Cold Wave Starting.

3-27-22 SHORT HILLS: We escaped VT ahead of forecast rain and snow, expecting that the roads would get muddier than they already were. Back in NJ, the grass is green, crocus, forsythia and squill are out, but the next three nights are predicted to be in the low twenties, which may freeze a lot of the expanding buds.

I woke up this morning about 6:30. The sky was light, but the sun wasn’t up yet. Looking out the bedroom window, I saw a turkey standing high up in our big elm tree. When I was sure that I was actually awake, I ran for the camera. The bird was in the tree for at least a half hour, and changed spots a couple times before flying away. Getting a well focused, pic was hard because of all the branches in the way.

We had brunch at Bar Boulud this morning with Sarah and Jon. Sunday morning traffic is a breeze, both in and out of the city.

New blooms: squill, pussy willow, pachysandra.

Crocus are such a sweet surprise in the early spring.

Here's another.

I have to look for these, Siberian squill, otherwise they blend in with the leaf liter.

Pussy willow.

Here's what I saw when I opened my eyes high up in the elm tree just to the right of the flag pole.

A closer look--it is a turkey.

With a long lens.

The sun is up so we're out of here.

Mud Season.

3-22-22 VERMONT: We arrived in the middle of the worst mud season in years. Many dirt roads, like the one we live on, are deep in mud. Cars are stuck all over the state, towing people are in huge demand, towns are trying to fill mud holes with gravel and having the gravel disappear into the mud. Lots of roads are closed except to residents. The parts of our road that we rely on are usable even if scary. Usually this happens in April. We are leaving tomorrow instead of Saturday because the forecast is for rain, sleet and snow the rest of the week.

April is also when the bears usually wake up, but in our town they are already attacking bird feeders, AKA bear feeders. 

Today is sunny, but in the thirties with a lot of gusty wind. The walk around the pasture was invigorating. Robins are hopping and scurrying around the pasture looking for worms. A small flock of Cedar waxwings were eating viburnum berries. The usual feeder birds are here and joined by bluejays and purple finches. I bring the feeder inside at night because of the bears. 

Almost all the pasture is free of snow and the pasture pond is thawed.  Around the house there’s a lot of snow and ice. Both ponds are still frozen, even if a little soft around the edges. The brook between the ponds is running. The beds around the house under the eaves are deeply covered in snow, but the beds on the gable ends of the house are open. Snowdrops are up, if not quite open. 

New blooms: snowdrops. 

Cedar waxwing in a viburnum eating those berries.

Snowdrops. Originally I brought a handful of the little bulbs up from NJ, and now they are all over the yard beds. A successful transplant.

Frozen pond and snow around the house, different from spring in NJ.

The brook gushing, partly under snow cover.

No ice on the little pasture pond. The pasture faces south and is less shaded then the yard around the house, which faces north, and so gets much less sun. The first settlers did it that way on purpose to maximize the sun on the fields, whether for crops or pasturage.

Another May Day.

3-19-22 SHORT HILLS: Another day in the seventies. The grass is green and everything is acting like it’s mid-April instead of the end of winter. The Vernal Equinox will occur on Sunday, March 20 at 11:33 EDT. Then the sun crosses the Equator spending only a nanosecond there before zooming into the Northern Hemisphere for the next six months.

Anyway, the herbaceous creatures in the yard are responding to the warm weather and are way ahead of where they should be. Some of our worst blizzards have occurred in late March and early April. The  plant life would take a storm in stride if it was dormant as it should be now, but will sustain damage if there’s a hard freeze. We are two weeks ahead of last year’s progress.

That oak tree I planted is Quercus rubra. I finished pulling of burlap, rope and some of the metal basket this morning and topped off the root ball with potting soil and mulch. I did a bunch of other chores also.

New blooms: crocus, forsythia.

First crocus hiding in the pachysandra.

Forsythia is open before it's spring.

3-17-22 SHORT HILLS: We are definitely into spring, things are happening, the parade of flowers has started, there will be bad weather, but hopefully not too much.

The elm tree and the red maples are flowering, forsythia bids are growing, viburnums are showing small leaves, vinca minor has flowers, Andromeda has flowers.

We were in the city a few nights ago for a birthday dinner with Lily at Minetta Tavern, a few blocks south of Washington Square Park. The park has thousands of people hustling one thing or another—chess games, music, selling art, selling legal marijuana, seeds, edibles, skate boarders were in the waterless fountain, lots of bikers, the doggie playground was busy. The beds had crocus and daffodils open. The dinner was great.

Last night we had dinner with Lynn and Bill at a mediocre Italian restaurant in Madison. Yesterday afternoon I planted a red oak tree that we had bought at the Farm earlier in the day. I dug the hole while the delivery guys were enroute. The root ball was massive. The hole was just the right size, if a little too deep, but easily back-filled a bit. The delivery guys wheeled it to the site and rolled the root ball in place. I filled the space around the root ball. Today, if the rain stops, I’ll top off the planting with some potting soil after cutting off some of the burlap and ropes. The trunk and branches are about twelve feet tall, but 95% of the mass is in the ground.

Big news here on the dog front—Blanca has passed her test for Creature Comfort Pet Therapy and gets her test visit tomorrow for first grade readers.

New blooms: elm tree, red maple tree, Andromeda, vinca minor.

The newest therapist, Judy's seventh.

Andromeda is our earliest bloomimg shrub.

Vinca minor, creeping myrtle is another pacesetter.

Here's a fuzzy surprise, pussy willow, technically not a flower but welcome none-the-less.

Red maple. I knew it was open before I saw it. My sneezing told me.

At Washington Square, a tiny dancer loved the drums and guitar.

'Have piano, Will travel.' This guy wheels in for a pre-dinner concert. I don't know why they are lying underneath. I wonder if the piano resents it.

Minetta Tavern diners.

Winter is Back.

3-12-22 SHORT HILLS: Since our warm days of faux spring, we have had snow twice. Today we are getting a couple inches with a lot of wind, temps in the twenties and wind chill factors out of sight. 

Yesterday wasn’t so cold, and I did some yard work after our walk picking up sticks and branches and pulling them off the shrubs.

Red-wing blackbirds are here as are the grackles. The goldfinches are turning yellow, Carolina wrens have been at the feeders. Robins were stalking the grass before the new snow. 

We were supposed to have brunch in NYC with Anna and Gardner, Lily, and Dan and Alison but we were snowed out. I guess driving wasn’t as bad on Long Island.  

The first snow day wasn't so bad.

Today's storm is worse.

With deeper cold and faster winds.

Between the storms: A goldfinch starting to get summer colors, and a sweet gum tree ball that they have been feeding on. I'm glad somebody has found a use for them.

House finch, female, waiting for a chance at the feeders.

Spring Arrives?

3-7-22 SHORT HILLS: The trip back to NJ was a bit hectic with a plane malfunction and a hurried change of flights. We made it in time to pick up the dogs, which was the big worry.

The last two days here are almost Florida warm. Today is in the mid-seventies. Viburnums have leaf buds starting to open, and many other shrubs have swelling buds. 

I walked around the yard this morning and found lots of snowdrops and snowflakes in bloom, but no crocuses. It feels like spring and clean up time, but there will be more cold weather and probably more snow.

New blooms: snowflake. 

Snowdrops in a big bunch. There are also scattered small bunches around the yard.

Snowflakes are very similar to snowdrops, and they must be cousins. These appear slightly later.

Some left overs from Naples. What's prettier than a hibiscus?

Northern mockingbird.

Nice sunset our last night in Naples.

Naples, Florida.

3-2-22 NAPLES, FLORIDA:  We are visiting Ken and Carol at their beautiful condo in Naples on the Gulf beach. Winter chill turned to summer heat on Monday afternoon. All the greenery and flowers are almost overwhelming after the snow and ice. Warm breezes instead of frigid winds complete the contrast for us transient snowbirds. We have literally been wined and dined by our host and hostess.

Tuesday we went to the Naples Botanical Garden, a favorite from prior years. In addition to the displays of water plants and lily pads, there are trees and shrubs and plants of all colors, shapes and sizes. There is also a birding site on a lake where we saw some old feathered friends. I’ll show some pix from there before today’s outing to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  

There are dozen of orchids in a rainbow assortment of colors.

A huge variety of water lilies in a series of ponds.

How about this for color.

This dead tree serves as a platform for the birds. Can you find two birds in the tree?

A green heron.

A trio of pied grebes.

Corkscrew Sanctuary, named for the meandering, local river, has miles of boardwalks twisting and turning through the swamp. There are lot of pines, cypress and hardwoods, open grassy areas, and the swamp. And the birds, lots of water and swamp birds as well as the usual forest fliers and lots of raptors. 

We got there fairly early and saw lots of herons and egrets and a few others. We did a boardwalk circuit before heading back to the condo for lunch. Judy saw an otter, I caught a fleeting glimpse of it. We saw no alligators this year.

At one of the first swamp pools, we saw this shift worker sleeping during his off-time. A black crowned night heron. Actually his eyes are open.

An anhinga. They swim deep in the water with only the head and neck sometimes visible, after diviing they perch in a tree to dry out.

Little blue heron has a reddish neck.

Can you find the bird blending in with the downed tree trunk?

A better look at the limpkin wading through the swamp.

There were many great egrets.

And several great blue herons.

Out of the water and in a tree-a red shouldered hawk.

A white ibis, one of a group of about five in the water and in the trees.

Red-bellied woodpecker, one of a pair that we saw near the beginning of our walk.