It's mid-March, beware the Ides and all that. We sprang forward on Sunday and I saw my FoY brown creeper on Monday. Things are sprouting up all over: dwarf irises (visited by honeybees yesterday) by the back door, garlic in the veg garden. I finally got around to ordering seeds.

Mid-week's 60's°F warm weather woke the first wood frog Wednesday afternoon and a full chorus on Thursday. That night I also heard a spring peeper. Both those feel early for the Suburbs of Despair.

Today's 40's°F drippy weather was quite ducky. I saw ripples and then ducks in the (very full) vernal pool this morning. My first thought was "They look kinda small for mallards." And then one launched up out of the water and into a tree, confirming wood duck even before I saw the field marks. Very cool, first time I've seen that species visit here.

Mid-week's weather also brought Contractors: The Sequel. They installed a bay window in the living room and removed a rotting roof rake on the north wall. Both projects are mostly complete. The window needs finish work but is in place and letting in more light as hoped. The north wall needs more shingles and the squirrel-chewed attic vent rebuilt. Hopefully that'll all get done Monday; today was not conducive to exterior work.

I'm just as glad of the break in having to be alert and on-call throughout hours of construction noise. The cats seem glad to have run of the downstairs again but remain suspicious of the new window, though one was seen on the sill yesterday afternoon. Maybe tomorrow's predicted sunshine will coax them up there.