Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Believe It, Spring Has Arrived!

Yesterday was our first really wonderful spring-like day.  The beautiful sunshine and warmth could hardly be believed, but was welcomed by all in these here parts.


I took this picture of the pond opening up first thing in the morning.


In the morning the broken up pieces of ice seemed to be floating just under the surface.  By afternoon, we had all kinds of icebergs raised up out of the water.  (Can anybody explain this phenomenon to me?)


Our little pond is filled by the drainage of water from the hills in back of us.  It collects in the ditch by the side of our driveway and then flows through a culvert under the driveway into the pond.  Yesterday it was gushing in.  (Not the best picture of the gush, but the electric fence was in my way and I try not to touch that too often.)


My strawberry patch covered with pine boughs for the winter is totally free of snow and I'm thinking I should get it uncovered fairly soon now.


The blueberry bushes (with raspberry patch behind them) are down near the bottom of the garden (who was the resident dummy who chose to plant them there where they get less sun?) and still have some snow cover.  (Some snow cover?  Ha!  The snow to the right out of this picture is still two feet deep.)


The chives have been cleaned of their winter mulch protection and are enjoying the warmth.  I planted my Sweet Peas on either side of this trellis a couple of days ago.  (Go, little Sweet Peas, go!)


This is snow still piled at the back (north side) of the house.  There's lots of snow in piles made by the snowplowing still to melt, but it's definitely on its way out now.

This morning (Tuesday) we had heavy, heavy rain with thunder for a few hours, but now at mid-afternoon the sun has come out and our temp in the shade is 59°.  Spring has taken a long time to come to the north woods, but I do believe it finally made it.


16 comments:

Susan said...

Doesn't it just make you want to do a happy dance when the sun comes out and the snow melts? And how come your garden already looks nicer than mine? Do you have minions out there before your photo shoots? Wanna send some to me?

Carolyn said...

Yay for warm(ish) weather!
Just imagine how LUSH everything will be when all those seeds get soaking up all that melted snow & sunshine.

Sparkless said...

Yahhhhhhh spring! So glad to hear your weather is finally starting to warm up. We are having some typical spring like weather with gust of wind, clouds, rain/snow (depends on where you live which you get), and sun. It's been a week of totally unsettled weather which is spring.

Tombstone Livestock said...

I'm jealous !!!!!! Spring is long gone here ... one season I wish was the longest.

Freedom Acres Farm said...

Yes, we've had 68 the last three days!! Yay! The rest of the week our highs are to be back down at about 48. They're predicting yet more snow mixed with rain in the overnights for the rest of the week. Boo! I don't believe spring will ever really come - goodness gracious!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Minions? There are minions I could get to do my outside work this spring/summer? If so, I am going to be terribly selfish and keep them all here!

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - Haha! I have to laugh when I think that our "warm" weather would be down right chilly to you. Everything is relative, right? I took a walk out through my raised beds late this afternoon thinking I just might be able to plant some radishes or lettuce (under cold frames, of course) sometime soon, but upon closer inspection I found puddles of mud in most of them. Patience, Mama Pea, patience.

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - Yep, I was talking with someone in our food co-op yesterday saying how wonderfully warm it felt and she reminded me that we can still get freezing temps and snow for the next few weeks. (Whadda killjoy!)

Mama Pea said...

Tombstone Livestock - I'll bet you do. Are you most likely to get rain in the spring time before it gets too hot?

Mama Pea said...

Freedom Acres Farm - Wow! We've yet to hit the 60s yet. And, yeah, we've got rain/snow/ice as a possibility for the rest of our week, too. Bah.

Michelle said...

Hope it keeps getting warmer for you. I remember feeling the same way you do ,when we lived in Alaska. I thought spring would never come.

Anonymous said...

So glad to see the melting, and bare ground!! Yeah!!!

Mama Pea said...

Michelle - Since it's stopped snowing boat loads (so far!) we're feeling that winter is actually over and spring is here. We don't have consistently warm days until close to June though. If the snow keeps melting, that's a good sign!

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - Now if the bare ground didn't have so much MUD with it . . . ! (Never satisfied, am I? I'm just so eager to get out in my raised beds!!)

Patty said...

So awesome!! :) It is such joy to be able to sit outside and be warm, sip coffee and listen to the birds.

Mama Pea said...

Patty - But . . . have you heard the forecast for tonight? Dum-da-dum-dum . . . :o(