Welcome to another storm. The thermometer reads 9o as the snow falls. Again.
I have lost count of how many fronts we’ve had pass through, dropping temperatures into the single digits and dumping a bunch of snow. I won’t turn down the moisture, but it is getting a little bit tedious to be hovering just above Oo F. My brains craves colors other than white.
We did get a little bit of a reprieve last week as temperatures soared into the 60os. We were able to peel off a few layers and walk around without looking like we were on arctic expeditions.
Finches, including our new friends the Cassins, were everywhere, the Waxwings continue to forage for fruit, and the Rufous-Sided Towhees began to practice their mating songs.
Snow melted to show the ground underneath. A few plants are greening up in spite of the snow.
And most astonishing to my winter-tired brain: I found a plant in flower. In February. In the middle of a frigid winter.
I got really close to take this photo, so understand that the flowers were tiny. But welcome.
After much research I learned that the plant goes by the remarkably unflattering name of henbit deadnettle. Really? That’s the best they could do? It is in the mint family, even though it doesn’t have a strong smell as most mints do. It is also native to the Mediterranean, so what it’s doing getting ready to bloom when it is well below freezing, I have no idea. But mints are tough like that.
It’s supposed to warm up a little by the end of the week. I’ll have to go out and make sure my new plant-friend made it through another storm.
Amy Law, Science Geek 
Amen to wanting some more color! Thank you for sharing that burst of color.
Melanie at a Nature-Led Life (https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/109140716/posts/4529379426) is collecting images for next month and this deadnettle (HAHAHAHA) would be perfect. Here’s the relevant info:
Due: February 28th
To be posted on: March 1st
The Fine Print: Photo Submissions Guidelines
Email to: natureledlife@gmail.com Subject line: Photo Submission for [month] (Multiple months of photos in one email is fine.) Image: Attached as a .JPEG or .PNG file preferred. Captions each picture: Subject in the photo (if known), State/Providence & Country, Date (optional). Your name as you want it to appear, Your blog link (if you have one.)
Feel free to add any interesting notes about a picture. I love interesting stories behind things! Let me know if it’s just for ‘my eyes only’ or if I can share any part of it with your photo. Pictures must be your own or you have permission from the Photographer to share it. All copyrights belong to their respective owners. This is a free, fun, community site about nature. Non-commercial and ad free.
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What a fun website Melanie has! Thank you for sharing her link — I’ll send her the photo and the story today.
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Yay!
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Thank you, Tracy for the shout out! I appreciate it!
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I love all things nature, but my Spotted Towhees and Chickadees are some of my favorite regular visitors. I wonder if your Rufous sided Towhees are as mischievous as their spotted brethren. Mine hop-rakes through the leaves looking for insects but sometimes my regular male Spotted Towhee likes to suddenly burst by the Juncos and chickadees causing them to scatter. He only does it very occasionally, so it doesn’t seem territorial, more like having a bit of fun.
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Yeah, my (spotted/rufous-sided/whatever) towhees like to scatter the little birds. Right now we only have males coming to the feeders, but they come blasting in to land on the feeder pushing them off. Same for ground feeding under it. They can get kinda aggressive about it. Worse are the Eurasian collared doves. When it is really cold, they come and sit in the little bowls of food we have out. They just want to monopolize that food source.
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I’m with you…so tired of brown and white. That ‘mint’ is fabulously gorgeous and just the kind of color that’s especially welcome this time of year. Well done finding that and sharing for weary of winter metro eyes.
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