Flowers and Rain

We have been having a lot of rain today.   Over an inch that I measured between 9 am and about 3:30 pm.  And the yard is flooding with overflow from the creek and inability to absorb.  Today the roof leaked, the sump pump was overworked, and the creek overflowed its banks significantly.  And the flowers began to bloom...

And the Melt Goes On....

This is the end of the winter.  Whether it snows again or not, the zeitgeist has turned to Spring.  It was really windy the other day, and when I went out to check the creek today this is what I found:   The holiday tree from the porch was tipped over in the floodplain.  I was able to pull it up again, but the footing underneath is uneven this time of year.  Hope it lasts. 

Spring Signs

 

 

They are beginning to add up.

 

• The birds are noisier.
  
• The ducks are jostling for space on the creek, which is flowing.
  
• There are bare patches where old grass is showing through.
  
• Birch catkins are beginning to swell.
  
• Some of the trees are thickening with swollen buds.
  
• The light lasts longer.

There is hope. And some views I can't get enough of. (Though I do prefer some times of year over others...)

It Just Stays Cold and White

Winter seems to have such a stranglehold on the area this year.  We haven't really even had a significant meltoff in over a month and a half, and they say January is the coldest we've seen in quite some time.  It was below zero again this morning, even though yesterday it got up into the 20's and I was able to scrape the inch of ice off of most of the driveway finally. 

Rabbit damage is terrible - some things will be chewed down to the ground.  The little Weigala that is planted near the gazebo is just a couple of stems now - now sure how long that will take to come back.  Seems like we will have to start putting more protection in place in the late fall from  now on if there's going to be this much snow every year. 

The rabbit and squirrel "highways" are deepening, since we haven't gotten a lot of  new snow in the last several weeks.  You can really see their routes.   I also found a bit of the nesting material that had fallen from a squirrel nest that's up in the willow tree.  I imagine they will manage to stay warm anyway - probably will cut more stuff from my plants.

Wednesday night I heard the sump pump downstairs run for the first time in quite awhile, and I feared that it wouldn't make it out to the creek.  But yesterday I walked over to the outlet and found that it was, indeed, still open.  That will be good if ever things really do start to melt.  And since I was out, I took a few more shots of things that are still beautiful  The colors are a bit monotonous this time of year, but some form and structure still survives.  

 

More Wet and Cold, with Better Times in Sight

The rhubarb is coming up, and I am anticipating the first taste of freshly made sauce soon. It's so dependable and hardy that we have no fear of cutting the earliest leaf stalks to taste the spring freshness. And the snowdrops have finally made their appearance. Usually the first flower, this year I had to watch and wait. I think it had something to do with the huge snowpile that covered them.

Two days ago, the cold rain started, and we had an inch of snow overnight. It is strange on the deck with the patio furniture already out. No way I'm going to shovel it.

This morning I got out early to take a shot of the water level in the creek. It was high, and I feared it would be much higher by tonight when I got home. But it really didn't change much here. The news report on as I write this is saying the rain/snow will continue though, so I can't relax yet. This is the closest to flooding that I've seen in quite a few years, though the first few years we lived here were much much worse. We'll hope for the best, and be thankful that the water tables are being replentished.