The thaw that took two weeks

Two weeks ago we went from our normal gentle cool weather to the ice box. Before it hit, I was getting out of work, repeating my Mantra of "The roof is evil and must be punished" and lowering it on my Jeep and driving home with a smile on my face. 

The front hit and we dropped eventually to just a degree or two above freezing.  There were snow flurries in Oakland Park, Florida.   I am a mile south of Oakland Park.  I'm sure they hit here too but I didn't see them.   The carnage of Iguanas falling from the trees didn't become apparent because I hadn't been seeing them in the week before the temps hit 34, but my plants did see carnage.   Last Sunday was the coldest, and I walked out back to overlook the damage and noticed that my trumpet flower plant had foliage that was about 75 percent gone.   My Coleus was about 1/3 damaged, the Bougainvillea had damage, and there's a lot of odds and ends that look like they were freezer burned just like the celery that got left in my refrigerator too long.

I was in chat over the weekend and there was someone in Hollywood saying that there were iguanas falling from the tree on to his apartment and driving the dogs mad.  People were reporting that there were dazed iguanas on the fences trying to warm up in the sun.  The temps did not crack 40 until after lunch and the skies were never truly sunny, with a thin grey cloud deck floating in and out.

I'm sitting here writing this on Sunday wearing hiking boots, Jeans, a T Shirt and a Sweatshirt.  This is inside the house because the house can't keep the temperature over 70, and is struggling to heat it up to 69 today.   This being the coldest day of it, it still isn't out of the ordinary.  This was a Ten Year Event, and hopefully not to happen like this again.  

The orange groves North of here are furiously picking their fruit to be turned into Juice, so if you have any desire to drink the stuff, buy it up now.  If you have Orange Futures, you're going to make money this year.