We were teased unmercifully by Old Man Winter last week. He kept offering us a small taste of spring only to snatch it back again. On Tuesday it was 53°. The snow began to melt rapidly. The two big puddles we call East Lake Howe and West Lake Howe formed on our driveway and in the side yard. The snow finally retreated off the front flower bed and there were the snowdrops struggling to bloom, just as I expected. It made me so happy to see them! But then things changed. We’d heard warnings of a big storm coming toward us. Anticipating the storm, they canceled school on Wednesday. Most of that day it rained, but as the afternoon progressed, the temperature fell and the rain turned to sleet and then snow.
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| Snowdrops at last! |
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| West Lake Howe. |
On Wednesday afternoon, just before the sleet began, I got a call from a friend who said that he had just driven by several of the local ponds and they were full of different kinds of ducks – he thought at least ten different kinds. Josiah and I grabbed the camera and hopped in the car and took a drive down to the Waterwheel Pond in Colesburg and then stopped at Burrell’s Pond just across from us on our way back home. We saw pintails, scaups, hooded mergansers, red-breasted mergansers, red-headed ducks, green-winged teals, wood ducks, ring-necked ducks, and (of course) mallards. We think they were taking refuge from the storm on their northern migration.
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| A variety of ducks on Burrell's Pond. |
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| Scaups, red-headed ducks, and hooded mergansers. |
That afternoon we also saw the first robin in our yard and the first grackle at our bird feeder. So many signs of spring in the midst of a nasty winter storm. In defiance of the bad weather, I spent time on Wednesday planting seeds. I planted peppers, hollyhocks, platycodon, snapdragons, and parsley. I have four seed trays under the lights upstairs now. Downstairs, my clivias continue to open more and more blossoms each day.
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| My clivias this week. |
On Thursday morning they called a two hour delay for school. The snow had stopped and it was sunny, but very cold – minus six degrees. The two Lake Howes were frozen solid and the snowdrops in the front flowerbed were buried again. The frigid wind howled all day. We saw no robins. No grackles. And it was too cold to go look for ducks.
On Friday the weather reversed itself again. The temperature soared 50° – again. The snow began to retreat – again. The snowdrops emerged – again. The two Lake Howes thawed and expanded. And that afternoon when we arrived home from school, we were greeted by one of the happiest signs of spring that I know of – hundreds of red-winged blackbirds singing in the treetops. And over at Burrell’s Pond several hundred Canada geese stopped on their way to places further north.
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| Red-winged blackbirds singing in the treetops. |
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| Canada geese at Burrell's Pond. |
Josiah went to Regional Band Competition last week. He left on Thursday morning. This year it was held in Leechburg, down near Pittsburgh, three and half hours south of here. The best students selected from the District competitions held in February were there. There were 162 students in the band. They practiced on Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday they performed. We drove down to attend the concert and bring Josiah home. The concert was really great. It’s amazing how good they sounded. Twenty-five of those students were selected to go on to State Competition. Josiah wasn’t one of them, but we’re pleased that he could be part of Regionals. He still has two more years he can participate. Maybe, if he keeps practicing, he can make it to States one (or even both) of those years.
Things have turned cold again today. The ice field that always forms between our front porch and the driveway was especially treacherous this morning. We slip and slide as soon as we step off the porch. As we left for church this morning, Stacey was carrying eggs to give to the missionaries and she slid on the ice. She didn’t fall, but she dropped a carton and smashed a dozen eggs. I don’t know why, but for some reason we all thought it was so funny, we laughed and laughed about it. This coming week, on Thursday, we will officially arrive at the first day of spring. I looked ahead at the weather forecast and we’re supposed to hit 40° that day. At least it will be above freezing. Maybe once we’re past the equinox, the weather will mellow out a bit and the two Lake Howes will melt and our glacier will disappear and the flowers will finally appear. I’m ready to see some flowers, lots of them.
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| Standing on the ice field. |
