ice rosette, no spring yet!

 We've gone from this...

freak snow right after a 70 degree day, 3 inches!  The snow was completely gone by late afternoon.

...to this!

bulbs popping up everywhere!

actual insects!  This is a female Pale Brindled Beauty moth.

a bee!  Struggling between two boards on our porch.

Nice to get a few more animals-in-snow shots.  As his thick coat suggests, this coyote probably isn't bothered by the snow at all!

A little territory-marking by this bobcat.

Now that the snow's gone, I can see that we have a ton of Chinese praying mantis oothecas.

I think I've found 13 so far.  Normally I like to take a pretty hands-off approach to interference with nature, but these invasive mantises will kill our native ones.  They also kill bees, butterflies, and even humming birds!  I don't want them in my garden, so they'll all be collected and burned.  Each ootheca can hold up to 400 eggs!  My garden would be completely overrun.

Now that the snow is gone, we're at that strange place between winter and the first real green of spring, and it can be hard to see as much natural beauty.

Thank goodness for fungus!  ;)

It's not always easy to identify, but I love seeing the different shapes and colors.  

More color in the sky...

Something else that's kind of interesting...I've noticed these "stars" in our front pond.

Even Thoreau wrote about these strange things ("ice rosettes"), but there isn't a consensus on what causes them.  Some people think that it's a warm current of groundwater that causes this fracture, while others suggest that a flaw in the ice allows for water to move, spread, and separate out.  I don't think I've noticed it before this winter!  

A chilly start to March!  Not putting the quilts away yet.  We'll see what the next weeks bring!

the season is freezin'

 The season is moving along with the usual weather ambiguity!  We had endless freeze and steady snow...

The wild animals took it in stride!

Then suddenly, it was 70 degrees.  Still took a couple of days to melt the snow...

It made some gorgeous fog.

Warm enough to get out and hike, even with a bit of residual ice!

Crazy to still see some green under all that snow.

August and February are my least favorite months.  August for the swampy heat and humidity, and February because...I love cold weather all through fall, through Christmas, and January has great snow.  February is the cold, bare, bleak stretch between the cozy winter snow of January and the new green shoots and warmer days of March.  But it's nearly over, and the snow helped a lot!

So did the pets.

 Definitely good company!

the upper crust

The temperature has not yet risen above freezing, so the snow remains. We actually had a bit more!

Freezing fog, too.

Looked so pretty with the sunrise!

Rabbit tracks in the snow.  And...those lumps to the left of the track are from moles!  They're trying to poke through the frozen earth and snow layer because they're looking for food.  They aren't hibernating, like many other small creatures.

Lots of sun.

A lot of these photos are from the same vantage points, because, well, we just can't go hiking yet!  The (unplowed) trails have over a foot of snow, and it's been cold. We've got to wait for some melt before we venture too far.  The snow has formed a crust, which means that Pepita can be outside for short periods.  Sometimes she falls through the crust, and I'm reminded of a section of Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter:

Pa often said that he could not have managed without David. “He is such a good horse,” Pa said. “I did not know a horse could be so good and patient.” When David fell through the snow, he always stood still until Pa shoveled him out. Then quickly and patiently he hauled the sled around the hole and went on until he fell through the snow crust again. “I wish I had some oats or corn to give him,” Pa said.

I never really experienced snow crust before.  It snowed, it was wet, and it melted.  But this crust is really firm...until you fall through it.  Pepita isn't a fan.  She's still mostly indoors, until the snow melts.

Her relationship with the cats is progressing.  It's a battle to see who wins the coveted spot at the edge of the couch back.  If The Barnacle wins, Pepita respects his victory, and hangs forlornly over the armrest.

see The Barnacle on the couch back?

There is frequent cohabitation on the bed.

They mostly get along...although Pepita's no-exercise restless energy and her natural nosiness are a bad combination.  She loves to follow the cats around, her nose pressed into any available bottom.  She never snaps, barks, or growls at them, but she can be persistently annoying and sometimes get a smack to the face.  I think things will continue to calm down as she gets older.  

Calliope doesn't like having Pepita in her space (upstairs) at all...

...so they remain separated.

The weather is supposed to warm up this week, and we might lose all the snow by the weekend!  Then we'll be able to get out again.  Right now (besides work), there's mostly puzzles...

(when the cats allow it)

...and a few personal projects that I'm not ready to post yet.  Lots of reading, with MORE cat assistance (current book is The Will of the Many, which is really good so far!).

I'm not complaining, though.  I love spending time with the animals!  :)  I miss seeing what "our" outdoor animals are doing...the snow is too deep between us and the trail cams to access them.  Hopefully soon...although I'll miss the snow.  

Have a great week!