Winter hangs on

I know, I know. It is February (albeit the last day) and it is STILL winter. But snow on bulbs - just now coming up and trying their best to bring spring - is just not fair to the little guys.

Crocuses.

Daffodils.

Hyacinths.

OK, it's time for spring

A couple of days ago, it was over 50 degrees and really quite nice. The last two days, not so much. It's cold, it's windy, and we wish we were headed to Florida. We were in the bank this morning and a female customer announced she was going to Florida until March; we all asked if we could come with her. :)
Florida notwithstanding, we saw skunk cabbages in bloom in the swampy area of Brukner Nature Center. Skunk cabbages are the first wildflowers to bloom, so we have hope. Also, we saw some winter aconites just starting to bloom in a neighborhood nearby. We know spring is coming!

Frozen water in the downspout. Interesting in December, tolerable in January, enough already in February.

Poor Bob is cold as he refills the bird feeder. ("Take the picture. I'm freezing!")

Skunk cabbage - its metabolism generates enough heat to melt the ice. Now, that's a tough plant.

The flowers are the little tiny guys on the spadix inside the spathe (the mottled brown-green covering).

Ice in the creek at Brukner Nature Center.

Mid-February

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day. We've had snow flurries for two days. No real accumulation (which means no shoveling the driveway!) - just snowflakes flying through the air.

Duct tape on my slippers. In response to this, Bob got me a pair of Betty Boop slippers for Valentine's Day!

This is salt in action. Salt (not necessarily NaCl: any salt would work, as does sugar) lowers the freezing point of water, so the area around the salt crystal is free of snow.

Isabella in a playful mood.

Happy Groundhog Day

We heard Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this morning. This means an early spring (why rodents are used for weather prediction, I really don't know). But, we'll take predictions for an early spring anywhere we can get them! I have no recent photos of any local woodchucks - they're sensibly hibernating right now.  Each time we try to photograph the woodchuck who lives over by Miami Shores Golf Course (during warmer weather, of course), it runs away and all we get are blurry woodchuck photos. So, no shots of woodchucks today. I'll post one of Bob's waterfall pics instead.

This is the falls in West Milton. 

Happy Dr. King Day

We're having snow flurries and cold temperatures on Martin Luther King Day. January has been all over the place, with very cold temperatures and other days near 70 degrees. We just shrug and say, "Whatever."

Our bunting is out for Dr. King's birthday. Note snow on roof.

Flurries in the back yard.

Ice formations at Brukner Nature Center. Bob says they look like bells; I think they look like Hershey's kisses.

She says, "You can't see me in these bushes."

C'mon - it's winter. I have to throw in a cardinal picture for a little color.

We're melting

Our temperatures are on the rise - in the 40s today with near 60 degrees predicted in the next days. Our snow is going away. This is good and bad. Good because we can finally get the car washed. Bad because the snow is pretty (except for the part my brother calls "snirt" - snow mixed with dirt that accumulates along the roads). But, before all the snow is gone (this time), here are some pictures taken before the temperatures rose to the melting level.

This was our low temperature early in the year.

Ludlow Falls.

Close up of ice globs.

Snow snake. Snow does not melt or fall off branches in a uniform manner. This is a good illustration.

Frosty branches.

Another Troy hockey game (Troy is in red and white.) Each time I attend, they lose. What's up with that?

Happy New Year

Here are a few photos from the end of 2012. We wish all of you a very happy 2013.

Once again, he's out with no hat. This time Bob builds a snowman.

Finished! The buttons are beer bottle caps.

White-tailed deer at Brukner Nature Center.

Surf's up, Ohio style.