February thaw... fer real

Today was barefoot weather!
It hit 70 degrees F., so I sat on a rock in the sun, eating some frozen chocolate-coconut custard, without my shoes.

Most of the snow has melted and this little tip of a snowdrop is peeking out. Thunderstorms tomorrow night -- feels like spring!

The bees have been out and about yesterday and today, buzzing around like they are on a mission, but aren't quite sure what that mission is. Perhaps they're just crazy from having to hold it for so long (they don't poop until it's warm enough that they can leave the hive and survive). Maybe they're just a bit senile, since winter bees live for a few months, while summer bees live just a few weeks. So these girls are really old as honey bees go.

I'm still not sure that explains why they were hanging out around the bird feeders. They actually dug into the sunflower chips, tossing the chips to the ground as they dug, like cats in a litter box. I understand why they might hang out on the orange peels and other fruit parings in the compost heap, but what can they want from digging into sunflower chips? Just another mysterious

bee thing.

I saved one little bee from drowning in a puddle of water on one of the stones lining the bottom edge of our flower garden terraces. Anyway, I think I saved her. She stumbled around groggily for a while as I watched, but I didn't see her fly. I caught a shot of a more prudent honey bee getting a sip at the edge of one of the puddles. Some bees don't seem to know that they can't just dive in.

I feel better knowing that both bee colonies survived that long, bitterly cold spell.

Winter makes a comeback this weekend, and next week we'll see high temperatures just above freezing for a few days, then it looks like perhaps another slow warm-up. By the end of next week, it will be March. Before I know it, the planting season will hit fast and furious and I will feel like I am falling behind schedule until the heat hits in July.

But first...
I've got to get through February.