Late March snowstorm

About 4" of snow fell last Thursday, and it's still melting. The storm was very windy, and drifts piled up in lots of places. My leafed-out Golden Currant shrub (Ribes aureum), fortunately very hardy and apparently unbothered by snow, is sitting in a pile of it (left). So many leafed-out plants have been hit with frost, but so far everything looks OK.
The nice thing about spring snows is that they're usually full of water, so they're a good slow-release water supply for nearby plants. I usually shovel as much as I can on the ground around my perennials & shrubs.
Skiing at Wolf Creek yesterday was great - much new snow that was still fairly light early in the day, but became heavier to ski through as the day passed and temperatures warmed. Crowds of skiiers were non-existent. Maybe the last ski of the season?

Garlic is growing, seedlings are up too

The garlic I planted last fall is getting bigger & bigger. Since it's in the raised bed on the south side of a white wall, the soil it's planted in really heats up quickly and early. Our nighttime temperatures have ranged from 16 to the upper 20's, and I haven't covered the garlic yet. It seems pretty hardy.
Indoors, the pepper & tomato seeds I planted within the past two weeks are germinating. I don't have true leaves on the seedlings yet, but that should be any day now. They're all under 16-hour-on lights now that I set up in a mostly-unused room.
My compost container contents have mostly thawed now, so I'm starting new batches and renewing the old ones. There is still one big bucket of winter-storage kitchen scraps to deal with as soon as I have space in one of the bins. I hope to have some finished compost within a month or so, and I'll probably add it to the vegetable garden or raspberry area.

Wildlife woke up today!

Saw the local fox tonight for the first time in months! On my evening dog walk it was warm enough not to wear a jacket or vest, for the first time since last fall. Sooooo warm. Home Lake has lost almost all its ice; remaining are only two big soggy-looking ice sheets out near the middle. Tonight truly felt like spring, though astronomical spring (i.e., the vernal equnox, or March 20) is still a few days away.
Though astronomical spring is yet to come, the onset of meteorological spring has already passed - see definition of the spring season below from the Glossary of Meteorology (underline emphasis mine):

spring—The season of the year composing the transition period from winter to summer; the vernal season, during which the sun is approaching the summer solstice.
In popular usage and for most meteorological purposes, spring is customarily taken to include the months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere, and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere. Except in the Tropics, spring is a season of rising temperatures and decreasing cyclonic activity over continents. In much of the Tropics, neither spring nor fall is recognizable, and in polar regions, both are very short-lived.

ENJOY THE SPRING, "WEATHER" ASTRONOMICAL OR METEOROLOGICAL!

Pepper & tomato seeds now planted

Today I planted seeds for seven varieties of tomatoes. Don't know how I ever think I'll have room for all the plants I expect to come up. Peppers haven't germinated yet; planted them one week ago. More and more green stuff coming up outside due to warmth. Today I began clearing all of last growing season's old growth out of the vegetable garden; should have done it in the fall I suppose. Still traces of compacted snow/ice in deeply shaded parts of the yard & garden. The compost is slowly thawing, and every couple of days I peel away another layer from the still-frozen core. I still have one compost bin that is likely totally frozen since it's sitting in the shade. The dog poops in the backyard like she never gets a poop walk; we'd be knee-deep in poop if she were only a backyard-dog (i.e., no walks).

Guess it's warm enough in the house for bugs; there's one walking across the monitor as I type.

When I was raking yesterday in a corner of the yard, I found evidence of bird mortality; wonder if one of the hawks was visiting the bird feeder? Bet so; not the first time they've found lunch here! In fact, while on a raptor tour at the Monte Vista Crane Festival yesterday, the tour guide said some bird-watchers feed birds for the express purpose of attracting raptors to the backyard for viewing!

Little green things popping up!

I'm a little taken aback by all the growth that's taken place on the south side of the house over the past few days. The plant in the image is catmint, which grows as prolifically as kudzu.
The garlic I planted last fall is also coming up, along with dianthus from last year, a volunteer hollyhock, and delphinium. I'm also seeing chives poking through last year's debris.
I started messing with my compost bins today while the temperature was in the upper 40s (but felt much warmer). Compost, however, is still frozen so not much can be done there yet.
Lots of kitchen scraps from our house and my office have piled up over the winter; I'm itchin' to start taking care of it! Plus I have so many leaves that I need to use. I REFUSE to put them out in the garbage.

February Snow Survey

Last Friday, February 27, was my monthly excursion to the Silver Lakes snow course to measure the snowpack. This will be repeated two more times in 2009. The day was very warm, sunny, and windy. At this site, the snowpack measured out to about 165% of normal, compared to the survey in January at this site which was about 190% of normal. I'd expected a lower number since we have not received much snow since the January reading.

The photo to the left shows me holding--in my left hand--the scale suspended on a telescoping ski pole, and in my right hand is the notebook for recording the measurements we take at ten sites within the course. Snowmobiles & their moronic drivers had driven over our course in several locations, and the resulting compression of the snowpack distorts our readings. We thus had to take several samples at a couple of the sites to get an accurate reading.