We had the oddest weather yesterday. We had a little bit of everything except warmth!
There was sunshine early in the day that gave way to our usual gloom. We had a bit of snow, but nothing that amounted to anything. Then it rained, and by ten at night we had lightening and thunder, along with a major downpour.
When I woke this morning, everything was swathed in ice! The trees are gorgeous, glistening in the sun. It won’t last long now, but the first half of the day looked like a fairyland, with all the glitter from the shrubs and trees. Unfortunately, the road had pockets of ice that made driving very dangerous. On my way to exercise I saw the first accident on our road in the 20 years that I’ve lived here!
It’s actually supposed to be colder tomorrow, but the forecasters are teasing us with the possibility of temperatures in the forties on Friday.
Wowwwwwwww…….a heat wave!
Daily Archives: February 28, 2011
At least 34″
The amaryllis is at least 34″ tall, but since I last wrote about it, there is another bud stalk coming up, and there are at least four leaves. The longest leaf is about eight inches long, the others are just starting to come up.
The bud on the tall stalk is just beginning to open. I noticed a slit on the outer shell, and you can see the tips of the flowers within.
Perhaps most people are not as interested in how an amaryllis grows, but it reminds me of my father. The last year or so of his life, I lived in Missouri in a cabin on my parent’s property. I worked for my Dad, and ate meals with them. Dad had built a rustic fireplace in the dining room and that particular year, Mother was growing an amaryllis. Dad’s chair at the head of the table had him facing the fireplace, and as the amaryllis grew, he kept track of its height by measuring it against the stones of the fireplace. We received a daily report, and it created a sense of anticipation as the stalk grew taller and taller.
I’d forgotten how tall this particular amaryllis was. It might have skipped a season of bloom, or perhaps I was just too busy last year to make a mental note about it’s growth. My Mother would be thrilled to see it blooming again. I’m sure she would encourage me to take pictures and print them out for her. She truly loved these flowers.
I’m blessed that such simple things bring good memories.
Peanuts!
How does a squirrel remember where he’s stashed his food?
I just fed the birds, and I had half a bag of peanuts in the shell that I decided to give to the local squirrel population. I use the top of a recycling bin when I don’t want to set things right on the ground, so I poured the peanuts out onto it. It doesn’t take the grapevine long to announce that I’ve put out food, so by the time I was in the kitchen the back yard was a beehive of activity.
I stood at the window and waited to see if the squirrels would show any interest. One did. I think he might be at the top of the pecking order because none of the other squirrels went near the peanuts. Alpha found them right away, picked one up, secured it in his mouth, and charged off. I watched him repeat this procedure a dozen times or more. I know that he will move every one of those peanuts within the next fifteen minutes.
He’s buried them all within the cleared area of our lawn and gardens, on the north side of the house. Several are under tufts of grass, and more of them have been tucked into my herb garden. Some of them are under piles of leaves at the edge of the lawn, and at least one of them has been tucked into the dirt at the edge of the raised veggie bed.
But…..there are no little markers saying “Peanuts, here.” There’s nothing to remind him where he put these things under piles of leaves. HOW is he going to find them again? Thank God these were roasted, or we’d have peanuts growing all over the place this summer! I can see how the chipmunks have repopulated the dill and cosmos and tiny tomatoes, and I think it’s possible that their bigger rodent cousins have helped!
It was fun to watch, another of the gentle amusements that are a part of living here.