December started the season of fighting against the cold in Houston.
(Click on the picture to see it full size, use a back button to return to this spot.) The small collection of tropical flowers had to migrate into a semi-enclosed porch, which I temporarily enhanced by a large sheet of plastic which can be lowered during cold nights. The surrounding windows provide enough heat leaks to keep the area about 5 degrees Celsius warmer than the outside temperature.

The papayas I started from seed this year are about a meter high (slow grooving due the bad soil and shortened sun exposure) and it is clear I will need at least two years to get fruit. So it was back to irrigation pipe, plastic sheeting, duct tape and a 100 watt light bulb. We had couple of close calls when we lowered the sheets and turned the lights on, but so far those were just practice sessions. As the surviving tomato plant shows we have not dropped below 0 degrees yet.

It would be wrong to give the impression that we are fighting cold all the time. It is the unusual cold night that we need to be prepared for. Otherwise temperatures are mild, lots of days are over 20 degrees C. Sometimes so warm that I head out on my walk in shorts. The weather was perfect for a little field trip – about an hour from the house, just on the outskirts of southwest Houston is the Brazos Bend State Park. It is like a little piece of Louisiana swamp within a short drive. The real attraction are, however, alligators. There are lots of them and you can get as close as you want.