Emerald Ash Borer & Logging

Emerald Ash Borer has invaded this area and is killing the white ash trees on our property. The white ash on our West Hill property has hit very hard by the Emerald Ash Borer and we had a logging crew come in to salvage some of the timber.



Although we had some nice white ash trees on this property we hadn't planned on cutting this timber yet. Because the Emerald Ash Borer isn't selective on the size of the trees it kills we are sending smaller trees to market.



While the logging crew is on site we are also removing a few of our very large oak trees (on the left) that are at the upper limit of what the local saw mills can handle.

A Sign of Spring

This winter the local weather has been like a yo-yo. Yesterday was snow, sleet and freezing rain, today was sunny with afternoon temperatures above 45°F. After today's warm weather melted yesterday's snow I was able to find some signs of spring.



On the south side of our barn I found some daffodils popping through the frozen ground.

Fresh Tangerines

I was in our solarium checking on our winter crop of romaine lettuce when I decided to see if any tangerines were ready for picking.



A couple of the tangerines had turned orange and looked ready ...



So far, so good. The tangerine peeled easily and was orange on the inside.



Although is was very small and had lots of seed, it did taste like a ripe tangerine.

Springlike Weather

The temperature in the neighborhood topped out at 52.6°F today and some local deer were out early this afternoon taking advantage of the springlike weather.

Bedded Deer

We lucked out on yesterday's storm since most of the snow passed to the south of the neighborhood. Today's temperatures warmed up to the low 30's and I found these deer bedded under the white pines at our cabin property.



The deer soon noticed me and got up from their comfortable beds.

Extreme Weather

The weather this winter has swung from one extreme to another and doesn't seem to stop at "seasonal weather". Within the past week we've had multiple days of sub-zero temperatures followed by a sudden swing to spring like high temperatures. The 10+ inches of snow from the last storm is melting quickly today with the near 60°F temperature. Here's the temperature range recorded by my weather station.

Summary January 29, 2019 - February 5, 2019

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	57.4 °F	-7.9 °F	23.6 °F
Dew Point	48.3 °F	-16.4 °F	14.3 °F
Humidity	88%	49%	70.6%

Happy Groundhog Day

The polar vortex has brought us another sub-zero morning in the neighborhood. Today is Groundhog Day, which derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day sees a shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks.

It's Cold!!!

The polar vortex settled into the neighborhood this week and overnight it was the coldest so far. The temperature was sub-zero this morning with the high temperature of -2.7°F at midnight.

Summary midnight to 8:30AM
Feb 1, 2019

	High	Low	Average
Temperature	-2.7 °F	-7.9 °F	-5.3 °F
Dew Point	-12.2 °F	-16.2 °F	-14.7 °F
Precipitation	0 in	--	--