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March So Mild, Part I
The month of March has been full of meetings, travels to two weekend conferences in Jefferson City, some major sorting of our library to find books to donate, various church activities, and finally, yesterday, filing the taxes for 2010! For a lot of the time I've been limping along with one sore knee, sometimes two. I think they are getting better; only the orthopedic specialist knows for sure and I'll see him next week. March came in like a lamb, sunny and warm, with the tantalizing promise of spring. On March 1, the First Crocus appeared in the front flower bed. The feeling was, the spell of winter was broken and even if there was more cold weather, we knew it wouldn't stay around for long!
All around the neighbor- hood, birds have been returning. We have had lots of customers at the feeders, including cardinals, juncos, finches, goldfinches, and the less-than-welcome starlings and grackles. Robins have been casually around since sometime in February, but on Wednesday, March 23 I was out in the yard and got these closeups of a robin prospecting for worms in the front yard. This area was undermined by a mole through the fall and winter; it was finally caught in a trap the first week of March. With all the tunnels, we thought there must have been a dozen of them, but since the trapping, no more tunnels have appeared. Nevertheless, the yard is a lumpy mess.
The robin seemed to think as much as he crossed the front walk in search of something better. You'll note that the walk is littered with acorns... the squirrels think that all of our walls and walks are a special banquet table just for them. The robin was just sizing me up when Norm came around the corner of the house and the bird decided to check something out across the street instead.
This photo is from the archive; I took it on February 27 of this year but never got around to posting shots of our surprise snow on that weekend. The euonymous bushes by the driveway looked so lacy. You can just barely see the points of daffodils peeking out of the snow.
And some three weeks or so later, here the daffodils are in bloom... another photo from the 23rd. One thing we have noticed is that the blooms are much sparser this year. I'll put in a link here that goes to the same plot this time in 2010. I don't know if they bloomed themselves out last year, or if the bulbs are too crowded (probably) and starting to decline. They were already well established 10 years ago when we moved here. Nevertheless, it was such a treat to have sunshine, and to enjoy these glowing yellow beauties.
The entire yard is starting to green up, with buds swelling on the redbud trees, the lilac, and the maple. Some blue periwinkle is blooming under the tree, and the rosebushes are leafed out. The azaleas in front are loaded with buds. As I wrote on Facebook: it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood! But cold weather arrived on Thursday and Friday morning we woke up to a very different world. But that is the subject of the next post! Clearly Miss March still has a few tricks up her sleeve!
The month of March has been full of meetings, travels to two weekend conferences in Jefferson City, some major sorting of our library to find books to donate, various church activities, and finally, yesterday, filing the taxes for 2010! For a lot of the time I've been limping along with one sore knee, sometimes two. I think they are getting better; only the orthopedic specialist knows for sure and I'll see him next week. March came in like a lamb, sunny and warm, with the tantalizing promise of spring. On March 1, the First Crocus appeared in the front flower bed. The feeling was, the spell of winter was broken and even if there was more cold weather, we knew it wouldn't stay around for long!
All around the neighbor- hood, birds have been returning. We have had lots of customers at the feeders, including cardinals, juncos, finches, goldfinches, and the less-than-welcome starlings and grackles. Robins have been casually around since sometime in February, but on Wednesday, March 23 I was out in the yard and got these closeups of a robin prospecting for worms in the front yard. This area was undermined by a mole through the fall and winter; it was finally caught in a trap the first week of March. With all the tunnels, we thought there must have been a dozen of them, but since the trapping, no more tunnels have appeared. Nevertheless, the yard is a lumpy mess.
The robin seemed to think as much as he crossed the front walk in search of something better. You'll note that the walk is littered with acorns... the squirrels think that all of our walls and walks are a special banquet table just for them. The robin was just sizing me up when Norm came around the corner of the house and the bird decided to check something out across the street instead.
This photo is from the archive; I took it on February 27 of this year but never got around to posting shots of our surprise snow on that weekend. The euonymous bushes by the driveway looked so lacy. You can just barely see the points of daffodils peeking out of the snow.
And some three weeks or so later, here the daffodils are in bloom... another photo from the 23rd. One thing we have noticed is that the blooms are much sparser this year. I'll put in a link here that goes to the same plot this time in 2010. I don't know if they bloomed themselves out last year, or if the bulbs are too crowded (probably) and starting to decline. They were already well established 10 years ago when we moved here. Nevertheless, it was such a treat to have sunshine, and to enjoy these glowing yellow beauties.
The entire yard is starting to green up, with buds swelling on the redbud trees, the lilac, and the maple. Some blue periwinkle is blooming under the tree, and the rosebushes are leafed out. The azaleas in front are loaded with buds. As I wrote on Facebook: it was a beautiful day in the neighborhood! But cold weather arrived on Thursday and Friday morning we woke up to a very different world. But that is the subject of the next post! Clearly Miss March still has a few tricks up her sleeve!
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