April 9, 2010 - 1
With temps near 90 this week, it's no wonder that the volunteer pear tree began flowering yesterday morning. Also in bloom this week, daffodils, violets, anemones, dandelions and even a few of the small purple crocuses. The grass is growing again as well, perhaps a bit earlier than some years, and it could use a good mowing as soon as things dry up enough to do it. The onion grass is poking up taller than the rest, but don't mention it to Tim Bush (another WDVR show host), he always gets upset about the onion grass.Meanwhile, sunrise occurred in the backyard this morning at 6:31. Sunset will arrive at 7:33 this evening. Adding 15 minutes this week, we’re up over the next hurdle to 13 hours, 2 minutes of gorgeous golden sunlight today.
Backyard Tip of the week: What's that they say? Remember to stop and smell the flowers. Yes, do that! Spring is a great time to enjoy nature's offerings through your olfactory senses. Taking my own advice, I did just that one day this week. A friend saw the flowering pear tree and asked if the blooms smelled nice. I said I was sure that they did and my friend stuck her face right up to one of the flowers and took a deep breath to experience directly it's fragrance. A moment later my friend looked at me with a very strange look on her face, one of extreme surprise, as she cried out that the fragrance was overwhelming and not so much in a pleasant way. Not quite believing my friend's supposed shock, I leaned in to get a whiff for myself and was equally surprised by the strong and pungent fragrance of the pear tree flowers. So, the moral of the story is to remember to stop and smell the flowers, but be careful because you might be surprised as well. Either way, try it, you're sure to love it!
Backyard sightings for last week: Including northern cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, chipping sparrows, blue-jays, brown creepers, song sparrows, tree sparrows, white-throated sparrows. American robins, Carolina wrens and Carolina chickadees, catbirds, mockingbirds, house finches and goldfinches. Red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, northern flickers, white-breasted nuthatches, tufted titmice, mourning doves. Red-winged blackbirds, crows, common grackles and starlings. Chipmunks, skunks, bunnies, grey squirrels, red squirrels, a ground hog, at least four bull frogs in the pond and several turkey vultures and hawks circled above the yard.
Continued on next page...
April 9, 2010 - Part 2 - Cool Sightings
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