March 2, 2025

No more February for this year!  And you know what that means.  Spring is just around the corner!  My beloved SPRING!  Here is the Pond on the rainy morning of February 25.  A small amount of snow remains on the outskirts of the Pond, as you can see at the upper right of this picture.   On February 23, that snow around the Pond was a couple of inches thick and quite slippery.  A couple of fishes (a yellow and a red one) are testing the waters!

As of February 24, here was the chief underwater scene, the center of growth of the Water Lilies.  You can see at the top of this picture a big red leaf; under that, a folded leaf-to-be, and at the bottom, another red leaf.  Those Lilies are just eager to produce the flowers we loved so much last year!

Late in the afternoon of February 24...

I have started looking for new leaves coming up.  Here are two unknown ones (so far at least) but the one on the right is Grape Hyacinth, not much changed from the last time we saw it.  On the second row, you see the Hellebore, then the lovely leaf of the Pulmonaria, given me by Eleanor Rosenthal of Potsdam.  Both are from February 24.  Last is the first FLOWER of the spring, a bright yellow Winter Aconite seen on February 28!  By the way, I now believe this first minty-looking plant is one of the Lamium mints, maybe even Red Deadnettle!

The last two days of Winter broke and I have already called it for Spring.  That Winter Aconite, first seen on February 28, is a real Spring flower, despite its name.  It will expand its domain for a while.   In the next set, here is the first Snowdrop, not in my yard yet, but as usual first out in Deb Seely's yard out front.  The pale green Spider is a Longlegged Sac Spider,  genus Cheiracanthium, and the last one is a member of Crab Spiders (Family Thomisidae,  genus Bassaniana).

One more Spider from this week.  It belongs to genus Grammonota.   And here are two shots of a tiny creature who was walking across the kitchen floor.  No clue who it might be, but  it seems to be a very small (a millimeter long?) Beetle.

I started the first Pond off in 2005 with a pair of Fishes, who quickly began to make MORE Fishes, and MORE and MORE!  Now there are so many that the folks at The Pond Guy suggest getting rid of a few to keep the water from getting so cloudy.  Anyone who would like to come over and go fishing for a few fishes, come on down!  Some of them are ones I particularly like for breeding purposes, so we can deal about who wants which fish.  Really, give me a call and I probably will be eager to share!

Oh!  My goodness.  Yesterday was about 59F in the late afternoon.  But this morning (March 1) apparently it is about 21F, and planning to stay chilly for some time.  I don't care.  It IS Spring already!  By the way, here is a progress report on the thistle seeds I planted a few weeks ago.  Yesterday I received a packet of Bull Thistle, which is a better match for the lost Thistles in my yard.  These little fellows are still the ones I started a few weeks ago.  I'll tell you when the little Bull Thistles come up!

Here ia an Eastern Gray Squirrel, who was out playing and scrabbling for food on February 24.  The second picture shows squirrel tracks across the Pond 

More Fishes!  I do hope someone comes and takes some of them to a new pond or other place!

Well, folks, it does seem that the afternoon is ripe for Creatures  and Places.  Let's hope that the temperatures can hold onto the warmer range.  The weekly estimates are rather hopeful and I think we are still good for our prediction of SPRING!  I hope that we can all hang onto our afternoon promises  and help the climate restabilize.   We NEED those warmer temps!  At least psychologically!   So see you soon, love to everyone, Martha!