I rarely check the
current or daily weather conditions. What
I do not know, I do not ponder. Unfortunately,
today, I looked on my favorite weather site, Intellicast. The air temperature was 8 ° and the site
indicated that it felt like 8°; no wind chill…great!
Three hours later, I
noticed that my birdfeeders were empty of feed, but not of birds. Actually, I had a crowd: mourning doves,
sparrows, cardinals, blue jays, woodpeckers and juncos; all looking for
breakfast.
So, I bundled up in
my winter garb and took the few seconds to fill the feeders.
Even without the
knowledge of that Internet weather report, I knew it was very cold because as I
walked on the cement-like ground passing by my rhododendron shrub, I saw that
the thick, leathery leaves had curled; what I call ‘sucked-up’. This curling is normal for this plant during
cold temperatures; the colder the air, the more curled the leaves become. I have seen the leaves curled to the thickness
of a lead pencil. Thank goodness, today
was not THAT cold.
Getting back into the
house, I decided to check the Intellicast temperature for my location again; a
balmy 16°.
Still, my rhodie’s
leaves remained curled all day.
My favorite
temperature gauge? You guessed it…my rhododendron shrub. And, I get my best view from the office window...inside in the warmth.
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