A Bloom!

Well, I've finally cracked while waiting for spring. Here's video proof: Click here to see what I was up to in the backyard today. Make sure you watch it full screen, so you can see all of the glorious details.

Consider this my version of an April Fool's antic.

To quote a song I don't remember the name of, sung by an artist I don't know, it's colder than it looks outside. This was one of those spring days that look absolutely glorious until you go outside and remember that you live in Connecticut, and that in Connecticut it is still kind of cold in the beginning of April. So you go out in a t-shirt, and regret it. But actually, when the wind wasn't blowing, and I could feel the sun seeping through me, it felt pretty great. Well, after I put another shirt on over my t-shirt. We almost reached 50ºF today, which is great, but we've reached the confusing time of spring when I don't know what hot and cold are anymore. After months spend in the 20s, the 40s should feel grand, but we spent that one week in the 50s, and I acclimated to that really fast, so now the 40s feel cold. However, it's warm enough for some of the bugs, and that's good enough for me. At the moment.

But first, what I know you want to see:

 There is a flower blooming in front of my house!

Just to show you how much meltage we had today, these are the crocus sprouts that I showed yesterday peeking out of the snow.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Yes, it appears to be that other bug I posted yesterday.

I can't decide if this looks like something designed by Dr. Seuss, or something Cher would wear to the Grammys.

Other interesting bugs from today:

 This looks like some kind of rove beetle.

 The woolly bear in the package bin is still there, having missed being squished by packages. I wonder when it will emerge (and how it's going to get out of there. I still don't know how it got in). A woolly bear was Backyard Bug of the Day one year ago today, and I was surprised at that time to see one. I didn't know then that they overwinter as caterpillars, and had assumed that it would have been pupating over the winter. So to see an adult so early in the spring shocked me. Now I am just figuring that their emergence has probably been delayed by the long, cold transition into spring.

 I know, you've seen The Cricket before. But it's so beautiful! If I was the kind of person that liked having pets, I might adopt it.

 Technically not an insect, but there is possibly a moth inside this gall.

 I could have posted pictures of ladybugs every day this winter if I wanted to, but that seemed kind of dull, so I didn't. Anyway, they're not so remarkable when they are around all the time. But I thought this one was cute, as it crawled around on the books next to my computer. Here is is perusing the spring/summer catalog from the Parks and Rec Department.

Woo hoo! Caught the perfect moment!

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 The woolly bear was not alone in the package bin.

 I found this beauty in the hose reel boxy thingamajig.

 Some spiders' eyes don't look real; they look like they were drawn on with a Sharpie.

 Remember those beautiful, bedewed webs under the board?

 Here's the spider that was making them. You can see the silk trailing from its abdomen.

 Yeah, all the pictures are bad. It was working on the web, and crawling in and out of the moss.

Uncooperative little thing.