Category Archives: Weather

Tree and Garden Maintenance

Posted on December 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today was a clean up day. We had landscapers come out to do the final clean up of derecho damaged trees, before we put up the crank up tower in the yard. We don’t need trees coming down on the guy wires or the tower. Now that the leaves are gone, you could definitely pick out damaged trees that strong winds could bring down.

While out there, I took advantage of the mild weather and finished the haircuts on the spirea. Cleaned out those flower beds.

I really cut them way back. Not a bad idea. They come in more vigorous every summer and have created almost a hedge of sorts. This is what they looked like in the summer. The bunny is a bonus. Baby bunnies, birds, chipmunks, all love to hide in the spirea.

I also made my first attempt to clean out the veggie garden. It is a real mess. Full of dead tomato plants and overtaken by morning glory vines. I pulled out many of the cages and cleaned them.

I was careful to salvage my tomato ties and not throw away any sticks, ties or rope. The tomato plants will not go into compost. I don’t need them growing in the compost pile. The twisty ties were collected and brought in the house to put away for next year.

This garden plot is going to become herbs, lettuces and cool weather plants only. There will be a new garden next year. I need to get out into the field where I get more sunshine. The trees have now grown to a point where they shade the current garden site. Morning sun doesn’t come in until after 7 am. The sun starts disappearing behind the maple after 3 pm. Next year it will be worse as the trees get even taller.

There will be a new plot dug in and fenced. 20 by 40 is my goal. My 30 by 10 garden will now have a very large neighbor. This is the year I will do pumpkins, watermelon and lots more squash. Off into the field we will go. Oasis, who did today’s tree maintenance will be tilling and creating my new one. Ron is a local business owner, just a few miles down the road on Triadelphia Mill Rd. He and his crew did a great job today.

The new home for the garden.

The tall grasses are my neighbor’s property. We cut ours so we can put the radio towers there. Now, I just have to find a way to keep these visitors from jumping the fence.

The deer think nothing about galloping through our meadow and racing across my other neighbor’s front yard. The day I caught this one with the camera there were four of them out there.

Well, winter will be here in two days. I think this year is the earliest for my plant pruning, and I have a head start on garden maintenance. Time to hibernate for the winter, and hope we don’t have ice storms. At least if we do, we have pruned the trees to keep them from breaking off.

3 Comments

Posted in Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged gardening, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, nature, photography, spring flowers, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Eight Years In

Posted on December 15, 2012 by AnnieRie

December 2004. The first time we saw our house. After months of frustrating searching and one bad experience with misrepresentation on a disclosure form. We drove by at night to check it out. It is dark out here. Really dark. But, the house was decorated and looked great. On the 16th we came back to tour it.

And, fell in love. It was probably the kitchen that did it for me.

450 square feet. OK, so we have replaced the refrigerator and ovens. They were 18 years old when we moved in. I still love this room. The heart of our home.

My husband fell in love with the family room. The paneling. That manly thing. The fireplace. The entire back of this house is kitchen and family room.

We had no idea how different things are, in west county. Learning to be self sufficient. Thankfully, with a gas fireplace, and a wood stove in the basement. With snow throwers, tractors, pick up truck. Way different than living in Columbia. Things really are different out here. And so worth it. Nights are dark, yes. No glow from lights anywhere. Amazing sunsets.

Peace and quiet. Privacy. I can’t think of any better place to live. Far from the noise and light. Even when it is crazy with the snow.

So glad we made the leap into living here.

1 Comment

Posted in Adventures, Commentary, Howard County, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, Howard County, nature, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Seventy Five Degrees

Posted on December 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

That’s what the thermometer said when I returned to my car after a meeting at the Conservancy today. It is December 4th, for Pete’s sake! Really weird weather.

There were people flying radio controlled airplanes on the field. People jogging up the road to head off into the grasslands for a run. A lone motorcyclist cruising slowly through checking out the place. It was a weird sight, though, as yesterday when I was there, they were hammering in the poles along the road to show where the gravel ends and the grass begins. That “snow lane”.

Yes, it will rain and get cooler, but these lovely days are such a treat. A drink on the chairs watching the world go by on the road, and enjoying the last gasp of the mums and the lace maple.

And, my garlic keeps growing. Hope it does OK over the winter since it is already so tall. This is what it looked like a while back, it is even taller today.

I have been watching the long term forecast and we know it will be getting colder and damp for a few days. If you want to do something awesome next week, on Thursday the 13th of December, the Conservancy is hosting a meteor watch from 9:30 until you can’t take it anymore or 2 am. Dr. Joel Goodman and Dr. Alex Storrs will be there. The long term forecast calls for clear and freezing. Bring your woolies, your lounge chair, a blanket and a thermal cup, since one of our board members will be making hot chocolate for the attendees.

Put it on your calendar. Cross your fingers the weather cooperates. We had a great party for the Transit of Venus. Hope the Geminids give us another one.

hocoblogs@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Adventures, Community, Howard County, Nature, Weather and tagged community, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, nature, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

A Foggy Sunday Morning

Posted on December 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

Warm and foggy. Weather that changes by the hour. It is fairly warm out, and the fog is heavy in the yard and meadow.

I have been spending a lazy morning, finishing sealing the envelopes to send the Christmas cards, cleaning out the kitchen freezer to make room for the venison we are getting Tuesday, and checking out the Christmas lights to see if any strings need new bulbs. I also had to rearrange things in the basement freezer, which is pretty full again. Last week I just added three containers of turkey stock. Time to make some soups.

I did pop outside to feed the birds and to watch the red breasted nuthatch ignore me while he got breakfast from the feeder, letting me stand there and take his picture.

Back to putting out the Christmas decorations, like my bed post people I found years ago at a crafts fair at the county fairgrounds. I think finding special items made by local artists is my favorite source for decorations.

If the fog burns off, I will be putting up my lights on the trees outside. Otherwise, a lazy afternoon of watching football and eating steamed shrimp and flatbread pizza. Gotta make more room for that 50-60 pounds of deer meat. Oh well, whatever doesn’t fit will just have to become a large pot of chili sometime this week.

2 Comments

Posted in Birds, Food, Locavore, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged birds, cooking, Food, foodie, Locavore, nature, photography, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Final Fall Clean Up

Posted on November 26, 2012 by AnnieRie

We are in the home stretch of cleaning up the yard, the garden and the trees. Once all this work is done, we have a four month respite from outdoor work, other than cleaning up after any snowmageddon. Here’s hoping we don’t see any more winters like 2010.

We spend time now doing preventive maintenance so we don’t have problems if we get ice or snow, or both. That picture above was from before we replaced our roof and put in wider gutters to handle the runoff. We were lucky we didn’t have leaks, but we do try and fix things before they become an issue.

This year the derecho in June did more damage to our trees than we originally could tell. Now that all the leaves have fallen, we see evidence of major tree limbs suspended above and hanging onto other trees south of our house. Those limbs could weigh down with ice and snow, and take out trees threatening the south side, and the heat pumps. We have to decide how to safely get them out, and we need to crown clean our huge maples and oaks, to keep them from losing any more branches.

During the ice storm a few years back, we lost quite a few of our conifers. They couldn’t handle the weight of the wet heavy snow. Our trees provide us shade, privacy and are a noise block from the distant highway. Taking care of them is a priority.

Walking around I found many dead branches caught in other trees. They need to come out. I also saw many trees leaning over from the sustained winds of the storms last year and this year. We went through two hurricanes, a tropical storm and a derecho in a fourteen month period, from August 2011 until October 2012. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Those three branches are just hanging on the other trees, no longer attached to anything. We have at least four places where this occurred. Plus, there is a huge dead limb up in my bird feeder tree, my maple. One of the two that cracked during the derecho came down, but this one didn’t.

The trees that shade our home, and provide nesting areas for the birds, and allow us the privacy on our patio are a very important part of our property. That little bit of attention, pruning, crown cleaning, fertilizing and caring for them, keeps them healthy. We will spend some time this week and next getting them ready for winter. After all, they are worth the effort.

Christmas Tree Weather

Posted on November 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

That’s what today brought us. The kind of day that makes you want to traipse out and get your Paul Bunyan posing done while chopping down your tree and dragging it across the fields. A little cold, about 40 degrees. Sunny. There were certainly lots of people out at TLV Tree Farm this afternoon.

The farm is right down the road from us. I stopped in this afternoon to see what lengths of pine and fir roping they had. I will be framing our doors with it. I also did pick up some Chesapeake spread to nibble on while watching the Ravens. And, of course, bread and rolls from Stone House.

The basic wreaths, undecorated were out front with the roping. There are lots of decorated wreaths and other craft items throughout the building. Santa was there too, in a sleigh, posing for pictures with all the little ones. The Dayton 4H club also is selling food.

It is easy to get to the farm from Columbia. Take Harper’s Farm until it crosses Rte. 108 in Hobbits Glen. It becomes Homewood. Just keep going straight. The road will change name at the first circle, becoming Folly Quarter. Continue straight through the circle. A few miles later, past Glenelg Country School and Triadelphia Rd merges in. Keep going straight, across the bridge over Rte. 32 and straight again through the circle at the Royal Farms. Lots of people taking advantage of the good gas prices there, with their trees strapped to the tops of their cars. We do have good gas prices out here.

Just a few more miles down the road, past some McMansions and a few farms. Then just at the sharp bend where Triadelphia becomes Triadelphia Mill, the tree farm.

Acres of trees on both sides of the property. Bring strollers if you have little ones. There is a map near the entrance telling you where the trees are located, by type.

We have probably traipsed the entire farm over the years we have bought trees here. This year we will head out on a weekday when it isn’t as crowded and it is easy to get one of the tree haulers. To me it really is Christmas when I get my tree and bring it in to decorate. The farm is open every day until the 23rd of December.

Now, the Ravens game is beginning. I will be heating up some turkey later to serve sandwiches on my favorite rolls from Stone House. Turkey sandwiches, Chesapeake spread from Bowling Green adding a little heat and cheese to the sandwiches, and maybe some popcorn from my CSA stash. Sounds like a cozy Sunday night to me.

Stone House Bakery’s rolls – so good!

hocoblogs@@@

Day Trippin’

Posted on November 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

One of the pleasures of retirement. Going places during the week. Today, though, being Black Friday, it seems everyone took the holiday or didn’t have to work. That’s why we decided to head off down the back roads and have lunch at Linden, with a visit to Glen Manor as well.

We decided that heading down an old alternate route through the scenic byways was a perfect way to spend time. We hadn’t been on Blueridge Mountain Road past FEMA’s Emergency Operations Center since the GPS years ago took us on that road.

At 1800 on top the mountain it gets pretty windy and the road can be quite treacherous. But, once the leaves fall, like now, the views can be tremendous. We remembered those views and enjoyed the vistas down into the Shenandoah Valley while carefully negotiating the twists and turns, back down to US 50. If you want to see a map of how crazy the roads are, here is a bike loop that shows on the left the route we took.

We then took the scenic route down Leeds Manor Lane, seeing all the hunters parked along the road to the state wildlife management areas. Passed one of the many crossings of the Appalachian Trail which follows the mountain ridge in the same general direction we took to get to the wineries. We encountered a few hardy bicyclists, climbing that second major hill on Leeds Manor, one walking his bike up it, two resting at the summit, and a straggler far behind. These are hidden gems of scenic routes, for drivers and cyclists.

This AT crossing is right near the Avenius vineyards, which contain plantings used to make one of the single vineyard designations for Linden. You can park just up from the crossing and hike up to look across the ridge. One day, when we decide we are adventurous, we will climb that trail to take photos from the top. We went to Linden first, to sit and enjoy a bottle of Chardonnay with some local cheeses and one of their crusty warm baguettes.

2009 Linden Avenius Chardonnay

They are already all decorated for the holidays and the winter arrangement of the screen porch has replaced the extra tables and chairs out there the other seasons. This is one of my favorite places to sit when it is cold, to savor the fire in the wood stove and take in the view.

When we arrived at noon, there were about 10 of us in the winery. By the time we left the lot was full and they were two deep at the tasting set ups. Obviously lots of people decided wine tasting was way better than shopping malls on Black Friday. The deck and porch were empty when we arrived, but hopping when we walked out. The Christmas decorations are really beautiful. This is a great place to visit.

After our stop there, we headed into Front Royal to our original destination today, Glen Manor. We haven’t been there since April, and we wanted to pick up some Sauvignon Blanc. We tasted some other new releases, their Vin Rouge and Cabernet Franc. Since our last visit, they have added an extension to the building to increase working space. It is still lovely as always, and there were people out on the patio while we went through a tasting.

This is one stellar site to sit and absorb the beauty of the Shenandoah while drinking a glass of some of Virginia’s best wines. Even though the trees are mostly bare, the surroundings are bursting with fall foliage at the ground level.

No wonder we keep returning to these hidden gems in Virginia. Brought home a few white wines as well. What better gifts for Christmas from a locavore and locapour than dessert wines from Linden and Glen Manor. They both are offering a Late Harvest Petite Manseng. They will make someone very happy you bought them these lovely wines as a gift.

2 Comments

Posted in Adventures, Day Trips, Locavore, Retirement, Travel, Weather, Wine and tagged day trips, fall foliage, Locavore, nature, retirement, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Over the River and Through the Woods …

Posted on November 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

… one thing I don’t miss these days. The long trips over the holidays. On clogged highways. My husband’s family lived out of state. It always meant traveling in the winter on snow covered roads. We tried avoiding bad weather, following forecasts and working our schedules around the best travel days.

I-70 at noon Wednesday

One Easter we got trapped by a late ice storm and didn’t get home to get back to work. Having relatives in the highlands of northeastern PA meant treacherous trips on I-81 and I-83. I feel for those who have those same dilemmas and who face the clogged roads to make it home to visit. But, I would be happy to have his family still with us, and take those trips to see them. We miss our families most during the holidays. My mom is still active and we cherish the years we have by sharing holidays with her.

Today we get to leisurely drive about 30 miles to share Thanksgiving with my brother and his extended family. Since the 1990’s he has always sponsored midshipmen at his home, first in Catonsville and now south of Annapolis. It means quite a bit to the families of these young men that they have a safe place to come and share a day or two, or a meal or two, with someone who looks out for them. Many of them still keep in touch.

We go to his home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and Fourth of July, usually. Plus, birthdays, weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, and just sometimes to see old friends, having a base for get togethers is comforting and familiar. It does mean we have made our own personal traditions, that dovetail with the family visits.

I don’t know how many years we never had a Christmas tree. Lately, we do get one since we are home on Christmas day. The first few times we got one when we married more than 30 years ago, they would dry out and drop needles all over the place, since we went to PA for four or five days. I have yet to succumb and buy an artificial tree. We now buy ours locally at either TLV or Pine Valley

Around our current home, all the trees grouped by the driveway were former Christmas trees from the previous owner. Bought with the root ball, they were planted and some of them are 25 years old. If we were younger, we would do that, but at least we recycle our tree into mulch with the county. I do love the grouping of trees at our home, though. They make me think of the memories of the family whose children grew up here 20 years ago.

Today I will eat my brother’s turkey and fixings. He cooks most of the dinner, just as my dad loved to cook. We will come home tonight and brine our turkey and have our dinner tomorrow or Saturday. This is also a big radio contest weekend, and luckily, my husband now contests from home. It means we can have that dinner, and make our own memories in our home. Now, off to find the brining supplies for the turkey and put together the cooler to take to my brother’s.

Then, I need to figure out where I am putting the tree, and go up in the attic and get the Christmas lights out. And, do Christmas cookies and cards. Ah, the beginning of the busy season. Don’t forget about Small Business Saturday! Go out and buy something, presents, food, trees, whatever, from the small local businesses in Howard County.

Happy Thanksgiving!

hocoblogs@@@

Shirt Sleeve Weather

Posted on November 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

aka Indian Summer

This weekend and today certainly have been those types of days. The high today is supposed to hit 70 degrees. It was a beautiful morning. The maple finally peaked, and I had to record it before the rains come tomorrow and bring down most of the leaves. It is amazing how it turns from green to yellow to red within the span of a week.

the maple today

This morning it was just spectacular, as seen from the driveway coming into the property. And below, this is the closer look from last Tuesday, as it was just really beginning to change.

the maple beginning to turn

We finally got the garage doors cleaned. We were out there in jeans and T shirts. Can not believe how nice it has been.

no more dirt and grime left from Sandy

With how nice it was, we considered lunch outdoors. After all, the patio was sunny and we were repositioning the furniture back where it belongs and returning the place to its pre-storm condition. We could not believe how much trash and junk was blown under and around all the plant beds, but now it is cleaned up. Finally. The bird feeders are all hung. The branches and most of the leaves cleaned up. The only thing left is cutting back the spirea and the spice bush, once we have a few more freeze warnings and they all lose their leaves.

I made us salads using CSA veggies, and we wandered outside to enjoy the warmth of the sun. The salads include one of my favorite ways to serve chicken and swiss. Getting one thick slice of each at Boarman’s. This time I got some honey BBQ chicken breast. Cut it in cubes and serve on top of greens with an apple diced on top.

chef’s salad, my way

Loving the Hakurei turnips and the French breakfast radishes on this salad. Can’t wait to see what goodies the CSA brings this week.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Locavore, Nature, Real Food, Weather, West HoCo and tagged CSA, fall foliage, Food, gardening, hoco loco, Locavore, nature, real food, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Milkweed in the Meadow

Posted on November 11, 2012 by AnnieRie

It doesn’t take much to make me happy some days. Like wandering out to take pictures and finding this in the newly mowed edge of the meadow out back.

dried split milkweed seed pod

Milkweed. That wonderful host plant for monarch butterflies. The butterflies we rarely see, but they are in our area because I have seen them twice in our meadow. Never when I had my camera though. I did once find one that lost a fight with some predator and was in pieces off the edge of our patio last year.

But, now that I know where we have milkweed, we can watch and look for the larva and the chrysalis. We have rescued, watched, then released many monarchs at the Conservancy. If I get proficient at it, and can safely move the chrysalis to an area where they can be protected, they have a much better chance of making it to adulthood.

Once I found the seed pod in our area, I did a little looking around and found a few dozen pods in an area about 200 square feet.

I harvested the pods to use at the Conservancy for a project. I decided to spread the seeds around even though they weren’t optimum for drying and transplanting. The pods had all been split and the seeds were past their prime.

I did find quite a few milkweed beetles too.

While out looking to see if there were other areas of milkweed, I did have to be careful to avoid the many many piles of deer scat. It looks like the deer have been chowing down on our part of the meadow. My husband gave the meadow the last cutting of the year, so it could regenerate those varieties of ground plants that the deer enjoy. Obviously, they were grazing for a long time.

deer scat all over the meadow

They also like one place in our front yard. We try to watch the ground when walking across the grass to the mailbox. All in all, it was a pleasant day today. The meadow is in its glory, and I love to walk back there, even if I hadn’t found milkweed, it was still a beautiful sight in the fall.