Last week we had our first delightful taste of spring weather. Lots of our winter's snow melted, my raised garden beds were free of their white covering and my daughter commented on the green weeds already poking up through the garden soil.
One afternoon when the temperature rose close to 60°, the sun was shining and we had no breeze. Papa Pea and I stripped down to only the bare essentials and luxuriated on the deck soaking up some much needed rays of beautiful sunshine.
This is the scene that greeted me early this morning as I looked out our living room windows. It was snowing and the wind was blowing with gusts up to 50 mph.
As I attempted to shovel the deck, it crossed my mind that perhaps we should not have hauled out the deck furniture this past weekend.
(Photo by our daughter)
We've never before had one single Junco at our peanut butter log feeder. Today I filled it twice (unheard of in previous winters) and the Juncos never left it all day long. (It's empty again.)
(Photo by our daughter)
Our (bewildered?) spring Robins spent their day in the dried asparagus ferns foraging what they could find.
Our daughter, standing in our living room looking out, took this picture of me trying to shovel the wooden walk by the well pump.
The snow has continued all day. I have no idea how many inches we've accumulated because of the wind rearranging it as it falls.
Surely doesn't look like an early spring for us this year. Nope. Nuh-uh. Sigh.
18 comments:
Oh dear. It won’t last forever. We get juncos but they generally eat the seeds. I’ve had a cardinal calling his little heart out for a few days now. Over and over and over. I wonder how he can keep going that long? - Jenn
Jenn - We had no idea the Juncos would eat peanut butter. Like you, thought they were strictly seed eaters. Learn something everyday, huh? You Cardinal probably won't stop until a suitable girlfriend answers him!
Oh, my. Please don't send any of that in my direction.
Wow! We had 82° weather followed three days later by snow here. Crazy! 72° yesterday with a wintry mix tomorrow of 38°. Crazy crazy. Love your log feeder! Did you guys make that?
Spring gives us a couple of warm days and sunshine to keep us going until she really arrives!
Although the snow is a tad extreme!!
Oh my. Winter took a long time to get there and now it doesn't want to go away!
tpals - I'll see what I can do to keep it away from you! ;o)
Nancy - Your "bouncy" weather is more extreme than ours! I always wonder what those highs and then lows do to the live and growing things outdoors. Do the extremes hurt them or can they just flow with it?
gz - The weather does seem to be giving us more extremes no matter where we live, doesn't it? Now in our location, they're talking about flooding conditions yet this spring. Sigh.
Leigh - The forecast this morning is for melting temps today and then temps dropping tomorrow with more snow on Wednesday and Thursday. This may become more interesting!
Nancy - Forgot to say that, yes, Papa Pea did make the peanut butter feeder many, many years ago. The lighter colored wood you see around each hole is where our nocturnal flying squirrels have chewed it over the years when they've devoured all the peanut butter!
Good grief. You stripped down for 60* weather? Heck, I won't even strip down in the house if the furnace is out and it gets down to 60*. More power to you! Boy, that's a lotta snow. We endured 4-5 days of 80* days last week here in NE Ohio. Brutal. ;-) Take care, Kris
Kris - The fact that there was no breeze and the sun was hitting us directly . . . well, it felt wonderful! And after our winter temps up here near the Arctic(!), it felt WARM! ;o) Minnesota is a l-o-n-g state, admittedly, but friends of ours in the southern part of the state had a record breaking 90° temp that day we almost hit 60°. And your temps in the 80s last week . . . that's too darn warm for this time of year! I have trouble when it's that hot here in mid-summer! :o)
Nice!
Well, you can keep your snow but I am very happy to report that the weather here did NOT turn summerlike when my Irish wool sweaters purchased off eBay arrived. I could appreciate a string of 60° days, though!
You had shoveling depth? We are white all over this morning, but there is no wind. Mother Nature's fertilizer. Junco's are foraging all around the base of the pole feeder, along with a White-Throated Sparrow this AM. Who is the 'stripey' guy in your photo?
Michelle - That is truly a fun, uplifting thing to be able to wear your new sweaters a bit yet this spring. It's not nearly as satisfying to get "winter-wear" or "summer-wear" in the off season!
Rosalea - We think we got about 8" of snow but with all the wind, some drifts were two feet high. And HEAVY for shoveling! Spring snows . . . bah. My daughter, the family ornithologist, says she thinks the bird you were curious about is a Chipping Sparrow. (All sparrows look alike to me!)
I'm late to the party again (as usual!) but I had to share this with you. I read a blog by a lady who lives in Alberta. She trains dogs and horses, Lynn Melnechenko at Sky's the Limit Quarterhorses. Day before yesterday, she was showing snow and winds again. Today, I'm getting high northwest winds from her direction. As Yogi said, 'It ain't over 'til it's over!'
Tim - Can't believe you just might get another dose (small and quickly gone as it may be) of the white stuff. Same here as we're being warned we may get an inch overnight. Just rain all day but wet or white, I'm getting a smidge bit depressed by this gray, yucky, not-at-all-like spring weather. :o( You hang in there, and I will, too!
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