Hurricane: A reminder to take care of outdoor business

Yesterday morning when I went to church, I was a little chilly and when I left church, it was much cooler. As the day grew longer, it grew cooler and very windy. I was hoping we would get rain for our parched lake and garden, but cool weather wasn't the only result of hurricane Sandy and a simultaneous cold front moving through. This is supposed to be a monster of a storm and I was amazed at just how windy and cool it was in our area, since the storm was so far away.

I had noticed the forecast earlier in the week and my husband went to my mom's house and moved her big plants into her garage--safe from the cold. The problem was that I almost forgot to bring my own plants in! Last night I was scurrying around moving plants in and even knocking off a few leaves in my haste.

The only plants I had outside at this point were some succulents and though they might have been fine, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. I hurriedly brought them in, leaves, twigs and all. I really do need to clean them up. The wind has blown debris all in the pots and there are leaves and twigs in every plant. It's quite a mess.

I know I will now be bringing them in at times and taking them back out depending on how cold it gets. It reminds me of having to dress in layers. In Georgia, you have to layer during the late fall and winter because it can be warm one day and make your teeth chatter the next. We are constantly putting on or taking off a sweater or coat. It's impossible to know how to dress from day to day. I will be putting the plants in and out for a while, until I find a good winter haven for them.

What I need to do is set a reminder on my phone to remind me to care for my plants during the winter. I am better at taking care of outdoor plants than indoor plants. They just don't get my attention like they do when outdoors.

I didn't see any frost this morning which is good, but I did notice the wind had taken down leaves that had already turned and also green leaves that probably only came down because of the blustery night.

The leaves have been blowing across our lawn and we'll have to do something about it quite soon because we don't want it staying on our grass for too long. If we do, our grass probably won't look very good through the winter.

We did forget to take in our patio furniture and thankfully it was saved by the rail on our deck. (I thought I heard a bumping noise last night.) We usually enjoy our patio furniture most in the fall and then again in the spring, so we sometimes forget to move it when a storm hits.

I am hoping the storm passes as quickly for the people north of us and leaves them as save as we are today. I also hope it is not the monster storm that was predicted.