Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Though a country be sundered, hills and rivers endure;
And spring comes green again to trees and grasses
Where petals have been shed like tears
And lonely birds have sung their grief.
~TuFu



A lovely week past with temperatures ranging from the 70's to a record breaking 80+. Overnight the bulbs shot up inches and these daffodils burst into bloom. Signs of spring are everywhere. The grass is greening and will need a first mowing soon (my least favorite summer chore.) The first toad of the season hopped across my path late Monday evening and was almost stepped on, accidentally of course. They seem to like to hang out in front of the garage so if I manage to miss them with the car wheels, I may stumble over one in the dark. At night I hear the lovely music of the frogs and during the day the birds are full of spring songs .

This year plants are about two weeks ahead of the season. I checked the posts from 2009 and the little group of daffodils pictured here bloomed April 20th.

Last weekend brought gentle rains and now midweek, we are having thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are another sure sign of spring but, an interesting note, we had thundersnow a couple times over the winter. Temperatures are expected to plunge, today's highs will be in the 40's with a possibility of a little snow tonight. As much as I enjoyed the warmer temperatures, my flowers will actually last much longer if the weather is cool. Tulips especially seem to blow in a day or two of 70 degree heat.


This forsythia is not mine but I wish it were, it certainly is lovely.


The geese are seeking solitude to nest and raise their young. I knew that geese mated for life but did not know that they stay in family groups (even in a large migratory flock family members will remain close to each other). If a goose gets injured and cannot keep up with the migratory flock, it will land, often with family members. These geese will stick with the injured one until it gets better or dies, and then join a new flock.


Turkeys on the other hand are polygamists and seduce as many ladies as they can.

Turkeys and geese nest on the ground and require abut 6 weeks to lay and hatch their eggs. During this time they are very vulnerable to predation. It's estimated that less than half of nestings result in live chicks. After that the mortality rate increases and only 20 or 30 percent of the chicks reach an age when they can fly.


These photos don't show the lovely iridescent colors of their feathers. Groups of wild turkeys are becoming quite common in this area. Hopefully some chicks will soon appear following close behind their mamas.





Now that the winter’s gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes; and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream:
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth

**********************

Some of you may have seen this going around in emails. I got such a kick out of it I wanted to post it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

How much does a house weigh?

How much weight can a two lane rural bridge hold?

Is this covered by my homeowners or vehicle insurance?



42 comments:

tina said...

I have not seen that picture. Oh dear, I can imagine the thoughts in the truck as it's going down! Ha! Spring is definitely in full force and it has been nice. A bit hot here though but that is okay. The birds are wonderful. I did not know the geese stay together in family groups. There sure are a lot of them and they are huge. I enjoy seeing the wild turkeys. I bet some babies will be showing up soon.

My blogger is acting up today so I think this may be why the pics aren't showing, but I'll check back later. Only the last pic of the house is showing. Seems to be a lot of bugs in Google lately. ttyl

Sherri said...

Hi Marnie! Thanks for sharing the "house" picture! I had never seen that before.

D said...

Lovely post Marnie! and Spring is here! However, we went from high-60's several weeks ago to 50 this past week and with lows near freezing at night. Hopefully we can get past these cold nights so I don't have to cover the vegetables. Have a wonderful week. Diana

joey said...

How funny is that! Have not seen this in e-mails ... thanks for sharing, Marnie. (But for some reason, like Tina, this last picture is the only one that I can see ... and knowing you, I'm missing some beauties!)

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Well, for goodness sakes. I hadn't seen this photo before. What a mess this company is in. I hope they have plenty of insurance and are bonded. My cousin moved a house once. They didn't have any trouble like this. What a dilemma.

Cheryl said...

Hi Marnie.....lovely write up and I so enjoyed reading it. Sadly I could not get any of your photographs to show.....I will pop back at some point and check them out.

Southern Lady said...

I enjoyed reading your blog. I couldn't see any of the pictures except the house picture (too funny). I don't know what is wrong with blogger today. I would love to see the turkey pictures. We have wild turkeys around here but I can never get a picture of them. Carla

Phillip Oliver said...

I can only see the house photo. Things are growing at breakneck speed here too with all the warm weather we've been having. Our weather sounds like yours. We are getting thunderstorms tonight.

garden girl said...

Marnie, we sure have had some wonderful early spring weather! Once the snow cover melted, the garden seems to be making up for lost time. My hellibores budded later than last year because of the snow, but caught up quickly. Other stuff now seems a little ahead of schedule.

I'm glad for the rain - the garden seems to be really appreciating it! The gardener is too - I don't want to have to water in April, and it was getting pretty dry here.

Wow - I hadn't seen the house/bridge debacle. Looks very expensive, whoever's paying.

F Cameron said...

Spring is here, but what hot weather! It LOOKS like spring, but it feels like summer with 90 degree temps here.

tina said...

That forsythia is not only lovely but wonderfully sited in a what looks to be a very nice garden. Awesome pics as they finally showed up for me.

Anonymous said...

For whatever reason that spring is two weeks ahead, I'll take it! Isn't it wonderful? Supposed to be chilly here Friday though, but only for one day so I guess we'll survive.

BeadedTail said...

I hadn't seen that house picture before. That's one way to get a water view!

The weather is all weird every where it seems although we're still getting rain on a regular basis. Can't wait to see the sunshine again!

Lovely bird photos! Those turkeys are huge!

Gail said...

A beautiful quote and I loved reading about the wild turkey returning to your area...Your photos are too funny...How fascinating to know that geese are so loyal, it warms me a little toward the messy creatures! They are something else to watch flying and honking over head.

I am glad spring is here...It did seem a bit like July when it was near 90, though.

Back to rain and cooler temps tomorrow. Yippee.

Gail

sweetbay said...

We used to get thundersnow in PA, but never anything like that in NC. No thunder in cold weather.

Beautiful pictures of the turkeys. There were some resident Canada Geese on our lake where I grew up and they do have a wonderful bond -- except for one case where a female left her mate for a Greylag goose. The male was a mess. He flew around honking all of the time and kept ending up on people's roofs and honking more. At last he calmed down and eventually paired with another female.

sweetbay said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Betsy Banks Adams said...

Glad Spring has come to your area too, Marnie... Love that huge Forsythia bush... Gorgeous!!!!

Those male turkeys are really showing off, aren't they???? We have wild turkeys around here--but I never see them---unless we hike back in the woods.

Unbelievable picture of that trailer home on that rural bridge ---or what USED to be a bridge... Yipes!!!!

Have a great week...
Hugs,
Betsy

Morning Glories in Round Rock said...

It's amazing that any turkeys survive at all! Talk about against all odds! We have a lot of wild turkeys around the rual areas here. They are fun to watch, usually following the deer like paparazzi.

The picture of the "houseboat" is quite funny. I hadn't seen it before. Do you think they are saying, "Doh"!

Love your daffs--so pretty.

Dawn said...

Oh my! The poor homeowner!
Our temps were high too, isn't it nice! Those t-keys, tsk, tsk, tsk...

Judy said...

All the photos showed up for me, and that forsythia is wonderful! I like them best when they are allowed to grow every which way like that! And the geese and turkeys are great too! The house is too funny! If it is from e-mails, then I will feel free to copy it and send it off to some people!!

Rose said...

Lol, I hadn't seen that photo before. I hope the homeowners wanted a river view:)

April has certainly been a beautiful month so far. Even with the cooler temperatures last night and predicted for tonight, I don't think the garden is going to suffer. And it's supposed to warm up again this weekend. I'd be happy with temps in the 60's for the rest of the month--and so would my tulips and daffs.

I didn't realize that geese mated for life. I took a similar photo this week--we've had a pair visit our yard all week long. I certainly hope, though, they didn't build a nest, because Sophie spied them yesterday and gave them quite a fright. I don't know if they'll be brave enough to come back.

Pat said...

Stunning shots of the turkies !
Keep telling myself to get forsythias...never do.
High temps here also...so odd with the long cold winter we had.

Connie said...

Those daffodisl look so lovely against the rocky backdrop! And I love your photo of the Tom turkeys. We have lots of wild turkeys here, as well....but I have yet to get a photo of a male with his feathers spread like that.

Skeeter said...

Here you are getting Spring early and we had it a bit late! Mother Nature sure likes to give us something to talk about. The swans, geese and ducks were all a buzz at the lake at the In-laws house this past weekend. They hope the swans do not nest it their yard again as they are so aggressive while on the nest. They kill all the baby ducks in the water. The house is a hoot! I have yet to weed through the ton of emails but now that is one less I have to open if I have it in the inbox! Well, when I say hoot, only a funny hoot because it is NOT my house! Your Hocus Pocus resembles my Cheetah girl, they could be siblings!

oldcrow61 said...

My goodness, you are having wonderful temperatures. Love the turkeys.

walk2write said...

I'm glad you're getting an earlier dose of Spring this year. Ours came a bit later than usual with many of the azaleas just now opening. Those turkeys are amazing, even if they philandering fowl:) I hadn't seen that pic of the house either. How in the world are they going to get it unstuck?

Nan and =^..^= said...

We also are having a very early spring! Yesterday we had an early summer with temperatures in the high 8o's but today is much cooler. So many flowers are blooming early and it makes us wonder what will happen later on. Love the turkeys!

Patty said...

Oh my gosh that last picture is so amazing!! I would totally build my house like that on purpose :)

Cheryl said...

Hi Marnie....glad I popped back to see the photographs. The last one did make me smile.

I love the turkeys.....fabulous photographs.

It is so nice to see the daffs out, they brighten any garden and give us a taste of what is to come.....

jo said...

Hiya,

I have been staring at this house picture but cannot work out what is going on. Was it built on a bridge? Is it a mill house? what are those wheels doing hanging off of it?
I have seen pictures of covered bridges, but didn't know people lived in them.

Chloe m said...

Crazy house picture! You could fish right out your window!

I can't resist the pun. That was "toadally" cool that you had your first toad of the season. Neat.

Kathleen said...

I haven't seen that house picture either Marnie but then I don't open a lot of stuff on my e-mail.
I can't believe how warm it was there! We've still not gotten anywhere near 80 yet. It's been in the 40's & 50's here but today is supposed to reach 60 something. I think we are running behind instead of ahead??? I have yet to see a toad here and by now I usually have. Don't you hate running over them? Last year I squished two (accidentally) by backing over them in the driveway. Never saw them. It makes me feel horrible every time it happens.
I hope it warms back up there. Once there's a taste of nice weather is sure is hard to go backwards.

*Ulrike* said...

I have not seen that house picture yet, but that is so cool! speaking of cool, snow?! You are right though, tulips do last longer with cooler temps, mine did. Then the really pretty ones that look like roses came in just with the 80 near 90 temps, and poof! they are almost gone, so sad! Forsythia is real easy to root if you want one. A lot of times if you break off a branch they will even root in water! I think they are so pretty and we have a lot of them on the road side around here. Loved seeing your daffodils, nice to know spring is showing its colors!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Marnie~~ Apparently some readers were having trouble viewing your photos but I could see everything just fine. Your Forsythia photo is just wonderful. I wasn't aware of the clannish nature of the geese. Too bad the turkeys can't take their cues from them.

I hope warm weather returns soon.

Balisha said...

Hi Marnie,
Those daffs are such a pretty sight. We have waited all winter just to see a spot of yellow in our yards. Beautiful forsythia...don't you see them everywhere right now? How is your Dad doing? Have a nice weekend...
Balisha

Bill S. said...

I love the turkeys - when they are strutting nothing else matters.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Wild turkeys are both so hideous and so lovely, I can't make up mind, LOL. I also hate mowing the lawn. American toads breed in the vernal pond behind my house... last spring I encountered dozens and dozens of tiny toadlets as I was mowing... stopping every time to ferry them off to a bed. It would have been a good excuse not to mow at all, but I didn't want the grass to get so tall I couldn't see the toadlet shopping out of the way... No problem restarting 20 times!!!

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

"shopping"?? I meant "jumping." No idea where that came from!

Lona said...

What beautiful pictures of the Turkeys and Geese.Marnie I love that tulip in your header. What a wonderful mix of colors. OMG!I would not want to be the owner of that home. What a problem. I wonder how they got the thing across? LOL!
Lona

Skeeter said...

You are a winner at "In the Garden"!

Diane said...

I adore wild turkeys!! The best road sign in the world is the "turkey crossing" sign over by Rock Cut. I once saw a flock of turkeys running up a hill at Midewin Prairie and it looked like a scene out of Jurassic Park.

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

I doubt that's what they meant when they asked for a river view.