The sky has been amazingly beautiful this past week. Although the temperatures are still a little cold, we have enjoyed bright sunshine every day except for last Friday when it snowed! Just a little. Today it hit 60 degrees on the thermometer with breezes from the south….just enough to stir up the pollen and drive me indoors. I really needed to get this Spring Weather Observation Challenge posted anyway.
We were able to do a little hiking this week in the afternoons where we noticed the buttercups are in full bloom. The hounds tongue and the shooting stars are still going strong as well.
Other things we noticed this week:
- First mosquito
- First hummingbird at the feeder
- Dandelions!
- Apple tree blossoming
- Tulips blooming
- Dew in the mornings and not frost
- Longer daylight hours after dinner
- Robins singing
Look at the color of that apple blossom bud! This is on our tree that we planted last year so I am excited to see it growing. I need to research whether it is better to let the apples form on a new tree or if I should take the blossoms off for a year or two to allow the tree to grow. I am new to apple trees.
So is anyone else already suffering from spring allergies? It has hit me fast and hard this year so whatever is pollinating right now is killing me. With sniffling nose and itchy eyes, I spent three days in the yard working on clean-up, pruning, and getting garden boxes ready.
They are looking better than they did when I shared our garden progress a couple of weeks ago. We are adding pea gravel around the boxes as a way to keep the weeds down. We have a stockpile of gravel in another area of the garden so we are just moving it by wheelbarrow from one side of the yard to the other. More on the garden next week when I have my plans done and a few more things to share.
Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!
A mosquito already?! Wow!
We went on a spring scavenger hunt and were happy to see a ladybug.
No allergies yet, but it always seems a little unfair that when the weather is finally nice enough to really spend time outside, my allergies immediately conspire to make me miserable. I’m thankful for Claritin!
Great post, Mrs. Barb! (sorry for the poor typing — typing while nursing!) I should have added “allergies” to my list, as my 7 year old has been hit hard with them today!!
I love your pictures! A friend told me she saw a mosquito recently also…ugh! We’ve definitely got ticks, too.
I planned to link up our two most recent posts, but I can’t find the linky?
This is last week’s post on weather and clouds: http://thegettys.blogspot.com/2011/04/science-thursday-spring-nature-studies.html
and here is this week’s post, continuing our weather observations, and some other signs of spring: http://thegettys.blogspot.com/2011/04/science-thursday-spring-nature-studies.html
We saw our first hummingbird this week too! So thrilling – yet I spied the hummingbird feeder over in the other side of the yard as part of some elaborate outdoor ‘story’ 🙂
Loved reading all your observations. Your garden is wonderful. Your boxes! Hoping to get some time between rain showers this weekend to work on ours too.
Dislike the allergies. It’s so frustrating when you want to be out enjoying the beautiful weather. yellow pine pollen here!