March Madness

It turns out that the March snow I remember didn't happen on the 1st last year but on the 9th and 10th from the year before, 2006.  So I was going to make this post about a year ago today and all that.  Not going to happen.  But I still like the pics.  They're so, I dunno.  Festive.  Something like that.

What really happened in the garden one year ago today is the Great Burn.  Rory and I worked on clearing out a huge mass of blackberries.  Rory cut a channel through the blackberries, which worked out to be a fire break.  Everything uphill from the break got lit.  It didn't go up all at once, which was a very good thing.  The network was loose enough that it needed to be constantly fed and watched to keep going, largely because it was pretty wet out and the stalks were soaked.  They dried quickly over the pile of coals that built.  

I grew the wildflower garden there and planted some serviceberries, as well as put a bench there, as you may all remember.  This year I'm yanking out the few roots that survived, plus yanking the one million gizillion seeds that, now that they have enough light, are deciding to sprout and make happy new blackberries.  If history repeats itself, right around March 7 to 10th the first daffodils will fully open.  I'll take pics, as I always do, and do another compare/contrast thingy.

In the meantime, I really, really have to do my taxes.  But only while it's raining.  The garden is calling my name, and I can't resist its sweet song.  

I'm not the only one who finds the weather signs irresistible.  Yesterday I saw two fox sparrows in a courtship dance.  The only problem was, they decided to do this in the dog yard.  Hormones and sunshine.  Makes us so impulsive.  It worked out, I think.  They flittered too close to the house for me to keep an eye on them, the male fluttering and displaying his wings, the female walking along the ground a foot behind him watching with enraptured fascination.  When Finn showed up he didn't dive for the house so I can only assume they had their fun and got away with it.  If daddy ever finds out when the boy led his daughter for their little tryst, though, daddy's going to come after him with a shotgun.

No, daddy, no!

You took my little girl to a dog yard??!!

I swear I didn't know, sir!

Happy March, everyone!