BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)

Subject: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 12:40 PM

I see that it will be Spring at 08:33h, AST tomorrow. I am celebrating by not shovelling my driveway. I just roll the 4X4 up and down the driveway and flatten the crap out, hopng the sun will be better able to melt it.

I did notice this morning that my mother's crocuses (croci ? hmmm, apparently both are correct) and tulips are up about two inches, that is, those within two inches of the basement wall. The rest I can't see because they are covered with snow.

How's Spring where you are. I am in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 12:58 PM

In Harlow, Essex, it's been beautiful, and I've been pottering about in the garden. Here's a shot of the sunset last night, on the home from Cambridge where we'd been up admiring the blossom and the springflowers, and watching people messing about on the river.

And it's not even spring yet for a couple of days, technically.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:05 PM

Cooler than I would have expected for this part of the world, but I can't really complain. It's been generally in the upper 50s to 60s F during the day and 30s to 40s F at night.

The daffodils have been blooming for a couple of weeks at least and dandilions are blooming already. The flowering pears and redbuds are at their peak. I've been hearing spring peepers for a few weeks now, and crickets as well. It's been a very wet winter and early spring. In fact the whole last year has been very wet for this area. Rain is a good thing, generally, but I am looking forward to some sunny days with temps in the 70s.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:06 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot... southish and eastern Alabama, USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:25 PM

Peepers! The poor little peepers around here haven't even thought about waking. They're still stuck in the mud. The ice isn't off the beaver dams.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:47 PM

We don't have very well defined seasons here. We have seasonal trends into which some attributes of other seasons can be interjected. Hence, peepers in the middle of winter are a distinct possibility, as are crickets. But they are not any indication of where the trend is headed. The live oaks are shedding their leaves now. I take that as a true indication that spring is, indeed, well underway.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:51 PM

I've just come in from using the gas trimmer to take down those big extra juicy early spring weeds. The ones that literally splash you when you lop them off. I've mowed the lawn once so far this year, two weeks ago, and should have mowed last week as well. Means I'll have to push harder to get through the tall grass this afternoon.

Most of the daffodils are finished but there are lots of other things starting out. Redbud is pinking up, the bloomin' quince is STILL blooming (typically they have a week or two and that's all, but this has had flowers in early January). My onions, out there since November, are now beginning to fatten up. I have to do a lot of digging and am planning to start more things from seed this year than in the past. It is partly an economy measure, but also because I think when things start from seed they actually have a healthier and happier root system in the soil in which they will grow all season.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:54 PM

Oops--I'm in Fort Worth, Texas. Hardiness zone 8-A

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 03:00 PM

Definitely Spring in Yorkshire. Blackthorn out.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 03:18 PM

Hot in Stoke-on-Trent. First butterflies and bumblebees observed in last couple of days. Daffodils very far advanced(pretty well finished,some patches!). Celandines out. Damson blossom out for more than a month now. Went out to have my coffee in the garden in my shirtsleeves. Primroses all over the bank(though they have actually been flowering since November). Hawthorn covered in green leaves. Magpies, squirrels and pigeons are doing their annual fighting for their individual spaces in the big ivy-covered tree.
    Yes, it's definitely spring!!

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 04:53 PM

Here in Connecticut, just a week ago we had ten inches of snow. The temperature is getting up into the 40's during the day and some of the snow has melted, but I still have a four foot high ridge along the sides of my driveway, and snow is forcast for tomorrow. Palm Sunday. Shovel Sunday.

A day before the ten inch snow, a flock of about 30 robins arrived and perched in the tree right behind our house. We have a row of barberry hedges and the red berries saved the birds for a couple of days until there was enough melting to expose some of the lawns.

The early bird gets cold feet.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 04:57 PM

These names are wonderful, but we don't all know what each other's spring flowers look like. If any of you use the Google images feature, you might make a link to what you think are typical examples of the flowers you're talking about.

Here's a redbud flower and leaf. And here's grape hyacinth. My Texas star hibuscus (in the mallow family) is just starting to send up new stalks from the roots. It'll bloom when the summer gets real hot.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Tinker
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 05:49 PM

Here in New Jersey the snow has cleared in all but a few forlorn patches. I can see the leaves of my primrose, and the daffodils are about two inches high as are the squill throughout the garden walks. I can see several of Boberts Iris I took home from Getaway showing green against the mulch I packed around them last fall, but itll be May before they bloom here.

LIke Jerry the season's first robins showed a few weeks ago just in time for a snow fall. Hopefully things will begin drying out now.

Tinker

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 06:05 PM

Stilly River Sage: that's great showing us what you are talking about. I dont have a computer, I use cabletv internet, and cant do stuff like that. So maybe somebody else would show people what daffodils, primroses and celandines look like? Or even magpies? What we take for granted is often strange to others. I was amazed when I went to America, met Bobert, and found that his robins are nothing like my robins.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Nancy King
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 06:07 PM

Here in the Washington DC area, the daffodil foliage has been poking up through the snow for weeks now. The snow's finally gone, and the daffy leaves are about 8 inches high, but most everything else is still pretty bleak. My red maple is beginning to bloom, but none of the trees are showing any green yet. It's been pretty chilly here for this time of year. We're only now beginning to get into the 50s (fahrenheit) for daytime highs. I suppose it will be stiflingly hot all too soon, but I'm sure ready for a nice balmy day in the 70s!

Nancy

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 06:45 PM

Had a wonderful day today..... I've got 10 different blooms out in my garden, I walked 10 miles and saw what must have been 10s of thousands of crocus in a great purple swathe, blackthorn in blossom and violets by the score.... here, these Spring flowers are the pictures I took.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Joybell
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 07:32 PM

Greg, we have very different robins here too. Also our magpies are quite different from American ones. There's a photo of one of our magpies on my head on my photo page.
It's Autumn here now but our seasons are more easily defined by the old local Aboriginal calendars. We don't fit into European seasons. We are almost into the time of the flocking of young magpies and the territorial singing of mature ones ready for their Winter nesting. It's a time of change and of expectation of rain. A time of frog-song. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: bbc
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 08:56 PM

Yup, here in New York, things are still pretty brown & muddy. Tomorrow, on the 1st day of spring (my birthday), we are expecting a couple more inches of snow w/ some rain mixed in for fun. I'm ready for spring to act like spring!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 09:13 PM

I'm writing from a Maryland suburb of Washington DC, where I'm waiting for spring. I enjoyed other people's photos of spring flowers so much that I claimed a site on Flickr and uploaded a few of my spring flower photos from last year. I'll put more up later this year when the flowers are up.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 10:36 PM

Very nice, Pauline! You have a great closeup lens! Those are very clear and crisp and beautifully lit. Top: Violet, and tulip; bottom: andromeda and narcisus (or daffodil), right?

I mowed and trimmed today, then ran around the yard taking photos of the house, but the digital camera I am using is not meant for art shots of great flowers (I have a 35mm and good lenses for that). I'm building up my supply of photos after the theft of my computer last month. All of my digital stuff went out the door with it. I've seen others use that Flickr site--do you think it's pretty good? Easy to use?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 10:57 PM

Hey, the skunk cabbage is up. If you're adventurous, pick it while the leaves are small and cook it like you would and dark green, leafy vegetable. It doesn't get that vile odor for which it's named until the leaves are large...

Happy eating...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:45 AM

You're supposed to boil skunk cabbage twice, and dump out the first batch of water or it'll make you sick. Or so went the local ethnobotanical lore in the Pacific Northwest regarding our earliest harbinger of spring.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:00 AM

Stilly - if a technophobe like me can use Flickr it must be good! It's clear, simple and very user friendly. It's a great free way to get your photos onto a publicly viewable forum.

Today is officially the first day of spring and it's dull and cool... Yesterday was bright and clear... go figure!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 05:59 AM

Bright and sunny with a high of 2C. I hope that snow in the driveway melts today, before ew get more tonight. Great pics 'Cats. I especially liked that great purple swathe, Liz.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 06:15 AM

Most definitley Spring. I'm in Cornwall, Uk and our daffodils have beenout for weks, the tulips are out, snowdrops and croci are nearly over. Cowslips have been out for weeks and I'm just hoping there ar going to be enough for may day! There is budburst on most of the trees and I have baby newts in the pond. Yesterday I planted out the delphiniums, hollyhocks and lupins in the herbaceous border and my seeds are showing in the seed trays.   We always are weeks ahead of the rest of the UK. My first returning newt was january 2nd and I had frogspawn at the end of January. Have a look at the Uk phenology website. They have interactive maps of how things are progressing across the Uk. I'm now going to make myself some well earned coffee and go and bask in the sun in the garden. All the windows in the house are open to let the fresh air in and the front door is wide open and the top of the stable door.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: freda underhill
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 06:58 AM

it is getting cooler here - i see so many beautiful birds in Canberra, for example a crimson rosella on my morning walk the other day. Canberra is a beautiful city, full of parks, lakes and surrounded by mountains. the birdlife is wonderful.. more beautiful birds

and the place where I'm staying (yarralumla) is full of birdlife, and the occasional kangaroo..

some of the leaves are just starting to go yellow and red as the days get colder..

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Sooz
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 07:20 AM

Its cold, grey and drizzling here in Lincolnshire - and the weather forecast promised us a great weekend. Fooled again!
Still we do have daffodils, crocuses, polyanthus, celandines, violets and many other flowers I'm not sure of the names of (and no snow) so we have much to be thankful for!

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Layah
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 09:30 AM

There's been a bunch of pretty purple, white, and yellow flowers for a while. There's a park I walk through every day to get to class and it's lovely and full of flowers. I'm in Edinburgh, and the weather in the past few days has warmed up enough that it feels like winter in California, while for months it has been colder than I've ever been before. Yesterday I didn't wear my coat for the first time since the beginning of September when I arrived here and bought it. Temperatures are getting highs in the 50s. As long as the weather doesn't change it's mind and get cold again it's great.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,Tinker
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 11:36 AM

I drove by a few swaths of purple crocus today, but they were tightly closed in the rainy,gray, 40F weather. The wonderful photo help remind me that spring is truely coming sometime after the gray and the mud.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 11:45 AM

Beautiful and sunny and lovely and warm and springy down here in lovely sunny Somerset!

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:23 PM

Well, spring shopping has sprung. Moncton, having a population of about 150,000 in the tri-community area (Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview) and in the immediate rural areas, is a shopping centre for a catchment of about 600,000 within a 90 minute drive. I just drove to the beer store and there's about 600,001 people in town shopping for Easter Weekend.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 01:49 PM

SRS, thanks for the compliment. I don't use a separate close up lens. My camera (Nikon 5400) just has a setting to use for close ups. I've put labels on my flower photos on Flickr. They are pansy and tulip (top) and andromeda and daffodil (bottom). I'm so sorry that you lost your digital photos when your computer was stolen. I always back mine up on CD to be safe. Flickr is easy to use and its uploads are fast, in contrast to Nikon's site. I'm on the tail end of a migraine and I could still use it, so it must be easy.

Cats, spring in Cornwall sounds wonderful. Imagine keeping the doors open to let fresh air in! That thought is like a breath of fresh air to me. What is the URL for the UK phenology site you mentioned?

It's a gray and cloudy day here in the suburbs of Washington DC. I looked out the window and saw a cardinal perched on one of the upper branches of a red maple tree. The maple has buds, but no blooms yet. The blooms are so pretty and cause so much trouble for those of us with allergies. Here is a photo of a red maple I took last spring.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 02:16 PM

And spring can only mean one thing..... Mayday! aaaaaaaannnnnd.................. Padstow!!!!!! horaaay!

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:06 PM

Pauline L try this site http://www.phenology.org.uk and Guest Laura, I'll be on the corner opposite the Golden Lion at 1/4 to midnight for the night singing and then at 11am for the Old Oss. See you there.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:23 PM

Here's some spring flowers you don't see very often... can't see them now really, the focus was dodgy....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 08:19 PM

We've still got a good crop of snow and very little else.

However, the weather is getting warmer and no doubt there is life beginning to sprout under the white covering.

It will be nice to see green once the snow has gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Flash Company
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:33 AM

Mid Cheshire UK---The frogs in my garden pond are waking me every morning, and I have lots of spawn, and No, I can't post you some!
Birds are very busy building which is the perfect excuse for not cutting down anything at the moment.
Just thinking in investing in a new Summerhouse so I can sit and watch the grass grow.

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Auggie
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 08:19 AM

Spring in the Upper Midwest. Beautiful rolling hills, covered with snow. Brown lifeless trees, covered with snow. Fuel oil bills up the wazoo. Windshields iced over every morning. Sidewalks slippery.
What a charming place to live. Not. At least not in March nor April.
The people are wonderful but the weather just plain sucks. Where is global warming when you need it?

SRS I'll send you photos of my spring flowers as soon as they are up. Check back with me sometime around, oh, I don't know, June maybe.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 08:24 AM

for the 56th year in a row (that I know of) my sister's b'day was heralded with snow.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 10:55 AM

Auggie, I bet you don't have the cooling bills I will in July--it's always a trade-off.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 02:32 PM

We have leaves. I'm definitely seeing new leaves on some of the trees. That's a nice sight.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 04:09 PM

Charlottesville, VA, is lovely as always, so I expect another major storm (a whole half-inch of snow! Close all the schools!) before we get out of the real winter...

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 04:16 PM

Cats, thanks so much for the link to the
UK phenology site. It's great! I didn't even know what phenology is. For those as ignorant as I, I can tell you that phenology is the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena especially in relation to climate. Such data have been collected in the UK for a few hundres years and in parts of Asia for much longer. This website gives dates of firsts (first blackberry blossom, etc.) in different parts of the UK over a period of years. Everyone is invited to observe and contribute. I'd love to. I keep similar notes for myself. However, I live in the Northeast USA. Does anybody know of any similar organizations closer to my home?

The weather here (suburb of Washington DC) is getting sunnier and warmer, so spring must show some signs soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:16 PM

Pauline, if you go onto the phenology site and look at the newts map, I'm the second siting. I'm also the 4th siting of mating seven spot ladybirds!!! Oh what we do. I've also got baby newts in my pond, saw them yesterday.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Peace
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:30 PM

SNOW. SNOW. SNOW.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:32 PM

Whiteneck!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:36 PM

It definitely doesn't feel like spring in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We even some snow flakes fall, though there's no snow on the ground anymore.

I have seen see some blue birds and red birds and there are some early flowers trying to poke out of the ground.

But it's COOOLD!!

well maybe not as cold as where Brucie is..but you couldn't tell by the weather in Pittsburgh that spring has sprung.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: freda underhill
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 06:52 AM

its cold and wet here in sydney tonight, spring is just a beautiful thought

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Essex Girl
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 09:00 AM

The glorious weather on saturday brought our goldfish to the surface of the pond. They've been reproducing again and we have dozens of baby fish from 1/2 inch in length upwards. If anyone needs to restock a pond we'll be glad to supply some. There were also large clumps of frogspawn and a couple of very large frogs. Daffodils, crocus and hyacinth are all blooming and the geraniums haven't stopped throughout the winter. Got the mower out but didn't get very far as I had to help get the caravan ready for Miskin.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 10:37 AM

We spotted a couple of great egrets in the creek this morning--the kids jokingly called them "Texas flamingos." I went looking for a very elegant photo to represent the birds this morning, but found this one at the same time. I couldn't resist! They're such graceful birds that I suppose the photo is the bird equivalent of catching a person when they're chewing or blinking--is a micro-moment captured on film.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Metchosin
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 11:30 AM

The blossoms on the big leaf maples in front of our house have started to open. Every morning my car and the driveway is covered with large clumps of moss and lichen, that have been dislodged from the maple's branches by varied thrushes, eagerly seeking insect grubs overhead. In another week the car will be further decorated by the sticky tendrils and gum that fall from the blossoms.

The King apple, which developed a 45 degree tilt after the last heavy snowfall this winter, has leafed out and the only falling snow now, is pale pink and carpets the swordfern below the flowering cherry.

One of the rhodos has burst into full bloom and a rufus hummingbird is staking his territory in a buzz bomb display over the magenta blossoms of the salmon berries.

Spring is definitely here and wonderfully early this year.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 11:44 AM

Metchosin... sounds just excellent. No wonder you lot in Lotus Land are so envied by the rest of us Canucks. I have two cousins out there and they wouldn't move back here for all the tea.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Joybell
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 05:46 PM

freda, Send some rain down. I'm grateful for the sunshine and the still warm weather but we really need the Autumn rains. At least a little shower.
In a few weeks we'll be in the American Midwest and then in New Mexico. How is the Spring looking around Indiana, Iowa? Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: freda underhill
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 06:22 PM

Hey Rain!


Rain in my hair, rain in my face - muddy old Innisvale's a muddy wet place, hey rain, hey rain,
Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

Bloke from the west nearly died of fright 'cause the river rose thirty-five feet last night, hey rain, hey rain
Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

Johnson River crocodile living in me fridge, and a bloody great tree on the Jubilee Bridge, hey rain, hey rain,
Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

Rain in my beer, rain in my grub, and they've just fitted anchors to the Garradunga Pub, hey rain, hey rain,
Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

Wet season skies have sprung a leak from Flying Fish point to the Millstream Creek, hey rain, hey rain,
Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

Wet season sky so black and big, and an old flying fox in a Moreton Bay fig, hey rain, hey rain,
Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

It's the worst wet season we've ever had; I'd swim down to Tully - but it's just as bloody bad, hey rain, hey rain,Hey Rain, rain coming down on the cane,
On the roofs of the town.

by Bill Scott.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 12:13 AM

Metchosin, that sounds so, so good. Where do you live?

Update from the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC: Yesterday I saw some red on a red maple tree, but I didn't have my camera with me. Today I went out for a walk with my camera, and I saw periwinkle, pansies, and crocus in bloom. You, too, can see them here.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: bbc
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 07:00 AM

Now, we have a forecast of 5-10 inches of snow overnight, again!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: ranger1
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 08:27 AM

Well, the snowbanks have subsided from six inches above my neighbor's six foot high fence to about 18 incehes below and instead of three inches of ice on the sidewalks, we now have an inch of slush. But the male cardinals are singing their mating calls and the sparrows are using the mud puddle in front of my apartment building as a public bath, so it shouldn't be too much longer. Although, in Maine, those are always famous last words.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Alice
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 09:11 AM

Some snow here. Typical for spring, but not enough to make up for the loss of snowpack this winter. Apricot tree on the south side about ready to burst into bloom.

Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 11:27 AM

Magnolias are blooming, and I noticed at the garden center this morning that they have several varieties in full display. This is the week to go in and choose one to plant in the back yard. I also spotted a visiting meadowlark yesterday. (Not sure where Kern County is, the source of this photo. Since Texas is in the middle of the continent, I don't know if we have Western or Eastern Meadowlarks here).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Metchosin
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 12:56 PM

PaulineL, I'm on Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada.

Alice, we have little or no snowpack this year either. Could make for less than idyllic conditions again later on.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 12:57 PM

I really envy people who live in a house and have a yard to plant, care for plants, and just watch nature.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Metchosin
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 01:16 PM

Yeah Pauline, I consider myself pretty lucky....although sometimes I wish I had more than 18 minutes a day to really appreciate it. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 02:21 PM

Understood! Sometimes it seems the only chance I get to admire the yard is after I've struggled to mow it, or on my trips out to the compost heap. Just going outside and relaxing in it, what a concept!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Joybell
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 06:17 PM

freda, Good song isn't it? Rain features in so many Aussie songs, and that ones one of the best, I reckon. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 23 Mar 05 - 06:59 PM

Essex Girl - if you're passing this way at all, I'd love some frogspawn! Spent ages making a frog friendly pond, and the buggers won't come!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 06:14 AM

Liz the Squeak, if you happen to be in Cornwall I have tadpoles and baby newts in my pond, come and fetch it.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 07:46 AM

The 40-50 degree weather has been working on the snow that landed on us on the 11th and 12th. It's disappearing into rotten, dirty piles, but disappearing.

But . . . woke up to snow this morning. Maybe and inch or so, but it's still doing it and I have to make the tricky walk up the hill to the car, get it cleared off and drive 17 miles to work in this shhhhhhtuff.

I was hoping my poor old falling apart '91 Grand Am with the useless heater/defroster wouldn't have to slog through any more snow. I pick up my "new" 2000 Saturn wagon tomorrow. Sigh.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 07:48 AM

Oh yeah, and the mailbox did reappear -- it just can't be gotten to. But the post office is on the way to work, and I've been getting some nice early morning smiles in the mail. Believe it or not, my mail carrier apologised to me yesterday morning! Geez, the mound of concrete-textured snow in front of the box isn't her fault!

Should be able to get mail delivered again by June . . .

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: robomatic
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 08:09 AM

It's snowing right now near Boston, but the first crocus leaves are well up.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Flash Company
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 10:19 AM

Lay in bed this morning wathing a Blackbird on his singing post (The topmost twig of our 100 year old Pear tree). Blossom is just starting to show on it, if we get no frost in the next week or so it will be just lovely.

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Layah
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 11:55 AM

There was warmth! And sun today! I wore sandals for the first time since I arrived in Scotland seven months ago. And I don't like shoes, normally I wear sandals or go barefoot ten months of the year. Funny how things are comparative, we've just barely made it back into what I would consider normal winter temperature, but since it's a lot warmer than it was it feels like it's actually warm. Having bad weather all the time really makes me appreciate the good weather more.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 12:41 PM

2" of snow last night....sigh.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 01:02 PM

The seeds I put in at the weekend have started to show through. They've been under a cloche so it's a touch warmer but I should be able to plant out in a few more weeks. T shirts and sandals all this week, apparantley it's been warmer in Cornwall than it has in Spain! There again, it's a bank holiday this weekend so you can guarantee it'll rain and turn cold again.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Gurney
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 09:23 PM

Autumn, definately. It's prepissitating down.

Chris in NZ.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Tinker
Date: 24 Mar 05 - 11:07 PM

Okay we got four inches of snow yesterday, but it's nearly gone and my six inch high daffodils have buds showing. Spring is defying the odds here in New Jersey.

Yah know it's been unseasonably cold and snowy here abouts since Big Mick came down from Michigan....hmmmm.... In fact the only week that ranked near normal was the week of St Pat's when he went back to Michigan.....

But spring will come....

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Flash Company
Date: 27 Mar 05 - 09:04 AM

At breakfast this morning I had my first visit of the year from the Jay,don't see it too often, they're woodland birds really. It will hang around for a few weeks and then disappear until next year.
FC

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 05 - 11:35 AM

Oddest thing. Here it is March 27 in the lower elevations of Texas and it was snowing for a while this morning, according to the weather folks. I didn't see it (it doesn't make much noise on the roof, for starters, so I didn't look out!) but reports have a mix of snow and rain here in the county. It wasn't freezing, so I don't think any of our tender plants were injured.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 27 Mar 05 - 01:50 PM

I can't feel sorry for folks who have a yard but not much time to work in it. Just to see it as you walk by or to hear an occasional birdsong to help you stay in touch with the "real world" is something I would appreciate so much.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 27 Mar 05 - 02:09 PM

We harvested our first strawberry of the season a few days ago. And it did have just one bite taken out of it by the squirrel. I cut around the bite and we ate it anyway. It was, after all, our first strawberry of the season.

Just about everything is in bloom or in leaf (except for the sycamore tree in our yard), dogwoods, redbuds, oaks, maples, pears, all kinds of clover. I saw some Quaker ladies (bluets) blooming a couple of weeks ago. That really took me by surprise.

Yesterday and today we have flooding rains, thunderstorms, and a couple of days worth of end-to-end tornado watches, probably until some time tomorrow.

When I first moved to this area, JtS told me that it almost never rains here. The last year or two it deems like it has rained about fifty percent of the time. It's quite a climate change for this area.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 02:29 PM

CarolC and others, please tell us or remind us where you live when you post your spring reports. It's frustrating to try to guess your whereabouts.

Reporting from a suburb of Washington DC: It has been gray, cool, and rainy here for about a week, and I'm longing for signs of spring. The grass is a little greener, even on this side of the fence, and the honeysuckle vines growing over the fence are starting to turn green. There is bright green moss on a lot of things but that's because of the rain.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 02:49 PM

Three years ago in the spring I dug up a beautiful huge spiderwort in the woods across the road from my house. I planted it in the front bed and forgot about it, but every spring it comes back and is glorius. It has just this week emerged and started blooming. There are some small flowers that come up in the lawn later on that are spiderwort also, but this is a large plant, a couple of feet tall and blooms and blooms and blooms. Each individual flower lasts a day, but it keeps putting out new buds. I wish I could find more or cultivate this one. It doesn't seem to spread.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 02:58 PM

April showers bring May flowers. Here in SE New Brunswick, Canada, we are having April showers. No way these are March showers. I'm just thankful for the early spring because we've had 3 to 4 inches of rain in the past 24h and it could have been snow instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 03:41 PM

We got about 10" of snow yesterday, March 28th, 150 car accidents around town, 1/2 inch thick ice on my windshield this morning which took forever to clear, and (the very worst thing) I had to put my sandals away for a few more days. Damn!! Here's the local paper website, has some "cool" pictures if you look today.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 29 Mar 05 - 06:20 PM

Southish eastern Alabama, USA. Today is my favorite kind of weather. Sunny and clear, no humidity, and between 75 and 80 degrees F.

Even the sycamore is blooming now. The Chattahoochee River is almost at flood stage and threatens to submerge the riverwalk. Leftovers from storms up in the northern part of the state, I guess.

There is a bird that hangs out in one of our trees in the mornings, I'm guessing it's a mockingbird, that has taken to learning a new call every week or so and using that one call repeatedly until moving on to a new one. One week it was immitating a cat (it definitely wasn't a catbird because I know what they sound like and this was different... it wasn't a cat, either). Another week it was immitating a dog. This morning it was immitating a bobwhite quail (I know it wasn't a realy bobwhite quail because it didn't sound exactly right, it was morning, and I've never heard a bobwhite quail around here). I have no idea where this bird heard that particular call.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Essex Girl
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:31 AM

LTS, If I'm coming over your way in the next couple of weeks I'll try to drop some off, that is if it hasn't been eaten by the fish, although they don't seem to be touching it yet. Arrived home from Miskin on Monday, to a glorious spring evening and started planning what I need to do in the garden.Then yesterday cold, wet and very dull with a temperature of 6 degrees. Oh well at least we had fine weather over the weekend, and we should have lighter evenings now.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Tinker
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:50 AM

Here in New Jersey we've got 48 hours of wonderful weather ahead. I woke up to 48F and it's supposed to hit 60F today. I should be able to spend some time in the yard seeing just what is happening. Everything is still very soggy, but I can at least clean up a little bit... Bobert's Iris I took home from Getaway came through the winter wonderfully, I'm not sure when I would see signs of the Solomon's Seal...anyone know??

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 07:54 AM

SOB!! When will I learn to keep my mouth shut? That's right, even though it's not suppose to amount to much, it's blowing snow out there and there's a nice coating of ice on everthing.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Mar 05 - 10:44 AM

Carol, we've had a couple of impressario mockingbirds in our neighborhood in recent years. There is one little guy who perches on the top of my next-door neighbor's ham radio tower and sings his heart out. The whole routine takes about 10 minutes and includes seagulls, hawks, and car alarms. He sings for 30 seconds or so then jumps about 18 inches above the tower and reversed his direction and continues the song. He has the neighborhood covered that way!

Cardinals are passing through now. And robins are still here. Both will move on soon.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Flash Company
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 07:28 AM

My pear tree is now in full blossom, The tree is, I guess, a hundred years old, it was certainly here in 1908 when the house was built.
If I can figure out how to post a photo of it I will do that, it deserves to be seen!

FC

PS By the way, the pears are almoes inedible FC

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 01:04 PM

FC... pruning can improve the fruit but it may detract from the looks. My experience is with with apple trees... it's difficult to get a good balance, especially with a tree over 30 years old. While orchards look great, even pruned, a tree or two pruned for fruit bearing may not look so great.