Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Spring to winter to spring

We've had a gloriously beautiful spring so far.

The willows are leading the way in leafing out.

Everything else is lagging behind. The wild plums:

The oaks...

The ash tree...

The roses...

The apple trees...

The blackberries...

And the magnificent "one in a million" elm tree on a neighbor's property (though you can see the start of buds from a distance).

But the trees are ready to burst. Take a look at these apple leaf buds:

Some early flowers are making their appearance:

And the grass is looking positively emerald.

And then, suddenly, the weather did a complete 180. Here comes a last blast of winter!

Sunday morning we woke up to a bit of snow.

It wasn't bad, and in fact was rather pretty. Here are tracks as Mr. Darcy and I walked through the pasture.

But winter wasn't quite done yet. Yesterday we woke up to four inches of the white stuff.

You can see the snow came with a bit of wind, since it plastered just one side of this tree.

The birds at the feeder looked a bit shell-shocked at this development.

And then, just like that, the snow melted and spring was back. We observed some deer lazying it up in a nearby field.

It's still chilly at night – this morning the temp was 25F – but the sunshine is nice. Here the rising sun is hitting some snow still on a distant hill.

By midmorning today, the only snow left was an odd little dollop in front of the car.

We're not quite done with winter yet – we have more forecasted, even though as likely as not it will peter out – but we're definitely on the downhill side.

Let's hear it for spring!

1 comment:

  1. Whatever happened to April showers bring May flowers? Honestly! February was balmy down here, and the pear trees bloomed a bit early. Only to get the blooms smacked off during March monsoons and weekly/biweekly tornadic events, which are still happening.

    We went from heating to running the AC with no real pause. And down here with so much rain and humidity you have to run it or deal with mold and mildew. Sigh.

    So today is a pretty day, hallelujah ! The AC is on dehumidify and humming along. And the adopted mutt outside suddenly goes nuts! It's his "snake " voice. I love this dog. So I go outside with a swingblade and chop up the copperhead. It's a pit viper, like a small rattlesnake with no rattles. They are usually rolling around more in May. I've been remiss and running around barefoot outside and this sucker was in the freshly mowed grass. Thought there was more time.

    Yep. It's birds and bees and snake time too, so don't forget to wear your shoes, carry a hoe or something when you walk, and hopefully enjoy some good weather!
    (I did check the pear tree, and some did survive, thank the Lord.)

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