eating.  We’ll probably juice the Valencia oranges, although they are pretty good eating too.
The only other things in my winter garden are parsley and swiss chard.  I really dropped the ball on starting seeds last fall and then I didn’t feel like going out in the garden when it was so cold.