Overcoated?

"I felt like I was on a trip toward spring with Mother Nature at the wheel.
​I was constantly asking, "Are we there yet?"

 "What jacket should I wear?," became a daily question I asked over the past weeks.

Sunny days, what few we have had, were deceptive. I would choose a lighter jacket only to regret my decision when the wind picked up.

​Temperatures were up and down. A choice of winter jacket in the morning proved to be too much in the afternoon. I felt like I was on a trip toward spring with Mother Nature at the wheel. I was constantly asking, "Are we there yet?"

​I endured what seemed to be a series of wrong turns back toward the direction of winter. I would check the daily forecast.

Some days I would exclaim, "Yes, we are almost there."

​However, a recheck of the forecast would leave me sighing and saying, "Nope, not today."

​Of course, there was no shortage of April showers. Thus a jacket with a hood would have been an appropriate choice. 

Nonetheless, spring posies kept popping up.

This year didn't seem to bring as many crocuses as past years.

​Facebook memories from a year ago showed that by this time last year the daffodils were in full bloom.

This spring appeared to be a bit behind last spring.

Last year the trailing arbutus was already out and covered in blossoms. This year the buds were tightly closed waiting for warmer weather.

Also last year, I had posted photos of blooming violets in early April. This year only the violet's leaves have made an appearance so far.

I had also spotted a hermit thrush in late March, but failed to get a photo. I also missed a photo opportunity with an eastern phoebe that made an appearance in the yard this past week.

Last year, I had spotted numerous mourning cloak butterflies out and about. This year I have spotted two so far but not in the numbers like last year.

A Facebook memory from 2012 showed me that I had photographed a spring azure butterfly. I kept looking for butterflies this year, but they favor warmer and sunnier weather than we have had of late.

However, I was able to get a few photos of a mallard couple that has returned to the neighbor's pond.

While the pond had been free from ice, I was concerned how some wood frog eggs had fared with some freezing temperatures over the past few weeks. It seemed that some had survived and were possibly on their way to being tadpoles.

"A late freeze does not necessarily kill developing embryos. They simply stop growing and wait for warmer temperatures," wrote Scott Shalaway in an article titled "While It May Seem Early, Wood Frogs Rush The Season" in a February 2020 post on www.post-journal.com.

"Wood frogs emerge in late winter when rains trigger the breeding season. This is hardly surprising for a species whose range reaches north of the Arctic Circle. In fact, wood frogs occur farther north than any other North American amphibian," Shalaway added.

An article titled "The Wood Frog, a Frog for All Seasons" by  by Kelly Vowels  on the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest's site bernheim.org explained how the eggs may have survived freezing temps.
 Wood frog "eggs are adapted for this fluctuating temperatures. The mucoprotein jelly around the eggs have a melting period higher than the fluids found in the eggs.

So when the ponds freeze, the jelly will freeze before the egg and will pull water out from the egg. These dehydrated eggs are more resistant to freeze and are more able to survive the fluctuating temperatures in late winter and early spring," Vowels posted.
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With this new information, I had hope that the eggs would produce tadpoles.

​As I lamented the freezing temperatures, a Facebook post from April 2016 reminded me that  things could be worse.

Meanwhile as temperatures rose, those with thick furry overcoats took the chance to cool off in the neighbor's pond.

It did appear that the neighborhood deer were starting to shed their winter coats.

Kyle also looked a little rough around the edges as he began to shed his coat as well. 

Are warmer temperatures here to stay? Will I need a simple windbreaker or a winter jacket? These questions will be answered on a daily basis as spring is a season of transition.

​Change is the only constant. 

 That's the nature of things 'round here.
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