Old Man Winter threatened, but as the scurs and Weather Eye noted, they were idle threats. Does Old Man Winter continue to be idle, or does he make up for lost time? Starting Thursday, sunny with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Sunny on Friday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Mostly sunny on Saturday with a slight chance of p.m. rain. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Sunday, cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Partly sunny on Monday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Tuesday, partly sunny with highs in the low 60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Cloudy on Wednesday with a decent chance of rain. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. On April 5th we gain daylight under 3 minutes per day at 2 minutes and 58 seconds. On April 6th, our daylight goes over 13 hours. The last time we had that much daylight was back on September 5th. The normal high for April 6th is 51 and the normal low is 31. The scurs will have time to take inventory on their Easter basket spoils.

Ma Nature has hit the brakes on spring. Not unexpected either, although it’s not as easy to accept with the weather we had going throughout much of the winter. Still, it’s great to see some rain in case we need it down the road. Some outlooks including NOAA are calling for the potential for better than even odds of a warm, dry June. The weather has still done very little to recharge the wetlands, lakes, rivers, and streams yet. Beggars can’t be choosers, but it’d be nice if it decided to wait until after planting season to do that. Even as dry as everyone likes to imagine it being, it doesn’t take long to go from very dry to very wet as we found following the drought of ‘88. After some were convinced that lakes and wetlands would never recover, in under a decade it was so wet that lakeshore property was under water, becoming part of the lake for many years to come.

As rapidly as spring was approaching, I was convinced we’d be putting out hummingbird and oriole feeders in early April. As it is, it could still be early, just not as once thought. With recent rains, we are poised to get a quick start on flowering plants once it warms up sufficiently. I haven’t given up on the possibility of early May just yet. Hopefully we get some sunshine to go along with warmer temps as the flowering baskets that often attract hummingbirds early on could be on the ugly side. In the meantime, the goldfinches are becoming brighter yellow with each passing day. More robins are out and about. They too should be happy about the recent rains. There are ample puddles to bathe in and drink from. Not only that, but the earthworms should also be closer to the surface as temps warm. Once they are, it’ll be nest building time soon afterwards.

It's been tempting to take the chains off the tractor, although just about the time I’m ready to do it, the forecasters mutter something about snowfall again. That’s fine. They can stay put for another week or so before some round bales need to be moved. If I really need to take them off then to avoid tearing the yard up, no biggy. I’d rather not have to clean all the mud out before hanging them up inside until next winter. Hopefully they won’t need to be put back on in an emergency situation, but I wouldn’t bet against it. I was looking back at photos on my phone. I saw haunting pictures of April storms past. Could it happen again? You better believe it.

There are plenty of signs that spring is still coming. Western chorus frogs were heard last Saturday the 30th as I was grilling on the patio. I was surprised as the wetland is essentially dry or was at last check. They’ll need some water to reproduce, however. The spring bulbs continue to appear and flower, having benefited from being covered for 10 days or so when the weather was anyone’s guess. The rhubarb that was also covered showed signs that it needed sunshine once the straw was removed from it. Now it’s visible from the house. Can almost smell and taste that fist rhubarb pie of the season.

Got a good start on fruit tree pruning. Would’ve liked to have done it earlier, but matters including weather just didn’t cooperate. Looks like I should have this week to complete the task and move on to the next project. It’ll get done. It always does. Next step might be to get the lawnmower fired up and drive around with the loppers. I can remove any limb or twig that has a chance to snap me in the face, snatch my glasses or pluck the earphones off my melon. There are some 50-odd trees and shrubs to mow around. I find my tolerance for hand to hand combat is becoming less with each passing year.     

Moving sheep around on Sunday was expedited with help from 4-H Avary & mom. With a set of triplets, a set of twins and a single to move, it was a godsend. It streamlines the chore process a little more too each time we can cut down on the number of small pens we’re feeding. The bad news is we keep having more lambs to replace the ones we just moved. Last Thursday night we had another single, and Friday morning there was another set of triplets. Looking at the four ewes left to lamb, only one of those appears close to coming in. The end is in sight though. The countdown starts.

Poppy had another big week. A lot of people showing up to play with and receive attention from. Recent rains have necessitated a nice thick towel by the door to wipe the resident Corgi and her muddy little feet off. While she was exercising her squirrel the other day, I noticed she’d wandered over near the plum thicket. Not long afterwards I heard the sound of a rooster pheasant getting up and flying off. Poppy had bumped into Little Jerry! She’s repeated this on several more occasions. Not only do we have a herding dog and a squirrel dog, we also have a bird dog in our midst. Now if she’d just do the chores.

See you next week…real good then.