Looks Like a Cold Winter

This morning the thermometer on the deck greeted me with a shiver.

While the rest of the northern hemisphere may not think this is very cold, we in the Silicon Valley see this as quite frigid. Today the news reports are filled with today's predicted highs along with record-low highs. The record-low highs for this date go back to 1972. For San Jose, I think the number is 43F, but we're predicted to get to 46F, so no record there... but close.

I remember the December of 1972 quite well. I was a college freshman and had moved to an apartment of my own on December 1st. Within a week, the water-filled potholes behind my apartment had frozen over. And they STAYED that way for three weeks!

Here in the Silicon Valley we are blessed with a lovely Mediterranean climate. Since I have a nice covered deck, I usually have a lot of plants out on the deck. Many of these plants are considered "houseplants" because they are from sub-tropical areas, but they are quite happy out on my deck... unless the weather gets below freezing!

So, I spent the day yesterday bringing all the "houseplants" back indoors. Let's just say that Christmas dinner is going to be a little crowded this year.

I also spent the day covering the more tender of my vegetables -- specifically, the cherry tomato and the lettuce are covered with old bed sheets (that have been used as paint drop cloths). Hopefully I'll continue to have fresh veggies coming out of the garden.

And, yes, it got cold enough for long enough that the bird bath also froze. I had to go out with some hot water to melt a hole in the ice so the birdies can drink.

(Yes, that's a rock on the ice. I set it there so I could focus. The camera was disinclined to focus on the ice or the leaves frozen in the ice and it was too dark for my eyes to resolve the image through the lens.)