Just Melt Already!

I've spent so long surrounded by whiteness that I am hungry for the color green, and today I spent a little time gazing at moss in order to fulfill that need. Moss is really interesting to look at up close.

There are parts of my yard that are quite mossy, including along the stone steps leading up to the front door, and as the snow has receded, there is emerging a patch of green for me to look at. I love the mossy areas of my yard, and in part of the area where normal people would have a grassy front lawn, I have moss. I think it's wonderful, and have never understood why other people try so hard to get rid of the moss in their yards and replace it with grass. Moss is green, and comfy to walk on, and doesn't need to be mowed. That's two things it has in common with grass, and one way in which it is superior.  But then, I don't understand at all the obsession with grass lawns, and not just because lawns are not as welcoming to bugs - particularly those lawns that are treated with chemicals to kill bugs - as more interesting landscaping is.

Today I happened to flip over another piece of wood that is lying outside, leftover from the project that was not thoroughly cleaned up from, and found a Backyard Bug of the Day:

I don't know what this is, and I didn't get a chance to really look at it, or even to get more than one picture, before it scurried off the leaf and disappeared. I can't even tell if it's an insect, or a non-insect arthropod. I have only looked under that board once before, and didn't find anything, so I never looked again until today. I am glad I looked. On the other hand, most of the backyard is STILL covered in snow, so I don't have many other options.

Speaking of looking for bugs in a snow-covered yard, I spotted this today:

 There were two flies resting in the snow. Here is one of them. As for this resting in the snow thing, I don't get it...

 Another fly, sitting in a more sensible location. Also feistier, no doubt because it was not so cold (the high today was in the upper 40s). I know that a lot of people just think insects are gross, and I sort of understand, because I used to be one of them, but I look at this and all I can see is amazingness.

 Cricket #2. I think it might be a different species than The Cricket. But it might just look that way because The Cricket is always covered with drops of water. I don't know why this one isn't, but it could be because it hides under the moss under the board, not just in a depression under the board.

 Also under Board #2.

 First time in a while I have spotted a winter firefly.

 I found this stinkbug in the house. I don't know if it has been in here all winter, or if it came in today, but it's outside now.

Including this bug that I found in the house, this is a better bug variety than I have seen lately.

Back to plant life:

 Flower bud... Waiting for spring...

 Seed head from last year

 This is a tiny tree growing out of a long-dead tree stump.

 I think this plant might be an evergreen plant of some kind, which is wonderful, because it is peeking out in places where the snow has melted, and I love to see the green.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Tiny harvestman/daddy-long-legs again