Over the weekend the signs of spring began to reach out and shake my senses. Apple trees are breaking bud and sending forth blooms. This has been one of the first winters since we planted them that all of the leaves have been off the trees at one time. In past years we have had leaves on the apple trees all winter long. Most years I pick a couple of small apples that come from blooms set late in the fall.
The first azalea blooms have opened on the northeast side of the house. I see irises blooming in the bed out back. The springtime green of white clover is making mounds in the yard. The daytime highs have been in the 70’s for a the past two weeks, and have passed 80° on more than one occasion in the protected south side of the house.
The oak trees above the house are all showing that sheen of new leaves just breaking bud. The pecans though, are still holding bare wind burnished limbs to the sun. The same holds true for the white, smooth, barkless limbs of the sycamore trees in the woods out back.
The main weather pattern that has become almost constant in the past few years is the wind. It seems that we seldom have more than a few hours of respite from the constant wind off the Gulf. Between the wind and the drought that has covered our area, the burn pile of downed limbs each winter has become quite large.
