At last, someone to blame! It has been miserably cold here for a week or so. The frozen citrus story has gone national, especially since the governator is seeking disaster relief for the $1 billion in losses, but the everyday little costs for all of us aren't trivial either. It's Al's fault.

Gore Effect

The well documented phenomenon that leads to very low, unseasonable temperatures, driving rain, hail, snow or all of the above whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global "warming".

This happens every few years. It happened in 1990, 1998 and now in 2007. It's a little late this time. Had it happened a few days earlier in December, usually our coldest month, as it did in 1990 and 1998, it would be a neat eight year cycle.

I had a hunch that this was going to be a bad winter and kept almost all my seed in the sack instead of trying to steal a march with a January planting as I often do. Many years we get a sort of false spring in mid January, warm but dry. If I plant then and irrigate I can get seed germinated a month early so it can compete better with spring annuals, often weeds. Instead, I've been sitting on tons of seed and fidgeting, wondering if I had made a mistake.

Thanks Al. Though most will curse you I'm one of the few who might be OK this year. Still, don't come back. At least not for a decade or so.