I can’t deny that I am loving the warmer days. I do not miss the ice storms that we have had the last couple of years. I was expecting another bad winter this year because the horses really put on a thick winter coat; hunters were telling me that the deer had fattened up and put on thick winter coats too. Those are usually good indicators of the coming winter weather.
March is almost here, and you can bet that here in Texas, we will have at least one strong winter storm hit us before winter is officially over. I am afraid that my fruit trees are going to start budding and get frost bitten. It happened last year, and we only got one plum from our plum tree. This year we have apple trees too to worry about. The peach tree blooms later, so no worries there.
I have seen trees blooming along the roadside. I guess they are dogwood trees; they have white blooms. Last Sunday, I was sitting down by our stock tank, just absorbing some good energy from nature. I am sure that I saw frogs in the tank. Some were pretty small, some may have still been tadpoles.
It was kind of hard to pay close attention to what was happening in the water because my Belgian sheepdog, Hannah, wanted some attention, and our oldest cat, Gray, was insisting that I pet her, too. But I saw what I think was a turtle in the water at the other side of the tank.
We also have seen at least one toad hopping around on the nights when it is warm. They were a fair size; not the little baby ones.
This is the time of year that skunks get busy. We seem to have Pepe Le Pews everywhere. They are looking for love, and a place to shack up. Behind our house we have an old building that was probably, at one time, the original house on the property. We use it as a guest house, but the skunks like it, too. We have very sandy soil and the skunks dig under the foundation.
It is a constant battle keeping them away. We tried trap and relocate, but that really didn’t work. You have to take them far away to keep them from coming back. For some reason, my husband didn’t want to put a live skunk in a trap in the bed of his pickup. I am only willing to go so far with my tractor on the road. Animal control will not pick up skunks. So, as much as we hate to do it, we have become skunk exterminators. We can’t risk our cats and dogs getting rabies.
And speaking of cats, the tomcat (Mickey) that hangs out at our place is in love with our fluffy Malibu. He follows her everywhere, making sweet little sounds that he apparently hopes will win her affection. All of our animals are fixed, so they not interested in such things. Mickey is apparently not the only tomcat around looking for love. We were awakened the other night by the sounds of a cat fight on the front porch. It was between Mickey and another cat we had never seen before.
Around the middle of the week, I saw a swarm of what look like Mayflies. They are so named because they typically emerge in the month of May. I expect to see June bugs coming out next!
I hope all of this does not mean that summer is coming early, too. I would like to have a normal spring with the right amount of rain and mild temperatures. Hopefully, summer will be mild with few days over 100 degrees. I really want a bountiful garden this year. Between the years of drought, floods, and grasshoppers, it has been a struggle.
Prep work had begun on the garden, and we will be putting in a sprinkler system for the fruit trees soon. We enjoy growing our own vegetables and fruit. Once you get a system down for preparing and maintaining everything, it is more harvest than work. Every year we find ways to refine the processes, and it gets a little easier.
Since the weather is going to be great this weekend, I may get my garden boxes ready and plant some greens. They are easy to grow from sowing the seeds, and they don’t mind the cold. I guess I am feeling the early spring, too.
I hope you have a fabulous weekend!
Proverbs 15:17 A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.
