Deep Freeze

The storm that blew across our area over the weekend dumped a lot of snow north and east of us at higher elevations. Now we have our mini winter, when highs reach the 40s and lows dip into the teens. I brought my Iraqi acacia inside last night. All water ponds for the birds and dogs are frozen over. The cat food I keep outside for Willie keeps getting eaten, and as long as I am around, will continue to leave out food for him in these cold nights. He may go hungry in the two weeks I'll be gone. That worries me.

I came home and realized that I had left the back door closed. None of the dogs had free access to the yard for pee and poop breaks. Oops. One dog left a physical reminder of my forgetfulness, right in the middle of the hallway by the front door.

Most unusual for us, though, was the long naked stem on our palm tree as I got home yesterday afternoon. What was once a tall palm tree with a heavy undergrowth of dead fronds is now a nearly trimmed canopy of green fronds. It lost a lot of its dead fronds in yesterday's winds. Our yard, back and front, are covered in dead fronds. I lost count at 50 and that was just in the back yard. There are still a few more fronds still hanging periously to the stem, but will blow off with the next storm. The wind came from the southwest and must have bent that tree perilously low to the ground for hours. In our 11 years in this small house, this is the first time we have seen the tree lose so many of its fronds from a wind storm. The tree will lose a few with every wind storm, but never so many that the shavings become noticeable. This time even Kevin noticed.

I have had local tree trimmers come by and offer to shave the tree for $100. I have always refused, because that palm tree is home to many of the birds that frequent our yard for the seeds the weedy flowers leave behind, and which are essential for their survival this time of year. There's even a barn owl that lives in that tree that has been leaving its pellets on the ground for several years. I'd hate to think any of the birds have lost their nests, or have died in the storm, but that is nature at its fiercest. The palm tree was void of any chirping all day, and I never saw any birds fly to or from the palm tree. I do hope the tree gets repopulated with a steady community of birds soon.

This deep overnight freeze will last until tomorrow, when temperatures return to normal and get back into the 60s and 70s.