Snow Falling on Daffodils

My yard's first daffodils say, "Welcome, spring!"
And the spring responds, "%#$@ you." (Hey, this is a family blog.)

On Friday, I noticed that the first few daffodils were swollen yellow orbs, and I knew for certain that by Saturday, I would have at least three flowers. The first picture was taken Saturday. It was a chilly day, but sunny and when working in the yard, which we did for about 8 hours, it got hot enough to take coats off.

Not today. The day got colder and greyer as time went on, and the snow started to fall in earnest by late afternoon. It has accumulated on non-paved surfaces, though thus far, it's only about 1/2 inch. I can only hope against hope that this time, it really is old man winter's last hurrah.

My trip south really messed with my head regarding plants. I have several spring wildflowers in my yard, and after seeing them in Ohio and North Carolina, I expect to see them in my yard. On Friday I ranted about how my bloodroots aren't coming back; then on Saturday I discovered a tiny bit of life -- so small I can't actually confirm it is a bloodroot -- growing where the bloodroots should be. So my hope is restored. (Others, I am still confident, are not coming back. I have heard that trout lilies are emerging in the woods. I dug some up in my mom's yard last year where they were being killed by a canoe; they are definitely not emerging yet. I think the transplant may have been unsuccessful.)

Jacob's ladder and golden Alexander are both getting to be little leafy blobs; and mountain mint is about 1/2 inch tall, still all purple.

In animal news, my chipmunk is back! Chipmunks awakened a while ago, so I thought that, perhaps, the one who seems to make his home on my back patio had moved (either physically or to a new spiritual plane). But on Friday, I saw him, up to his old tricks, which mainly include tunneling around in the huge flower pots on the porch and torturing the cats with his so-close-yet-so-far-ness. We keep a small garden of potted plants on the patio; the largest pot is about 3 feet tall with a 2 foot diameter, so it's quite large. It houses native grasses. Slightly smaller pots contain herbs and annuals and whatnot. This particular chippy likes to burrow into them. It used to drive my crazy, and I'd spend a lot of time filling the holes and plotting how to get rid of chippy. But the flowers never really got hurt. And chippy is really darn cute, with his puffy cheeks and his inquisitive poses. And I actually enjoy his chirp in the morning. loud but reminiscent of warm weather. Plus, he steals birdfood from the neighbors and buries sunflower seeds in my yard, many of which become volunteer flowers, which I quite enjoy. (Although he also sometimes also digs up the ones I have planted; but now I plant them in pots and transplant). So in the end, my love-hate relationship with my local chipmunk leans toward love.