Monday, January 16, 2017 – Rain No Ice, Coleus Cuttings & Greenhouse chores

Today we had freezing rain and possible “Ice Storm” in the forecast but we were very lucky. When we left the house for work it was 34 degrees and raining.  Our driveway already had ice and snow on it but the rain didn’t melt it. As we pulled out of our driveway we slid quite a bit but we stayed on the road (narrow driveway) without a problem. All of the roads this morning were the same; if there was already ice and snow, the road was slippery. But all of the rain that fell didn’t add any ice so our drive to and from work was safe and no problem with ice.

It rained most of the day. By the time we left work the temperature was up to 37 degrees. At FM, Scott Higley explained that this “January Thaw” is normal for Central Illinois. He said the worst of the cold winter will hit in February. Yahoo, something to look forward to!

Thankfully the weather forecasters were wrong. It turns out that this front has come out of the Gulf of Mexico and was full of warm moisture. Yesterday the “Freeze Line” was just barely north of Nauvoo. By the end of today the storm and the freeze line was all the way up to the middle of the great lakes.  Today’s high got all the way up to 42 degrees. 

In spite of the cold rainy day, Sis. Johnson and I were very comfortable and worked all day in the greenhouse. We finished the last of the Coleus cuttings and prepared them for rooting. We’ve enjoyed working with the Coleus plants these past few days.