Spring!

OK, maybe not quite yet.  But it is in the wings, just waiting.  Even though we have had snowfall after snowfall, I believe that Winter is about to loose its hold on us.  For a variety of reasons.
The light is stronger in the afternoon for sure.  Punxsutawney Phil,  the most frequently cited groundhog in the prediction business, did not see his shadow this morning and thus predicted an early spring.  And yesterday, when we tried to move the snow away from the pond heater we found at least a three square foot opening in the pond.  Not sure why that happened, probably because the heater was buried under snow that acted as a blanket of sorts.  But it felt good.
The number of birds in the yard has been nothing short of amazing.  Must be 20 or 30 Goldfinches, as many House Finches.  A band of Chickadees checks in several times a day.  Quite a few Juncos, and many sparrows.  The Cardinals are frequent visitors to the feeders – not as many as in summer, but at least one pair is a regular.  I’ve seen two Nuthatches pecking their way down the trunk of the library honey locust a couple of times.   They collectively go through the contents of our five feeders in short order, which keeps Bill out in the yard filling them every other day or so.  I put out some suet, hoping to attract the woodpeckers that I hear occasionally to come closer, but haven’t been successful so far.
In the basement, the geraniums that have been hanging in the cold room are ready to be sliced up into cuttings and rooted for spring planting.  I hope that works better this year than last.  Our neighbors say that we start too late usually, and they do their rooting in the first week of February.  So that will be tomorrow’s assignment. 
There are also many other plants in the lighted basement plant stand that have been holding their own since I saved them last fall from the killing frost.  Mostly from cuttings, but some from the severely cut back mother plant, they have grown nicely over the winter with little attention.  Now is the time to cut them back again, and start thinking about hardening them off to make the transition to outside in a few months. 
Only three plants have survived from the Rex Begonia leaf cuttings I took.  I had over 15 plants a year ago, but they had all come down with some sort of fungal infection which no amount of anti-fungal spraying could cure.  They struggled over the summer, but never really recovered.  I took 7 or 8 leaf cuttings in fall and really immersed them in antifungal treatment before trying to root them.  They all rooted, but only three survived the transplant into individual pots.  I think I finally understand why these are so expensive.  I’ve always had such great luck with them until now. but when they go they go fast.