March 23 – Spring or Winter?

I awoke this morning to 6+ inches of snow on the ground. The heavy, wet type.

Slogging through it at 5AM with my dog wasn’t fun, but we got through it. Poor little Red had snowballs up the entire length of his hairy legs, and all over his belly. I had to put him in the tub when we got home to melt them off with warm water, or it would have taken hours for them to melt on their own.

It was, however, beautiful.

I left my job at Pfeiffer Nature Center early because it was doing some lovely combination of sleet & freezing rain. When I turned onto my dirt road, I was quite surprised to see a killdeer running up the road in front of me. I think it’s pretty early for them to be here. Surely they can’t find lots to eat with all this snow.

When I got home from, I was glad to see that my plow guy had been here, or I wouldn’t have made it up my driveway.

So Red & I headed out again for our afternoon walk.

A short distance from the house I saw those sweet, little, round-bellied juncos. I think they’re so cute. But wait, what’s that next to them? There were house finches pecking at the side of the road. I think it’s pretty early for them, too, and again, don’t know what they’ll find to eat under the snow.

Got back home and started writing this post when the Fed Ex man arrived. I hurried down the stairs to open the door, holding the hand rail, and suddenly started saying, “Ow, ow, ow, ow.” I was still saying it when I answered the door. I got stung! But good. Right in my index finger.

I took the package from Mr. Fed Ex and grabbed a bit of snow for my finger. Went upstairs and immediately applied lidocaine and ice. It took about 1/2 hour for me to be able to move my finger enough to chop some veggies for dinner.

This is about an hour after the sting, and you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that the picture doesn’t show the difference in swelling and redness to the full extent. I challenge you to take a decent photo of your own fingers. Tripod and timer were involved, and still not great.

So who bit me? I didn’t see it, but I’m assuming it was one of these guys.

I’ve seen a few of these hornets in my house recently, along with the stupid cluster flies and Asian lady beetles. I must have put my finger right on the bugger, who was forced to defend his life.

I’m glad it was only me. I can’t imagine the impact of this sting on my ancient cat, or a baby, or something else small. Two hours later and my finger is still quite swollen and red, making typing this interesting. That venom is POWERFUL!

Anyhoo, it’s your turn: what’s spring like so far in your neck of the woods?