A Sure Sign of Spring

Summer and Tuk had a raccoon treed in the Forest of the Damned last week. This is a sure sign of spring. It took us almost a half hour to convince them to go all the way back to the house. It was easy to get them to stop barking and jumping. Getting them to the shop wasn't that hard either. But convincing them to go all the way to the house was tough. Tuk kept stopping and looking longingly back. When we noticed the raccoon, we were on our way to town. When we came back, the dogs were at the house and the raccoon was gone. No blood. So I guess in the end, they did listen. Now just to determine where the raccoons are living. Although, it doesn't really matter. The dogs will convince them to move to a more peaceful residence quickly. I hope.

The Melt

 

Flood warnings are the order of the day here. We have a lot of snow. The drift is as high as my 6 ft. fence all along the nursery. We have been moving snow daily away from the house and out towards the garden and I am not sure we will get it all moved before it melts. Slowly it is melting. The afternoons are warmer now. Benedict is starting to come out from under his snow blanket and I can see more of the bench at the three sisters every day. There is going to be a week or so of wet snow that is cycling through freezing and thawing. It will be slippery but better than what is to come - the season of mud and molt.

Spring Shift

My husband Kelly has a rock puzzle to put together again this year as soon as the weather warms up. This will be his 3rd time rebuilding the dry stacked wall along our driveway. Spring in Nova Scotia means a cycle of freeze and thaw. Our roads are not the only thing impacted!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

 

Next up, MoeMoe and Nazareth, our Egyptian Mau pair. MoeMoe came to us a few years ago. She had a big wild streak and was really nervous, all the time. She calmed down over time and fit right in. A few months ago, her daughter, Nazareth made her way to us. Mom is the little one in the forefront and baby is the huge one in the background. Nazareth was less wild but still nervous around all of the dogs. She took less time to settle in and quickly became Queen of the castle. She rules all the other cats... except for Francis, of course. A favourite passtime for both is dog watching.

Pine Grosbeak

 

I normally don't share crappy photographs but this is a Pine Grosbeak and all the other shots I got were crappier! We have been here 10 years now and this is the first time we have seen them. We had two pairs of them stop for several days in February. It was all so exciting!

Jake

I decided to take a moment to introduce the animals that you might encounter in photographs of my garden. This is Jake. The most photogenic grey tabby to ever grace my garden. Jake is like a dog when I am in the garden. He follows me around and likes to interfere when I dig. He is not as easy as the dogs to discourage from that. The dogs listen. Jake doesn't. Jake came to us from the Regina Humane Society. I drove my son, Gordon, to get a cat and Jake caught my attention with a paw push to the shoulder. I couldn't get him out of my mind and after two days of trying to convince everyone I know that they needed a cat... I ended up deciding that maybe we needed a cat. I drove back into the city and brought him home. He has been a constant source of love and entertainment ever since.

One Brave Soul

 

My garden is a cat death trap at this time of year. Everyday, I have to go out and knock down the icicles from the roof edge. I never do that in the dark. I wait until the sun is up and I am less likely to land one in my eye! So every morning Hannah takes a chance.

 

She is the first one up and always wants to go out very shortly after she wakes.

Weeping in the Sideyard

We have a lot of caragana here. It forms long drifts of bush at several spots in our yard. Every evening walk in the fall is accompanied by the pop-pop-pop of its seed pods dropping. I have never been a fan.

The yellow flowers are... well... yellow. And not one of the nicer yellows that I can tolerate. But the weedy yellow of every wild thing that runs rampant in the fields. The music of the seed pods in fall does not make up for the mess they make everywhere! I usually grit my teeth through that and try to remember that the wildlife appreciates it and I appreciate the wildlife.

Then I met this weeping caragana and it turned my head. It sits in the sideyard, on the other side of the bridge from the bird sanctuary. In the summer it is a beautiful fall of green and yellow. Somehow the yellow seems happier in its branches. In winter it is a gangly nest of snow covered branches where no one lives. It makes me think of the Headless Horseman.

It always catches my eye when I pass close to it, in every season. It earns its place close to the house and, although I would never have planted it... I am glad it was here when I arrived.

Hoar Frost Mornings

 

February was full of beautiful hoar frost mornings. I have to get up early to see this frost because the sun is not a friend of frost. As soon as the sun is up, the frost is gone.

 

It may be because I lived in the city but I don't remember such beauty in winter when I was young. Everything was muddy, slushy or icy and slippery. Winter always seemed to be a hassle and I had no appreciation of the season. Although it has been impossible to find appreciation for -50C, there are a LOT of wonderful aspects of winter. Hoar frost is one. Vast views of clean, white, pure snow is another. The entertainment of watching the dogs create new paths through deep snow after a storm... I could go on and on.

The winter here is long. I grow tired of it before it is finished so there is always an anxious wait for spring to arrive. But that anticipation of spring at this time of year is part of what I now love about winter. Another is the down time from my garden and all the social activity that ramps up in the summer here. When you only get 4 months of good weather, you tend to jam pack as much activity as possible into it. Add to that the time consuming joys of a large garden to the schedule and you can see... the arrival of winter is usually welcome. What I have learned is that aside from the many natural and environmental reasons for winter, there is also a mental reason for me. I relax in winter in ways I cannot in the spring and summer. The warm seasons are too full of activity to spend any real stretches of time relaxing.

 

Those relaxation hours infuse new enthusiasm in me, for my garden. Taking an early morning walk through the chilly dusk, when the dogs are still sleeping and the wildlife is just waking up, makes me notice how everything is very still. So still, the quiet whirr of my camera focus reverberates through the trees. It is at these times that I wonder why it took so long for me to appreciate winter. I suppose it was that -50C thing!