Monday 18 April 2011

Annual Spring Grouch

It is hard to imagine that you could design a more miserable day if you planned it. It is two degrees below the freezing mark and a mixture of cold rain and sleet pellets has been falling since mid-morning. It is gray, windy and dismal. The only thing missing is fog and I assume we will get that later. The YG's brainless but beautiful dog (we're dog-sitting again) abandoned her joyful outdoor existence and stomped into the house, dripping, was wiped down and is now sleeping in a heap on the floor in front of the wood stove. 

It's a good thing it's Saturday, as we get two weekend papers today, enough to keep us occupied all morning with a couple of naps thrown in.

It is now Monday, and the wet snow is still with us. More fell last night and is presently melting off the lawn, the temperature now having inched its way to just above freezing. I am not hanging the laundry outside - it would just sit there and collect more moisture. Instead I am working on meeting minutes and other delights and not checking the forecast. If there is more of this coming, I really do not want to know.

Great excitement in the bird world. What we think is a Sharp Shinned Hawk just landed on the bird feeder. Needless to say, there are no small feathered or furred creatures to be seen, not even a red squirrel. A few weeks ago we had a Barred Owl hang around the feeder for most of the day. Again, not a creature was to be seen, although we think the owl did catch a squirrel or chipmunk the day before and was back for a second try. I do have a photo of the owl - it didn't care a bit that I was out on the kitchen deck with my camera.


Other than the owl and some shots of my birthday flowers to send to the givers, I have not been photographing. It is soggy, monochromatic and uninspiring out there and dim, dusty and uninspiring in here. I am longing for the day I can open the windows, let in the sweet spring air and start cleaning windows and do other spring things. I want to get out my spring and summer clothes; I'm sick of brown corduroy and heavy sweaters. I want to be able to walk without gumboots thumping my shins. I want Spring. Now.

There are two disgruntled and very damp and unkempt robins out on the lawn. They started to sing last week, but have been quiet since Friday. I don't blame them one bit. If they did say anything, it would probably sound a lot like the whinging I have just done.

(Even the worms won't come up in this weather. I can't make the mud stay put at the nest site. My claws are cold. Cheep.)

Oh, well. This mucky weather won't last forever. My next rant will probably concern biting insects. Or I can just repost the one from last year.
Sorry.

7 comments:

  1. We deserve a decent summer after this spring. Amazing how well the owl blends with the tree.

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  2. sad :( but I'd like to see a sharp-shinned hawk on my bird feeder, that's not so common here.

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  3. What a lousy spring here, too. Today it was 39 degrees, and that's Fahrenheit. I suppose we should be glad we're not Chicago--they had snow--but what the heck? When it's April 18th, and I can see my breath outdoors at 2 pm, I think I have the right to bitch.

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  4. Yup. Same weather here in CT, although when we did have a sunny day, I saw just how dusty it is inside and how dirty the windows are, and it made me want to crawl into bed. I am sick of cleaning-related chores. My kids are home on vacation which means the house will get worse, not better, for the next week.

    The owl is exquisite.

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  5. Lovely pic! I wonder how the owl and Shammy would have gotten along?

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  6. At least you have some interesting birds visit you.
    We had a glorious start to Spring with really hot weather and now it is fizzling out again. Oh well it keeps me on my toes!
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  7. ha. it is several weeks later, but i still have the spring grump. You?

    gorgeous owl.

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