Betty - My heart goes out to you. You also have had a very rough Winter.

Jean - Hard to believe that you are even seeing snow in Florida. Amazing! Surely that will melt quickly, providing moisture for your garden.

This is the Winter that just won't quit. I feel we just have to accept that now, and roll with the punches. In my 10 day forecast, snow is mentioned 5 times with 1' '-3' inches of snow. We certainly don't need any more snow as we are buried in it up here. Literally. What we need is much higher temperatures to melt this stuff which so far we are not getting on a regular basis. Too cold.

Los Angeles suffered a mild earthquake this morning…4.4 on the richter scale

One more thing I have been thinking about. I am feeling it may not be a good time to be flying on an airplane.By now we all have heard about the missing Malaysian airplane Flt. HM370. Truly a bizarre mystery which I have been following closely. A ghost plane. What happened to that airplane and its 239 passengers? And yesterday, a Delta plane, 757, flying from Orlando lost part of its wing. The plane was able to land safely in Atlanta…..but a very scary scenario for those looking out there windows. I can't imagine. And a third international flight flying from Mexico to Canada
was forced to land in Helena, Montana this weekend due to severe turbulence injuring several stewardesses.

Oh sorry for those waiting on snow and those who just got more snow. We were fortunate here and the snow passed us by. Nothing here, it went south of us.

Great article from 'The Burlington Free Press' this morning on the delay of our Maple Sugaring season delayed by the severe cold weather and snow up here.

Vermont maple sugaring season slow to start
Winter hangs on, sugar makers wait for sap to run.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress...

Bad news for Maple Syrup Prices!

Rita…..Prices for VT Maple Syrup are already astronomical. But then again, it takes 42 gallons of sap to make one gallon of Maple Syrup, which explains a lot about the price. Weather also plays a large part on the yield of sap flow. I always keep a 1/2 gallon of syrup in my fridge. It really is a natural 'nectar of the gods'. Yum!

My neighbor only uses real Maple Syrup. Me I just use the cheapo Aunt Jemima pancake syrup.

@ARoseblush We're back in AR now, where Spring is trying to happen. The daffodils, forsythia, crab apple and Bradford pears are blooming. The dusting of snow we had last night is gone and the temperature is rising and supposed to be in the 60s today

Sounds great Jean!

Jean……In my mind's eye I can see all those lovely blooms.

Luckily we didn't get any snow last night or this morning as predicted, but it did snow up a little higher. We could see it, and that was close enough! Got 1/4 inch of rain overnight, and the wind kept me up half the night. Sounded like the roof was going to blow off! All I could think about was my greenhouse blowing away, but it survived without a scratch!

Got about 3" of snow last night into today. Getting real sick of Winter. We did have a red tail hawk sitting on the birdfeeder this morning. He was gorgeous!

Crocus blooms are out. Closed up on a cloudy day.


Snowbunting


Gypsey Girl

Owie, Betty.

Thanks for mentioning the planes Alex. I have to be dragged onto one as it is.

So does my sister. I managed to get her on an airplane once, about 15 years ago. Her fiance has managed twice in less than six months. He is taking her to California this week for one of his children's wedding. Guess it all depends on the means of persuasion.

I love to fly, but I love to drive more.

Had to run into town earlier. It was 51 degrees, and snowing.

In the last 24 hr we have gotten 3.5" of rain! Good news for FL. That means spring is very, very close and the monsoons have started in the Central FL. Happens most every year in March. Just have to be patient. Now of the evening temps will stay above 60 and the daytime temps rally to 75 or so, scapes will magically jump out of the ground! Am I excited??? Huhhh??? Today or tomorrow I'll move my orchids outside to the patio. They will be excited, too!!

@ARoseblush Here are several pictures for you

Jean….Thanks for posting those beautiful signs of Spring on your property. It lightened my soul and brought a song to my heart. Your Pear Tree blooms remind me of my Mountain White Cherry tree I have on my property. It will be 2 months before I see a bloom on that tree. We are so far behind you. There is hope. First we have to get rid of all these mountains of snow.

Speaking of which, late yesterday afternoon, I got stuck in a snowbank backing my car out of my driveway. I was not happy. I got out the snow shovel and starting digging for 1/2 hr. I was not in a good mood. Still could not get the car out. So called my plowman, and gave him a piece of my mind….which later I regretted, and apologized. The truth is my driveway was a mess from the big storm last week and another 3" on Saturday night. Anyway, he came up and got my car out of the snowbank. Then he plowed my driveway the way it should be plowed…pushing all that snow over the stone wall and opening up the entire driveway giving me an extra 5' ft on both sides. Now its as smooth as a baby's bottom with lots of room to get out to the main road. He was angry with me, and I had to do a major 'mea coupa'. Also gave him a $20.00 bill, even tho I pay him $600.00 a season. The point is there is just too much snow everywhere, and not that much room to put it. We need days of warmer weather over 32 degrees, and we are just not getting it consistently. It's beautifully sunny today but the high today will only reach 31 degrees. It's always nice to feel the sun's glow, and some melting will occur.

Alex! I sure hope you get no more snow and those mountains start melting soon.