shady ladies

 The last of the snow...

...has melted.  Before it did, though, we saw a lot of really interesting frozen "waterfalls" on the limestone structures around here.  Limestone is really porous and water frequently seeps through and freezes.

Now that we've had a few warm days, though, all signs of snow are gone and we've got some green peeking though...at last!

Unbelievably, these warm days have caused our daffodil bulbs to stir.  It seems early, but...

The warm weather, too, brings out a dreaded enemy...the Asian lady beetle.  They look pretty similar to ladybugs, but they're an invasive species.  Color-wise, they run the gamut from deep red to light orange.  Sometimes they're covered in spots and sometimes they don't have any.  

Unlike the "ladybugs" that we know, they slip inside structures in the fall, seeking a cool, sheltered place to overwinter.  They bite, and when they feel threatened they release an orange liquid (their blood), which stinks.  They stain walls and fabrics.  When they die, they stink.  They can make your pets sick if they eat them.  

They congregate by the THOUSANDS when they find a way in...and this year, they did.  My upstairs office window faces south and is the warmest place in the house.  The Asian lady beetles that found their way into our attic in the fall trickle out and crawl on the window glass.  Every.  single.  day.  On the coldest, darkest day, I still kill around 20.  On warm, sunny days, I've killed up to 150 (I stopped counting after that).  We're going to have to figure out how to seal the house better in the fall!  These things are definitely a big, stinky nuisance.  

I finished a couple of quick knitting projects.  I was making gloves to match my Beeswax hat...

...but I didn't love the fit.  I decided to frog them and just knit a quick, simple pair of gloves.  It didn't take any time at all and I'm really pleased with them!

I also knitted a quick hat for Todd.  It has earflaps that help keep you warmer than an average hat.

An interesting construction...the brim is knitted flat, like a scarf, and then the ends are seamed together.  You pick up stitches from the top and knit the body of the hat with your new color...and finally, you pick up stitches from the bottom of the brim to knit a contrasting strip (Honegart Hat on Ravelry).  

I'm pretty pleased with it!  Now I'm working on another sweater.  It's slow going, since there's usually a cat trying to squirm into my lap at night, which is my primary knitting time.  I'm not in any hurry, though!

The usual culprit:

I'm looking forward to the weather warming up a bit.  We've managed one walk in the past few weeks...between my early-morning physical therapy appointments and the cold temperatures, it's just been too hard...but on our one day out, I loved seeing our old stomping grounds.

It won't be long now.

Have a great week!

mandible mouthful

 Beautiful warm mornings for hiking!

I love seeing the woods wake up.

red maple

rusty blackhaw

spicebush

silver maple

anemone ran.

senecio aus.

Sometimes, when looking into the woods, the woods looked back! Someone did, anyway.

white-tailed deer

Things are stirring everywhere!

american bullfrog

There's definitely plenty of water for frogs to play in.  :)

At home, I'm picking the last of the early daffodils and the start of the late daffodils.

I love bringing them into the house!

When I was out picking daffodils, I noticed that carpenter bees were bypassing the flower throats and stabbing directly into the nectar pod behind the petals.

You can see how short their tongues are...

That makes it difficult for them to penetrate tube-throated flowers, like daffodils.  Instead, they use their cutting mandibles...so helpful when they're chewing wood fibers...to cut directly into the nectar pod.  The flowers are still getting pollinated by other visitors...

northern paper wasp

...and the bees get the nutrition they need.  So interesting!

In other news around the house, both sugar snap and sweet peas are thriving and ready to go into the ground this week!

I'm getting some nice growth in the outside mini greenhouses, too.  If our weather remains above freezing for the next two - three weeks, AND if the forecast is positive, then I will be able to put out the summer flower seeds by the third week of April!  Hooray!  I've got a lot of great plans for the garden this year, shoulder permitting.

Have a great week!

white bread instead

The weather is whipping back and forth between unusually warm and fairly cold, which is typical for an Indiana February (...and March...and April...).  On warm days...we hike.

There's really an embarrassment of riches when it comes to hiking around our house.  When we lived in South Carolina, we had to drive an hour for a good hike...here in southern Indiana, we're surrounded by opportunities.  Morgan-Monroe State Forest, which is 24,000 acres and the second largest state forest in Indiana, is just three minutes from our house.  We also like to branch out to Bean Blossom Bottoms, a 733 acre wetland wildlife preserve that's only ten minutes away, and to Lake Griffy, a 1,200 acre wildlife preserve that's only 16 minutes away.  This week's Lake Griffy hike was two hours on a rugged trail, a bit too long and rugged for Borga... 

...who continued to rebelliously slip her collar...

...until Todd carried her the rest of the way.

Still, it was a great hike.  I love finding new growth in early February, since I'm so starved for color by this time of year.

roundleaf ragwort

grape fern

haircap moss

We also saw a familiar face:  a little muskrat, carefully watching us pick our way across the limestone bluffs.

This is clearly a favorite place for others, too.  What a nice tribute to a beloved friend!

Yes, we love to get out on warm, sunny days...

But on cold days, we stay in and enjoy nature through the window.  Thankfully, we get a lot of birds congregating nearby.

tufted titmouse

I'm also baking on cold days.  In my attempt to eat less processed food, I'm looking at different homemade recipes to provide my daily toast.  I found a wonderful white sandwich bread recipe that makes soft, sliceable loaves every single time.

I've always preferred wheat bread, though.  I tried a recipe from the same site yesterday.  It utilized a sponge that was meant to cut down on the bitterness of homemade wheat.  There was a 5-hour total rise, which is a lot, but it paid off with a delightfully soft and springy loaf.  It tastes good, but has committed the sin of being difficult to cleanly slice. I think I over-proofed one of the steps, because the loaf sank a bit in the middle, and the top separated from the loaf bottom when I sliced. I'll try it one more time, but I'm going to look at other recipes too.  

March is just around the corner and is going to provide many more opportunities for us to get out and explore.  Until then, we're just going to follow Barnabas' lead and take it easy!

Have a great week!