The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
So, remember a few days ago when I bid an unfond farewell to the messy end of winter? Boy, was I an idiot.
Two days ago, the temperatures in St. Louis topped eighty degrees. This morning... well, have you ever read the book (or seen the film) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? What was falling out of the sky over my house this morning lacked marinara sauce, but it did seem as if someone had unleased the cosmic snowcone machine. Fist sized balls of snow and sleet bombed my deck with an impact you could feel in your feet. In ten minutes we went from "gee, it's kind of chilly this morning" to "holy cow, that's about the ugliest weather I've ever seen." Tonight we're due for several inches of snow.
In other words, it's still March, I'm still in Missouri, and making any pronouncement about conditions that extends beyond the moment is iffy at best.
I hate to even glance at the garden. Not only were the crocuses and daffodils happy in the sunshine previous to this turn, but just yesterday the forsythia bushes burst out into their yellow streamers and the red buds suddenly lived up to their name. The red buds had held onto their bean-like seed pods through the winter, and they were often up there rattling in the breeze on cold January days. But now that the tree is budding, those pods are opening up and both pods and seeds are flying away. Interesting strategy from the tree, and something I never really paid attention to in the past.
I'm still planning to take the first Daily Kos Day Hike tomorrow, though it may be me trooping alone in the cold and rain. The April edition is sure to be more pleasant.
In the meantime, here are a couple of shots of the greenhouse under construction in the side yard. This is a kit by Rion, and I'll have plenty to say about it shortly.
Walls in progress
Near complete
How are things your way?
(Note: at work today, so map updates may be infrequent. Thanks.)
Today's observations come from these locations
Share your own observations in comments, and I'll add a marker to the map. Please give a city and state (as close as you feel comfortable in providing). Green pins for observations mostly about plants, brown for animals, and blue for weather or other inorganic items. The letter at the center of each pin will be the first letter of the user who provides the data.