Last year, it was April 21st when we had a snow storm. The fruit trees in our home orchard had buds and snow-covered them all. It was unbelievable! Here are some photos from last spring.
And, yet – here we are again! This week, it is being predicted that we will have 1-2 feet of snow in some parts of the midwest. A Historic Storm is what they are calling it. Today, the ground was dry and brown when I left for work this morning. When I left the office this afternoon, I was greeted with several inches sitting on top of my car. It was wet, heavy snow, as the temperature just hovered around freezing.
The photos from today look very similar to the photos of last year. My tulip bulb leaves erupted but I did not notice until I looked outside and saw them peeking up through the whiteness. Here they are, looking cold and bewildered.
And, here is one of our four bluebird houses. I had an optical illusion thinking that a large hawk was sitting on the box, looking inside at blue bird eggs. I’ll admit that a lot of that sentence does not make sense but it is how it looked until I zoomed in on the bird house with my camera. No hawk! It was just the coloration on the bird house.
Our birdhouses are due for replacement this year. These are about ten years old. I know because we built them in garden club as a project one year and my youngest was in first grade. He was too young for garden club, but we gave his teacher one at the end of the year. We posted four along our property line, the requisite distance apart from each other.
It has temporarily stopped snowing but my deck chairs are covered.
The patio chairs are covered, too.
My husband tells me my bearded iris are covered. They are among the first plants to sprout, in my South side garden bed. I’ve checked this bed for my common milkweed, but alas, it has not germinated yet. I would have been shocked to have seen it this early. But, it doesn’t stop me from checking.
The hats, gloves, and boots are still readily available in our laundry room. The scraper is still in the car. We still have a little more snow to deal with for now. But, given the date, we know it won’t last!
The Apples in My Orchard 