Geese on the lawn

 The ice hung around for four days after the storm. We expected it to melt because temperatures got above freezing every day. It turns out that a few hours at 40°F just ain’t warm enough. It took an inch of rain on Monday to get rid of the last of it. Only the top inch of soil was thawed, so the ice melt and rain could not soak in. On my Tuesday walk, a large flock of geese was swimming in the south field. It wasn’t until I looked closely at the picture that I saw a male mallard among the geese.

Geese, and one mallard (left), swimming in the south field

I tried to get close without disturbing them. Good luck with that. Shortly after I took the picture above, they were off, with a great deal of honking and flapping of wings.

Up, up...

And away!

Two geese stayed behind, likely a mating pair. Signs of spring. The robins and blackbirds are numerous enough now to create a raucous morning chorus.

From the house, I did not think that the creek had flooded. There was evidence, however, that it had overflowed a little. Leaves, twigs, and box elder seeds had been shoved together by running water.

Sticks, leaves, and seeds swept into a pile by moving water.

I could make out the path of the water between the piles of debris.

The path of the water outlined by piles of debris

The creek was cloudy and higher than it had been, although no longer close to overflowing its banks.

Muddy water

A tributary flowed down from the train tracks.

A small creek flows down from the train tracks

Early in the week, the forecast for the weekend called for up to 10” of snow. We were not excited by that. The meteorologists said all along, however, that the system was hard to accurately predict. In fact, by midweek, snow was out of the forecast, and we were supposed to have an inch of rain. As it turned out, we got nothing at all! Terry was excited. He’s been waiting for the ground to dry out so he can use the Gator to haul the fallen branches back to the woods by the creek. He doesn’t like to leave ruts.

I saw more signs of spring on my walk yesterday. The winter aconite is blooming.

Winter aconite

I heard a familiar sound and searched the sky until I found the sandhill cranes. There were 30 of them, and they were kind enough to fly right over me.

30 cranes flying north

We are sore afraid that the buds are going to pop prematurely. It may get up to 60°F tomorrow. It wouldn’t matter if we were sure it would never freeze again, but probability is against it. As Terry pointed out, “Can’t stop it.”

I have started the onion seeds in the downstairs kitchen. That’s a great space for indoor gardening, big counters by big windows. The onions are now up. I probably posted about this last year, yet it bears repeating. Onions are epigeal, which means “above the earth.” The root develops first, then the leaf forms a hook and drags whatever is left of the seed above the soil. This picture shows the seed coats at the tip of straightening leaves with hooks of plants with the seed still in the ground behind them. The one in the center really looks like it’s struggling. I wonder if it’s grunting at a frequency outside human hearing. I have to resist the temptation to help, as I invariably will break something.

Sprouting onions

The Christmas cookies are just about gone. I could finally make a cake yesterday. The larger purpose of cake making was to clean out the odd bits of frosting that had been languishing in the refrigerator. Let’s face it, there’s so much sugar in there that it can never go bad. I call this creation Cake with Frosting Through the Ages.

Frosting through the Ages: Buttercream and chocolate frosting from Christmas (left and right respectively), and caramel frosting (middle) from chocolate/pecan sandwich cookies, from God knows when.

Still tasted good!