Spring stuck on fast forward

I've been waiting.  December was so warm and un-snowy that I was sure winter would hit with a fury in January.  When January turned out to be as warm and generally snow free as December, I was sure we would be buried in snow in February.  February came and went with mild temperatures and once again, very little snow.  Surely March would be colder than normal to balance out the unusually warm winter.  While I won't be surprised if we get hit with a spring snow storm, there is no such weather in sight.  We just finished up an entire week of high temps in the 60's and 70's.  The week long forecast is for more the same with a couple days forecast to have highs in the 80's.  Our normal high for March 18th?  47 DEGREES! 

This was our pasture last year (2011) on March 11th.  We haven't had anything that looked remotely like this since back in January. 

February 2, 2012 was a warm and sunny day.  I am thinking that the groundhog that saw its shadow wasn't predicting 6 more weeks of winter as much as he just wanted to go back to bed for awhile.

And so now here we are with a spring that is progressing at warp speed.  Today I snapped this picture of the maple tree in the side yard with its buds bursting open.  I was pretty sure I remembered taking a picture of the budding maple tree last year so I looked back through the blog.  Sure enough, I took a similar picture, with buds not nearly as open as today, on April 10, 2011.  The picture is in last year's blog entry "Spring has sprung. Finally.".

Yesterday, I took my bike out for a ride around the block and saw some yellow flowers blooming alongside the road.  I should have stopped to look because a splash of yellow color is something that is not seen around here in March very often.  As it so happened, I took the beagles for a two hour hike around the farm this morning and found some more blooming on one of the grassy openings where the farm's tile line main runs.  Coltsfoot.  The book says it can start blooming in February, but I certainly cannot recall seeing it that early before.  Truth is that most Februaries, the ground is covered in snow so that probably has something to do with it.

After lunch, I finally managed to do something productive.  The flower beds by the house are sorely in need of some more soil.   The composting pile of chicken manure and bedding has been building for several years.  It was a match made in heaven.  6 trips with the wheel barrow from the compost pile, out the driveway by the barn, down the road, in the driveway by the house and over to the flower bed and the front flower bed is filled.  I did feel a little silly pushing the wheel barrow down the road, but it was MUCH easier than pushing it across the soggy sponge that is called our yard.  I still need to work on the the other parts of the flower bed, but I was liking how the front porch bed looked when I was done.  I won't turn over the soil and mix it in for at least another month though.  AND I am going to have to really work at weed control this year because last year there was a bumper crop of "volunteer" tomato plants growing in the compost pile.  The chickens did a pretty good job of picking off and eating the ripe tomatoes so that hopefully reduced the re-seeding of the soil just a little bit.

As I was finishing up some more spring yard work and afternoon chores, I was thoroughly enjoying watching the cats and chickens hanging out in the yard.  I always get a kick of the chickens when one of them sneaks up behind the cats.  The cats could care less, but the chicken always acts like it is getting away with something.

A fine March Sunday to be sure.