Groundhog Day: Searching for Signs of Spring

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, and I'm sure that no one living on the East Coast was surprised that we've got another six weeks of spring ahead. But then again, if you pull out your calendar, you'll see that spring is, in fact, about six weeks away. Any way you slice it, winter is here to stay for a bit longer.

Unlike Phil, Pasadena Pete, our local groundhog, is MIA these days and is probably snug in his burrow, most likely under our deck.

"Pasadena Pete" hanging out on our patio last Fall -- he's probably safe and sound in his burrow right about now!

With the creek frozen, we've been able to see river otter tracks through the snow and ice around Phoenix, and Bill even saw two swimming and fishing near the rudder of Phoenix the other night. They were too shy for a photo op, but hopefully we'll get another chance soon.

Critters aside, Bill and I always celebrate Groundhog Day -- it's the turning point of winter and spring is just around the corner. Bill started a tradition with his old work buddies almost 20 years ago of preparing a corned beef and cabbage feast and we get a leg up on our Spring house cleaning while we celebrate the fact that winter is waning. We also take the opportunity to go on a "nature walk", checking out our surroundings and looking for even the smallest signs of spring. Luckily the weather cooperated today and we have temperatures in the low 50s -- a warm spell we haven't seen since we returned from Mexico!

With the unseasonably cold winter we've had thus far we didn't see as many signs as usual, but we'll take what we can get at this point!

Only a few of our daffodils and spring bulbs are beginning to show, but the ice on the creek is showing signs of thawing (at least for now). We've found between 20-30 Praying mantis egg sacks in plants throughout the yard, which will definitely help our gardens flourish this year!

Daffodils peeking out from under the snow

Hyacinth just breaking through the surface

One of many Praying Mantis egg sacks we found, this one on a Japanese Maple

Bill's corned beef and cabbage -- absolutely delicious!!!

Our creek is still frozen, but the ice is thinner!

Baby it's cold outside...

They're calling for between 3-5 inches of snow again tomorrow, so we won't get much done on the boat other than shoveling snow off the decks yet again. So until the weather breaks we'll focus on updating the boats electronics, any wood projects Bill can do in the basement, and painting the house's interior.

After tonight's Superbowl and Bill's signature spicy wings, that is...