BRRRRRRRR

[19&41]

It looks like there are some decent looking lobes on the trunk. I'll trim off the formerly tall ones. I'm sure it will grow some more.

[William]

That is interesting that you have yellow blossoms too, but your buds are purple? My buds are more greenish/yellow. Different varieties, I guess.

Bill

[TC Chris]

I'm even farther north than Bill, and there used to be a prickly pear on the alley next door. It was right next to the pavement. Eventually the house was purchased by people who tore out the yard and installed a garage with apartment. That was the end of the cactus, not the weather.

Chris Campbell

[19&41]

The pears on mine are green until they ripen. Then they turn purple. Then they really get ripe and fall on the ground. Then the lawn guy hits them with the string trimmer and covers creation with purple spots.

[William]

I never get the pears, just the blossoms. Maybe living in the north country prevents the actual pear from forming.

Bill

[Hydrolastic]

Hello All, Before Christmas Friday went to work. Solid ice in the wife's old Subaru Outback. I was able to get to the freeway its 4:45 am. I get onto the onramp and I see old lane tracks and the single set in the middle of the freeway I am doing 20 mph. There is a semi about a half mile away I let him go by and my plan is to get behind him in the single set of tracks. There is a jeep behind him also. Both doing 30mph. I initially keep up but the raised mound of Ice in the middle kept grabbing the bottom of the car and I couldn't keep up. I saw the next exit and I four wheel drove to it over the old lanes from the days before and went home. Called in instead. In Seattle we are wimps in the snow.
Couple of days later (Christmas Day) the snow was melting and the temp became warm into the high 50's I was in the shop about 9am no issue then I went into the shop again at 11am... I could not believe my eyes all the tools in the shop were covered in water like it had been rained on heavy and was aggressively rusting Fast! I grabbed a couple of towels and wiped them down and sprayed a entire can of wd 40 on the mill and a bunch on the lathe and more on the tooling. (Never seen this happen before) I had to leave and did not get into the garage till the next afternoon. I spent several hours cleaning and oiling them.
Turns out certain times with temps rising can cause condensation on the frozen metal. I will be heating/covering them from now on.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/152106896@N03/

[electra225]

In the Midwest, people would build a pole barn with a metal roof. If they didn't put that insulation under the tin roof, it would literally rain on items inside when it got warm inside and was cold and damp outside. They would have a big honking wood stove that would heat the uninsulated shed. The roof would sweat and drip water. It was as bad storing tools in a heated pole building as it was just leaving them outside. I reckon it was a combination of humidity and cold on one side of the tin and heat on the other. I hope you saved all your tools.

[TC Chris]

I built out my shop space in the garage 25 years ago so I could build my sea kayak. We built three there. But this is Michigan, and we do stuff like that in the winter. So I insulated heavily and then added a simple gas wall furnace. The little heater has a concentric flue/air inlet through the wall. Because the combustion air comes from outside, there is no problem with ignition of vapors or dust. It is a convection device--no fan, no electricity required--so if power fails here, I could sleep in the shop and be toasty.

Chris Campbell

[19&41]

Went out today and trimmed about 200 lbs. of damaged lobes from the cactus. All of the pears look like deep fried bacon. I hope the trashmen don't try to reach in and grab all the stuff out of the container like they usually do. I reckon the container weighing like there's a dead body inside might give them a clue. The ants are having a field day on the cactus.

[electra225]

The liquid in the cactus is sweet. They use it to make prickly pear cactus jelly. The ants are attracted to it.