February 20th 2016: Is winter over? Signs of spring

We had a spike in temperature this weekend.  On Saturday we hit 16 degrees Celsius! Any remaining snow laying around is now gone and we got outside to enjoy the weather.  Usually gusty winds accompany such dramatic warm ups in the winter and today was no exception with strong winds out of the southwest.  The wind didn't bother any of us, including the chickens who enjoyed a day out in the yard, and our cats who basked in the sun's warm glow.

Chickens exploring the yard devoid of snow and loving it!  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

 

Our oldest cat named Momma Fat, basking in the sun.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

Aaron did some touch up work on the greenhouse.  He replaced the metal screws with quarter inch bolts because the metal screws were more brittle than he anticipated and were beginning to break off.

Aaron working on the greenhouse.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

With the warm up we had a couple of signs that winter's grasp is slowly letting go. We heard a Mourning Dove cooing this morning, and later in the afternoon, a migrant Red-winged Blackbird made an appearance, perched and sang a few territorial notes in our yard.  However, we will be back to high temperatures hovering around freezing by the beginning of the week, so today was just a tease of better days to come in the following month(s). 

Update: The next day, some of our Common Grackles arrived on territory in our yard.  Another positive sign that winter is waning