A couple of weeks ago when the temperatures began to get warmer on a daily basis, and I could see buds on the trees and a tease of green out in the fields, I decided to buy a bowl of "sunshine" to put on the front porch. In spite of COVID-19, WalMart has had an abundance of new bedding plants for spring planting and other decorative flowers for Easter. It was all a very welcome sight.
I'm not too keen on lilies or hyacinth or some of the other bulb varieties. So, I succumbed to a pot of bright yellow begonias, not too big and not too expensive--$5.00. I was happy. They made the drab front porch look like a spot of "cheerful ". Every time I backed out of the driveway, I backed up just a little bit farther on the street so I could take in the curbside view. What a difference those little blossoms made!
Sometimes when the forecast calls for a certain kind of weather here, it never materializes. After all, we are in the Rocky Mountain West in the Northern Hemisphere. I once read where this is the most difficult place in all the earth to predict weather because of the upslopes and downslopes from the mountains causing unsettled air.
However, this last week the weather forecasters have gone out of their way to warn of, not one weather system, but two weather systems that were coming our way. One headed down from Canada and the other from the southern West Coast. Colliding for Easter weekend, no less. Actually, we had a great day on Saturday with bright sun and a high of nearly 80 degrees. Then after dark, the wind began to howl. The snow had already covered the fence when I got up to look out about 1 a.m.
When I first read/heard about a massive weather system signalling another freaky storm, I told myself to be sure and bring in my bright little flowers as they would never survive lows in the teens. And, I forgot. Wah! Wah!
When I opened the front door on Easter morning, that pot of yellow begonias looked like they were wax. Standing at perfect attention, they were straight and tall. Exquisite, even. But when I touched the petals, the plant was frozen solid! I should have taken a picture then as I was bringing them into the house. Because an hour later the blossoms were completely collapsed and hanging over the edge of the pot. Today they look like this. But I don't think they are going to recover, as the stems are transparent and mushy.
I could just kick myself! How could I have forgotten that one small act of opening the front door to bring them in for safe-keeping. Not a very good steward, I.
This picture is our backyard about 11 a.m. this morning. Day two. Early morning yesterday and today both, the sidewalks and streets were covered in snow, too. But, after all it IS April, and the ground underneath isn't frozen, so the snow has melted off the concrete and asphalt. Yet the snow flurries continue. Supposedly, for another couple of days. Yikes! (Another trip to DIA in sub-freezing temperatures and slick roads again early tomorrow morning.)
So it is when people who are new to the area or here visiting and can't wrap their head around snow in April, we "natives" merely shrug and say...
"It's just Springtime in the Rockies!"
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