It was just this week that we had our first snowstorm of the season. In fact, it was just last week that we had our first snow. It is unusually late that these events occurred in December. Our first snow is invariably before Thanksgiving and sometimes even before Halloween. I do remember one year, taking our kids […]
After dissing my Maple trees on Monday for turning yellow instead of the anticipated shades of orange or red, I realized that yellow is also pretty, even if not what I expected or was used to. So, I snapped a picture yesterday of one with all its glorious yellow hues. It’s a good thing I did, as even […]
After my Friday blog about our local drought, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The light mist that evening resulted in two-tenths of an inch of rain overnight, which was quite substantial given the scant precipitation the prior six weeks. However, Saturday morning brought a deluge of another 1.6 inches in a couple of […]
In the last six weeks, we’ve only received about three-quarters of an inch of rain. That is about one-tenth of what we would normally enjoy this time of year. The crops are suffering and the lawns don’t look so good either. That means I’ve been doing a lot of sprinkling, dragging hoses around my yard on […]
The numerous Maple tress and Blue Spruce in our yard provide ample and ideal nesting sites for various varieties of birds. Most noticeable are the Robins. This is because they throw a fit if you get anywhere close to their nest. Sometimes they fly full speed, straight at your head, veering off at the last moment. I’m […]
Today it was a tad hot in southern Michigan, surpassing the 100-degree mark at my house. (For the record, I have a digital thermometer that is mounted in the shade.) In these parts, it is not unheard of to hit 100 at some point during the summer; however, those records are typically reached in August or […]
I’ve not yet posted any photos of my lawn this year. That’s because I’ve had nothing new or significant to share. My flowering crab apple tree was as beautiful (and fragrant) as ever, but I could have posted last year’s picture and no one would have known the difference. The same goes for the periwinkle, while, […]
Ah, spring in Michigan… …and it snowed last night!
There are more signs that spring is arriving in Michigan—and I couldn’t be more excited. Over the weekend, I noticed an influx of birds—the kind not normally visibly present in the winter. That is the most encouraging development. Even more so is that this morning, I glimpsed a pair of robins, the first I have seen […]
Just two days ago, the sunrise temperature was 1 degree F; I was beginning to wonder if spring would ever get here. (According to the calendar, spring begins in about two weeks, on March 20). Although we have been intermittently flirting with nicer weather, it quickly turns out to be nothing more than a tease. We […]