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| My back yard on Feb. 4. |
This past January has been the longest amount of time that we've had snow cover the ground since we've lived here--almost ten years! The two storms that left snow and ice in early January didn't melt much during this period of extremely cold weather. One morning it was minus six degrees! And it seems that the groundhog did see his shadow, so we still have another six weeks of winter to get through.
But yesterday's rain started to melt the icy blanket, and it continues to drizzle today. A good bit of the snow has melted, although the shady parts of our back yard are always the last to go.
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| The east garden |
It's looking almost spring-like, though new shoots are still far from emerging. Even so, my native witch hazel on the west side of the house is starting to open its blossoms. What a welcome sight! My hybrid witch hazel 'Diane' is nowhere near to opening its lovely reddish flowers, it will take a few sunny warm days to entice those to open.
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| Witch hazel flowers. |
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| Front yard. |
Our front yard has been filled with birds since we put out the feeders: a cardinal pair, a male red-bellied woodpecker, a blue jay, several nuthatches and downy woodpeckers, and lots of chickadees, sparrows, juncos, and titmice. Not many finches around this year--a couple of house finches at most. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get any good shots of them--here's the best one from earlier in the week.
As the last bits of ice cling to the deck, it seems impossible that just a few days ago it was still covered with a treacherous layer of snow and ice. I look forward to seeing the first signs of spring soon.
But first, I'm setting out for Florida with a friend in another week. I'm hoping to revisit some of my favorite places on the Nature Coast, then Big Cypress and the Everglades before we return on the 1st of March. Stay tuned for stories of our adventures.
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| Bits of ice cling to the deck. |
