Can Plants Smile?

I don't really know the answer to that question, but after this rainy weekend, they all looked a lot happier to me.

It has been raining on and off since Friday, complete with high winds and a power outage Friday afternoon, but the rest of the weekend was just right for staying inside with reading, knitting or whatever else you do in the quiet times.

Sprinkle by sprinkle, everything got greener and more lush. If there was any doubt that we were in "full foliage",  it's gone now. Here are a few pics I took along the way.

Sorry for the less frequent postings, but I figure you will all be here soon anyway.

At last, green on the septic.

Rick in a green shirt with all the other green.

Blossoms on the berry bushes.

Very happy ferns.

The view down the road - nearly a canopy.

Thoughtful plantings along the roadside.

Raindrops on this ball of grass.

The woods have  completely filled in.

Devil's paintbrushes in red and yellow.

Thirsty no more.

Big moose tracks on the straightaway. Should have put my foot in for scale. 

 

 

Trilliums Trilliums Trilliums

Every day they have been popping up - literally. Now they look like giant pieces of popcorn in the woods. And they are everywhere!!

   This big stretch of them is on the Otter Lake side of the road, just past the portage

 and it seems to stretch on forever.

Yep, the Dog Tooth Violets are all done. The Trillium is definitely the feature flower of the week.

Up next - the Purple Violet and the Strawberry Blossom.

Deer Tracks, Daffodils and those Damn B-flies

The weather has been up and down since the last post, but things are continuing to grow. Although the leaves are a bit behind the city ones (we were there yesterday), I think they will catch up. And we did get some much-needed rain.

Here is what last Sunday looked like.

The rest of the week hasn't been that beautiful, but I took some pics on our walks. So many deer tracks that I knew I would see some on the road and sure enough on Wednesday night, two big doe(s) were on the road, right where the most tracks were. Since I was expecting them, I was going very slowly.

The dog tooth violets are probably at their peek right now and there are patches of them everywhere -  in the woods, on the road. It seems odd that I haven't seen so many of them before. They do bring back such fond childhood memories.

As to the Damn B-flies, there is no nice picture! Wednesday was the first day that they were gathering around my face. Ugh. But hopefully with all these ups and downs in temperature, they won't last long.

Spring is Sprouting Everywhere

On our walk this afternoon, there were so many signs of spring, I snapped a few to share.

 There is a definite green cast to the woods as you walk along, mostly due to all these buds, I think.

These freckled leaves are everywhere and I am pretty sure they are Dog Tooth Violets, which I used to pick in bunches for my mom when I was growing up in NB

First perfect dandelion - what would spring be without them!

 Sure enough - they ARE Dog Tooth Violets - finally found one!!

Even the Trilliums are coming up - by the middle of next week, I'm pretty sure the woods will be peppered (or should I say salted) with them.

It's so much fun to walk and see the changes each day.

Oh, and the loons are here - or at least one of them.

Ducks and Daffodils and Beavers - Oh my!

Back to posting after two glorious trips. And, other than missing the palm trees, there really is no place like Home.

We arrived to find the ice out of the lake, a beautiful Easter weekend with all the signs of spring, and weather mild enough to get all the clean up done before the bugs arrive.

Daffodils along the road on Greene Lane.

A pair of ducks who have been hanging around the bay.

There are noisy geese on the bay, daffodils and other flowers coming up on our property (fully bloomed on Greene Lane) and a pair of ducks swimming around the bay on a regular basis.

And the big chatter on Easter weekend - other than about the crazy/brave people who went swimming - was about the beavers. Apparently we practically have an infestation, who have been busy as "you know whats". Trevor, el Presidente, was bemoaning the loss of trees all over his property as were Glen and Sara.

Trevor did his duty and investigated further to see if this plague was everywhere on the lake (except for us, because we have no hardwood trees anywhere near the water). He was able to learn that the Township actually sent in a trapper because of a problem at the outlet to Otter and she removed 5 large fellows for relocation. Apparently, they are prepared to remove the beavers if they pose a problem to township property, but not so fast with private property. For that, they charge $25 per beaver.

Since Glen and Sara saw a huge fellow on the neighbour's beach when they arrived for the weekend, which was after the trapping, it would appear they are not all gone yet. And they seem to have an appetite for not just saplings, but mature oaks as well. Hopefully, the damage is not too wide spread.

On the weather front, the forecast for the next while is rain, rain and more rain, which is probably just as well since we had so little snow. But I was up to watch the early morning unfold today.  The light mist on the lake turned into fog so dense I couldn't see the island. Within an hour it had lifted to unveil a beautiful sunny day.

Won't be long before the lake is humming again. There are already a couple of boats in the water. And we look forward to having lots of company on the lake again.

This is March break?

I just came back from town and my car thermometer said 23 degrees outside!!! That is warmer than Toronto, according to my iphone.  (In fact, our friends who stayed behind in Barbados are only 6 degrees warmer than we are.)

And according to this blog (which is my virtual memory), on March 17th last year it was 6 degrees - yikes!!

I took some pictures to share. The roads are bare and a bit muddy. There is a tiny bit of the snow banks left and some patches of snow in the woods, but mostly it is all gone.

No snow on the road, except the occasional bit in the woods.

Absolutely no snow on the property.

The ice is melted from the shoreline and there are large dark patches of ice in the centre of the bay - the last step before going.

I took this picture yesterday to show the dark spot in the centre

.

This is how much darker it is today.

This shows the open water at the shoreline

And here is a picture of the water line duck. I just checked my posts from last year, and it was April 4th before his head popped out and April 7th when he was this far out, so we are definitely ahead.

Already he is out to his shoulders (if ducks have shoulders)

Too bad for the snow mobilers, the skiers and the snow plow guys. This has not been a great year for them. And I'm sure all the critters and plants are more than a little confused.

Oh well, on the bright side, if this spring continues with these temperatures, we'll all be swimming by April 24th instead of May 24th.

Driveway Warning

OK, Mother Nature is having a laugh at me trying to report weather and snow conditions. Because, after telling you we had "so much snow", we lost a lot of it again in the big melt this week. The good news is, it meant not having to clear the deck.

Yesterday getting out the driveway was like driving uphill on a titled skating rink. Luckily the warm temps encouraged the sand/ice combo to melt tracks for the cars, but the driveways that are plowed, but not used are virtual rinks.

So, if you are coming this weekend to take advantage of all the snow, pack skates instead. LOL. If we get a big freeze, there's an amazing game of hockey to be had somewhere....

But who knows....by the time you read this, it might be snowing again.