Author Topic: Spring 2013 (Read 11560 times)

JimB · « **on:** March 16, 2013, 05:30:30 AM »

Well I realize that a "spring 2013" topic has been started in the gardening forum but I thought it would be good to start one here also as it seems there has been an unspoken tradition.

While it doesn't look like spring nor does it feel like spring. I know it's around the corner when I hear Red-wing Black Birds singing. Not only did I hear them but I saw and heard a few Sand Hill Cranes also. Although I may have seen them the week before but am not sure because it was early morning and the light was just barely beginning to break. So... spring is on the way.

Mimi · « **Reply #1 on:** March 16, 2013, 05:44:58 AM »

Yes, it is, Jim. We are happy for it!

Richard Myers · « **Reply #2 on:** March 16, 2013, 07:39:54 AM »

Well....I left the bedroom windows wide open last night!! It was a little chilly this morning, but that tells me that spring is here and headed your way, Jim. Our peach trees are in full bloom, the tulips and camellias are in bloom and the grape vines are opening their buds. The smell of spring is in the air. I mowed the lawn last week, and while weeding yesterday, I sneezed. Yes, spring is here!! It reminds us again that soon the long winter of sin and death will be over and eternal life will reign on this dark spot in the universe! Won't that we a joyous day!!

Mimi · « **Reply #3 on:** March 16, 2013, 09:47:28 AM »

Yes, it will. We are so weary of sin and death, of confusion and schemes, of disappointment and heartache. If it were not for His most solemn promises, we simply could not bear it. What would be the point? Without God, nothing holds meaning.

Spring is certainly in my corner of the world. The most hardy plants are showing their noses, wanting to spring forth with a vengeance. We are happy and so looking forward to the joy we reap through the goodness of God's incredible creation!

Wally · « **Reply #4 on:** March 16, 2013, 10:50:37 AM »

Quote from: JimB on March 16, 2013, 05:30:30 AM

While it doesn't look like spring nor does it feel like spring. I know it's around the corner when I hear Red-wing Black Birds singing.

Not feeling much like spring here, either. Had 1/2" of snow overnight. It was 12° Friday morning. They're predicting single digits for Monday morning. We got spoiled the last 2 weeks with nights in the mid to upper 20's and highs in the 40's. I didn't expect it to last. However, mud season is in full swing. It may be frozen solid in the morning, but it is a quagmire by noon. The joys of New England.

I had a few RW Blackbirds down the road from me on the 4th, but they must have been a fluke. None since, except further south. One small group of snowdrops has emerged, but with the weather forecast to be below normal this next week, I don't expect them to bloom until the following week.

LindaRS · « **Reply #5 on:** March 16, 2013, 01:49:53 PM »

The sarvis and bradford pear trees are in bloom here as well as the daffodils. The air definitely has the feel of spring in it. Got to 80 yesterday and it's 80 today.

JimB · « **Reply #6 on:** March 16, 2013, 02:01:59 PM »

Quote from: Richard Myers on March 16, 2013, 07:39:54 AM

Well....I left the bedroom windows wide open last night!! It was a little chilly this morning, but that tells me that spring is here and headed your way, Jim.

I can surely hope. But it appears that all though I don't have a "mud season" that Wally and I are kinda in the same boat. We reached a whole 30^o today and mowing the yard is probably 5 weeks off just yet.

Dorine · « **Reply #7 on:** March 20, 2013, 02:59:40 AM »

Spring? I woke this morning to 6 inches of snow and 30 degree temp. School is cancelled. Every spring I marvel at how God takes a dead looking twig and turns it into a beautiful flowering shrub.

Speaking of open windows at night, all winter our windows in the bedroom are open (at night only). The lowest it has gone is to 42 degrees. With two comforters on the bed I sleep like a baby. All around us are sick with colds or flu but I believe the fresh salt air we breath in every night has been a big factor in protecting us.

JimB · « **Reply #8 on:** March 20, 2013, 03:41:12 AM »

We also are expecting a few inches of snow today. Not much but enough to make you think of winter and not spring. However, yesterday I several flocks of geese flying north. Normally I wouldn't think too much that but there were just too many of them to be anything but a sign of spring.

Wally · « **Reply #9 on:** March 20, 2013, 05:03:18 PM »

Ah, yes, spring. We got a foot of snow out of this latest storm, after freezing in single digit weather Monday morning. One meteorologist said that we are in some kind of blocking pattern (blocking spring warmth from moving north along the east coast, that is), and he doesn't expect it to move before the end of the month. More global warming?

JimB · « **Reply #10 on:** March 20, 2013, 07:06:55 PM »

Yes... that is what I've read on 2 different weather websites. This "blocking pattern" they are saying may set up the midwest and great lakes basin for possibly two more storms. Time will tell as I dont put much confidence in anyone predicting weather that far in advance.

Wally · « **Reply #11 on:** March 30, 2013, 03:19:38 PM »

Finally--

A few days ago these were still covered by snow (we got a fresh foot of snow on the 19th). That white patch in the background is part of what's left near the house. The garden is still covered, of course.

Better late than never.

Mimi · « **Reply #12 on:** March 30, 2013, 03:39:36 PM »

I am so happy for you!

These little things represent hope for us who have endured such a long winter. I will never tire of knowing God called this little plant forth, knowing its time.

Wally · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2013, 05:37:33 PM »

And every time I see them I'm reminded of how pleasantly surprised I was to find them in the woods near our school in Austria (that was 40 years ago). They grow wild over there. And they are tough. A patch right next to the house survived exposure to 7° temperatures right before the snow last week.

Mimi · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2013, 06:53:41 PM »

That is amazing. They appear to be so delicate.

Richard Myers · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2013, 07:36:49 PM »

Beautiful!!

I am continually amazed at how fast some things pop up! Today, I noticed a number of things that I have not seen yet this spring. And, a watermelon seed popped up. They are big!!

One down, five to go. They only gave me six seeds in the packet!

Yet, they instructed me to plant four seeds to the hill and space the hills so many feet apart one way and so many feet apart the other. Sure.

Mimi · « **Reply #16 on:** March 30, 2013, 08:29:25 PM »

Sounds like the instructions on shampoo bottles. Wet, shampoo, rinse, shampoo again. Why? So we will need to buy more sooner?

LindaRS · « **Reply #17 on:** March 31, 2013, 05:24:35 PM »

I knew I had read this somewhere this past week. I found it again.

Twenty-year hiatus in rising temperatures has climate scientists puzzled

"The global temperature standstill shows that climate models are diverging from observations," says David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

"If we have not passed it already, we are on the threshold of global observations becoming incompatible with the consensus theory of climate change," he says. source

Mimi · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2013, 07:05:16 PM »

Wow Wee! There you go!

Wally · « **Reply #19 on:** April 01, 2013, 05:09:17 PM »

Quote from: LindaRS on March 31, 2013, 05:24:35 PM

I knew I had read this somewhere this past week. I found it again.

Twenty-year hiatus in rising temperatures has climate scientists puzzled

"The global temperature standstill shows that climate models are diverging from observations," says David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

"If we have not passed it already, we are on the threshold of global observations becoming incompatible with the consensus theory of climate change," he says. source

And yet the news outlets are still treating climate change as if it were poised to create a great environmental catastrophe. We're certainly on the verge of a great catastrophe, but not the one their expecting.