2/28/08

Thursday, 8:30 AM. –5 degrees, wind SE, calm. Skies are sunny, but turning partly cloudy. It’s a nippy but pleasant morning. I have begun observing red maple tree (Acer rubrum) flower buds, which are a harbinger of spring as good as pussy willow buds and flowers. The purple flower buds of the native red maple tree, not to be confused with the red-leaved Norway maple cultivars, are now well swollen but not yet opening. In New York they flower by this date or a week or so latter, but will probably not flower here for another three or four weeks.
We are less than a month from calendar spring, so need to be watching for such signs (I will watch for pussy willow buds to open down at the Sioux River beach). Of course, the surest signs of spring, nursery catalogs, are now arriving in the mail daily.
I noticed yesterday that there was a large puddle of water on the Bayfield approach to the ice road. I doubt this means that the demise of the ice road is imminent, but it does mean the sun is getting pretty high. I also noticed this morning on our walk that the morning shadows of the woodland trees are much shorter than they were a few
weeks ago, meaning that the sun has been moving relentlessly northward, just as it should be doing. Easter is early this year, but even so it is a sure sign of spring. There will still be lots of snow banks to hide the colored eggs in (children of the Northland are a hardy lot, though), and Easter bonnets may need ear muffs.