As we speed toward the winter solstice next week, it’s high time for a state of the season update. We have been spared winter’s excesses so far, but, hey, winter doesn’t officially begin until Monday. October was chilly and November was mild, with no snow here at all.
Ontario Precipitation 2009 Growing Season
Environment Canada reported that we had temperatures above 10C for 11 days in November. And, best of all, there wasn’t a trace of snow. Since 1958, when Hamilton began keeping weather records, there has been only one other November without snow – back in 1963.
The other strange thing about this past season was how relentlessly cool and rainy it stayed all summer. Our tomatoes were a bust because they just didn’t get enough heat and sun. Two years of excess rain in a row is quite the change from practically a decade of drought previously. I wonder what’s coming next.
The Agriculture Canada precipitation map above shows just how wet it was. We are located in that little dark blue circle at the base of Lake Ontario that shows rainfall levels at “extremely high”.
Personal update
I have had to take a break from blogging for about a month because of repetitive strain injury from doing too much computer work. A full redesign of my flower gardening website, which I hope will go live in January, has been the reason. The upshot: I have to pace myself and spend less time on the computer than I would like to. Here’s a sneak preview of how the redesigned site is going to look.
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It’s like you and Toby are both in the same boat – having to pace yourselves cause of injury.
Missed you on Twitter. Hope the RSI calms down, and you can help it with some ergonomic or other solutions.
Don’t overdo Yvonne! But I’m happy to see you back. I think it’s great the way you document all this weather and can look back to see the past and the garden memories you have from it. Believe me when I say I am already ready for sping!
Yvonne, I missed your posts too (as you normally put out posts more often) and I agree with Eve that it is a great feature with the weather maps that you have posted periodically.
I thought that something might be wrong since you were so quiet and I hope that both you and Toby will be back to full speed soon.
Your appetizer of the redesigned site looks sleek, clean and easy to navigate – looking forward to see “the whole thing”.
Cheers to a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
Lene
I’m very glad to hear from you Sarah, Eve and Lene. It’s been a frustrating time for me because I so enjoy the computer and the website work, but, of course, that’s why I tend to overdo it. I’ve had bouts of repetitive strain injury over the years, but it’s getting worse the older I get. I tend to be obsessive, and don’t take enough breaks. This time my body said: take a break, or you’re going to really break.
Tomatoes were a bust this summer just south of you too, here in Buffalo. We also broke records here for the most days without measurable snowfall this year.
The new site is looking good. I’m always curious as to how you’ll market it – how will you direct people to visit the site?
Hi Jim: Interesting how the weather is panning out both here and south of the border. As to your question about my site, it’s a very established site with more than 200 pages that I began in 2003. The site is geared to providing information to novice gardeners. It ranks well with Google and get thousands of visitors daily via that and the other search engines.
The purpose of the redesign and relaunch is simply to update the look and feel of the site. I used Site-Build-It, which is much more than a web-building and hosting company. I followed their action guide for creating a web-based information business. The site is an on-going project that I work on full-time on every winter when the gardening season ends.
I always look forward to playing with the site (adding and improving content, plus improving the business side of it), and it’s been most frustrating for me to get sidelined with repetitive strain injuries. I’ve been working with a friend who has been doing the keyboarding for me.