Hard Freeze

The other day I took the car for an oil change and the thermometer in the car registered ICE for the outside temperature.  What is this?  This is supposed to be Florida but this part of the Sunshine State had only nine (9) days of sunshine last month.  Now we are waiting for a Hard Freeze that won't let up until midday on Wednesday.

Winter Landscape

So, we take care of people, pets, plants, and pipes.  It is important that the wild animals do have shelter away from the cold wind, a safe place where they can burrow down and make a nest for themselves. It doesn't hurt to set out a little feed:  sliced oranges on strings, dry cat food in peanut butter and rolled into a pine cone.  Be sure that the animals and birds have water available, water that is not frozen.

Of course, your pets are inside, well cared for and well loved. My husband and I took the tractor cat for her shots today and when the veterinarian entered the exam room he exclaimed: "Oh, that cat!"

Take care of yourself, too.  If you need a space heater, be sure that it has a cleared radius of at least three (3) feet and do keep it away from your bed and bed linens.

We wrapped two small orange trees in frost blankets this afternoon and put up a utility light inside the tent. We did not have enough blankets so we used sheets and light weight blankets and we tied them all together with clothes pins.  We also covered sensitive greenery with blankets and I covered some of the plants with flower pots.

To heat (and cool) our house we use a Florida heat pump that pulls water from the ground and removes the heat (or cold) from the water, circulates it, and forces the heat (or cold) into the house.  Some say to close off the rooms that you do not use and others maintain that it puts the forced air into an uneven distribution or something to that effect.  Any way, we covered the pump and the pipes with a rug and put a utility lamp under the rug.

If you are not sure about your pipes: wrap them with towels and blankets.  David Gray Plumbing recommends that you leave the water flowing.  In other words, let it drip ever so slightly.

Finally, be sure that the kids at the bus stop is covered up.  With the wind chill factor, it won't take long to develop frost bites.

Hang in there; spring is on its way.

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