After a few frigid days (including wind chills that drove the temperatures below zero), the temperature has shot up into the upper 50s; at this exact moment, it’s 60 but feels like 57 due to the wind chill. Almost shorts weather again. Well, not really…but it was warm enough to wear just a shirt under a rain jacket this morning.
It rained overnight and is forecasted to rain throughout the day; as a result, it’s soggy and squishy out, just the way the ducks like it. The ground has thawed, so they can dig their bills in, looking for tender shoots and bugs. They’ll be walking around with mud masks on, afterward, leaving large, muddy holes in their wake. Are those groundhog holes? No, just duck-drilled holes
The waterfowl overlords are especially happy today because the warmer temperatures meant that we could fill their kiddie pools. Ducks really do love water, and they rushed right over to the pools when they noticed them. The Runner/Pekin gang usually takes over one whole pool and the Muscovies have to share the other, but no one really seems to mind. The Muscovies have been very tolerant of the RP gang, even though the little ones seem to have their mother’s temperament – they’ll take a poke at a Muscovy drake twice their size and the Muscovies give way. They’re lucky the scovies are so mellow!
The wind broke small branches and twigs from the trees on the property. We had them professionally trimmed last year and feel that it was money well spent. The trees here are old and large, and, sadly, show evidence of past improperly done pruning, which can actually damage them. The tree service we used employed a certified arborist, who was able to provide us with some interesting information about the trees (like species and possible ages) and explain the importance of thinning trees like our stately silver maple so the wind doesn’t do catastrophic damage. While we may think that trees don’t need care, they often do benefit from proper management, including trimming. Now when the strong winds blow through, damage is minimal.
While this has been enjoyable in some way, this has apparently just been a brief reprieve from winter – the cold is forecasted to return tonight, with temperatures dipping below freezing in the wee hours of the morning. Tonight, the pools will be emptied and put away again, and tomorrow, bundled up in our cold weather gear, we’ll be thawing frozen water buckets and bottles like today never happened.