Tag Archives: weather

A Near Miss

Posted on June 22, 2016 by AnnieRie

Yesterday was a day for our “history” books. Having a tornado on the ground for 20 minutes, that passed only 1 mile or so north of us. Not a fun middle of the day activity. Trying to decide if we should head for the basement as the wind whipped fiercely outside our doors.

We were lucky. Minimal damage.

Four trees down along the property line. Three in a group. That just missed taking out one of our small towers in the side yard.

About an hour after the storm, we were out there chopping wood away from the guy wires. If we didn’t relieve the pressure, we could have had a tower come through our bedroom window.

Not great. But, we were lucky. No power outages. No damaged buildings.

Our local radio friends. Had some serious damage. W3LPL had a tower come down. He was in the direct path of the storm. Just last Saturday he had his annual open house, with his antenna tour.

Saturday.

Today. Not just antenna damage. But, a tower down.

We can’t get down his road to see if he needs anything. Their phones are messed up, and their cell service seems to be affected because we couldn’t get coverage out there. He was interviewed today on the local TV station, saying that they were lucky the tower fell away from the house.

Mother Nature is simply scary. In the blink of an eye, you can have a major mess to deal with.

As I said, we were lucky. And, I want to give my appreciation to the crews out there trying to put massive amounts of power lines back into service.

Everywhere we went today, during our multiple trips to the landfill, and surrounding areas (we had some weird detours trying to get there and back), we encountered dozens of trucks and workers, lifting wires and poles, cutting trees and clearing debris.

Burntwoods Rd this afternoon had at least 15 trucks trying to piece back together the poles taken out.

Hopefully, all will be calm for this weekend’s Amateur Radio Field Day. More on that in the next few days. As for now, we are just happy we have minimal mess.

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Posted in Community, Howard County, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged amateur radio, community, Howard County, nature, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Sum-sum-summertime

Posted on June 14, 2016 by AnnieRie

We are only a week away from the official start of summer. Tell that to my garden, that is still giving me lettuce and asparagus.

At least we are transitioning into summer with our CSA delivery this week.

This is our second week with garlic scapes. Which I love. Last week I made pesto which has been melted on pasta, and used with shrimp to make a meal. It may get slathered on cod tomorrow night. I will make another batch from this week’s haul, and freeze it in ice cube trays. To brighten up next winter.

As for the peas. I absolutely love getting fresh peas and shelling them.

They have to be eaten or frozen almost immediately.

The greens are being replaced with summertime vegetables. But, no, there won’t be tomatoes for a few more weeks. Be patient. The ripe, fresh, flavorful tomatoes are coming. Just not there yet. If we get a few more weeks of warm weather, we should be there.

I saw my first blossoms on the zucchini today, and there are blossoms on my tomato plants. Summer is just around the corner, here in Howard County.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Weather and tagged CSA, Food, gardening, Locavore, tomatoes, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Tractor Supply Chicks and Brighton Azalea Garden Update

Posted on April 23, 2016 by AnnieRie

The new most searched topics for this blog. How much are those chicks? Are the azaleas blooming?

First, the azaleas. Yesterday I was told out at the gardens that they are at the 35-40% mark for blooms. Tomorrow should be a good day to go, or next week, as more varieties respond to this warmer weather.

Oh, and take money. $6 per person to tour the gardens. Under 16, and 65 and over, don’t pay. This is new. I don’t know how rigorously they will enforce it during the week, but on weekends, they will be collecting money. I understand it. The gardens needed lots of work. Older plants died, and they have replanted extensively the last few years. The gardens are still lovely. Worth taking the time to visit.

As for those baby chicks, not many left at the Mt. Airy store today, and they are on sale for a buck a bird. Yep, $1 each. Minimum of six chicks, unless there are just a few left. A couple of the tubs had sold signs on all the chicks in them. I suppose that when they get a few weeks older, they are eating more and the profit margin is shrinking.

While we were there today, I did pick up shallots for my garden. And, a bag of snap peas to plant. Tomorrow I will head up to my garden to continue planting. Not quite ready for the tomatoes for two more weeks, and the zukes and cukes won’t go in until the end of May. Too much of a risk. They don’t like any cold nights.

Spring is definitely hitting us hard now. If only the pollen would go away.

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Posted in Community, Day Trips, Gardening, Howard County, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged azaleas, gardening, nature, spring flowers, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The Four Seasons

Posted on April 9, 2016 by AnnieRie

All in the same day. Or close to it. Within 48 hours, we get rain, snow, sleet, thunder, rainbows, sunshine, and a freeze warning for tonight again.

Even the “pot” people at the Conservancy have reverted to scarves and hats, and ditched their baseball caps. Or they blew away in those gusts of wind we have been enduring.

My lovely flowering cherry from a week ago has now lost all its blossoms.

I cut many of the tulips earlier in the week and brought them in to bloom. The remainder, my later blooming varieties, are safely covered with row cover that I purchased at our community garden supply sale this morning.

It’s hard to believe it is springtime. Next week we will be going to Greenfest at the Community College. I hope to buy some sungold tomato plants from Love Dove Farm. In two weeks, it will be Earth Day celebrated at the Conservancy. More on that later. Also, Sharp’s Farm will be opening their greenhouses on the 21st of April. Time to get the rest of my plants for the garden.

I tried to get my plot ready for the onions to be planted, but the high winds drove me out of there. Trying to move dirt around while wind in whipping up the dust and pollen didn’t make for a pleasant gardening day.

Crossing our fingers that they are correct, and that the end of this coming week will indeed bring us higher temperatures and sunshine.

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Posted in Gardening, Hobbies, Nature, Weather and tagged gardening, hobbies, howard county conservancy, photography, spring flowers, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Garlic Greens

Posted on April 1, 2016 by AnnieRie

What are they? How are they different from scapes? What can you make with them?

A bunch of them in our CSA share on Tuesday. I actually swapped my popcorn for a second bunch of garlic greens. It is sometimes called spring garlic. I intend to fully embrace springtime, even if they are calling for snow flurries this weekend.

I have rockfish sitting on a bed of them, in the oven right now. I added a few of them, chopped, to the basmati rice in my rice cooker. I made a quartet of meatloaves to use one this weekend and freeze the rest. Some of them ended up in there.

As for the rest, there will be pesto. I will use my scape recipe.

I had considered using some of them to sauté the greens we got in our basket, but they just smell so good. They have to become pesto.

Anyone seen ramps in the markets yet? Then, I will know that spring has arrived in central Maryland.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Weather and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, real food, value of CSA, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Making Progress

Posted on March 20, 2016 by AnnieRie

Today’s the first day of spring.

My daffodils are blooming. Even that weird snow storm yesterday didn’t take them out. They are a bright spot in my cluttered kitchen aka renovation central. The only room on the first floor not being painted, it has become the storage site for all the dining room, foyer, powder room, closet and hallway stuff. Like dozens of pictures, fixtures, switches, knobs, hinges, etc.

My family room isn’t much better. Chairs, table leaves, buffet contents, new light fixtures and mirror. The chaos moved from control to out of control.

I still have room to cook, and room to start the garden seeds.

They are happily getting sunshine in the kitchen. I started arugula, dill, bibb lettuce and rainbow chard. If I get time to continue the spring cleaning of my garden plot, the onions will be planted later this week.

This egg crate method works very well for seed starting.

I use a fruit box from Costco, covered in a layer of plastic and newspapers. Prevents leaking while watering.

All of these will eventually go into my community garden plot, sometime in the middle of April. Under row cover for the greens. The dill. It will be interspersed into my asparagus patch up there. I am really excited to have a two foot by twenty foot line of asparagus in my new plot.

And, in just a few weeks, I am off to Sharp’s Farm to get my summer vegetable seedlings. Spring needs to get in gear around here, and help us gardeners get plants in the ground.

Planting anything interesting this spring?

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Posted in Farms, Gardening, Hobbies, Nature, Weather and tagged farms, gardening, hobbies, spring flowers, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Glimpses of Springtime

Posted on February 28, 2016 by AnnieRie

Wasn’t today wonderful? Makes you almost forget it is still winter. On days like today, I begin to plan my garden. My new garden. I moved spaces up at my community garden site. I decided I wanted to be closer to the supplies, now that these arthritic knees don’t like walking long distances on uneven surfaces. I can’t wait to get into planting. These sixty degree days lull you into thinking spring is here. But, is it?

This was a year ago. Bartlett, pruning on a bitter cold day with quite a bit of snow left on the ground.

This was my old garden plot two years ago. Looks pretty dreary.

A big difference from an August picture. In this picture, you can see my new plot in the far right. Flowers. Asparagus. I picked it up because of the irises, gladioli and asparagus. I have been planning what I plant, and getting ready to buy seeds.

This year I am the assistant Food Bank manager. Loving those Tuesday mornings, early before it gets hot, harvesting, weeding, watering and just enjoying the whole atmosphere in a garden.

Today, the weather made me anxious for spring. If you are inclined, there may be garden plots in your future.

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Weather and tagged community, Food, gardening, spring flowers, volunteering, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Posted on February 15, 2016 by AnnieRie

I do it every year. Count the birds in my backyard. This year the snow made it interesting, and slightly different. We always get a massive influx of starlings when the snow falls. But, I did capture my friend flicker.

This Northern flicker hangs out all winter at my suet feeders. He is also a resident bully, chasing away smaller birds. Sort of how the mockingbird acts, but with that long beak, he is definitely intimidating.

Since the weather has been cold, snowy, windy, and the birds are struggling, I always give them extra during this time. I even add peanuts and corn for the squirrels, like this rare black squirrel who hangs out here too.

Last item that attracts birds to your yard. Berries.

The robins love the nandina. We also have crabapple trees.

Keeping the birds fed and hydrated.

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Posted in Birds, Nature, Weather and tagged birds, Howard County, nature, photography, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Chili Weather

Posted on February 9, 2016 by AnnieRie

Another day. Another snow event. Seems to have become the norm around here. After the blizzard a few weeks back, I saw many people posting about the lack of chili ingredients in the local stores. There must have been a run on onions, beans, beef, and peppers.

Never one to be unprepared, I have figured out how to always be ready to make chili. Mostly crockpot chili. Yesterday while we were finishing up on a renovation task around here, I made sure that we had chili fixings, and put the pot on the counter.

Here’s how to be sure you don’t face a chili ingredient “emergency”.

I always have some sort of ground meat in the freezer. Mostly from the CSA or Friends and Farms. Beef, chicken or turkey. Depends on what I have two pounds available at the time. This time, I used CSA ground beef.

My stash from the pantry. I always have three items there. From Costco. Tomato paste. Diced tomatoes. Black beans. I also stock up on Harris Teeter’s beans when I see them on sale. This batch of chili used their organic chili beans in sauce.

In my freezer, from the summer, I have bags of roasted sweet peppers and of caramelized onions. If I can’t find onions at the store, or if I’m out of CSA onions, I can substitute. This time I used shallots, and the hot peppers left in the container from the olive bar. That’s where the heat was introduced in this chili.

Then, there’s the four C’s.

My secret to a sweet, hot chili. Those four ingredients pictured above. Add a little salt and pepper. Put everything into the crockpot. No, I don’t measure. Chili is such a forgiving recipe. Use more beans if you like. More peppers. More cilantro. Skip the cilantro. Whatever tastes best to you.

There will be a couple of dinners out of my latest batch. So far though, we’re just thankful this is supposed to be less than a six inch snow event.

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Posted in Food, Real Food, Weather and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, Food, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Choosing Community One More Time

Posted on January 27, 2016 by AnnieRie

I must admit. I feel at times that extreme weather events bring out the best and worst in us. Most of the time it is the best, but when it’s the worst, it’s epic.

I have blogged before about the “civility” thing, here where we live. For me, being civil to one another doesn’t foster a sense of community, caring, compassion and commiseration. We have much better choices for those C words than civility.

My post about cabin fever prompted feedback, positive and negative. For me, I was happy to report that once again, after losing it in my old Columbia neighborhood, I found that sense of friendship, caring, support and teamwork here where we call home. It wasn’t meant to be a slap against my old place. I just missed that sense of pitching in and getting out of bad situations.

In 1983, 23 relatively young (well, 30ish to 60ish) new neighbors dug ourselves out after a blizzard. Not waiting for the county. Not waiting for the private contractor for our private cul de sac. With beer and chili when we finished, and all sorts of help from the big diggers to the more frail helpers, who did their part in clearing off the cars, we got it done.

It was the beginning of a very fun series of neighborhood events. For years we got together on a Saturday night every other month, except for the massive New Year’s Eve event. Crab feasts. Picnics. Progressive dinners. Themed dinners. Rotating the hosting duties.

Then, somehow, in some way, it ended. The majority of the core moved away. New neighbors declined to attend. We lost that sense of community, and regressed into the dreaded bedroom community.

When we left in 2005 we barely knew our neighbors. Not that we didn’t try. They just didn’t respond to invites.

That is why I love it out here. That community spirit is alive and kicking.

I was happy to see so many great stories about neighborhoods digging out in other parts of our state, and in other neighborhoods in Columbia.

As for whether I believe the county did OK in snow removal, it’s not a priority for me to judge. We are lucky. It has nothing to do with politics or favoritism. It has more to do with the people who live here.

We live in an area full of hard working people who may have moved here because it was more affordable to live here, decades ago. People who ran businesses from their homes. People who drove school buses. Or who had small service companies. They have trucks. They have all those things necessary to survive out where power outages can be long. Out where land is plentiful but you have to take care of it yourself.

Yeah, we have trucks with plows. We have tractors. We have snow throwers. We have generators. We have ATVs. Many of our neighbors provide services to other communities in Howard County. With their equipment, they also take care of the elderly, or the families with many little ones, or the newbies who haven’t quite adjusted to living here.

For me, it’s a great place to live. Reminds me of what I found in Columbia in 1975, but that we lost somewhere along the way. I am glad to see so many tell me it is alive and kicking in many places. That spirit needs to spread.