After the coldest December and most of January that I can ever remember, we have finally gotten up to our seasonal "normals" in the fifties the past couple of days. It was raw and rainy right before this break - bundle up and tie your hood days - so it feels especially nice now that the highs we had a week ago are our lows right now. Even the dogs are acting like they feel better.
I know that the calendar says that winter is only 1/3 gone, but in this part of NC, the "meteorological" winter is considered to be December, January and February. That means we are almost 2/3 of the way through the worst one we've had since 1989...and, that year, it was just December that was abnormally cold.
Somehow, another thiry days of it just seems way more doable than waiting for "first day of spring" on the third week of March. Unless they froze this winter, I expect we will be seeing crocus and daffodil bulbs shooting in a couple of weeks, of things stay at all like this last two days. I would adore to have one of our February warm snaps - sometimes hops nearly to eighty for a while. Tee shirt weather seems like a distant dream right about now!
The maples in the woods by the house are good indicators, too, When you can see the reddish cast of their buds, you know the woods are waking up from their long winter's nap. I will be watching that groundhog next week pretty closely, won't you?
What is the first sign of spring you will be looking for in the next few weeks? When do you realistically expect to see it?
