Sprinter Weather

No, I'm not talking about a runner, but the combination of spring/winter weather we've been experiencing here in Kansas. People native to this state are sick of it and it makes me laugh. For a couple of years now, we've had really mild, warm winters and record breaking hot summers and everybody's complained of our drought and how we need moisture. We finally get some, albeit in late winter/early spring months, and people are now complaining that we're not experiencing a spring season. I so disagree. We've had a wonderful spring, with just a couple of minor, minor bouts of winter thrown in. I've missed sweater weather we have not had the past couple of years. We've gone straight from mild winter to summer temps with no in between. Spring is my favorite season and I'm reveling in this one. I'm also glad that I make it a rule to not plant any flowers until the end of April/beginning of May, just in case we still get snow/freezing temps like we did yesterday and a couple of weeks ago that might ruin my plants. Yes, in KS on April 23rd, we received 0.2 inches of snow. This was a record for a measurable amount of snow this late in April. Plus, we had a record low this morning of 25 degrees. But, in true KS spring fashion, we will be in the 70s this weekend. I love it!

Dusting of snow on the deck, table, and trampoline

April 10th we had icy rain fall and here are some pics from that:

Spring Has Sprung

I don't know, maybe growing up in Colorado where it's not unusual to receive snow even into the spring months, makes me wonder why so many people here in KS are so upset about the snow and cold temps we've received the last 6 weeks. The past two or three years have been warm dry winters. That has lead to really hot record-breaking summers and extreme drought. First, everybody's mad we haven't had cold moisture producing winters to help with the droughts. Then when we do get snow everybody's complaining that we should have warmer temps and enough with winter. People around here are wishy-washy and spoiled I guess. They don't know what to complain about, and what to be grateful for. Me, I have really appreciated all of the snow we've gotten. I didn't mind the over 20" we received in one week last month.

Well, guess what?! Last weekend we got 5 more inches of snow! It started snowing Saturday. In fact, Evan had to go play his soccer game in the snow, but he didn't mind one bit. He was bundled up warmly, but he said his feet were cold. Lauren and I didn't go to the game, so I don't have any pics of that. Then, when we woke up Sunday morning, it was obvious we had been dumped on while we were sleeping. Our main street that takes us to church was awful which surprised us. We could not tell if the plow had been through yet or not. We had to drive slow and there were drifts on the road. On the way home from church the street still had not been plowed and I think we saw 4 cars that had slid into the ditch just since the couple of hours we had been at church.

Okay, so this pic of the road doesn't look that bad, but trust me it was.

This pic was actually taken 2 days after the 5" of snowfall.

Since last weekend, the snow has melted and we have received lots of rain, sometimes sleet, or tiny pieces of hail. But, the grass has greened up. Oh my has it greened up. What a fun thing to watch how in one week we went from brown to green. Kind of funny to think that in such a short time we're going from shoveling snow to mowing. This weekend the temps were in the 70s so we were able to dig up 5 thorn bushes in front of the house. I guess the previous owners really wanted their house protected from any would be burglars so there were a total of 8 thorn bushes planted in the front. We left the ones closest to the windows in the ground, but the ones we dug up were really hazardous because if anybody walked up to the front door, those bushes were ready to snag a person's clothes let alone their skin. Roger chopped down the bushes with some kind of electric saw after we figured out it was dangerous to try to clip the branches. Some roots were deep and thick, but we hacked at them with an ax, and I am so glad we got them out. The following pics show how big the thorns were, and hopefully you can see how yellow the roots are. I'm not sure yet if I want to plant different bushes or flowers in place of the bushes we dug up.

Last Wednesday we had the most beautiful full moon. When we got home from church on Wednesday night I went to take a pic of it from our back door. It was actually yellow, but my camera didn't pick that up. But, it was big and beautiful!

Pretty cool pic of the moon between the tree branches.

 This morning we have been watching a red cardinal hopping around the backyard looking for food. Also, our resident squirrels who I don't ever think hibernated this winter seem to have become more brown. I LOVE Spring!!

Signs of Spring

Spring has always been my favorite season. I love that the weather begins to get warmer, days longer, trees, flowers, and grass budding and blooming, and so much more. It means we can get out of the house more often after being cooped up inside so long in winter. However, this winter--well, I'm not even sure we had a winter. The weather was too warm and barely any snow. March 1st was above 70 degrees so my kids donned on shorts and we went outside to our yards to look for signs of spring. Here is what we found:

One of my lilies sprouting.

Kinda blurry, but these are purple weeds we get. Sometimes I think our yard is more like a meadow with all of the wild weeds we grow.

Fruit tree budding.

Robin looking for food.

Hey! That's actually some grass growing and not weeds.

The kids enjoying the warmth of the sun on the trampoline.

Had a horrible storm come through and knocked some shingles off the roof.