[gardeners] weather
margaret lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 28 Sep 1999 09:01:46 -0600
Weather is in subject line, whereas it just as well could have been
@#$%^&*. Boise newspaper relies on the weather bureau for weather news, and
so do the television stations, in spite of the fact that they each have two
or three "meteorologists" from the Gone-with-the-Wind school of weather
forecasting and diploma mill. (When one says "I wasn't here last week
because I was getting my meteorology degree," you have a clue.) Five day
forecasts haven't shown anything less than 42 degrees, and night before
last we had two hours before dusk when it was announced they expected a low
temp of 33. Last night it dropped to 28.
A friend came up Saturday and picked ripe tomatoes for me. Chuck thought
she was going to take them home, but she hates tomatoes. He had several
boxes stacked on and around the family room sofa, and when she left he
started complaining about what we were going to do with the tomatoes. I had
heard the next door neighbors' grandchildren playing in the yard, so called
and asked if their mother were still there and if she would like to can
tomatoes. "Grandma" said she'd like to can, and so would her two daughters.
She and her husband drove over, backing their car into the driveway so the
trunk could be loaded. When here, Deb (the tomato picker) also picked some
hot chiles, cucumbers, etc., for her own use.
Before the 33 degree night, Chuck picked all of the ripening tomatoes he
could see in the failing light, and picked some 'hot chocolate' chiles that
had overwintered in the greenhouse in an effort to get some fruit. Guys who
had previously picked hot chiles had missed those, and I wanted to save
seeds from them. They'll ripen off the bush. He also rescued all of the
sweet peppers. I had asked him to set up the back-and-forth sprinkler so he
could turn on the water early in the morning (it's coldest just before
dawn, and he arises by 5 a.m.). He did that, but misremembered how to hook
it up, and it didn't work right, hooked up to the sprinkling system. Had he
used the hose from the house faucet, it would have worked and we could have
saved some huge green tomatoes. Now we have a garden of mush.He did find
some Crystal Apple cucumbers last evening, and picked some reddening
tomatoes that were protected by upper foliage.
But the bottom line is that I'm thoroughly disgusted with the weather
bureau AND the seven-day meteorologists. Who started using that F word this
month, anyway? Margaret L