Lion or Lamb?

I am sure you have heard the saying about the month of March, it comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb. Actually, I am not sure if that's it - my whole life I have been unclear if it comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, or comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion. It's obviously not true, either one of them, because if there actually was a consistent pattern like that to the month of March, I would know which one it was just based on the fact that that is what would happen. But every March is different. Not many of them are as warm as this one, and we have frequently had some significant snowstorms in March, but really it can be mild or wild. Still, the beginning of March is winter, and the end is spring, and the weather is generally warmer and milder at the end, so it probably is in like a lion, out like a lamb. At any rate, I think the adage is mostly a reference to the fact that March has a reputation of being a very windy month. I am not sure if that is backed up by actual data, but that is the folklore. I have never noticed that March is especially windy compared to other months. It seems to be windy here most of the time. I was thinking about all of these things today when I was doing my bug walk because it was powerfully windy in the backyard today. The kind of windy that roars like a lion. The kind of windy that makes you nervous about walking around near trees, and makes you avoid the part of the yard where there is a dead tree. The kind of windy that when you are taking a picture of a mite on the trunk of a tree, and you rest your hand on the tree trunk to steady the camera, you can feel the tree trunk moving in the wind. So as I was experiencing all of this, and thinking about lions and lambs, I thought to myself that this March is definitely going out like a lion, after being like a lamb most of the month. It was funny, then, that when I went inside and read (belatedly) Saturday's newspaper, the weather column said that this March will be going out like a lamb. Evidently the weather is going to warm up by Thursday, the last day of the month, and I can hear that today's wind has already died down. I find it a little bit ironic, though, that the forecast for next week is for highs in the 40s all week. That is colder than we've been all through March.

Anyway, you might be wondering why I didn't post yesterday. That is because it rained all day, and I didn't get a chance to go out until early in the evening when it finally stopped drizzling. I was going out for the evening, so I didn't have a lot of time to look for bugs, and between the rainy day and the fact that it was cold, I didn't find any. Well, that's not true, I found a winter firefly, but I have posted those a lot lately, and it has already been Backyard Bug of the Day, so I really had nothing to blog about. However, I did find a spider, which I forgot about last night when I was thinking that there was nothing to blog. I'll post that at the end of today's blog, even though that is breaking the Blog Rules. It's my blog, I can break the rules if I want to.

Here is the glorious thing about the backyard today:

One of the flowering crab apple trees has leaves! They are not fully unfurled, but they are open enough that the tree is obviously green! Sigh. So wonderful. I happened to be looking at pictures from 2009 last night, and this didn't happen until the middle of April that year.

Oh, and I got a tick bite today. I am very annoyed. And I guess that means the garlic pills don't work.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Earwig. Female, I think.

There were two bumblebees in the rock garden today!

 Here's one...

And here's the other...

This moth spent all day on the wall of the front porch.

I found this moth on a tree:

 Can you see it?

 Okay, I'll help you out. I couldn't get a better picture because it was about 7 feet up, and I am only 5 foot 4 1/4. Probably an inch taller in my gardening clogs. I only saw it because it moved.

 There was one candy striped leaf hopper on the mountain laurel today, and it looked like it was huddled there for shelter from the winds, and the cold (it was only 51ºF).

 Bugs let you know when they don't want their picture taken.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Mite

 Yesterday's spider