Spring forward slowly

Last week snow flake flowers dominated my photos.
At least that was preferable to actual snowflakes taking center state. 
The reason why the little white flowers were such popular photo subject was because because they were just about the only things blooming in the yard and woodlands.

I was thrilled to find this past week a surviving snow drop flower. I had thought they were all but gone. Later this past weekend I found two more snow drops.

I tried in vain to get a photo of one of my critters with the my patch of snow flakes.

There was no success. I attempt this endeavor every year though so it wasn't a surprise to me that failure was an option.

However, my Facebook memories brought up a photo with a somewhat more cooperative subject.

 It was a March 12, 2012, photo of Clyde, the rabbit, who has long since passed on. I was surprised to see crocuses opened up and almost finished blooming in the March  photo.

The snow flakes were up and still going strong.

It is funny how spring weather varies year to year.

​My crocuses had only started to bloom last week.

However, it only took a few days of warm weather this week to help some the crocuses steal the spotlight from the snow flakes.

The tulips are further up and I am having a hard time waiting for them to bloom and show off their gorgeous colors.

The hybrid pussy willow continued to sport its dark colored catkins.

However, Facebook memories are also good at reminding me that we still may see some of the white stuff before it is all over.

So while I wish to hurry the budding and blooming along, I would rather have the flowers and shrubs survive than get hit by a late frost.

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Meanwhile, in the woods the trailing arbutus is budding.

​I know from experience that it will be April before those tiny fragrant blooms start to appear.

The chipmunks are up and moving about.

​This is something the dogs live for. They go from hole to hole in the woods in search of the striped creatures who easily elude them.

The canines drowned their sorrows in the pond and went swimming as soon as there was a hole in the ice big enough.

The mallard couple had returned to the pond along with the wood ducks. However, not a single one of the waterfowl were kind enough to pose for a photo.

Also appearing are the bugs, the good and the bad. I kept seeing eastern comma butterflies and even a mourning cloak.
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However, it was one of those situations where the dogs and goats kept spooking the butterflies and they all took off to parts unknown.

Finally after several days of butterfly stalking, I was able to capture a photo of an eastern comma. Last year, I was fortunate to get a photo of a mourning cloak.
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This is the time of year for question mark, eastern comma and mourning cloak butterflies.

Last year's photos showed that my first comma was found on March 29 and a mourning cloak was photographed on April 1.

These are some of the first butterflies of the season. They overwinter as adults and emerge during warmer temperatures to feed on tree sap.

Other insects were starting to fly around. While they might be bothersome, they provide food for birds like the soon arriving Eastern phoebe.

Unfortunately, the ticks were also gearing up for warmer weather. While the dogs have flea and tick medication, I still found two of the nasty little insects on me. Even though I removed them, I still continued to feel their presence hours later.

That's just the nature of things 'round here.