AN IMPOSSUMBLY LONG WINTER

Where is Spring, you say! Here we have daffodils, pansies, even the forsythia is opening… the late camellias are starting and I swear I saw a little color on a couple early azaleas. I did! But if you listened to that dumb groundhog up in Philadelphia, well, I am sure you must be disappointed. You can see a picture of this liar on this blog: http://thefrogandpenguinn.blogspot.com/2013/03/dont-shoot-piano-player.html.

Very possumly Phil should be retired – a suggestion that he can’t refuse, kind of retirement… I, the Onley Proud member of the Possum Prognosticator’s Club, President of Possum Patrol (always on the lookout for lying muskrats), and possumly the most accurate Predictor of a Pussumly early spring… I got laughed at, guffawed at even, when I said Spring would indeed be late this year. HA! But who gets the last chortle? MOI! As I curl up all warm and toasty in my heated nest down the street from those nasty muskrats, snug but not smug… Oh, no, not me… I remember the disbelief when I saw MY shadow and ran for dear life back into my snugness on the carport Pledging not to come back out until spring really arrives… or some delicious cat food gets placed in the dish a couple feet outside my door. Whichever comes first. We possums may get blinded easily by headlights but we’re not fools! My human CO (Can Opener) still has her snow shovel out just a few feet on the other side of the heated water dish. She even has a de-icer in the ground level birdbath, yes indeedy.

But I digress… Just how accurate is that dumb groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil? According to StormFax Weather Almanac, Phil has been right 39 percent of the time since 1887. It is amazing that he still has a job. I, on the other hand can never be replaced. Not only is my Prediction record Perfect, but where else can you find an animal this cute who eats copperheads for snacks, catches mice and rats and all sorts of buglies and does NOT ever get rabies? Can you beat that with a stick? Impossumble. 

In spite of all the wet weather we have had here, and I do mean wet – I mean, look at the yard! In the summertime this is where grass gets cut! We would need pontoons on the mower to get thru here! Or, maybe we could sell it to some unsuspecting Yankee as waterfront property, huh? No?

My human will tell you, “It always snows on the daffodils.” I bet you can check back to March of each year and find a picture of some bright yellow beauties bowed over with a layer of snow. My human also says, “Count your Cards,” to see how long winter will last. Translation: the more Cardinals at your feeders, the longer the winter. Unh huh, check it out. I taught her all these things. I did. She is not as impossumble as most humans. I am right Proud of her. Pay attention to Nature I told her. The more berries, the colder the winter.  Then there is the nutty predictor – the more nuts, the worse the winter will be, or the thicker shells, or the fatter… you name it.  Whatever. They are talking about edible nuts, aren’t they? Not humans… most of them are nuts, it seems. The point is, it is 4 days after the vernal equinox, and if you look real hard, it is snowing. Either that or these trees got dandruff!

(If you were a possum you would find that hairlarious!)

OK, so it is only 5 snowflakes an hour right now. Hang on. Just wait! You’ll see!

IT ALWAYS SNOWS ON THE DAFFODILS

I HAVE PROBABLY POSTED THIS TITLE BEFORE – because it always snows on the daffodils, and  that makes for some fun pictures. In PA where I went to college, this is called the Onion snow, because onions sets are usually in the ground by now. These are my onions, I put them in last week. 

But, here in VA, when it snows in the end of March, it snows on much more than the onions, or daffodils, but the good thing is, the snow does not hang around. Often it barely covers the ground. So, I have learned to grab the camera early because sometimes the snow is gone by the time I hit ‘publish.’ So, I will share a bit of last snow beauty.  

It is the time when many of the camellias are in bloom. Pink Perfection is probably my absolute favorite and I don’t remember seeing it in the snow before.

Red Emperor… Pink Precious… One of my own hybrids…     

White on white (this is a 12 footer)… Snow on the forsythia… See the peonies coming up? Pansies…

Know what this is? Snow on the PussyWillow, up about 15 feet. The Redbud is starting to bloom, these will be flowers next week. And I love the pattern of snow on these branches.

When we flew our first flights over Libya, I bought a new Peace Rose bush as my prayer for Peace. I hope it does not fall on deaf ears.

The snow filled Buddha’s lap as he sat out back and reminded me to think thoughts of love and compassion, and it fell on St Francis as he watched over Spook taking a drink from the slightly slushy birdbath.

May thoughts of Peace and Compassion fill your heart this spring day. (Guess what? It is all melted – just that fast.)

SPRING – for NOW

AND THE YARD WORK STARTS IN ERNEST. They tell me spring is here. Well the daffodils are blooming, that is a serious clue. The buds are popping on the trees, and the birds are getting scrappy as breeding/nesting time draws near.  The forsythia is in full glory, the camellias are a sight to behold. Onion sets are already sold out in one local store. I had to drive 40 miles to get some Vidalia onion sets. My peas are ready to go in the ground. It was a temptation to put them in as it was 78 degrees on Friday. However, the morning temp is supposed to be 28 by next Friday, so I guess I will hold out for another week or so.

But, the blueberry bushes have been moved. They got little sun in their old space as the pine trees grew.They were only about a foot tall when the bushes were first planted. But first, this azalea had to be moved – it went in a hole left by a blueberry bush.  The fence was taken down, rolled up, the net removed, and the posts pulled up. I did have help moving a couple plants and then putting the posts in the ground. Fortunately I had my own shatters (Eastern Shore for pine straw) to put around the bushes for weed control. This is the old Blueberry garden with the netting covered in snow. Honest! Isn’t that amazing? The center pole kept it from collapsing.  

Have you ever seen a Pussy Willow this tall? The tree stump on the left is 4 feet tall.

I love to see the daffodils turn into glowing spots of beauty in the early morning sunlight.

Because of the unusually cold winter, the camellias are blooming out of sync. Red Emperor is blooming early, this hybrid is blooming late. All around the edge of the woods, there are bushes filled with huge blooms.  

Aunt Alice is pretty much on schedule. It is one of my favorites.

A friend gave me a present – a reddish violet. No not a house plant or African violet, this is supposed to grow just like the others that grow like weeds in the yard. She has a huge patch of them.

And, Ginnie, this shot is for you.

RED

A neighbor did a blog on the color Red the other day… at the moment I was reading it, I was taking a break before peeling apples for an apple pie. Red, apples are red, well, some of them are. I was using Macintosh apples which are not really supposed to be red-red, but I suppose you know they spray paint them to make them look more appealing to the consumers. The apples were set out on the counter next to one of my favorite kitchen gadgets – my apple peeler, which is also red. I have worn out 3 apple peelers. I always bought them from LLBean, but this last one I had to buy from the Vermont Country store. I am so not into recipes or blogs with recipes, but my apple pie has a fan club. One crust (usually) to cut down on those carbs and gluten, sweetened with honey, thickened with arrowroot, and flavored with cinnamon. Very low-cal, very healthy and yet tasty. I HATE real sweet pies.

After the pie was in the oven, I glanced out the window at the bleak landscape looking for a hint of red. Fortunately, the sun was out that day so my little camellia was bravely trying to open. Give it a bit of sun and it will bloom even with the temps in the 30s.

There are a lot of red berries around here. I have numerous “girl” holly trees.   Then there are the berries on the Nandina and the pyracantha. Even the azalea bushes have a bit of red in their leaves.

Then, of course, there are the cardinals. I am lucky to have at least 4 families living here, but just try to get all 4 males in one picture! I really love it when their color contrasts not just with the green, but also with the snow.

Looking around in the back yard, I noticed the red in my new Prayer flags. The old ones had just about disintegrated. I love the bright colors on them. While I was out there, Spook came to get a drink out of the nasty birdbath. Even though I clean it almost everyday so it is not too bad, he still loves to drink out of it. There is an old Iroquois story about an old man’s dog saying he got his vitamins by drinking from what appeared to be a muddy puddle. Maybe that is what keeps Spook going! The red metal thing in this picture holds the clematis in the summer time. Check out that little pink tongue! 

Anyway, I thought it was fun to see what was red out there this time of year. I guess I am lucky to have as much color as I do.