Monday, January 07, 2008

January Thaw



We've had an unseasonably warm bit of weather the last couple of days, before a return to reality tomorrow. We had 18 inches of snow on the ground prior to this, so it's been slow going in melting it all. I've been doing my part by going out in the back yard at intervals and yelling, "MELT DAMMIT... WHY DON'T YOU JUST MELT!"
Unfortunately, living in a little valley where the whole bottom is covered by a frozen pond is rather like being in a styrofoam cooler with ice, so while the open country around our cluster of hills is all bare ground, we still have a fair amount of snow here. That hasn't seemed to deter Galanthus reginae-olgae, though. This little fall-blooming snowdrop opened its flower around Thanksgiving, and today the retreating snowbank revealed it still jauntily in bloom, six weeks later. From what I read, in climates even a signifigant bit milder than ours, this snowdrop tends to dwindle away to nothing, but so far (notice I said so far) it seems to get a little better each year in our garden.
There will be more snow and cold to come, and spring may still be little more than a faint hope, but today it was warm, the snowmelt gurgled down the driveway, and the tufted titmouse first sang Peter-Peter-Peter- from the top of the black cherry tree. It was a good day.
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Comments:
I am amazed at what a difference 70 miles to the south can mean, what a welcome sight in Jan.
 
IGG... I've always wished I was a little further south, like Mt. Pleasant... there is a big difference between them and us; the ground doesn't usually freeze hard there. We're just where the really cold air blows itself out.
Don
 
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