Monday, January 30, 2012

New 'Hardiness Zones' Map


The new 'hardiness zones' map was released recently. Minnesota lost zone 2b in the north and gained 5a in the south.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Icy



Dale put down some grit today. The worst icy spot is along the side of the house as you near the front yard.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Seed Packets


I went to Bachman's today and noticed the seed packets have been put on display. It got me thinkin' about spring...

Friday, January 27, 2012

Dreaming


As January drags on I find myself thinking a lot about flowers. I like this picture of orchids from the 1920's.

Monday, January 23, 2012

January 23: Beginning Year 2 of The Backyard - Joe's Almanac


We're past the deep freeze of the last few days. Around 28 degrees for a high today. According to Todd Nelson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune we've only had just over a foot of snow this season which is about 18 inches below normal. Last year at this time, as documented in this blog, we were at about 55 inches of snow for the season. Todd is predicting mid-30s later this week. Sunrise today was at 7:43 a.m. and sunset was at 5:08 p.m. That's 9 hours and 25 minutes of daylight. Above photo taken this morning at

January 23: 1 Year Anniversary for The Backyard - Joe's Almanac



The top photo appeared in the first posting of this blog one year ago today. The bottom photo was taken today, January 23, 2012. Quite a difference in the amount of snowfall, huh?

January 23: 1 Year Anniversary for The Backyard - Joe's Almanac




This is the one year anniversary of this blog! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. The top photo was taken January 23, 2011. The bottom photo was taken today, January 23, 2012. Quite a difference in the amount of snow we have. No snowmound so far this year!