Welcome to another storm. The thermometer reads 9^o 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 O^o F. My brains craves colors other than white.

We did get a little bit of a reprieve last week as temperatures soared into the 60^os. 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.