Signs of spring in Massachusetts

[Rosalind]

 :rainbowflower:

Checked the town weather monitoring station results, and it said 37F. Took the dogs out for a walk, and saw the undertaker bees cleaning house, taking the dead to their final rest over by the peach tree. One dog started barking like mad at one of the trees, and it turned out he was barking at a young robin red-breast! It sat in the tree and sang at us for about 20 minutes before chasing some sparrows.  :yippiechick:

We have about three feet of snow still on the ground, and snow piled up into 10' mountains around the driveway. We had to dig tunnels to get to the mailbox and clear the doors that aren't under a roof. The snow is packed so high on the walkways in the orchard that when I walk the dogs, our 6' fence only comes up to my shoulders. But spring is definitely on its way, and best of all, my bees are hanging in there!  :bee:

Anyone else seen any signs of life up here in the frozen north yet?

[woodchopper]

I used my hive tool to clean out dead bees from the entrances of the hives we have here at the house. While I was doing it I heard buzzing in a few of the hives and dead silence in a few more. Can't wait until spring.

[Rodni73]

Us too here in New Jersey.. Snow snow andmore snow! Congratson your bees making it thus far.

[Picobrew]

The only positive sign I've had along Lake Superior is chickadees singing their spring song.

The day length is such that I can cut firewood after work.  :)  The bad news is I still have to shovel snow to get to the woodpile.  ;)

[Jim134]

Signs of spring In Northern Worcester County  Massachusetts USA in about 5 to 6 weeks may bee  :lau: :lau: :lau:


 BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)

[AllenF]

We will find out Feb 2nd.

[tandemrx]

This past friday I was sitting in my home office and happen to glance out and shocked  :shock: to see a whole bundle of bees from my backyard hive walking around the face of the hive near the auger hole and a bunch of bees (about 5 at a time) going for sometimes lengthy flights.  Some bee droppings in the snow in front of the hive.  This went on for a couple hours.

NOAA said it was 28 degrees F. at my location although my not very dependable outdoor thermometer said closer to 32.  Still, much warmer than it has been recently.

Bunch of bees that flew never quite made it back to the hive.  Would fly a few feet and bump into a snow bank or the ground and if they didn't bounce right back up they would fairly quickly freeze and die  :( tried to save  couple but it wasn't easy.  Yesterday I saw similar activity (although less numbers) on an even warmer day.

It was great to see some bees again  :-D.  Still a long way to go, but this hive was weak going into winter, so pleased they were this active and made it this far.

We are supposed to get dumped on with a bunch of snow this week and temps dropping below zero (F) again, so I will have to visit my beeyard and clean off excess snow around entrances - it will be interesting to see if they were also active with cleansing flights and outdoor investigation during this past "warm" spell

[Rosalind]

The day length is such that I can cut firewood after work.  :)  The bad news is I still have to shovel snow to get to the woodpile.  ;)

Me too! Spouse reckoned he would be clever: Since I refuse to move to Florida (palmetto bugs, ugh ugh ugh), he bought an electric chainsaw to replace the old two-cycle saw, and informed me that from now on, I can cut my own danged firewood.

Yesterday we got a note from the postmaster asking us to clear the snow away from mailboxes better, so the mail carrier doesn't have to get out of the truck. Buddy, if I had snow-moving equipment capable of clearing that much snow, I would be charging the Commonwealth of Massachusetts $1000/day rental fees for it.

On the positive side, this winter is supposedly the result of La Nina, so next winter 2011-2012 should be much easier.