#frost warning

The Old Farmer's Almanac had our first frost date as November 1st. The Farmers' Almanac (similar name but different) had it as November the 4th. The National Weather Service had predicted patchy frost for us on November the 21st but it didn't materialize. We had pulled in our frost sensitive crops all the same:

of the season, and it is only fitting that on that day, a “snowbird” made his way to the camera. Dark-Eyed Juncos only visit here when it is cold, and the first ones have arrived earlier this week. They make the funniest little noises and are generally cool to have around. Pic number 3 shows a White-throated Sparrow that has been very curious but not made it to the food bowl yet. Maybe today is the day? Happy Sunday and stay warm!

NOAA issued a frost advisory for The City tonight so I went out and harvested all the green tomatoes & peppers that I could.

When harvesting tomatoes that you intend to ripen indoors, remove the pedicel (that star-shaped thing that used to attach the fruit to the plant). It decays quicker than the fruit which produces mold which could cause the fruit to rot before it ripens: 

I left these little ones that still had their peach fuzz on the plant. Experience has proved they rarely ripen properly: 

Cherokee Purples: 

Today’s harvest of pole beans & peppers: 

Great bowl of fire: 

Two photos of the same rose. I like the closeness of the first one but I like the contrast of the color of the rose and the sky better in the second: 

Chrysanthemums from Autumns past: 

The Red Menace found a new spider hole today: 

The cucumber plant is almost completely spent. Once the vines dry out, we’ll use some of them to give our Halloween decorations that overgrown look: