Signs of Spring??

Hey, the grass is winning!

I was so excited yesterday to start discovering signs of spring!  Besides the melting snow, the evergreens are turning their beautiful bright green, the pussy willows are starting to come out, and other little surprises are hiding here and there.

So, there was this nasty surprise again this morning-

For heavens sakes.

Lola is not amused!

But I am going to pretend this did not happen!  It is supposed to warm up and the snow will turn into rain, so no worries, Lola.  It'll melt soon.  In fact the more it rains, the more the snow goes away and that's good.

So, back to signs of spring!

I found many signals that spring is on it's way yesterday.  I went for a great, long walk and noticed a lot of grass showing albeit brown grass, but grass still the same.

Puddles are great as they indicate melting snow, so we love the puddles!

Hopeful!

The evergreens are changing from the dark grey-green of winter into nice, springy. pine-green color!

Good color!

And speaking of trees, we all love what the maples are doing at this time of year.  The sap is starting to run and the maple syrup is being cooked down even as we blog!  I am so fortunate to have friends who are thrilled to share their syruping experiences with others- like me!  Wahoo!  Have you ever had maple syrup "fudge"? That is luscious beyond explanation.

Roger and his cooker

  

Jane and the maple fudge

I was alerted by a friend in central Wisconsin ( Hi Rachelle! - fellow gardener and blogger) that she had tulips up a little in her garden.  So, I went on a hunt and discovered not only are a few of my daffs up an inch or so, but there is a crocus or two that the deer didn't find, yet.  Now if I could find them under the snow,  I could cover them with some chicken wire to give them a fighting chance.

Crocuses peeking out

Daffs starting to pop up

No signs of spring in the veggie garden, though.

There really is a lot of snow out there yet.  Here is the only sign of veggie spring:

I found another sign underneath the bags of leaves that I put over my perennial containers to keep them safe from marauding deer and also the freezes and thaws that can kill off an unsuspecting plant.  The leaves insulate the containers for a long time, it takes a lot of warm weather to penetrate those!  So I found a lovely Heuchera starting to grow a bit.  It is amazing how nature can push through, in spite of a Mad Gardener's attempt to stem the tide a little.

Heuchera Snow Angel

Probably the biggest and messiest sign of spring is a certain brown horse's exterior!  He is a bit unkempt looking don't you think?  I climbed into the paddock, feed bucket and brush in hand and made an attempt to neaten the old boy up.

Bribery always works

Sooo much hair

 Let me tell you, that is easier said than done!! Two swipes with the curry and it is FULL of hair.  FULL!  I worked on him for about 15 minutes and it barely looks like I did a single thing.  But there sure is enough hair around for the birds to have soft, warm nest linings.  If they can find it now, under the stupid snow!

This is how it started

This is mildly better!

Potential carpeting for bird nests

So, I am sticking with a positive attitude about what mother nature has decided to throw at us!  She has left me plenty of hints to keep my hopes up for another week.

Until next time, have a joyful outlook!