Spring is springing around here! It's supposed to get up to 80 this afternoon but probably won't if the clouds don't move out. Meanwhile the wild callery pears are in full bloom.



And the first bloom opened on the Carolina Jessamine vines that have invaded the grape fence. Lots of fat buds ready to bust open too. Note to self: cut those vines out of the grapes before the grapes leaf out!

Those look so nice! Currently having what my weather app is calling an "ice storm," so I'm going to shut all the blinds and live vicariously through your pictures for the day.

Oh how lovely! We are expecting a huge dump of snow overnight! At least the dogs will enjoy it .

Linda

Every day is spring without blooming, here, and every night is winter without snow. It's been like that since December.

Saw this little guy out last week!

spring is still far, far away here.
but hey, my dog loves it. she likes to bury her nose in the snow, and rolls around in it
making happy sounds. she also takes a mouthful on the fly while walking. pure bred
german shepherd, but 100% snow dog.


keith

The Gotch has had the rare pleasure of meeting @rxkeith's pup...and wishes he had that kind of youthful exuberance!

The Gotch

I have daffodils buds up and ready. It was interesting winter so far. No snow, mostly mild with occasional freez birst.
I am puzzled whether to start my tomato seeds now or give it two more weeks. The yearlies I plant seedlings out was April 20th or so, the latest was mid May. I like them to be 8 weeks. What to do?

Now, some folks like to get tomatoes out as early as possible but I usually start mine around mid-March and set them out around the last week in April after a week of hardening off on the front porch. As I said on another post, Old Man Winter sometimes likes to throw an unexpected frost or two at us in April and it's a pain in the butt to cover everything so I just wait an extra week to plant. If you're coastal NJ or along the Delaware you probably don't have that problem.

We missed a huge snowstorm yesterday but still have the deep freeze to contend with. Every day and night the sounds of ducks and geese heading north is pretty loud. A few miles from us along the Missouri River flyway there is a popular bird sanctuary. It is now loaded with ducks, geese, swans and of course bald eagles snacking on what they can get.

I was out getting some things done today, on our warmest day of the year, so far (only 71°, but supposed to be 73°!), and noticed some tulips beginning to flower.
Tulips beginning to open, 2-23-23 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

@pepperhead212 , are you sure those are tulips? They sure look like daffodils.....

Lemongrass flowering.

Pine pollen time...





The culprit:

i found my first chunk of copper of the year on the road today while out walking the pup.
we are in the copper country ya know with a long history of mining copper going back to primitive
mine worked by the native people. the county use crushed mine rock to top dress the roads. my
son, and i have accumulated a stash of native copper picked off the road. there is silver to be found too.
nothing to make you rich, but good for fun money.

we will be experiencing the yellow haze of pine pollen later in the spring.
nothing sprouting yet unless they have really long necks, still too much snow on the ground.
but, the days are sunnier, and longer, and it is nice to be outside.



keith

The first real sign of spring is when the old, plump, Speedo wearing French Canadians head home from Florida.

Sorry in advance to any old, plump, Speedo wearing French Canadian who is either in Florida, Quebec, or in transit, who may be on this forum.

another sign of spring here is when the roosters start getting stinky with each other.
i have three junior roosters two years old that are sparring off with each other
two sons of bubba the head honcho were going at it last week. now one of the sons was
going at it with calico jack who might be a son of AJ who is a son of ALFIE the soon to be nine
year old rooster that was our very first chick to hatch here on the farm. it looked like calico jack
was coming out the winner of the fight. calico jack is mostly white with a burnt orange saddle, and
has a black beard. he looks like a pirate.


keith

No pictures but I'm seeing spring calves up and down the road on the way home from work.

Well the Sand Hill Cranes were doing their mating dance in my back yard today, right next to my raised beds. With 4 inches of snow still on the ground. And the Redwing Blackbirds showed up enmasse a couple days ago on the feeders. The bluebirds are here too. No blossoms yet, thank god, they would have frozen a few days ago.

rxkeith wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 6:25 pm another sign of spring here is when the roosters start getting stinky with each other.
i have three junior roosters two years old that are sparring off with each other
two sons of bubba the head honcho were going at it last week. now one of the sons was
going at it with calico jack who might be a son of AJ who is a son of ALFIE the soon to be nine
year old rooster that was our very first chick to hatch here on the farm. it looked like calico jack
was coming out the winner of the fight. calico jack is mostly white with a burnt orange saddle, and
has a black beard. he looks like a pirate.


keith

Keep your distance from the rooters, unless you know that they're always completely tame around people. A man in Ireland died last year, from a rooster attack.