A LITTLE AFTER GROUNDHOG'S DAY

Here on the shore, we don’t have groundhogs or chipmunks, or any other burrowing mammals bigger than moles, voles, shrews and the like. If a critter were to dig down very far today, it would hit water. Our drainage ditches are still pretty full, and it hasn’t rained but a half an inch since the end of January. At our place up in PA (the Poconos) we have great groundhog habitat, rock fences, hillsides, lots of pasture land for critters to dig into or under. Down here in flat country, you dig a ways and you hit clay or shells – or water. So- no burrowing animals. Instead, we use our local possums for weather prognostication. The Onley Possum had a much better record of accuracy than that Yankeefied groundhog, Phil. The groundhog's seasonal forecasting accuracy is somewhat low. Phil's winter prognostications have been correct only 39% of the time. If my record were that bad, I’d change what seeing my shadow meant. See you shadow? Spring is right around the corner! And I’d be right 61% of the time! And so, the Onley Possum has a fine record. Even if we just waited to hear what Phil had to “say” and said the opposite – we’d be way ahead of the game.

            Anyway, this has been a rough winter for us down here, as I have heard many others say in other parts of this beautiful land we call home. We have had way more snow than usual, and temps dropping into the teens a few times. Not nice. And several days where it never got above freezing! Totally unappreciated!

If you know me at all, you know how I love flowers, and over the years I have turned my little corner of the shore into a strange little jungle where, if the weather cooperates, I can have some flowers blooming at some point –OK, not every day, but every week. Really! There is seldom a stretch of 2 or more weeks when I cannot find at least one camellia in bloom somewhere on my property between the middle of September until the merry month of May. OK, OK, so sometimes they are a little bruised or frost bitten, but still, to see a bright red bloom on a bush somewhere in the middle of winter, well, it just warms one’s heart.

 no, this is not Yule Tide- different red.

            I tried to take some pictures last week, but I am not walking well… I tried again today, but the pain made me come back inside. I really wanted to take pictures of my crocus… I do have one that peeked at me yesterday when the sun was shining, and I did NOT have my camera with me, but, camera in hand, I could not find it today and it hurt too much to walk around looking. And it was starting to drizzle. Hoover kept squeaking at me about the weather- she hates wind, snow, and rain, in that order, and I guess a rain drop hit her tiny nose and sent her into a squeaking panic. The squeaking continued all the way to the carport.

            So, there were a few Aunt Alice’s in bloom, now in a jar in the kitchen waiting to be put in a vase. The computer will not allow Aunt Alice to be a plural, so forgive the out of place possessive… but I will include a picture of

Debutante after the last cold night damaged all the blooms. Some of the buds might still open, but the ones that were opening when the temp dropped to 21 are brown and will eventually fall to the ground. Heartbreaking, isn’t it?

 The red bushes don’t look too bad. This is out my bedroom window. The white camellias are not too happy looking.

 

            The daffodils are thru the ground for the most part, and some have buds already.  

So, I missed Groundhog Day… but I have been extremely busy rebuilding the scenery at the Train Station and getting ready for Heritage Day the 24^th. I’ll try to show you what changes we are making there.

            Enjoy the few blooms in my yard. Hopefully I will have some daffodils to share soon.