Signs of Spring

Don’t let recent photos of snow confuse you about the season that we’re in right now. It is definitely spring and has been since March. The snow and cold temperatures were unusual for April. They’re gone now, and there are signs of spring all around.

We’ve seen buds and butterflies, not to mention an abundance of blooms. In addition to the deliberately planted crocuses, daffodils, and hyacinths, we’ve also got wildflowers now. Our lawn is dotted with sunny dandelions.

sunny

Sunny Dandelion

The first violets have bloomed, too. I usually try to note when the first one opens, but I goofed that up this year. So I’m not sure which day it was exactly, but I can tell you that several of them were blooming by April 8. The flowers were all quite small and probably had only recently opened.

violet 2016

One of the First Violets of 2016

But spring has brought some bad things with it, too.

ticks

Two Deer Ticks

My husband and I had been walking around in the woods shortly before we found these ticks on us. We had gone off-path and through the undergrowth, so I guess you could say we were asking to get ticks on us, and we were not surprised to find them. I believe that the big tick in the picture is an adult female and the small one is an adult male. These were easy to spot, even the smaller of the two. It’s the nymphs, that are supposed to be even smaller than these, that really worry us. We didn’t find any nymphs, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. That’s part of what makes ticks so creepy.

But ticks are a fact of life. They’re everywhere these days (though two fewer today than yesterday). We have no choice in life but to take the bad with the good. While there are some bad aspects to spring, most of it is good. At least it brings us sunshine and flowers!

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