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BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you

10 Mar 07 - 02:11 PM (#1992723)
Subject: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: John MacKenzie

I had a tough year last year getting two new hips, and the restrictions that placed on me. I never took my boat out fishing once, so this year I intend to make up for it big time.
I intend to make 'Carpe Diem' my motto, and no it doesn't mean seize the fish, even though I'm talking about going fishing.
Who else is looking forward to this year, and why?
Giok

10 Mar 07 - 02:51 PM (#1992761)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Becca72

I lost my job at the beginning of January, had a relapse with a herniated disc (which sent me to bed, unable to move, for 3 days) at the end of January and my mother died at the beginning of February. I'm ready to start fresh this Spring.

People say things happen in 3's...I would just like it noted, for the record, that I have already had my "3" for 2007. No more bad shit, please.

10 Mar 07 - 02:57 PM (#1992765)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: wysiwyg

Naw, spring sucks. Well it DOES, in our area, whewre a winter's manure-spreading results in quite a nasty mud season and where the melting snow creates a sucking mud that has pulled off many a shoe. I know mine will be sucked off in a few weeks in the parking lot in Brookland, PA. I love the church where that will happen, so I love to go there no matter what-- but I know it will happen.

~Susan

10 Mar 07 - 03:12 PM (#1992784)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: John MacKenzie

Barefoot?

10 Mar 07 - 03:16 PM (#1992789)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Little Hawk

Sure am!

10 Mar 07 - 04:10 PM (#1992867)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Ebbie

In Juneau Alaska we don't have a lot of top soil so we really don't have much mud. Oregon, on the other hand, in the spring is a real boot-sucker.

10 Mar 07 - 06:39 PM (#1992991)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Liz the Squeak

We almost got it here, in London today. My daffodils are flowering, so are my hyacninth and violets, there is blackthorn and gorse in the hedgerows along the road and cherry blossom out in Russell Square Gardens.

There have been a couple of days this week where my dining room has been hot enough to sit in wearing just a Tshirt and trousers... Raven has taken to stretching out on the dining table to sun himself. Even saw my first cycling shorts on Thursday.

LTS

10 Mar 07 - 06:57 PM (#1993008)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Sorcha

Not a bad mud season here, at least in town. I'm ready!!!!!

10 Mar 07 - 07:00 PM (#1993011)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: TRUBRIT

Liz - you make me feel homesick. Our long term plan is to spend half the year (Jan - June) in England and half the year here....but the long term plan can't start for 8 years (mortgages to pay off, one last child left to grow up -- things like that...). I MISS THE FLOWERS -- when I am asked the biggest difference between US and America I think it is FLOWERS..... wild flowers are just everywhere at home. So - I'm happy where and when I am but so looking forward to not fighting 0 degrees cold and walking through an English bluebell wood again (hope there are still some left when I get there!!!). Thanks Liz, you made my day!

10 Mar 07 - 07:12 PM (#1993018)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Jeanie

Sorry to hear about all that has been happening to you, Becca. Like you and Giok, I am also seeing this Spring as the turning of the page into a whole new chapter, and looking forward to it very much.

The past several years had been marked by concerns over family and bereavement and its aftermath, and for a very long time my motto has been "These things will pass." Everything started to turn when I moved into a lovely little house last Autumn. Now my daughter, who's just turned 18 has been offered out-of-the-blue a great chance to train and work in London, and has very suddenly flown the nest. She hadn't been planning to do this for another year or so, so it came as rather a shock - but the good thing is that it didn't give me time to worry about it !

So, yes, Carpe Diem it is, Giok. I've just been acting in a play that initiated me into Morris Dancing - and I enjoyed it so much, I intend to join a mixed morris side (none of that namby pamby ladies' clog dancing for me - I want staves, hankies and bells !) Through that play, I've also met some lovely new friends and been introduced to a theatre group who perform open-air Shakespeare, and looking forward very much to that. I have a list as long as your arm of folk clubs to visit, and have started learning some new songs. I don't think I've felt so excited about life since I was 17. (It's been a long wait...)

Good luck to everyone in their Spring endeavours,
- jeanie

10 Mar 07 - 07:16 PM (#1993020)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: skipy

Looking fwd. to bedspring, knackered.
Skipy

11 Mar 07 - 03:57 AM (#1993231)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Liz the Squeak

Truebrit - have a look here
for some more spring flowers. You need to scroll down a bit, but they should brighten your day.

LTS

11 Mar 07 - 04:02 AM (#1993233)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Alec

The highpoints of our Cultural lives tend to take place in the winter months and such engagement as we make with outdoor activities tend to take place when there is no "R" in the month.
At this time of year the best of the former are behind us & its still too early to generate much enthusiasm about the latter.
Nevertheless the prolonged hours of daylight,respite from foul weather & begining of the growing season are all very much welcomed by us.

11 Mar 07 - 08:33 AM (#1993336)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Alec

Have just (within the last few minutes)seen a Bumble Bee in flight for the first time this year.

11 Mar 07 - 08:39 AM (#1993341)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Mooh

John...I hear the fish calling my name. So's the garden, the van, the house paint and windows, aaah, spring! Hopefully the new band wll be gigging by then too.

Peace, Mooh.

11 Mar 07 - 08:42 AM (#1993344)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

I heard the spring peeper frogs last night

11 Mar 07 - 10:42 AM (#1993393)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Maryrrf

We didn't have much of a winter here in Richmond, Virginia - but I still love the springtime! It's a beautiful time of year here - I plan to enjoy it!

11 Mar 07 - 05:05 PM (#1993649)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: TRUBRIT

Liz -- oh thank you.......The crocuses (croci?????) are just lovely......when 8 years has passed we will be headed over and I will PM you so we can get together for a cup of tea!!!

11 Mar 07 - 06:33 PM (#1993717)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Janie

Deborah, No wild flowers in Maine? That far north I don't know nuttin' but I bet the woods are full of spring ephemerals in Maine in --what--- May? Kendall would know. I know from West Virginia south, it won't be long at all before the woods are full of toothworts, spring beauties, trout lilies, mayapple, bloodroot, wood anemones, assorted violets and field pansies. I admit, few of these delicate flowers jump and shout "Hallelulah" becasue they are so small and close to the ground. but they are so lovely and delicate in their soft shades of blue, pink and palest yellow.

Do lupines grow wild in Maine?

Spring in North Carolina is an absolutely splendid time of year. It is in spring that I understand why they call this place 'the southern part of heaven.' Spring starts early here--much earlier than Maine, I guess!

Giok, Becca, et.al. May this spring be full of new green and soft days for you.

Janie

Janie

11 Mar 07 - 07:29 PM (#1993795)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Bee

Definitely eager for spring... just a month away from Spring Peepers here... six weeks to Mayflowers, Leatherleaf, white violets, Trout Lily, Bluets, Clintonia, purple violets a week later, then Rhodora, Indian Pear, Bog Laurel, Northern Bush Honeysuckle, Bunchberry, False Solomon Seal, Foam flower, Trilliums, Twinflower, Black Chokeberry and a hundred other wild things in bloom. TRUEBRIT, where on earth are you that there are no wildflowers - a city?

12 Mar 07 - 06:25 AM (#1994103)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Scrump

Yesterday dinner time* we were able to sit outside the pub in the sun, 17 deg C, wearing T-shirts and (of course) drinking beer. The first day this year of many, I hope!

* 'lunch time' to posh folk

12 Mar 07 - 06:52 AM (#1994125)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: maeve

All the wildflowers mentioned by Bee and by Janie, along with many more, bloom here in Maine. We have a lovely spring- but having said that it is an elusive season unless you are outside searching it out.

For me, it begins with the black-capped chickadee's spring song and the first appearance of skunks wobbling across the road. The red elder buds are already swollen, and I hear the chickadees!

12 Mar 07 - 04:58 PM (#1994693)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Becca72

A sad sign of Spring, I went by the first skunk-who-didn't-make-it-across-the-road on my way home last evening...

12 Mar 07 - 05:30 PM (#1994725)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: John MacKenzie

Saw wild daffodils in bloom today, Flowering currant bush in leaf, we have polyanthus in flower in the garden, and a miniature rhododendron too.
I will take the covers off my boat this weekend, and check her over, and dig the emergency outboard out of the garage.
Watch out fishes!

Giok

12 Mar 07 - 05:43 PM (#1994732)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Peace

Dead Skunk
( Loudon Wainwright III )

Crossin' the highway late last night
He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right
He didn't see the station wagon car
The skunk got squashed and there you are!

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Take a whiff on me, that ain't no rose!
Roll up yer window and hold yer nose
You don't have to look and you don't have to see
'Cause you can feel it in your olfactory

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Yeah you got yer dead cat and you got yer dead dog
On a moonlight night you got yer dead toad frog
Got yer dead rabbit and yer dead raccoon
The blood and the guts they're gonna make you swoon!
You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

C'mon stink!

You got it!
It's dead, it's in the middle
Dead skunk in the middle!
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high heaven!
All over the road, technicolor man!
Oh, you got pollution
It's dead, it's in the middle
And it's stinkin' to high, high Heaven!

12 Mar 07 - 06:23 PM (#1994774)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Janie

We look to be in for a dry spring to match the dry winter we had. We are smack in the middle of daffodil season--the early one's are gone the middle ones are prime, and the late daffs are in bud. My earliest tulips are in full bloom, as are the old heirloom hyacinthes that I have never been able to identify. The dwarf iris--some crested and some reticulated are just about finished. Common speedwell, henbit, purple deadnettle, bulbous buttercup carpet the yards of people like myself who don't put much effort into lawns.

But you sure can tell it's dry.

Temps have moderated to daytime sweater weather and nighttime jacket weather. I'm waiting to see the redbuds and dogwoods start blooming in yards and along forest edges.

I've seen pictures of drifts of English Bluebells. They are lovely.

Janie

12 Mar 07 - 06:24 PM (#1994776)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: bfdk

Saw 3 butterflies today, one either a small tortoiseshell or a peacock, the other two definitely small tortoiseshells. Also saw two large bumblebees. Spring is definitely around the corner :-)

Best wishes,

Bente

12 Mar 07 - 07:52 PM (#1994881)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Bee

Only sign of spring here is a certain scent on the March wind, smell of wet dead leaves and swelling alder buds. I'm watching for Coltsfoot along the road.

12 Mar 07 - 08:23 PM (#1994910)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: TRUBRIT

Janie -- you are right of course -- lots of Spring flowers here -- I just get sentimental at times......having said that I don't think there is ANYTHING to touch drifts of English bluebirds........

Your beautiful flower cards certainly help put me in the Spring mood.

12 Mar 07 - 08:57 PM (#1994937)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Bee

TRUEBRIT, I'm betting you meant 'drifts of bluebells', as 'drifts of bluebirds' would be a mite dismal, given they are usually airborne or chirpin' on twigs. ;-)

Fields of buebells are indeed lovely, but I'll raise you a riverbank covered in trout Lilies and Bluets, or an upland field of blooming pink Rhodora.

12 Mar 07 - 09:20 PM (#1994953)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: TRUBRIT

Oops- llong day - perhas I was thinking about the bluebird of happiness!!!

13 Mar 07 - 03:57 AM (#1995084)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Liz the Squeak

Sure it wasn't these you meant?

It's a wee bit early still for bluebells, they wait until April/May to flower, but the smell of a sun warmed bluebell glade is like nothing on earth... bliss!

LTS

13 Mar 07 - 04:05 AM (#1995087)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Catherine Jayne

There are lot of beautiful daffodils round here...they really brighten my day up. I love spring and the flowers and the greenery adn the warming days. Its nearly here!

13 Mar 07 - 04:09 AM (#1995092)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Liz the Squeak

I have three gorgeous white hyacinths in the garden. If I sit in the dining room and open the window, the smell is stupendous.

Sure beats the smell eminating from the lair of the Limpit. She's been blaming the cats but today we found a small science project (possibly penicillin, possibly a new life form) and a teapot half full of what was once milky tea. . .

I may need to borrow a skunk to use as an air freshener in there.

LTS

13 Mar 07 - 10:42 AM (#1995383)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Bee

It's mild and sunny here today, and I checked on my garden. Joy! My William and Marys (pulmonaria) are sprouting, and my irises, daylilies, perennial geraniums, tulips, all peeking green outta the ground!

13 Mar 07 - 03:26 PM (#1995675)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Charmion

Ottawa has just started to warm up, and I actually walked to work in shoes yesterday despite the lingering snowbanks and slush -- every year I just can't wait to get out of galoshes. We had our first above-freezing daily highs this weekend, and the weather forecast is now calling for "rain or snow". Or both, which is actually most likely.

Roll on the Equinox!

13 Mar 07 - 04:58 PM (#1995754)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Becca72

one of my favorite smells of all time is hyacinth. As an apartment dweller in the city (and someone with a black thumb!) I don't get to enjoy any planted outside, but right around Easter is a great time for me to wander the floral department of my local grocery store and soak up as much of it as I can get!

14 Mar 07 - 09:42 AM (#1996344)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Scrump

Ahh, the smell of bacon frying through the open windows in the morning - that always reminds me of spring :-)

Anyway, I reckon spring's here now, so I can't look forward to it any more. I'm looking forward to the summer instead - beers and BBQs in the garden, folk festivals, sunshine, bad air quality, overheating, not being able to sleep at night, sweating all the time, having to travel in overcrowded commuter trains like saunas... hmmm, maybe spring isn't so bad after all :-)

14 Mar 07 - 04:02 PM (#1996769)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: GUEST,ib48

My favourite season.all newborn and the countryside smells beautiful.Is there anything that can beat the smell of freshly mown grass.I am fortunate that i dont suffer hayfever,sorry you poor sufferers.

14 Mar 07 - 04:13 PM (#1996785)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: GUEST, Ebbie

We don't have skunks in Alaska. For us, the first sound of spring is the long, sweet, pure whistle of the Varied Thrush in the forest.

We STILL have lots of snow everywhere,- with more forecast - but I imagine that deep down below the thick blanket the crocus is preparing itself. (However, at the rate this winter is going it may be June before all the snow is melted. Odds are not lookin' good. :)

14 Mar 07 - 10:55 PM (#1997127)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

It was 78 today.

The spring peepers were 5 times louder tonight than last night.

I hopw they did not emerge so early as to leave them without food , as global warming has caused many birds to suffer a loss of food for their young since caterpillers have hatched a month too early for their chicks to be fed.

26 Feb 21 - 12:49 PM (#4095003)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Well, I don't hear any spring peepers peeping hereabouts,
however
the warmer winter days
permit a taste of "mud season" already.
( Seriously, gotta watch the footwear outside.)

26 Feb 21 - 02:55 PM (#4095019)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Senoufou

Yesterday it was 18 degrees!! Unbelievably warm after all that snow and below-zero temperatures. (Minus 9)
We have crocuses, snowdrops, polyanthus, miniature daffodils in bloom.The birds are singing and everything is looking perky.
However, we've seen all this before. March, even April, can turn nasty.
But the sunshine lifted everyone's spirits here in the village - most people out for walks, dogs galloping around and even the tame deer BamBam zooming about getting into mischief!
Two fat sows escaped from their field and joined in the fun. Crazy place!

26 Feb 21 - 03:06 PM (#4095021)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Helen

Not me! I'm looking forward to Autumn. Less heat, no drought for a change, hopefully no floods or bushfires or other disasters.

My Country –
Dorothea Mackellar, 1906

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold –
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

26 Feb 21 - 03:20 PM (#4095024)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Jon Freeman

We can forget about you upside down people.

I think brother who's Sunshine Coast region may be glad of an Autumn change. I've not heard how it's been this year but he tells me summer combination of heat and humidity is not always pleasant.

26 Feb 21 - 03:31 PM (#4095026)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Helen

Well thanks very much, Jon Freeman! LOL

Yes, areas with high humidity and heat are much harder to bear than the dry heat further inland.

26 Feb 21 - 03:51 PM (#4095029)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Senoufou

I can take any amount of heat (and humidity!). It's the cold and the dreary wet weather that bring me down.
Trouble is, my poor husband starts to suffer from hay fever when the tree pollen gets going (early Spring). He has medication, but it makes him drowsy and dopey.
The pigs have been recaptured and their fence mended. But for some reason they always manage to find a way out of their field. Someone saw them actually climbing up the fence! Never knew pigs could climb!

27 Feb 21 - 10:59 AM (#4095151)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

This summer Oz had a pandemic instead of huge fires. They handled it better than than the US.
Birds and daffodils are starting up again here.

27 Feb 21 - 11:31 AM (#4095156)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Bonzo3legs

Rather Spring like here in very South Croydon, but cold at night with frosts over last 2!

27 Feb 21 - 06:36 PM (#4095232)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: JennieG

Another one looking forward to autumn, although it hasn't been a horribly hot summer - for a change.

Helen, we moved from the Big Smoke several years ago to an inland town and don't miss the humidity at all. If there are rain and/or storms hanging around we really notice the (slightly!) raised humidity here.

27 Feb 21 - 11:57 PM (#4095247)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: leeneia

Here in Kansas City we had one day of spring - 60 degrees. Today is the day of my annual Attack on the Foreign Invaders. When a beautiful day comes in February, I go out in the yard and spray green weeds such as ground ivy, dandelions and Tartarian honeysuckle.

I read in a garden book that plants which are green at the wrong time of year are foreign plants, some of which could be desirable, of course. But many are pests. So we clobber it when the other plants are dormant and no insects are about.

28 Feb 21 - 05:31 AM (#4095267)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: JHW

Last spring (2020)I did my Snowdrop walks before covid struck but haven't been able too this year as we have to 'stay at home'. Missed bluebells and wild daffodils last year too, loads of bluebell carpet places all too far away, also Farndale daffodils. Did see primroses in Smardale Gill between lock downs. (they like old railway cuttings)
So will mostly see only local spring this year and be looking forward rather to summer.

28 Feb 21 - 02:09 PM (#4095346)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Mud, mud, glo-ri-ous mud . . .

(cue Flanders & Swann, At the Drop of a Hat)

28 Feb 21 - 02:40 PM (#4095351)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: JHW

Yes plenty of mud yesterday even avoiding set fields. Some still flooded so impassable.

01 Mar 21 - 06:16 PM (#4095591)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Charmion

Snow squalls today in Stratford, Ontario. In fact, we usually get our last big snow storm of the year around the equinox, and an overnight sprinkle of snow as late as early May is not unusual.

The soil around here has a heavy clay layer about a foot below the surface, so the fields will be soggy with flooded areas until after Victoria Day (24 May), which is when we can count on no more frost till fall.

03 Mar 21 - 09:43 PM (#4095937)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

This is the first night I heard the spring peepers peeping. The day temp was 50 and the night is clear and full of stars with a prominate Mars.

04 Mar 21 - 02:39 PM (#4096047)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Ebbie

This morning it feels like Spring! The sun is warm and bright, the snow is retreating and exposing the green grass that somehow over-wintered beneath.

Of course, logically speaking, winter is not over. Early March brings on late-winter storms. On the other hand, mid-April heralds southeastern Alaska's dryest season, and that is next month.

Our dry, bright weather typically lasts until the end of June. It is a busy time of year for tourism, fishing and flying, hiking and camping... Don't know how it will be this year- last year it was almost totally different. Lock-down began in March (One week from now it will be a year since I started mine), there were no cruiseships, meaning no hordes of tourists, and daily bad news on many different levels.

04 Mar 21 - 03:23 PM (#4096050)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Charmion

The full lockdown in Ontario began on Monday, 16 March 2020. Vaccine distribution has finally begun for people who are not among the most vulnerable, and so Spring will be extra-specially springy this year.

But we're still getting snow squalls, so ... not chucking the heavy boots yet.

04 Mar 21 - 08:50 PM (#4096091)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: leeneia

We have a beautiful day here in Missouri. I bet it was 70 degrees. I took my recorder and my travelling music book out on the front porch and serenaded the populace. Our front porch is up in the air, so I'm in a private nook.

The first pedestrian who came by waved said "That was beautiful."

06 Mar 21 - 11:18 AM (#4096330)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: JHW

'the snow is retreating and exposing the green grass that somehow over-wintered beneath.'

Philip Larkin wrote a poem First Sight. Only two verses.
`Lambs that learn to walk in snow, when their bleating clouds the air
Meet a vast unwelcome, know nothing but a sunless glare
Newly stumbling to and fro, all they find outside the fold
Is a wretched width of cold

As they wait beside the ewe, her fleeces wetly caked, there lies
Hidden round them, waiting too, Earth's immesurable surprise,
They could not grasp it if they knew, what so soon will wake and grow
Utterly unlike the Snow.'

07 Mar 21 - 07:26 AM (#4096452)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Tattie Bogle

Pretty cold wind here though a run of partly sunny days, and it’s light until 6 pm. Some wonderful displays of crocus in the various parks, just coming up through the grass. Clocks go forward in a few weeks’ time.
Police out fining people who stray out of their local council areas, and parking attendants on mopeds ticketing people who park on grass verges or pavements near beauty spots where people go to walk.

08 Mar 21 - 12:28 AM (#4096580)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: robomatic

I AM looking forward to Spring, but I'm not in a rush.

We've been having a lovely winter here in Southcentral Alaska. While we've been laying doggo in our homes people here are abundant in common sense and our numbers have been improving. We've been free to shop and to pick up meals to go and to walk in the lovely parks of the city.

Since we're into March, I especially notice the ravens which are expressing territoriality and pairing up and playing face-off air games in the winds that create updrafts and gusts over the edges of our market buildings. Of an evening large males are making their quark calls atop forests of parking lot lamps. I will miss them, because in the warmer weather of Spring they will be much less represented in their foodland of humanity, but rather will raise their young in the wildlands about twenty or more miles away, a safe commute for the adults.

In the past I've noticed the interface of large populations of birds as seagulls will arrive and there will be a period with lots of them an lots of ravens. Both are supreme aerialists, but being built differently, their expertise varies. Gulls are highly maneuverable and lighter than ravens, and built for more soaring. Ravens are generalists, heavier and broader of body, lower aspect ratio of wing, hence they don't soar like the killing birds of prey. But their play, their rapid rolls are akin to eagles. They appear to me to be smarter than the gulls, and the gulls will yield to them.

We also have pigeons, which I also like, but unless you're near a gathering of them you don't notice them so much. I believe they are year-rounders like the ravens, but I believe they are strictly urban. As we walk the sidewalks streets and parks, we also run into urban moose, and these are rarely aggressive, but they can be, particularly around other moose and dogs.

I saw a black bear in the neighborhood last summer, and I know that bears have been around throughout the winter, but it is less usual to run into signs of bear than moose.

And everywhere we have these magical ever changing examples of hard water. How hard it can be, how soft it can be, how it can vary from day to day. If you want to go high into the nearby mountains you will strap spikes to your boots. If you want to maintain yourself on the many trails, you will fit your shoes or boots into elastic and chaing linked little spikes. If you simply want to survive a tilty parking lot, you will snap on mini or nano grips. And you will do something similar for your vehicle.

The backyard toys seem to be endless: Snowshoes, nordic skis, skate skis, crampons and ice axes. And of course all those fuel burning toys, which I have for the most part avoided.

So, Spring will come when it comes. The days are growing perceptibly and their growing is growing. It will top out soon at solstice, and of course we'll shift to Daylight Savings Time, which will be another presage to the incoming season, but we'll be able to ski locally (as in right outside on the sidewalk) for a few weeks more.

09 Mar 21 - 05:31 AM (#4096788)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: JHW

Lots of Arum leaves in local hedgebacks. Usually very rare in the grim North of England as they are sposed to need chalk, we have clay. Some in garden too. Now not.
See what happens later in spring.
Seen some Coltsfeet flowering. Leaves later as you'll know.
'

12 Mar 21 - 09:54 PM (#4097396)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Temperatures about to take a nose dive this weekend.

13 Mar 21 - 03:17 PM (#4097503)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

A cool, witheringly dry winter wind
scouring the clear blue sky today,
and things will refreeze for a little while.

13 Mar 21 - 07:32 PM (#4097532)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

I ordered some of the most bizarre Hawaian shirts I could find, one for each week of summer. No more jackets for spring, just sweaters. But summer, ahh.
More than half of the shirts are processing or out of stock so I'll try new ones with the credit.

13 Apr 21 - 09:21 PM (#4102143)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

It's been warm enough
that there is not as much mud.

Although, at this point, we could use the rain ...

14 Apr 21 - 07:43 AM (#4102172)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

crossing that bridge when you get to it.

14 Apr 21 - 10:14 AM (#4102189)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: robomatic

I think it's remained above freezing all night. We are beginning to think that the streets will be ice-free in a week and the sidewalks maybe the week after. I am still wearing heavy-duty shoe grips, called 'kahtoolas' when walking the dog. Fun times.

15 Apr 21 - 10:26 PM (#4102339)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: robomatic

Went hiking today without any spikies on. Trail was soft but not yet slushy. It will be, however. The main roads are clear of snow and the sidewalks on the sides of the streets getting direct sunlight are mostly clear. We think we are in the Spring meltdown phase. Yesterday saw my first motorcycle of Spring. Today two more motorcycles and several motorhomes.

15 Apr 21 - 10:29 PM (#4102340)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: robomatic

holy crap! no sooner had I hit 'submit message' then I saw on the local news that the temperature will hit over 50 degrees this weekend! Talking balmy sun 'n fun. You won't be reading from ME this weekend. Gonna be working on my 'laska tan!

16 Apr 21 - 06:01 PM (#4102457)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: robomatic

Started the walk today with long sleeve shirt, finished in a short tee. The black lab I was walking was overheating. It got up to 43F. I can even walk to Starbucks on nothing but pavement! Woo-Hoo!

24 Mar 23 - 03:43 PM (#4168287)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

We still have frozen snow on the grass and at the curbs (where the snowplows left it) while the weather warms up.
This weekend an approaching storm will arrive during fluctuating temperatures,
so we could go from snow to freezing rain to rain in a day.

24 Mar 23 - 08:26 PM (#4168330)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

Most trees are blooming and the hyacinths are nearly full grown.

25 Mar 23 - 03:35 AM (#4168348)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Dave the Gnome

Me: is the weather going to be sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, hot or cold today?

Spring: Yes.

25 Mar 23 - 09:21 AM (#4168378)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Steve Shaw

This has been the worst March I can remember for years. The budgie smugglers will have to wait.

30 Mar 23 - 06:04 PM (#4168801)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Last night a snow squall scared motorists on the highway
and dumped a bunch of snow.
But today, much of it melted in the sun.
So it isn't as wintry as it was in the recent past.

30 Mar 23 - 06:18 PM (#4168806)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Charmion

It’s been a cold, wet and messy March in these parts, and April won’t be much different for some time. My daffs are coming up but the rest of the garden looks awful — broken branches all over the place, piles of rotten leaves, dead-looking grass and, of course, rather a lot of mud.

I saw a cock robin on the back fence yesterday. He did not look happy; the snow was blowing sideways.

Roll on May.

05 Apr 23 - 09:29 PM (#4169342)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

THis is the first night that I have heard
the peepers peeping in the marsh by the side of the road.

05 Apr 23 - 10:55 PM (#4169345)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: gillymor

I like New York in June,
How about you...

I envy you up there, our Spring here in South Florida is already fleeting with daytime temps in the 90s. Our early summer does have it's charms though, it's got the snowbirds heading northward early thus relieving the seasonal congestion and snook fishing will just keep getting better until the late fall. Golf courses will be far less crowded and the green fees will drop about 400%.

06 Apr 23 - 07:48 AM (#4169366)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

Today in DC is in the HUMID mid 80's with thunderstorms and hail.
It is the remnants of the 24 tornado storms down south.

06 Apr 23 - 01:44 PM (#4169398)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Spring is positively here today.
The songbirds are making a collective racket,
the bugs are starting to turn up,
the tulips and daffodils are coming up,
the breeze is gentle and warm ...
and it's supposed to rain before sundown.

Oh, and the squirrels are chasing each other
rather than digging up buried nuts as they were doing last month.

06 Apr 23 - 03:53 PM (#4169403)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Steve Shaw

Chiffchaff singing for the first time (the bird that sings its name...), but it isn't spring until I've seen the first Brimstone...

06 Apr 23 - 06:53 PM (#4169410)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

It is Spring regardless of Steve's personal sighting.
The Hyacinth and Magnolias are fading.
Climate change has extended allergy season by 20 days.

06 Apr 23 - 07:18 PM (#4169411)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Steve Shaw

I have had no sighting. I HEARD the Chiffchaff (birders will tell you how hard they are to spot, let alone distinguish from willow warblers) and I have yet to see a Brimstone butterfly, one of the earliest to fly here. As for your "allergy season", whatever that is, do apprise us of your evidence for its early arrival. Hyacinths are stinky buggers and, if your magnolias are going over, then plant something different. My Magnolia stellata bushes are just about passing their peak now, but magnolias of other species are yet to reach full bloom. Attend more closely to detail is my advice.

10 Apr 23 - 01:01 PM (#4169623)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: leeneia

It's spring in Missouri. Tulips are up and trees are flowering. Right now there's a powerful thunderstorm, but we have carried out one of the rituals of Midwest life, checking the Convective Outlook on various weather websites. Despite the fierce storm, all across the country tornado risk is 2% or less.

At the back of our house is a modern sun-room, and we're glad we have it, except that during a hard storm the noise of rain on the roof is extremely loud. Today's rain is so bad that I ate my breakfast at the computer in an interior room.

10 Apr 23 - 05:39 PM (#4169642)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: robomatic

2 more inches of snow last night.

13 Apr 23 - 02:30 PM (#4169848)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Well,, the reason that I am looking forward to spring today is because
it feels more like summer, it's downright hot and dry outside.
Winter seems to have gone to summer in less than a fortnight.
I hope we get spring back, and soon;
the summer can wait.

14 Apr 23 - 09:17 PM (#4169952)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

Spring makes for fine concert going. The last time I saw the Taiwan symphony was in 2006 and now they are back again at the Kennedy Center. Political controversy has again erupted and this time has   required the Taiwan orchestra to change its name and leave their diplomat at home. Like last time there is a fancy reception after the concert.
I'm only 10 minutes away from another grand concert hall.

15 Apr 23 - 07:05 PM (#4170002)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Bill D

Spring is being rushed here..(north of Wash. DC). My azaleas are about 2 weeks early, overlapping the daffodil season. I'm expecting a long, hot Summer.

10 Mar 24 - 03:53 PM (#4198845)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

The vernal equinox is yet to come,
but in some places there has been weather that can only be described as
springlike, usually resulting in a lot of mud.
We had mud last week; the mud is freezing today,
and we may have snow tonight.

It may be early for spring, but it would be welcome here.

10 Mar 24 - 10:09 PM (#4198884)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

Keb, you are the mudcat resurrectionist and thread historian.
April showers bring May flowers but winter mud brings springtime crud.

11 Mar 24 - 11:34 AM (#4198913)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Well, the mud is frozen today,
the snow is turning to ice underfoot, and
the wind is brutal, making the flags stream and strain from their flagpoles.

I'll put up with the mud just to see the ice melt underfoot.

25 Mar 25 - 07:30 PM (#4219783)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

The Canada geese are back;
I could hear them flying overhead today,
and I have seen three of them on a nearby bank.
There are songbirds around as well, I don't know what sort,
but I can certainly hear them singing.

27 Mar 25 - 12:12 PM (#4219914)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: gillymor

More signs of Spring- Blue Jays are flitting about in the cypresses out back and engaging in noisy battles with the squirrels in the oaks out front. Also, tilapia beds are appearing on the perimeters of the local ponds.

27 Mar 25 - 08:10 PM (#4219931)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

The bears have come out, and they came out hungry.
ONe of the staff where I am staying
found big bear footprints across his front lawn this morning;
they were headed for his neighbor's trash cans.

28 Mar 25 - 06:56 PM (#4219990)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

This weekend rain is expected every day, with moderate temperatures.
Let Mud Season commence.

30 Mar 25 - 06:18 PM (#4220072)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Forecast for heavy rain overnight, and warm temperatures tomorrow.

01 Apr 25 - 07:52 PM (#4220155)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

April Fool's day barely got above 40 degrees F., which is cooler
than it has been in late March.
I got my first two mosquito bites --
both on the palm of my left hand.
(Guessing it was mosquitoes, I didn't see what bit my hand)

02 Apr 25 - 07:53 AM (#4220166)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

Its been 80 for the last couple days but this morning was in the 30s, Tomorrow will be 80 again.

Mosquitos aren't likely.

03 Apr 25 - 11:28 AM (#4220245)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Earthworms are out on the sidewalk pavements now,
as they are every year at this time.

03 Apr 25 - 07:12 PM (#4220269)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: Donuel

Spring peepers are in full chorus, and the hawks are flying low.

04 Apr 25 - 06:06 PM (#4220312)
Subject: RE: BS: Looking forward to spring, how about you
From: keberoxu

Yes, the spring peepers are peeping loud and clear here as well.
Supposed to rain all weekend,
but next week it might -- ugh -- snow instead.