Ridiculous Weather

[Blackshadow Dales]

Yes Meg, lots of Ladybugs here too! We have had the wood stove going for a few weeks now, as the nights have been chilly. I hope the weather doesn't turn too quick so that you can get some pacing in. We are done showing for the season!

[colmworthdales]

Yes, definitely cooling down now and even had a couple of (very) heavy showers. It just seems to strange to have had this very mild spell when the days are really shortening.

Mike - a tip for making sloe gin. I do not wait until a frost comes, but just pick them before they get eaten, give them a quick wash, allow to dry, then pop them into a bag and into the freezer for a few days. That makes the skin break down a bit so there is no need to laboriously prick each one. Good luck - I love sloe gin!

[yanny]

Nov 1, 2014 20:29:51 GMT -1 colmworthdales said:

Thanks for all your comments everyone. While I certainly do enjoy this weather it does make me very uneasy.

For example:- What are the hedgehogs doing? Trying to hibernate because the decreasing day length is telling them too - or still foraging? We have had no winter thrushes (fieldfares or redwings) arrive yet so presumably they are still eating all the berries up over in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands which should be feeding their winter birds, instead of coming over here to eat our surplus. My bees are still flying, and I had a queen bumble bee buzzing about yesterday.

And imagine all the official Opening Meets which happened on November 1st (perhaps they still do have an official start to hunting but I am out of touch on that one) - always used to be a crisp chilly (or downright soggy) day - for those with longer memories.

Sure the weather will cool down over next few days - but I still feel IT IS ALL WRONG!!!

Speaking of hedgehogs, I've seen 2 in the past week! I must say, usually this is a bit late on in the year to see them out and about

[dalesnfellfan]

Kate I do the same with sloes when making sloe gin, pop them in the freezer instead of laboriously pricking the darn things.

[Debbie]

We've had a walloping storm last night, with our traditional winds and rain, but we're still about ten degrees warmer than we should be. All the ponies are stomping late season flies and are most unhappy to be getting bugged this late in the year.

How are the New Englanders doing? I saw on a weather report they got a huge snowstorm this weekend.

I like the idea of popping the sloes into the freezer to do the work a proper frost should do I've seen hunting seasons where the frosts haven't properly come, and thought the same. It must be kinda icky to be hunting in warmer temps.

[nedales]

Maine got a foot plus snow and eastern MA had a covering but we (western MA) had just a tempestuous rain and high winds. Today was lovely for riding, low 60's and sunny and forecast is good again for tomorrow but then ominously, things go literally north as cold weather sweeps in with predicted weekend snow. I for one, give up on any more weekend outdoor competitions until April as good intentions get last minute cancellations.

[colmworthdales]

Poor you - very early surely even for you to have that much snow. Hope it does not last long.

We are having much more autumnal weather (at last!) Think there will be a frost tonight after almost-zero temperature last night. Lovely still bright but cold day today - would have been lovely for a ride but I was otherwise occupied. Hope tomorrow will be similar as Mollie and I could do with a good long hack.

My 3 Dales are still sleeping out - 2 are rugged up. Minnie is 24 so I am feeling kind, and I am trying to stop Mollie getting every woollier! Have cut 6-8in off their tails as they were all much too long, and need to keep them clear of the mud (we are on clay soil, so the mud can be amazing once the rain gets going.)

[newbie]

Proper hard frost here tonight (Scottish Borders) so hopefully at long last I can take down the infernal electric fence, turn ponies out of their starvation paddocks and finally stop picking poo for the winter.

[colmworthdales]

Hurrah - we had a frost as well last night, so perhaps the weather is bad to 'normal'

[cadeby]

Here in the Loire we've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. On 1st November I mowed the lawn in shorts and a t-shirt. It was 24 degrees C.

This morning I was scraping frost off the car windscreen and searching out gloves and thick socks. It was 0 degrees C. Quite a dramatic change in less than a week!

However, there are some positives of approaching Winter - I warmed myself up after the horsey chores with my first choca-mocha of the season and the Autumn colours are beautiful, although not quite as impressive as the New Englanders will be enjoying

[nedales]

...and we had NO apples in our very local vicinity (plenty of pears and berries tho) which made it a hard season for the cider and picking orchards. Must have been a frost just here in this valley last spring that did them in. Oddly sloe berries (blackthorn prunes) are abundant in our part of the state but few harvest them. I have been out searching for them on pony -back the past few weeks and have not seen many at all--was thinking maybe the deer and bear got there first but they don't usually eat them until they are desperate as they are so sour. Lad has tried a few himself as he snacks along and found he has to spit them out.

Thanks Andrea for the cautionary note re competing after a fall, have dropped down to hacking level in hunter pace through last weeks which means choose your own fences and completion times are less rigorous. Now if I could just convince Lad not to leap over cold water streams (he doesn't trust the sinkhole feeling of freezing mud)...as those are BIG leaps if he's to achieve his aim of four dry hooves and require hanging on with all appendages!

Down to -3 C tonight.

[Debbie]

Nippy weather for us as well, and some clear skies predicted for the weekend. I've been fighting it, but I think I'll have to blanket Dundee. He and Reigny tend to drop weight while the other three get plump on thin air. Since they are mixed herds, the fatties get downright crabby over the amount of hay/food the other two need.

LOL, I can imagine Lad's disgust at having to spit out the sloe. All fruit's supposed to be edible and tasty I agree with him, I do not like that sinking feeling either. I don't jump about, but I've been in quicksand before and it was all I could do to keep my calm to get out of it. I haven't liked boggy ground ever since.

[Blackshadow Dales]

Today was our first snow. Flurries all day and small hail in the afternoon. Terrible gusting winds all day made it even more bitter! I have not put blankets on anyone yet, but the come in every night so no need yet.
Back to the low 60s F next week....?

[valerie n scout]

It was cold overnight, last night..chilly this morning too....or am I getting soft

[dalesnfellfan]

We've had a couple of frosts too but are still having some warm days, yesterday myself, daughter and son in law spend 2 hours in glorious sunshine putting up electric fences for her ponies to give them a patch of fresh grass only to for her old boy to go crashing straight through the fence and dragging it with him the second he was turned out on it just because he thought his mate was leaving him, she was only about 10 yards away!!
He broke loads of posts in the process and both ponies went galloping off round 30 acres of park land, needless to say no one was amused.