Hope, homes and relics

Sorry I have not been around much lately! I have been taking some downtime from 'virtual' life, and trying to focus on a few items in my 'real' life! But it is spring now. Pasque flower results need reporting, nature is bursting, and I am taking photos, so here is March in my backyard! Very early, and way too warm for the Ides of March! (I just noticed it was almost a year ago to the day that last I apologized to you for not being around!!)

HOPE: I love the first emergers! The mosses cling and grab at the sun they will never get a chance to see after the big boys emerge. The skunk cabbage is always out early and I just learned (on NPR) that it can create its own warmth to speed growth in the spring. Amazing, huh! Finally is the Pasque flower. It tries so hard to look like a discard lump of fur and not a tasty spring morsel. The flowers should be here in a couple of days... but if you can't wait you can look at last year's here! Only it was in mid April!!

HOUSES: When the snow is gone and the leaves haven't budded, it is possible to seen some houses that would otherwise be missed. Now I know where all those woodpeckers at our feeder live! The center photo is an insect home it is only about an inch long and was on the side of one of the trees.

RELICS: Again when the snow melts but the grasses are not yet risen, you can get hints of the drama of the winter past. Clumps of fir along the deer path. This is one time of year, you do not have to be a tracker to see where the bunny trails are! And some just didn't make it through the winter... but perhaps others did because of their demise.

So it was a great walk in the woods, but I was not alone. We are so lucky to have a pair of Red Tailed Hawks that live in our woods. They have been around many seasons now. They hunt in the valley all winter, teach there young in the summer, and occasionally use our bird feeders as bait for their dinner. But they are glorious. However, they did not appreciate me being in their yard. Much screeching and flying about! So I went back to my own yard.