After a Warm Monday - a Rainy Tuesday

Yesterday was just lovely! Temperatures in the low 70s, sun out, light breeze - it was great! Today it rained and how can one complain since it was rain and NOT snow!  So, here are some pictures from yesterday.

I have several bunches of daffodils and this one bloomed first. It's somewhat protected between the driveway and the deck. I wanted to get this pictures quickly as the deer sometimes eat them before I can photograph flowers. Made it!

Same plants I just moved back.

And when I went down to get the mail, I crossed the road and walked down to the lake. Blue water - quite a welcome sight after all that ice and snow!

We saw two boats on the lake Monday. Docks here will go in the water this weekend. YEA spring!!

Weather Changes!

This past weekend - Palm Sunday weekend - the weather was just beautiful! Warm, snow melted and spring had arrived... in fact, I went out and took a picture of the last little bit of snow from a pile that had been soooo high... here it is.

What I thought was the "final, final" of snow for the year.

And then the forecast said colder temperatures on Monday with rain into Tuesday and a chance of over an inch of rain..  OK, rain is fine. And it did rain Monday and by Tuesday morning the forecast included the possibility of the rain turning into snow as a very cold cold front swept in. And it did! I was in the living room, looking at "Forrest Gump" on TV around 7 PM and looked out and darn, it was snowing! And it kept snowing into Wednesday morning.  Pictures below:

At 5:30 am, when Honey and I take the first walk of the day, it was snowing. The driveway was bare but the cars, lawn and bushes had snow.

The snow on the bushes in front of the deck was really very lovely. 

The sun came up and the snow stopped. I went out again to take more pictures as I knew it would quickly melt. 

And by Wednesday late afternoon it has mostly melted. But it was a nice snow - pretty and over fast!

However, this is crazy weather we are having. 

A BEAUTIFUL spring afternoon

After complaining about the never ending winter, I wanted to be thankful for the beautiful afternoon we had. The sun was out and the temperatures were in the upper 50s. Most of the snow is melted and Honey, B and I were out just enjoying the weather.

The crocuses are starting to come up

And some of the bushes that were planted last year died

The bugs are coming out. Several of these bugs were on the car. They just "sat" there. We get another bug that swarms around you that really can drive you crazy. None of them are around....yet

The sky was beautiful - the trees still bare

And two hawk were circling overhead

The back area into the woods that was sooooo snowy and hard to walk is now easy to access. I must say it was pretty the first day or so after a snow fall. Honey and I slipped and slid around so much that I'm not sorry to see it go. 

And Miss Honey is enjoying a walk in the sun. 

We missed this storm

I haven't been posting because the weather has been so cold and snowy I didn't want to sound negative. Today, the sun was out and I feel like we just might get some spring weather soon. While the temperature has been below freezing all day (29 right now at 3:30) the sun was out. We did have a few flakes but missed the major storm the Jersey shore got. We count our blessings.

Since the weather was sunny and we have been rather house bound, we took a ride to Costco. It's about an hour and 30 minute drive. The wind was gusting and the car was buffeted but the ride was nice. Snow has been melting and while it still looks wintry, there were patches of ground visible. It was a good trip as we didn't spend too much money but got several things. After we got home and took care of Honey and looked at The Chew, I finally froze the 4 pounds of asparagus I purchased Monday. I should have done it sooner but....  Well, after cutting off the ends and then cutting the stalks into quarters, I blanched it for about 3 minutes (added the tips after 1 minute). When I drained the asparagus I tasted it and it was crunchy - should be great reheated as a side dish or for a salad. I packaged it in 6 oz portions and got 8 bags. Asparagus has been available at the super market - a sure sign of spring. This was a good sale I came across at 99 cents a pound! I also purchased a 5 pound bag of small beets for under $4 and am not sure what I'll do with that. Eat some after cooking in the pressure cooker but I'm also thinking maybe make pickled beets. I'll have to check my recipes to see what would work. It's on my list for tomorrow.

Our weather should warm up over the next few days. The lake is starting to look "wet" in places though there were people out on the lake over the weekend fishing. The huge piles of snow have melted to reasonable piles that Honey can climb over. Since the snow on the deck has melted including the snow on the grill on the deck, I'm hopeful we will get to grill soon. I'm hungry for a hamburger done outside (eaten inside). Cross fingers!

And AGAIN

We just came in from attempting to get the snow off of the SUV so we can go get the mail. It's been three days since we have been out. We woke up to snow falling again and thus far have about 2 inches. We should get several more before it's all over.

The driveway was cleared yesterday. It was really interesting as they came with a a front end plow with a snow throw thing on the back. They shot the snow off the driveway and up into the hill to the woods. Cleared the drive but gave us lots of snow on the slope. 

He backed down the driveway and stopped to change the snow thrower from one side to the other

You can see the plow in the front - he was backing down the driveway

And then went foreword lowering the plow.

Worked great but gave us very large piles of snow on the side. However, we are NOT complaining as the driveway was clear and we planned to get the mail today.

Honey is a bit bewildered at the large pile at the side and end of the driveway.

We just came back in and we were able to clear off the SUV - but still need to dig out mound of snow in front of it. However, we do believe we will be able to  go get the mail this afternoon and while we are there, drop off some trash. (mail and trash are less than a mile away)  And since we did think ahead, we have plenty of food and such so we can just hunker down and watch the Olympics. 

It's not a bad thing to be stuck in the house as long as you are warm and have food.

Damn that groundhog!!!