Spring: Flowers and Wind Warnings

Yes, it really is spring. I walked on the arroyo bank yesterday and in about a week the mesquites had gone from barely showing the knobby buds to new green emerging! It went very fast this year. Other weeds and plants are leafing and blooming as well. I have seen several lilacs beginning to bloom now around the area. Mine are not quite there and only one may be mature enough to bloom but in a few years, I will enjoy them. Lilacs and roses are my favorite flowers.

 Remember my pix from last spring? Here are a couple of reminders.

 The filaree is nearly bloomed out now and the mesquites are not quite as fully leafed out as this one yet (it was taken April 13 last year) but they will be in a week or so. Thus it's a little ahead of 2013.

And here in the high desert of the southwest US, wind is another feature of spring. It may not blow every day but as the upper air patterns and the jet stream change with the shifting seasons, winds are common and often pretty severe. We have a high wind warning now in effect until about midnight and more winds, just barely less powerful, are in tomorrow's forecast. Wind usually means blowing dust, too. In this case we are fortunate because a front passed by last night with accompanying showers and thunderstorms! We only got about .15 of an inch but that did settle the dust a bit. Lots of flashes and booms during the night had the dogs all upset but once it quiets down, they go back to sleep. I'll tolerate a little disruption for any moisture since it is so sorely needed. And ironic how the Pacific Coast has been inundated and the northeast blizzarded almost beyond belief. Mother Nature sure seems to have permanent PMS this year!

Meanwhile I stay inside when it is too blowy so my allergies do not go wild. There is plenty to do anyway. I am working on a baby quilt for my gentleman friend's first great-grand daughter, plowing along on two new Deirdre stories and writing a lot of letters to try to get the new project I mentioned off the ground. It's kind of nerve wracking to wait but since things could fail to take shape (though I am hoping and praying that is not the case!) I am not making any announcements yet. You'll be among the first to hear once it is assured.

But I will have another mule article in a couple of months. More on that when it comes out. Here is one more shot of my on one of my mules. This was taken in Mescal Canyon just south of Jerome along the Mingus foothills. I think I inadvertently reversed the negative when I scanned it but not sure.  Anyway you can see how rough the terrain is there! From the looks I would say this was taken in spring, too. Snow melt fueled the stream that was dry in the early summer and later in the fall after carrying runoff when the monsoon rains came.