Hail

As the sun set the hail began to fall.


Thunder, lightning and sheets of rain followed.

Tornado warnings were issued for counties south of us.
Forecast is for rain all night and a chance for sleet and snow tomorrow.
March is coming in like a roaring, cold, wet Lion.

Spring Thunderstorm Storm

The temperatures soared to 72 degrees this afternoon.
At sunset the clouds began to roll in from the southwest.
A storm was moving in quickly.

February 28, 1998

You surprised me; a mighty Spirit in a fragile body.

I show your smile and I tell your story.

I watch your Swamp Oak tree.

You taught me to live in the moment and to celebrate each day.

You taught me there are no words.

Shall we fly?

Tweaking

I am looking back over the month of February.

Finishing the scrapebook and backing up photos. Making notes for next year.

As I took my daily garden tour I saw the crocuses were emerging. It is an early Spring.

I cut a few Dogwood and Forsythia branches for indoor forcing. My colors for March are chiefly green and yellow with just a hint of pink here and there.

I planted some sweet clover seeds. I am just about ready for March.

"K"

"K" is for kite.

My friend gave me a stained glass kite a few years ago.

Kites are in the gardens

and in the house. Soon these kites will be in the sky.

Marking the Calendar

On March 3rd, we will have a total lunar eclipe of the Full Worm Moon. Time for us to set up the telescope.

I had been inside all day.

I wanted bird time.

I was not disappointed.

Reds

The Valentine roses are slowly finishing up. The reds are leaving the house and the greens and yellows of March are coming out.

Red Bellied is a member of the backyard birds now. He is comfortable finding bugs on the Ash tree.

From Hearts

to Kites

and Shamrocks.

I am packing the February things up today. March is just around the corner. Will it come in like a Lamb or a Lion? We will see!

Geese, geese, geese!

High in the evening sky the geese are migrating north.

Spring is on it's way to my friends in Canada.

Signs of Spring

I awoke to the sound of thunder at 5:55 am. Spring rains continued off and on all day.

A double, full arch, rainbow came as an answer to my question.

Spring is here.

What?????

I heard a familiar sound from my childhood.

Surely not, this is February.

The ice cream truck? I have heard of early spring and of global warming but the ice cream truck in February?

Feeding the bees

Now that I know the Honey Bees are awake I know they need food.

I took a dish garden out for them.

Try, try, again...

Watercolor Morning

The sun rose and washed the skies with soft colors.

My friend in Western Kansas was inspired by some photos I took last summer.

She painted these three watercolors for my Valentine's Day present.

I am inspired by her.

Spring?

The first Robin has always been my sign of Spring. Now that they are over wintering here I am not sure how I will know when Spring has sprung. The daffodiles and tulips are emerging, yet they do that sometimes long before Spring is really here. It is 62 degrees out, sunny with a southerly breeze, I went outside to see if Spring has sprung.

The bee on a spent rose stem could be my sign.

A seed floating and landing on the greening grass could be my sign,

maybe balloons flying over the house.
Has Spring actually sprung?

Winter Sowing

I began winter sowing today. It is very simple. I use the plastic 12"x7"x5" containers our lettuce comes in from the grociery store.

I drill ventilation holes in the lids and drainage holes in the bottoms. I put 3" of potting soil in and water with warm water. Then I sow my seeds, add a top dressing of potting soil and water once again with warm water. I snap the lids on and mark the date of sowing and the variety of seed on a piece of foil tape I have put on the side of the containers.

Out to the deck they go. Today I sowed saved Lupine seed and saved Flander's Field Poppy seed. I will continue winter sowing until May. Last year I did 100 containers.

It is warm today.

Spring is trying to come.

The daffodiles are emerging.
I have lots to do.

I still will take time for the birds.

Mardi Gras

We will listen to music.

We will eat redbeans and rice.

We send blessings to those celebrating Shrove Tuesday. Happy thoughts to those who call today "Fat Tuesday".

Happy Pancake Day!

Tallies are in

I submitted my tallies. Each day I had at least 100 birds.

These are the four photos I submitted.

The Purple Finch is one of my husband's favorites.

I could have submitted many more.

Standoff is my favorite.