Countdown to Spring - Oh, Wait ...

That's right.  It came in  Saturday morning.  Oh, yes, yesterday was the official start to spring.  It's going to be a while yet for it to be felt far and wide.  But according to the calendar, it's here.  Friday, the last day of winter, had a short burst of snow in the morning, not even enough to coat everything one last time.  Lots of wind as well, enough to take down a few larger dead trees, one of which fell in the back yard of the house where I live.  No damage, no injuries.

With all the above-freezing temperatures we've been having locally in the last two weeks, there isn't a smidge of snow left.  I did say that I would do the Snoopy Dance when that happened.  I made the attempt to show that cartoon beagle joy, only to discover I'm not as young or agile as I used to be.  Happily, there is no video of my sad little attempt, but it's the thought (that I didn't end up in the emergency room) that counts.

Crocuses are up and in bloom, snowdrops were up and in bloom and are done for the season.  Daffodil leaves have emerged, but I haven't seen any blooms or buds yet.  Some of the trees are more than ready to let those leaves show themselves, others not so much.  But most importantly, the wild onions have appeared in the yard, and I can see the stinky skunk cabbage as I drive over the bridge and out into the world for work and shopping.  No dandelions yet, but they're only a week or two away.

Lots of spring bird songs now.  Many of the migrators have returned, but I have yet to see is a robin.  I know they're out there, but I've usually seen them stalking earthworms in the nearby park by now.  I'm sure they're here – somewhere else.  Eventually, I'll see my first one and, as always, it'll make me smile.

So after our long, cold, pandemically-influenced winter, more daylight, warmer temperatures and more chance of rain than snow seem to have more meaning.  I don't know about all of you, but this seasonal renewal that is spring is especially welcomed this year.  

Get out there and enjoy it.  I know I will.

Countdown to Spring - Yet, Still, But Not Really

It's sometimes been a little hard to remember we're almost at the end of April.  We've had below freezing temperatures for most of this month's nights.  We've had snow, sleet and freezing rain multiple times. Granted, it doesn't stay around long and, as I type this, there is no evidence of that crappy stuff to be seen. 

There is clear evidence that spring has arrived out there.  Grass is greening up.  Leaves are starting to unfold on trees and bushes.  That pussy willow I mentioned in the earlier posts has gone to pollen.  Daffodils, hyacinth, forsythia, etc. are all out there and in various stages of bloom.  Most, if not all, of the migrating birds have returned.  The robins that I wasn't seeing arrived about a week after my last post and I've been seeing them in droves.

Days and nights are (slowly, very slowly) warming up, and the need to crank the heat up inside has faded to the point where I don't fear looking at the electricity bill anymore.  People are starting to shed their winter apparel for lighter articles of clothing.  Kids now regularly play outside, and it's wonderful to see the park not far from me in use again.  Also not far from me is a marina, and boats are being brought in by car or being unwrapped and taken out of storage, and they'll all soon be hitting the water.  It won't matter that it's still at best in the 40s, 50s and 60s.  They'll be out there like the rest of the spring arrivals, defying the elements and enjoying the moment.

This winter has been like the houseguest that doesn't know when to leave.  While it's not unheard of to still have this kind of chillier and more than a bit snowier/icier than usual kind of weather in April in New York, the winter solstice has worn out its welcome and needs to disappear until December like a good little season now.  I'm going to put away my snow shovel and my ice melt as a symbolic gesture and general hint.  Hopefully, Mother Nature will agree it's time for spring to be in control and not make me haul them out again until after December 21st.

Happy Earth Day, everyone.  Go out and honor and respect the planet 24/7/365.

Countdown to Spring–The Last Day of Winter

Well, no, it wasn’t my intent to miss my self-imposed deadline of Wednesday last week.  But, stuff happens.  This is better, though.  Traditionally, I’ve taken a walk on the last day of winter and blogged about it in this series before.  Now, that tradition has been continued, with the last entry of the series tomorrow.

The snow is just about gone in my area.  Threatened significant accumulation locally from the Nor’easter last week never happened.  At best, my area got an inch.  There are other areas throughout the Northeast, though, that will still be seeing snow on the ground not just tomorrow, but into April.  They truly have my sympathy.  The warmer temperatures that are coming even before the end of this month will help make it all go away and become a memory fast enough.

Okay, so not to rub it in (much) to those who are still hip-deep in the white stuff, I was out on my snow-free and dry deck Sunday in my bare feet.  I figured it was going to be cold, but I wasn’t going to be out there that long, so it wouldn’t be so bad.  I have to say, the deck was actually warm and pleasant under foot.  Although the air temperature was only in the mid-30s, the angle of the sun is now high enough that its rays more directly hit the deck.  It felt great.  I can’t wait for that to happen on a regular basis.

On my other walks, I wasn’t seeing much in the way of spring flowers trying to even send out their leaves.  The only ones I was seeing were planted near houses, where escaping heat coupled with reflected sun’s warmth were bringing them up faster.   But today, I finally saw something I’d been waiting for.  There’s a patch of daffodils that somehow got started between a utility pole and a grate over a rainwater runoff.  They’ve been there for years.  They, too, have been slow to show signs of life.  But finally, I got to see them.  They’re only about an inch high and barely noticeable peaking out from under the leaf litter of autumn, but there they were, those yellow (soon to be green) shoots.  About time, guys.

All the trees and bushes have buds on them, even the ones that won’t be sending out leaves for a while yet.  The maples have been especially noticeable, as they’ve been sending up that sap that the syrup makers covet for a while.  The sap has been feeding tips of branches which have been showing signs of waking for weeks.  The heck with the maple syrup, much as I love it.  Just show me some unfurling leaves!

So many of the migrating bird species are back now, although I still haven’t seen any other robins than the one I mentioned in an earlier post.  People keep telling me they’re out there.  I’m usually about two weeks behind everybody else in my first (live) robin sighting, but even today, looking for them in the places I always see them in the spring  – nothing.  In their place, however, were lots of other birds singing out their territory claims and even a few making nests.  Yup, more than one bird with fluff or twigs in their beak heading for those places they’ve designated home to their spring-borne families.  Now, there’s a sign of renewal if ever there was one.

As I returned from my walk, I looked out the door to my little balcony and saw the last vestige of snow from the igloo I created to keep my perishables from spoiling during our 12-hour power outage during Nor’easter #2.  It’s just a football-sized patch of snow now that will likely be gone by the weekend, assuming I don’t take a shovel to it. 

Hmm, I might have to do that tomorrow.  Sort of a ritual to end the winter season.  It’s been a long one – can you tell?

Only 1 day until Spring.

Countdown to Spring–Roarin’ All the Way

There’s a saying that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  March doesn’t always live up to that saying to its fullest potential, but this year, well …
In last week’s post, I remarked that Punxsutawney Phil was wrong in the prediction of there being six more weeks of winter.  With all the warm weather and quickly disappearing snow we were having, I couldn’t help but make the remark.  Never taunt the ground hog.

On March 2, after a day of 50-degree weather, but mostly cloudy skies and strangely increasing winds, we had a classic Nor’easter storm develop.  We were fortunate in that we had only a little bit of very soggy snow mixed in with rain.  North and west of the Mid-Hudson Valley, though, got slammed with 2-3 feet of snow.  The ski resorts were thrilled, I’m sure.  The rest of us, not so much.  Power outages were rampant with the high winds taking down branches and trees across power lines.  We were fortunate in that we only lost power for one hour.  As I type this, there are people who are just getting their power back on from last week’s storm and a few that still don’t have it.

Today brings another Nor’easter, only this time, my area won’t get off as easy in terms of the precipitation.  There was disagreement among the forecasting groups about last week’s storm as to what type of precipitation we were going to get.  Not this time.  Although they were differing slightly on the totals, they were all saying snow.  We presently have about 6” of very, very heavy snow.  Yes, this is the snow we used to make snowballs and snowmen out of when I was younger – solid, packable stuff.  You don’t want to shovel it, but you do want to play with it.  I’ll be doing the former tomorrow, taking my time with it clearing my deck and walkway.  I’m a fat, 60+ woman who doesn’t want to end up a winter statistic because she did too much too fast with this hefty, crappy white stuff, aka “heart attack” snow.

But on a positive note, in my walks of yesterday and today, I saw the red ends of tree branches that weren’t there last week.  Those trees are just itching to send out leaves.  I saw crocus, daffodil and snowdrop leaves coming up through grass and debris, all signs of flowers to follow in the not too distant future.  The pussy willow I pass everyday is just about in full furriness.  Well, today, those fuzzies are a little soggy, but they’ll recover.  I’m seeing more and more migrating birds return, although I haven’t seen any other robins than the one I mentioned last time.  Maybe they headed south again to places where the ground isn’t white.  With the migrators, there are more spring songs being heard, songs which will still be heard tomorrow as my area starts to shovel out from what we all hope is the last reminder of this winter season. 

The lion that brought in March will soon be tamed, and the happy playful lamb that signals March’s end will be here soon enough.

Only 13 days until spring.