Too Much, Too Soon

Nature is jumping the gun around here.  "Too little, too late," is the usual phrase, but this January has been unseasonably warm (when it hasn't been absolutely freezing) and things are happening way too fast.  The almond tree has started to put out blossoms!  It's winter, for crying out loud.  While cleaning out dead stalks, I noticed green stuff starting to grow in almost all the pots on the deck.  "Probably a weed," I thought, but it has a pretty leaf, it is green in a brown world, and I decided to leave it be.  I had completely forgotten that Deb, Craig, and I had planted a couple of hundred bulbs last year, so many that at the end we were sticking them in everything but our ears!  It was only when one of the plants put up a bud, deep red, that I remembered the numberless anemone bulbs.  Neither of us can remember what the pink and white bulbs were, and they've wisely chosen not to show themselves yet.  (I'm thinking ranunculus, but I could be wrong.)

I don't know about the bees, but the barn birds are also confused.  The males are noisily courting the females, and they haven't even built nests yet.  Milking is no longer a quiet time with all the chattering and yelling going on, birds flying back and forth in the barn.  No wonder Owl told Bambi they were "twitterpated;" it's the perfect word.

Oak trees are starting to put out leaf buds.  It's too early; they'll get frost burned.  We've gotten snow as late as April and even May.  As pretty as they are, it's too much, too soon.

Rain and freezing temperatures are again predicted for tomorrow.  Tree Guy's No. Two Son cleaned the chimney yesterday; not a moment too soon.