The games have begun....

 May 14. So...we've had overnight frosts right up to Monday morning of May 9. Since then, the weather has gone crazy, the overnight temperatures rising steadily, 7C, 12C, 15C...,  (45 to 59 F) and over the last couple of afternoons, the thermometer has hit 31C+ (88F). Today, there is an humidex reading. 

The first dandelion showed up just a few days ago, now they are everywhere, as are blooming wild strawberries.

Leaves are open on all the trees, even the oaks have mouse ear sized leaves. The old timers say that is the time to plant corn and beans...May 14???? Not! The last frost date in this area, is usually around May 24, but we've had frost early in June before.

The Spongy moth (aka. Gypsy, then LDD) egg masses  are hatching into zillions of tiny worms. The egg masses closest to the ground that were protected by snow seem to be hatching quicker than ones higher up in the trees.

We are hoping against hope, that at least some of the more exposed ones were winter-killed.

The crab apple tree outside the west window is absolutely loaded with buds, buds that were barely discernible a few days ago.

This morning, I watched a big bumbler forcing his way into one bloom that was  starting to open. The tree is riddled with woodpecker holes, and one wonders how it keeps going...but every second year, it floods us with blooms and crab apples. There are lots of buds showing on two of our favourite apple trees, now if we can just protect them from the Spongy moths......

A 3' X 4' bed of assorted greens has been planted, as well as onion sets and beets. It is very dry, as we've had no measurable rain for a couple of weeks, and the pond is starting to go down. There are thunderstorms in the forecast for later today, and we sure hope they don't come with lightning strikes, as the bush is very dry. 

I've marked out this year's planting arrangement in the field garden, and Hubby has planted a small, newly turned, bed of potatoes. I have two large potato barrels planted, one with 'french fingerling' potatoes, and one with the last of my Yukon gold spuds that were sprouting in their bin.

My daffodils have leapt into life, beating the tulips to blooming, although the tulips were up long before the daffs poked through.

Haskaps are blooming, even the "twigs" I purchased and planted last spring are covered in bloom, spent blossoms starting to drop already.

Phoebes have completed building a neat little nest up on the board Hubby screwed up under the front porch eaves, and I think she is incubating eggs now.

The Bluebirds are still here. Each morning as sunlight from the rising sun slides down the trees and hits a tall trumpet vine trellis near the nest box, they each take a side, perching right up at the top, catching the first rays. The frenetic activity of nest building has stopped, and we think they are also incubating. We'll know things are going good when we see the birds coming and going from the nest box with food for the chicks.

A Baltimore oriole has shown up, announcing his presence with his unmistakable whistle. He is enjoying the new oriole nectar feeder we put out this spring, with a small cup holding grape jelly on the side. We've found that the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks also like grape jelly! 

Humming birds arrived on May 8, two males first, then a female and another male. Within a day, the males were trying to impress the female with their zipping, arcing "look at me and listen to how loudly I can hum!!" pendulum flying. There is a lot of jousting going on around the Hummingbird feeder.

Most of the warblers and thrushes have arrived over the last few days, but we have yet to hear a Wood Thrush. A Whip-poor-will has taken to doing a nightly session of calling fairly close, on the west side of the house. It is sleep-disturbing, but perhaps we'll get used to it??