We had a full week of mild, springlike weather. A rare thing in February. During the week the temperature rose into the 50's and then the 60's and on Friday we hit 75°. You’d think I’d really be happy about that, but having an orchard and this being Potter County, it gets complicated. If this was it – if this was the end of winter and the warm weather was going to continue on into March, April, and May, I’d be ecstatic. But it won’t. Instead, too much warm weather too early in the year will wake up my fruit trees too early. They’ll bud out and then it will freeze hard and then, as happens so often here, we will have another year without apples. So far the trees aren’t stirring. I hate to say it, but I was actually praying the cold (but not too cold) weather would come back – at least for a few more weeks. Sure enough, on Saturday it came back. It was 56° on Saturday morning and then the wind began to blow, we had a bit of thunder, it rained hard, the temperature started to drop, and by sundown the rain had turned to snow. This morning the world was white again. I was sad and relieved at the same time. I’m glad the fruit trees get to sleep a little longer.
That said, I did take full advantage of the warm weather, while it lasted, to do some things in the yard. I worked more on pruning the orchard. And on Thursday, for the first time in my life, I mowed the front yard in February. I didn’t actually mow grass. The grass is flat and dormant. I used the mower, with it’s handy grass catcher, like a vacuum cleaner and sucked up all the twigs and leaves that had accumulated on the lawn. I’m sure my neighbors thought I was crazy, and they’re probably right – no one mows the lawn in February. But now my lawn looks so much better without all that winter clutter.
In the garden the snowdrops responded immediately to the warmth and shot up and bloomed. It makes me happy to see them. They are very hardy and will not mind the cold and snow. Other things that were just barely peeking through the soil also stretched themselves in the warmth – crocuses, tulips, and daffodils shot up an inch in just a few days. The lilac buds also began to swell – not a good thing as it is way to soon for that. They are all back in hibernation again. I don’t think they will have to sleep for long.
 |
| Swollen lilac buds. |
 |
| Snowdrops on Friday. |
 |
| Snowdrops this morning. |
My friend Irvin came and got the last beehive on Wednesday. I have no bees now. We are still processing the honey and wax we took from the dead hives. All week long we’ve (mostly Stacey) been straining honey. So far we’ve processed two and half gallons – and we’re not done yet.
 |
| The honey we've taken so far. |
On Thursday evening I placed my seed orders. I am not a shopper, but I do love to go online and place my seed orders once a year. That’s my kind of shopping. Now over the next week or so, the seeds will arrive in the mail. It’s like a mini Christmas every time the mail comes. I’m already getting ready to start seeds. I got my seed trays out on Saturday and will start to clean and sterilize them this week. I set up my grow lights and my warming mats. It won’t be long before I’ll plant the first of this year’s seeds. Celery and parsley are the first. They take a long time to mature and need a good head start. Then the rest come after that, a few things every week, heading toward my Planting Out Day sometime in late May. I love gardening.
 |
| Seed trays, warming mats, and grow lights getting ready. |
We had some creature die in the walls of our house. We often hear the patter of tiny feet in the walls and ceilings. Sometimes it’s a mouse, but most often it’s a red squirrel or a chipmunk. I think this time it’s the red squirrel that’s been raiding my buckets of bird feed in the woodshed. After it chewed through one of my seed buckets, I put some poison out. It took the poison and then to punish me, it came into the house and died in the wall right by our bedroom where the stairs go up. The smell isn’t awful, but it’s bad enough. There’s no way we can remove the remains. We’ll just have to wait for it to rot away to dusty bones and fur. I’m pretty sure there are quite a few skeletons of little creature in the walls of this house.
 |
| What that squirrel did to my bird seed bucket. |
On our way to church this morning we saw about 100 robins. That’s the first I’ve seen them this year. They must have arrived with yesterday’s storm. It’s too bad they missed the warm weather last week and got here just in time for snow. The snow won’t last long. I’m glad to see the robins.
February is almost over and it’s about time. The days are growing noticeably longer now. The sky is light when I get up in the morning and the sun is up over the hill by the time I leave for school. Twilight in the evenings lingers on past six o’clock. I welcome March, although it is usually a cruel month. It should bring us the first days of official spring, but it usually turns out to be the last hurrah of winter. Maybe this year it will be different. We’ll see.
February is almost over and it’s about time. The days are growing noticeably longer now. The sky is light when I get up in the morning and the sun is up over the hill by the time I leave for school. Twilight in the evenings lingers on past six o’clock. I welcome March, although it is usually a cruel month. It should bring us the first days of official spring, but it usually turns out to be the last hurrah of winter. Maybe this year it will be different. We’ll see.
