Now that’s more like it!
78 degrees today and a mix of sun and clouds. Isn’t that wonderful?! The backyard is starting to come alive. The grass is greening up, the lilac buds are bursting and the rhubarb is starting to unfurl. We planted 3 bare root currant bushes and cleaned out some flower beds and Annette planted some spinach, radishes, arugula and mixed greens in the raised bed on the south side of the house. Yes, it’s early but there is nothing to lose. If it freezes, it freezes. It was leftover seed from last year anyway. Time to get planting! We also bought a rosemary plant to replace the one we killed last fall. We left it outside and a hard freeze did it in. It was such a nice plant and we’d had it a long time. It had been spending its winters in the kitchen. We’ll try to take better care of the new one.
Everything is still pretty bare around the yard but the grass is getting green and it was a perfect day for sitting out in the backyard.
We started tomato, pepper and basil plants a few weeks ago. Brought the flat out on the deck today so they could get some real sunshine.
Here’s out new rosemary bush.
Is it too early to plant anything outside? I guess we’ll find out.
First of the year Chipping Sparrow showed up yesterday under the feeders.
Here’s another shot of the Chipping Sparrow.
This morning we took a drive over to Lake Kegonsa and spotted 3 American White Pelicans. You really can’t miss them, they are HUGE!
We saw this pair of Blue-winged Teal pair hiding in the reeds along the road in a flooded field today.
Yesterday we went walking at Brooklyn State Wildlife area. It’s about 30 min southwest of Stoughton. We hardly ever see any people there and it’s fast becoming a favorite birding location. But, there are more than birds, there are frogs! Lots of them too.
And this was our prize sighting for the weekend. An American Bittern. Apparently they are incredibly shy and not often seen so we feel very lucky to have rounded a corner and happened upon it. It was very still and trying as hard as possible to look like bunch of cattails.