Winter in Chattanooga

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 The South is in a vise of white. We woke up yesterday morning to about 8" of snow on the ground. This snow was double the depth and more beautiful than the one we had at Christmas. We moved to Tennesse from Iowa in 1974 and snow was an all winter occurrence. I can remember the first winter we were here, we played basketball in short shirt sleeves out in the driveway on Christmas day. Of course, the longer we live here, the thinner our blood becomes and when it gets below 70°, Jean's nose turns red. But now, snow is a treat, especially since we are retired and don't have to get out. We planned ahead and got extra milk and bread. Even our mall, the largest in Tennessee, was closed. No flights in or out of the airport. Same in Atlanta. I remember in 1993, we had 21" of snow here. Paralyzed this area for over a week. Now, we just sit here awaiting dinner time with a glass of Cabernet in our hand. This may be a 2 or 3 glass night. All of this after the local weather guys had predicted a mild winter.

I did venture out to the greenhouse this morning to see if things are still growing. They were. The hybridizing plant are really starting to grow.

Jean had Sara Lee (the lab) and Spikey (the small mixed breed) out in the snow. Sara was jumping, running and just having a good time. Spikey, whose you-know-what was dragging in the snow, wanted to come in. The daylilies in the field look like they are in for a long winter's nap.

Left click on the picture of Sara Lee and you will be able to see the ice on her whiskers. Sara had a great time playing in the snow. She lays on her back and makes doggy snow angels.

Here is a picture of our side yard. The snow was 8" deep, the most since the blizzard of '93 that dumped 21" on Chattanooga.

When we lived in Iowa, I had a 10hp John Deere lawn tractor. The first year I had it, I purchased a blade for the front thinking that I would be able to clear snow from the driveway. I quickly discovered that I couldn't move anything because I could not get enough traction, so I purchased wheel weights and chains. We lived on a dead end road that was not plowed by the county and I was always able to clear the road. I also cleared all the neighbors driveways. Needless to say, they hated to see me leave. I thought about clearing our driveway here with our 18hp John Deere with a bucket on the front but also thought that I would probably not be able to get enough traction. Evidently the tiller on the back gave me enough weight that I was able to clear the snow from our driveway and three of our neighbors. Most fun than I have had in a long time!




Looking forward to seeing you at the 21st Annual Mid-Winter Symposium in Nashville, TN on January 21-23, 2011. Please join us and greet old friends and make new ones.

Exciting things happen to those who hybridize daylilies!

Life is very, very good. Remember, when the bloom is gone, you still have your friends!

Lee